Plasma TV

What is a Plasma TV?

Plasma TVs are flat panel displays that utilize two pieces of glass to contain cells, which hold a mixture of noble gasses inside of them. When the display is on, the gas in the cells electrically changes into plasma that produces ultraviolet light, which then stimulates phosphors to send out visible light.

Plasma television is completely different from LCD (liquid crystal display), which utilizes a very different process to produce its image.

How do Plasmas Work?

The noble gases contained inside of the cells in a plasma TV are xenon, neon, and helium; they are contained inside hundreds of thousands of minuscule cells detained between two plates of glass.

Also positioned between the glass plates in front and behind the cells are long address electrodes and transparent display electrodes. The display electrodes are insulated and then covered by a thin layer of magnesium oxide, and mounted on the front of the cell along the front plate.

When the electrodes are charged, they create a voltage difference between the front and back, which then causes the gas to ionize and turn into plasma. As the gas ions travel to the electrodes and smash together, the impact creates photons. The pixels are made of three unique sub-pixel cells, each with its own distinctive colored phosphors. One is red, one is green, and one is blue; the colors blend and produce the overall pixel color, and plasmas utilize pulse-width modulation to control image brightness.

Advantages to Plasma Television

There are many benefits to plasma image technology. These displays have a slim profile, which is lighter and less bulky than traditional televisions; as such, wall mounting is easily achieved.

Plasmas achieve better and more accurate color production than other displays, also creating richer, more genuine blacks that allow advanced contrast ratios. Plasma technology also has far wider viewing angles for which images do not degrade at high angles.

Lastly, there is almost no motion blur because of a plasma TV’s extremely high refresh rate and faster response time, which adds to its higher performance when projecting images with considerable amounts of quick motion.

Disadvantages to Plasma Television

Earlier plasma TV models were vulnerable to screen burn-in and image retention. Not to worry though, more recent models now have green phosphors and other included technologies to do away with this.

For those who have had their plasma for a long time, the phosphors in those older models lose brilliance over time, resulting in the gradual degradation of absolute image brightness.

They are also more prone to large area flicker and reflection glare in brightly lit rooms; they usually are not available in screen sizes smaller than 32 inches, are heavier because of the glass required to contain the gasses, and use more electricity than other available technologies.

There are also problems with them working at high altitudes because of the pressure discrepancy between the gasses and air pressure at altitude, and at such heights, the screens can make a buzzing sound.

By: Stacy Q Travis

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