Dodgexander
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A common question on here is from people looking to upgrade from an old Plasma tv. Obviously every Plasma tv is different, but I thought I would list some reasons that still make Plasma technology generally a better choice when it comes to pure image quality.
Difference is by design:
Plasma TVs like newer OLED screens light each pixel of resolution independently, this means unlike LCD screens, there is far more control over displaying an image between dark and bright or colour too colour.
This usually means that Plasma TVs have very good black levels and very good contrast, sometimes better than even the higher end LCD screens. It also means they avoid a lot of problems with LCD screens that OLED TV's also avoid.
Response time
This is the time it takes the television to adjust its picture, eg move from one pixel to another. LCD's rely on a light behind the screen, usually with a shutter in front of it. This takes time to open close and therefore means that LCD screens usually have a lot slower response times compared to that of OLED or Plasma TVs.
Motion lines
Plasma TVs (technically) can draw 1080 lines of motion without a problem, they will do this out of the box without changing any settings. This isn't the same for LCD screens. For an LCD screen to cope with the same amount of motion without hiccups it has to apply some form of frame insertion. The most common is frame interpolation which predicts and inserts frames to make content seem smoother. This introduces a soap opera effect that for many makes the picture look unusually smooth.
Luckily LCD screens have started to also use frame insertion. This instead inserts a plain colour frame(usually black or red) between each frame giving you the appearance that motion is flowing smoother. This is better than motion interpolation as it doesn't add artefacts. It does however make the image darker (not a problem for brighter LCD screens) and introduces flicker, noticeable to some more than others.
tltr motion is still a lot better on Plasma TV's vs LCD.
Viewing angles
The best LCD tvs for contrast and black levels use VA type panels, these panels typically offer up to a 20 degree off axis viewing angle before colours start to change. On Plasma TV's viewing angles are rarely a problem, even if you view the screen from a tight angle. With the inferior contrast and black level IPS LCD screens this is improved somewhat, but you will still notice colour degrading at about a 40 degree off axis angle.
Blooming, back light bleed, clouding or Dirty Screen Effect etc etc
Some LCD's more than others suffer from these. Fundamentally the reason for this is again down to the technology. Whilst a Plasma TV or OLED can brighten each pixel on its own, an LCD can't.
Many higher end LCD screens try to overcome this by adding independent dimming zones and local dimming technology, but unless they have 1 light for every pixel, they will always suffer in this area.
Imagine displaying a star in a sky, or a red footballer playing on green grass. On an OLED or Plasma tv it is able to light bright pixels and dark pixels right next to each other at exactly the level of brightness needed. An LCD screen cannot do this, it has to measure how bright the light gets behind the screen (or in the best case that area of the screen) and control it accordingly. This means sometimes stars in the sky will look like they are smothered in grey, or you may see blotches in colour between a football players shirt and the football pitch. This becomes especially the case during movement.
Due to the very nature of needing a light behind the screen, some LCD's more than others also suffer from one part of the screen looking brighter than others (those that are nearer to the location of the back lights), in some cases it also means you might seed light bleeding from the edges of the screen. With HDR content when the light is at its maximum, this only gets worse.
But its not all doom and gloom, LCD screens do have advantages over Plasma tv's. Firstly they get a lot brighter (great for HDR and/or if you watch during the day with lots of light) and if you are thinking of buying an UHD TV and you sit close enough to it, you will see a quality increase because of the resolution.
They also make better computer monitors due to the sharpness of the screens.
Overall if you take advantage of new technology such as UHD and HDR and you understand the limitations compared to Plasma tech, you will enjoy a new LCD TV.
For those of you who don't want to make a compromise, I suggest saving up for an OLED or looking at the second hand market.
For those of you needing to buy straight away, look no further than an OLED. The cheapest 910v can be had for £1300 new.
#Edit you can read more about motion resolution differences between plasma, OLED and LCDs here.
EDIT* relevant video:
Difference is by design:
Plasma TVs like newer OLED screens light each pixel of resolution independently, this means unlike LCD screens, there is far more control over displaying an image between dark and bright or colour too colour.
This usually means that Plasma TVs have very good black levels and very good contrast, sometimes better than even the higher end LCD screens. It also means they avoid a lot of problems with LCD screens that OLED TV's also avoid.
Response time
This is the time it takes the television to adjust its picture, eg move from one pixel to another. LCD's rely on a light behind the screen, usually with a shutter in front of it. This takes time to open close and therefore means that LCD screens usually have a lot slower response times compared to that of OLED or Plasma TVs.
Motion lines
Plasma TVs (technically) can draw 1080 lines of motion without a problem, they will do this out of the box without changing any settings. This isn't the same for LCD screens. For an LCD screen to cope with the same amount of motion without hiccups it has to apply some form of frame insertion. The most common is frame interpolation which predicts and inserts frames to make content seem smoother. This introduces a soap opera effect that for many makes the picture look unusually smooth.
Luckily LCD screens have started to also use frame insertion. This instead inserts a plain colour frame(usually black or red) between each frame giving you the appearance that motion is flowing smoother. This is better than motion interpolation as it doesn't add artefacts. It does however make the image darker (not a problem for brighter LCD screens) and introduces flicker, noticeable to some more than others.
tltr motion is still a lot better on Plasma TV's vs LCD.
Viewing angles
The best LCD tvs for contrast and black levels use VA type panels, these panels typically offer up to a 20 degree off axis viewing angle before colours start to change. On Plasma TV's viewing angles are rarely a problem, even if you view the screen from a tight angle. With the inferior contrast and black level IPS LCD screens this is improved somewhat, but you will still notice colour degrading at about a 40 degree off axis angle.
Blooming, back light bleed, clouding or Dirty Screen Effect etc etc
Some LCD's more than others suffer from these. Fundamentally the reason for this is again down to the technology. Whilst a Plasma TV or OLED can brighten each pixel on its own, an LCD can't.
Many higher end LCD screens try to overcome this by adding independent dimming zones and local dimming technology, but unless they have 1 light for every pixel, they will always suffer in this area.
Imagine displaying a star in a sky, or a red footballer playing on green grass. On an OLED or Plasma tv it is able to light bright pixels and dark pixels right next to each other at exactly the level of brightness needed. An LCD screen cannot do this, it has to measure how bright the light gets behind the screen (or in the best case that area of the screen) and control it accordingly. This means sometimes stars in the sky will look like they are smothered in grey, or you may see blotches in colour between a football players shirt and the football pitch. This becomes especially the case during movement.
Due to the very nature of needing a light behind the screen, some LCD's more than others also suffer from one part of the screen looking brighter than others (those that are nearer to the location of the back lights), in some cases it also means you might seed light bleeding from the edges of the screen. With HDR content when the light is at its maximum, this only gets worse.
But its not all doom and gloom, LCD screens do have advantages over Plasma tv's. Firstly they get a lot brighter (great for HDR and/or if you watch during the day with lots of light) and if you are thinking of buying an UHD TV and you sit close enough to it, you will see a quality increase because of the resolution.
They also make better computer monitors due to the sharpness of the screens.
Overall if you take advantage of new technology such as UHD and HDR and you understand the limitations compared to Plasma tech, you will enjoy a new LCD TV.
For those of you who don't want to make a compromise, I suggest saving up for an OLED or looking at the second hand market.
For those of you needing to buy straight away, look no further than an OLED. The cheapest 910v can be had for £1300 new.
#Edit you can read more about motion resolution differences between plasma, OLED and LCDs here.
EDIT* relevant video:
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