Buying Guides:

Plasma TV's

Chances are, either you or someone you know have been drooling over plasma TV’s for the past few years. I remember the first Fujitsu plasma that I saw at Comdex Las Vegas several years ago, priced at $18,000 – I wanted it bad! Plasma TV’s using a quality high definition source seem not like a TV picture, but literally appear as though you’re looking

through a window at the real thing. Thankfully, plasma TV prices have taken a serious dive, with quality 42” plasma TV’s selling for around $2400.

They’re slim, sexy, and produce a gorgeous image when fed properly, but there are many important things to know when shopping for plasma TV’s:

High Definition versus Standard Definition

Before you buy a plasma TV, you need to understand how to receive HDTV broadcasts and a bit about HDTV formats. HDTV formats are given as a number and a letter, such as 720p or 1080i. These indicate the lines of vertical resolution in the image and whether the image is progressive scan or interlaced (in progressive scan, the whole picture is drawn at once offering smoother motion, while in interlaced, the lines of the image are drawn in two passes). The more lines, the more life-like and crisp the image will be, in general. If you want to enjoy your TV, you need to watch video sources that supply 480p, 720p or 1080i formats, and the image quality looks best in that order (worst=480p, best=1080i).

Be careful about buying plasma TV’s that support a maximum resolution of 852x480. These sets will accept 720p and 1080i signals but may not do them justice. If you only plan to watch DVD movies on your plasma TV, these 852x480 sets are fine, but for best results with HDTV broadcasts in 1080i or 720p, a plasma TV with 1024x768 or higher is preferred.

Signal Source – Broadcast TV, DVD Players, Satellite/Cable

Plasma televisions look best when fed a true high-definition source. In fact, the picture will likely look a less crisp than a rear-projection or CRT based television when using a standard-definition source.

What do you plan to watch most often on your plasma TV? DVD movies? Regular standard definition TV? TV shows broadcast in HDTV?

-Over the air HD broadcasts: many television networks broadcast shows in high-definition. These shows can be received using a UHF antenna and a set-top HDTV tuner. HDTV tuners

-Digital Satellite: DirecTV and Dish Network both offer HD programming. To receive it, you need an HDTV capable satellite receiver. Note that many HDTV capable satellite receivers also offer Over the Air capability, with an input on the back for a UHF antenna. This lets you watch OTA HDTV broadcasts as well as satellite programming.

-Cable: Many cable networks offer digital cable, as well as HDTV programming. Important note here: digital cable is not necessarily HDTV! Digital cable simply means that the cable signal is digital, allowing your cable operator to squeeze a large number of channels into their feed. Look for cable service that explicitly offers HDTV programming, either from your favorite local networks or pay channels like HBO.

-Progressive Scan DVD Players: These look better on HDTV capable TV’s than they do on standard TV’s, but they supply a source of 480p, which is not high definition. Your plasma TV will upconvert 480p to its native resolution.

Because all plasma TV’s are 16:9 widescreen, any non-widescreen programming will be stretched to fit your screen. Plasma TV’s include many options to do this, where you can choose not to stretch the image (leaving black bars on the side), and different ways to stretch the image. Though it may look weird at first, most people quickly adjust to a stretched 4:3 image.

Regardless of the source, component video output or DB-15 output is preferred, with S-Video being your second choice. Running a plasma on a composite video output is a very, very sad experience.

Burn-In and Tilt

By design, plasma televisions are subject to a phenomenon known as burn-in. You’ve probably seen old green-screen monitors with images permanently burned into the screen. That’s what burn-in looks like. If you leave the same non-moving (static) image on a plasma TV for too long, the phosphors will become permanently burned, and the static image will appear on the TV forever. Permanent burn-in is not to be confused with image retention, where an image appears to have burned in but actually fades over a few minutes due to the nature of how the phosphors work.

Most plasma TV’s have safeguards against burn-in, where the TV will turn itself off if a static image is displayed for too long, but be wary of DVD movies with menu screens that are static but have moving backgrounds, as this will cause burn-in since the text menu options are static and the TV won’t shut off due to the moving background. Also beware of channels that display a logo in one corner of the screen for long periods of time. Many plasma TV’s have what’s called a “pixel shift” feature that will shift the entire screen around a few pixels over time to prevent burn-in, which will help in these cases. Overall, risk from burn-in seems to be minimal, just keep in mind that it can occur with plasma displays and is irreversible, so care should be used.

Wherever you buy your Plasma TV, you’ll likely notice a tilt sensor affixed to the outside of its shipping box. This is because plasma TV’s can be ruined by being laid on their face or back. They must be shipped upright, moved from the box upright, and mounted to the wall or to a table stand upright. If the tilt sensor on your Plasma TV’s shipping box indicates that the box has ever been tilted too far in transit, contact your retailer and insist on a replacement.

Life Expectancy

The life expectancy of most plasma displays is 30,000 hours of use. If you use the TV 4 hours a day, 365 days a year, the plasma TV will likely last 20 years.

Find out how to shop smart by using one of our helpful guides.

- Digital Photography
- Plasma TV's
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- Flat panel monitors
- Graphics cards
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