Compare Plasma LCD and Rear Projection HDTVs: A Guide

The following article provides a guide on how to compare plasma LCD and rear projection HDTVs, including the differences between the technologies used in each.

Many people are confused by words in the electronic industry today such as "rear projection television", "plasma", and "LCD flat panel". In order to understand exactly what you are buying when you purchase one of these items, you must first understand the underlying technology behind each one.

You must know whether wide screen televisions are better than regular flat screen televisions, and whether plasma screens are better LCD screens. The difference between LCD rear projection and flat panel sets is also important.

Before you purchase one of these electronic items, you should first understand exactly what their names mean so that you will not become confused by the salesman at your local electronics store. You will then be able to decide what is worth your money and what is not.

The following are several short introductions to each of these technologies used in modern televisions.

Rear Projection Television: These televisions involve a lamp behind a screen which projects an image onto the screen. This technology is also known as micro display, and is different from the more traditional CRT, or cathode ray tube, technology used in older televisions.

There are three different types of micro display - namely Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), Digital Light Processing (DLP), and Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LcoS). While televisions that use micro display technology are flatter and lighter than televisions that use CRT technology, the lamps in micro displays have to be changed once every two or three years.

Plasma Television: These televisions are almost always in the form of a flat panel, as they use technology that enables manufacturers to house the required electronics in a flatter panel.

A plasma television's display works in much the same way as a fluorescent lamp, consisting of two glass panels containing xenon gas between them. The gas, in the form of plasma, is injected and then an electrical charge is run through, causing it to light up in reds, blues, and greens, thus creating an image. Each pixel consists of red, blue, and green phosphors.

Traditional CRT televisions, however, contain a vacuum tube, which emits an electric beam across the surface of the tube, lighting up the phosphors. Thus these displays are larger than the modern ones.

Liquid Crystal Display Televisions

LCD rear projecting systems are not the same as LCD flat panel televisions, as rear projection LCD televisions create an image by projecting light through a transparent LCD chip, which consists of individual pixels displaying the moving video images, thus projecting the image forward through a lens that magnifies the image, onto a mirror, which finally reflects the image onto the screen.

The chip used in a rear projection television is extremely small and thus is extremely light, taking up much less space than the cathode ray tubes in more traditional televisions.

While LCD rear projection televisions are not as compact as plasma or LCD flat panel televisions, they are still much smaller than conventional televisions. These televisions are also less expensive as compared to plasma and LCD flat panel televisions, and they also have wider screens. LCD rear projection systems also provide brighter images and greater contrast.

This short introduction to HDTV technology should be of some use to you if you wish to compare plasma LCD and rear projection HDTVs. You should compare aspect ratio, screen size, resolution, HDMI interface, and price when selecting a television. You should also make a comparison between similar television models from different brands, as they may be different. Louis Zhang, flatscreenhdtvguide dot com