| A guest visiting your home will be quick to notice the | | | | trapped a type of natural gas, usually neon or xenon, in |
| TV set in your living room, especially if it is displayed | | | | plasma form. |
| prominently. If it is a flat widescreen TV, your guest is | | | | When you turn on your plasma TV set, the gas in |
| likely to ask whether it is plasma or an LCD TV. You | | | | these pixel cells are charged at particular intervals to |
| should not really find it unusual for such a question to | | | | produce light. This light then illuminates a particular |
| be posted at you. As it is, the LCD vs. plasma TV | | | | phosphor color and together they create the image |
| comparison and which one is better are very common | | | | we see on the TV screen. |
| topics among electronics consumers. | | | | LCD TVs Have Light-Blocking Crystals |
| When you look at both plasma and LCD TVs, more | | | | An LCD TV, as its name suggests, have liquid crystals |
| often than not they will appear the same to you. | | | | contained in transparent panels. Unlike plasma TVs, |
| However, their appearance is where the similarity | | | | these liquid crystals do not produced light when |
| between these two ends. The technology that LCD | | | | charged. Both the flat panel and the projection type of |
| and plasma TVs use is very different from each other. | | | | LCD TVs have a separate light source to illuminate |
| Plasma TVs Contain Gas Trapped In Pixel Cells | | | | these liquid crystals. |
| If you have a plasma TV screen in front of you, try to | | | | When light hits these crystals, what happens is that the |
| take a good look at its screen while the TV set is | | | | crystals block color wavelengths from the light until |
| turned off. Behind the screen, you will see hundreds of | | | | they are left with the needed color. These colors |
| individual pixel cells with bars of green, red and blue | | | | create the composite image that you see on your TV |
| phosphors. Each of these pixel cells also contains a | | | | screen. |
| pair of tiny glass panels. Between these panels is | | | | |