Plasma TV Misconceptions

This article explores five of the most persistent "misnomers" about plasma television technology. This article should be required reading for anyone, who is thinking about buying a plasma TV. Get the skinny on flat-panel plasma displays, and the truth about everything from how long they last to the real deal on burn-in.

(PRWEB) July 8, 2004 -- Five Misconceptions About Plasma TVs

Despite a seemingly endless stream of consumer enthusiasm for those sleek, super-model-thin plasma television displays, some "rumors" stubbornly persist.

Since plasma technology is celebrating its 40th Anniversary this year, I figure it's high time someone took a moment to set the record straight. Hopefully, by giving you the hard facts about plasma displays and dispelling some of the more pernicious half-truths and flat-out untruths about them, I will be doing my part to help keep the plasma rumor mill in check. At the very least, this will force the rumor mill to get a lot more creative.

Misconception #1: Plasma TVs need to have their plasma gases changed out every couple years.

Perhaps the only compelling thing about this idea is that it resonates with good auto maintenance know how. To many people, plasma displays are like cars: You know how to use them, but you don't know a whole lot about how they work. Which is surely how this Urban Legend gained its foothold in the popular imagination in the first place. It has certainly been utilized by any number of unscrupulous TV salespeople to push extended warranties on otherwise unknowing "marks" -- people who have already spent $5000 on a new TV and would have no compunction about shelling out another $250 more, provided it will help safeguard their investment. While purchasing some additional "insurance" against mechanical defects might be worthwhile, especially when you are buying something this expensive, using scare tactics to ring up extended-warranty sales is unethical.

Not to mention bogus: The idea that the ionized gases inside plasma displays either (a) need to be replenished periodically or (b) can be refilled is patently untrue. You simply cannot change out these phosphors every 3,000 (viewing) miles. Nor would you want to, because this would require you to change its entire glass display element out. And most manufacturers will tell you that it's cheaper to replace an entire plasma unit that it is to replace its screen alone.

Misconception #2: A high-definition (HD) plasma TV beats an enhanced-definition (ED) plasma TV any day.

Not true. I suspect this misconception has been perpetrated by manufacturers, who want to move more expensive (i.e., higher-resolution) product, and by retailers, who are repeating whatever the manufacturer tells them. True, HD plasma displays are more expensive than their ED counterparts. The reason is that increasing the resolution on a plasma screen means fitting more pixels on that screen, which common sense should tell you is a more expensive proposition. A simple eyeball test will tell you, though, that this is not necessarily money well spent. Just because a plasma monitor is labeled "HD" does not necessarily mean that it handles things like internal conversion, contrast ratios, and interpolation well -- which are the very of things that ultimately make or break a picture in terms of its displayed quality. In most cases, the quality of the picture you get from a given plasma display (whether it's ED or HD) actually depends on the quality of its make. A good ED plasma TV from a quality manufacturer will always outperform an HD plasma TV from a mediocre manufacturer.

The quality of your incoming video signal will also determine the quality of the picture you see. A standard video signal will look no better (and sometimes can actually look worse) on a HD plasma monitor versus an ED one. So, before you rush out and buy a high-definition plasma display, consider a few things:

What percentage of your total television viewing involves HD video signals?

Will you be using your plasma monitor to display computer graphics signals? If so, high definition plasma monitors will do much to enhance the detail of things like Excel spreadsheets.

Do you mostly watch video content that originates from DVD, cable, or satellite cable, i.e., content that ED plasma displays handle best?

Misconception #3: Plasma TVs only last 4 or 5 years. They are like shooting stars, brilliant but short-lived.

It is difficult to say for sure how long a given plasma TV will last, but one thing is certain: Plasmas can (and generally do) last a decade, sometimes longer. The useful lifetime of a plasma display is calculated according to the amount of time it takes for the monitor to appear half as bright as it did the day you bought it. "Half-life" denotes the point at which manufacturers consider the picture on a given set to have dimmed enough to make a noticeable difference in picture quality and possibly merit replacement. The stated half-life of most plasma displays is around 30,000 hours -- that's 10 years worth of 8-hour viewing days!

Misconception #4: Owning a good plasma TV is cost-prohibitive -- for now anyway.

This is really two misconceptions rolled into one. The first has to do with the pricing structure of plasma displays. We all remember, some of us too well, the days in the mid-90s when plasma TVs started at $10,000 and had virtually no price ceiling. Well, things have changed. The growing demand for plasma displays, coupled with advancements in production efficiency ("yield rates"), have conspired to bring plasma TV prices back down to earth. You can get larger, better performing plasma TVs for a fraction of the price you might have just a couple years ago. (Nowadays, you can buy a 42" EDTV Plasma for $2700.) This is partly because fully 9 sets in 10 come off the production line ready for sale, compared to just 5 in 10 in 1999 and fewer than 2 in 10 in the early 90s. Further suppressing prices is the fact that the defect rate of Japanese-made plasma TVs in the U.S. has fallen to less than 1% of the total product import.

Just because plasma TV prices have come down over the past few years, though, does not necessarily mean that this pricing freefall will continue well into the future. I forecast very moderate price decreases (as a percentage of total price and as total dollar savings amounts) going forward. Sure prices will continue to drop somewhat, but is it worth it to wait for 6 months or a year for the next $200 price roll back?

As of Spring 2004, plasma production levels were high, defect rates low less than 1 percent, and price reductions were still decreasing as a total percentage of product cost. Consumers can always expect to pay a premium for cutting-edge technology, just not such a steep one as before. I suspect 42" EDTV plasma TVs will bottom out at around $1500 - $2000 by 2006 or so.

In short, plasma display technology has never been more affordable -- not to mention reliable -- for the average consumer.

Misconception #5: Plasma TVs are plagued by problems with burn-in.

Burn-in, or image retention, is the result of a damaged pixel, whose phosphors have been prematurely aged and therefore glow less intensely than those of surrounding pixels. The reason is that the damaged pixel has developed a "memory" of the color information that was repeatedly fed to it, causing it to glow in a static manner for a sustained period of time. This phosphor color information can actually become seared into the plasma-screen glass, and, in the case of permanent image retention, it does. Once these phosphors are damaged, they cannot produce the same levels of light output as the other phosphors around them do. But pixels do not suffer burn-in singly. Burn-in occurs in the shape of a static image that linger on TV screens -- things like network logos, computer icons, Internet browser frames, etc.

In the end, plasma TV burn-in is not an issue that should cause undue concern in the average user. With a modicum of caution, most plasma TVs will probably never have a problem with image retention. A viewer may experience temporary ghosting, but this is certainly not cause for alarm. In truth, carelessness -- i.e., not paying attention to what your TV is displaying and for how long -- is really the leading "cause" of permanent burn-in.

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