Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs)
Currently, the most popular alternative to the CRT is the Liquid Crystal Display (LCD). LCDs areorganic molecules that, in the absence of external forces, tend to align themselves in crystallinestructures. But, when an external force is applied they will rearrange themselves as if they were aliquid. Some liquid crystals respond to heat (i.e. mood rings), others respond to electromagneticforces.When used as optical (light) modulators LCDs change polarization rather than transparency (atleast this is true for the most popular type of LCD called Super-twisted Nematic Liquid crystals).In their unexcited or crystalline state the LCDs rotate the polarization of light by 90 degrees. In the presence of an electric field, LCDs the small electrostatic charges of the molecules align with theimpinging E field.The LCD's transition between crystalline and liquid states is a slow process. This has both good
Liquid Crystal Displays work by filtering light when it gets an electric charge. These liquid crystal cells are placed between two glass plates and the voltage is received from a matrix composition of thin film transistors [TFT]. Though only white light is created in this manner, the monitors produce coloured images by a subtraction process. The right colour at the right spot is obtained by filtering the white colour from a spectrum of colours.
In a plasma display, gases like xenon and neon are excited by electric pulses produced by the electrodes. This excitation causes energy to be produced in the form of light. The display also contains millions of individual pixels which pick out the right colour from the light with the help of phosphor contained in them. These pixels also have three composite colours present in them. They are mixed together to produce the correct intensity of light.
Power Consumption
Power consumption is also an important factor to be noted because, after spending a huge amount for buying the TV, we cannot afford to spend more. The power consumption depends on the working of both the devices. As LCD works on the principle of fluorescent, they do not consume as much power as Plasma does. On the other hand, plasma TV needs to light up all the pixels used on the screen. This also includes the pixels that produce the dark images. This causes a lot of electricity to be wasted. When compared, Plasma displays consume about 30% more than LCD displays.
Screen Burn In/ Ghosting
Screen burn in is a problem associated with Plasma displays. When an image is left on the screen for a long time, the display produces a ?ghost? of the image. This is called screen burn in. This actually occurs because the glass display tries to permanently etch the colour that has been displayed for a long time. This type of a problem usually occurs to plasma displays that have pixels that are old or weary. The ghost stays for days but will fade away and is not permanent.
The manufacturers of newer plasma displays have introduced the anti-burn in technology. With this process the ghosting can be stopped for almost 10 hours. For computers, screensavers helps in stopping this problem.
Picture Quality
In the case of picture quality, LCD displays are more advantageous. LCD Tv is apt for public display as well as at any time of the day. Though the viewing angle is grater for plasma TV, LCD TV has a good contrast and brightness making it suitable for any situation.
LCD displays are also well suitable as computer screens. They show the images with full colour detail. This makes them more apt in displaying larger amounts of data. The plasma display is not so apt for computer screens as they have the problem of ghosting.
Playing Fast Moving Videos
We have discussed about the disadvantage of Plasma TV?s in applications where still images are used. But, when it comes in the field of fast images, there is nothing else to compete plasma displays. As their contrast levels are way higher than any other displays they are good in displaying fast moving videos. The LCD is disadvantageous because, they have a motion blur and lesser time response. The blur causes the pixels to be out of their position causing the image to be blurred.
Usage at Higher Heights
Plasma displays cannot be used at higher heights. As they contain some rare natural gases, there occurs an air-pressure difference which either breaks down the display or causes a humming noise while using it. The maximum height that i suitable for plasma display is 6,000 feet.
As LCD TV?s are not affected by heights, they are the most commonly used display in aeroplanes.
Life Span
The life span of both LCD and plasma displays are almost 100,000 hours. That is if they remain on for four hours a day, they live for almost 6 years!!
In the case of LCD, it lives for as long as the backlight lives. That is, if the backlight bulb wears out, the LCD stops working. But, the backlight bulbs can easily be replaced. There is also a problem of aging of the backlight bulb. If this happens, the original colour starts fading. As a result, the white balance of the whole LCD will go wrong. This can only be repaired by changing te backlight bulb or replacing the entire kit.
As plasma displays use noble gases and also phosphor, there is no chance of replacing any of the materials. If they stop working just dump them. After using it for a long time, there are chances where the phosphoric elements starts to fade out. As a result, the screen will start to fade and glow less. The more you use it, the dimmer it gets.
What is Plasma?
