Do you remember “Plasma TV”? This TV technology has attracted attention because it can provide excellent picture quality. At first, the author was also scratched by the exquisite display screen, but it was like a flash in the pan and immediately disappeared from sight of consumers, just like the small stones in the water did not cause too much splashing. What makes this television technology disappear? If you still love a plasma TV screen, what are the alternatives?
Do you remember “Plasma TV”? Why did it just disappear?
Before we get into the topic of the death of ‘plasma TV’, we need to understand it first. So, in this article, we not only want to mention why it disappeared but also tell you how it works and all kinds of surrounding knowledge.
How plasma TV works
For the operation of plasma TV technology, let us explain briefly. Plasma TV is a flat screen display. Its basic working principle is similar to that of cathode ray tubes and fluorescent lamps. Basically, plasma TV is made up of many small units of discharge and each small unit is responsible for one of the three colors of red, green and blue. The dissociated inert gas is used in the small unit. When electricity passes through it, the gas in it will ionize and emit ultraviolet rays, and then stimulate the red, green and blue phosphors coated on the glass to emit the corresponding colored light. small unit control emits ultraviolet rays of different strengths, which can produce three primary colors with different brightness, and thus form a variety of colors.
In essence, plasma TVs are self-illuminating and don’t need backlighting, so they have great contrast, especially since when deep blacks are required, individual small units can be turned off to achieve great picture quality. In addition, plasma TV has the advantages of fast response time, high refresh rate and wide viewing angle, so it was very popular with consumers when it was first launched.
What Caused the End of Plasma TV?
Although plasma TV has many advantages, there are also many disadvantages. For example, it cannot be viewed brightly, so it is only suitable for viewing in a darker environment. Even top-of-the-line plasma TVs peak at just 100 nits in the 10% window test, which is a far cry from the 1,000-nit peak brightness of modern top-of-the-line LED-backlit TVs. While plasma TVs are also prone to temporary and permanent burn-in or picture burn-in problems, improvements have been made as plasma technology has matured. Another point of plasma TV is energy consumption and waste heat produced. It has to use a lot of energy to run it and has to install multiple fans inside to cool itself. Therefore, although compared to CRT TVs, light and thin, it is actually still a heavy thing.
Plasma TVs’ original competition with CCFL backlit LCD TVs was broken with the advent of LED backlighting, which was thinner and required much less power to operate. The original LED TVs lagged behind plasma TVs in image quality and viewing angle, but consumers knew that the disadvantages of plasma TVs obviously outweighed its advantages. The final straw that crushed plasma TVs was the introduction of OLED and 4K TVs. Plasma TV manufacturers realized that attempting to make a 4K plasma TV would require a huge investment that was not worth it and that OLED TVs had most of the picture quality advantages of TVs plasma with few drawbacks.
By 2014, TV manufacturers had effectively given up on plasma TVs and focused on LED-backlit LCD and OLED TVs, the types of traditional TVs we’re seeing flourish.
What are the best alternatives to plasma TVs?
In fact, OLED TV can be regarded as the spiritual successor of plasma TV and it is also the best substitute for plasma TV. There are many common features between the two and it is even better than plasma TV. For example, OLED TVs, like plasma TVs, have self-illuminating cells, so they can achieve nearly infinite contrast ratios, which is not possible on plasma TVs. While plasma TVs can produce deep blacks by turning off individual units, there will always be a charge in the plasma that hasn’t completely disappeared, so there will be residual light when viewing, so plasma TVs cannot produce truly perfect blacks.
Like plasma TVs, OLED has excellent wide viewing angles and fast response times, and its display is brighter and its volume is significantly thinner and lighter. Unfortunately, for OLED, aging is also an unavoidable problem, but with the advancement of OLED technology and the protection mechanisms added by various brands in TV sets, the aging problem is no longer so easy for people who watch various contents causing distress.
All in all, if you want to get rid of plasma TV in your home, OLED TV will be your best choice. OLED TVs are generally more expensive than their LED-backlit LCD counterparts, so if you’re on a budget, go for an LCD TV. Unlike plasma-era LCD TVs, many modern LCDs offer excellent contrast thanks to Mini-LED backlighting and full-array local dimming, and modern LCDs are fast.
write at the end…
Undoubtedly, Plasma TV was the king of TV imaging technology before the passing of generations. Unfortunately, with the emergence of other competing TV technologies, Plasma TV has too many fatal flaws that prevent it from surviving in the technological torrent. OLED is the successor and has better performance. With more and more improved technologies, the current OLED is more friendly than the initial price (than yourself…), while also providing a stunning display effect.