Plasma is referred to be the main element of a fluorescent light. It is actually a gas including ions and electrons. Under normal conditions, the gals has only uncharged particles. That is, the number of positive charged particles [protons] will be equal to the number of negative charged particles [electrons]. This gives the gas a balanced position.
Suppose you apply a voltage onto the gas, the number of electrons increases and causes an unbalance. These free electrons hit the atoms, knocking loose other electrons. Thus, with the missing electron, the component gets a more positive charge and so becomes an ion.
In plasma, photons of energy are released, if an electrical current is allowed to pass through it. Both the electrons and ions get attracted to each other causing inter collision. This collision causes the energy to be produced. Take a look at the figure illustrated below.
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Working of plasma
Plasma displays mostly make use of the Xenon and neon atoms. When the energy is liberated during collision, light is produced by them. These light photons are mostly ultraviolet in nature. Though they are not visible to us, they play a very important factor in exciting the photons that are visible to us.
In an ordinary TV, high beams of electrons are shot from an electron gun. These electrons hit the screen and cause the pixels to light up. The TV has three types of composite pixel colours which are distributed throughout the screen in the same manner. They are red, green and blue. These colours when mixed in different proportions can form the other colours. Thus the TV produces all the colours needed.
A plasma display consists of fluorescent lights which causes the formation of an image on screen. Like a CRT TV, each pixel has the three composite fluorescent colour lights. These fluorescent lights are illuminated and the different colours are formed by combining the composite colours.
History of Plasma Display
The first ever plasma display was made in the year 1964 by the graduate student Robert Willson for the PLATO Computer System, Donald Bitzer, and H. Gene Slottow from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Larry F. Weber, a student from the same university was able to make an energy recovery sustain circuit for the plasma TV, which has been included in plasma displays even now.
This technology was then futher developed by many people and multi-national companies started to economize it by the early 80's.
In the year 1983, IBM began selling a 19 inch orange-on-black monochrome display. But they stopped its production permamnently as the product had a very tough competition with monochrome LCD?s. The plasma displays in this period could not be usd as TV?s as they did not have TV tuners. They were only used to display a standard video signal.Now all the plasma TV?s have their own digital Tv tuners. The first colour plasma display was introduced in the year 1992 by the Fujitsu company. The company later released a 42 inch plasma TV in the year 1997 which had a high resolution of 852?480. This technology began to overrule the CRT revolution for the coming years. Lately, after the invention of LCD TV, the demand for Plasma TV became lesser. As the same configuration for a lesser price is available the sale of Plasma Tv became lesser.
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Working of Plasma Display
Two plates of glass are taken between which millions of tiny cells containing gases like xenon and neon are filled. Electrodes are also placed inside the glass plates in such a way that they are positioned in front and behind each cell. The rear glass plate has with it the address electrodes in such a position that they sit behind the cells. The front glass plate has with it the transparent display electrodes, which are surrounded on all sides by a magnesium oxide layer and also a dielectric material. They are kept in front of the cell.
As told earlier when a voltage is applied, the electrodes get charged and cause the ionization of the gas resulting in plasma. This also includes the collision between the ions and electrons resulting in the emission of photon light.
The state of ionization varies in accordance to colour plasma and monochrome plasma. For the latter a low voltage is applied between the electrodes. To obtain colour plasma, the back of each cell has to be coated with phosphor. When the photon light is emitted they are ultraviolet in nature. These UV rays react with phosphor to give a coloured light. Take a look at the diagram given below.
Working of Plasma display
The working of the pixels has been explained earlier. Each pixel has three composite coloured sub-pixels. When they are mixed proportionally, the correct colour is obtained.
There are thousands of colours depending on the brightness and contrast of each. This brightness is controlled with the pulse-width modulation technique. With this technique, it controls the pulse of the current that flows through all the cells at a rate of thousands of times per seconds.
Characteristics of Plasma Display
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Plasma TV Resolutions
The resolution of a plasma display varies from the early enhanced definition [ED], to the modern high-definition displays. The most common ED resolutions were 840*480 and 853*480.
With the emergence of HDTV?s the resolution also became higher. The modern plasma TV?s have a resolution of 1,024*1,024, 1,024*768, 1,280*768, 1,366*768, 1,280*1080, and also 1,920*1,080.
Advantages of Plasma Display
Disadvantages of Plasma Display
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