Plasma versus LCD - a fascinating, complex battle indeed! LCD and plasma TVs each have their own characteristics. And the decision about which one you prefer has a lot to do with your personal taste, much like preferring a peanut butter sandwich to a jelly sandwich, or vice versa.

Let us proceed point by point.

Each pixel in a plasma TV is made up of three phosphors - one red, one blue, and one green. They emit light when struck by beams of electrons. The quantity of light emitted depends on the intensity of the electron beam. It is the phosphors themselves that create the light one can see on a plasma screen.

On the other hand, LCD TVs use millions of crystal, which are suspended in a liquid that is sandwiched between transparent panels. A bright florescent light is in place behind this liquid crystal sandwich. The crystals are instructed to either let the light pass or block its passage. Color filters are used to determine color.

As far as size is concerned, both TVs were always thin, and so that question is something of a stalemate. For example, the difference between 3"" and 5"" seems to matter in case of certain models, but becomes almost immaterial when it comes to a large-screen TV.

In terms of the viewing area, however, plasma TVs have always been known for their larger sizes. And that holds true in general. Put in a different way, one will have a greater variety of plasma TVs to choose from when he/she is looking at the big models. But it should be kept in mind that LCD TVs, too, are steadily gaining ground.

Now comes the question of price. For a large-screen plasma TV and a large-screen LCD TV of the same size, the plasma TV would normally cost less. LCD TVs are, however, dropping in price, and it is highly likely that the two will be on equal footing in the price department quite soon. All else being equal, in the plasma vs. LCD TV battle, plasma tends to win on this one for the time being. But the battle goes on.
More Great Information Plasma TVs

High-definition television (HDTV) is a digital television broadcasting system with higher resolution than traditional television systems (SDTV) . HDTV is digitally broadcast because digital television (DTV) requires less bandwidth if sufficient video compression is used.

The rise in popularity of large screens and projectors has made the limitations of conventional Standard Definition TV (SDTV) increasingly evident. An HDTV compatible television set will not improve the quality of SDTV channels. It will make it even worse because of scaling artifacts. To display a superior picture, high definition televisions require a High Definition (HD) signal. Typical sources of HD signals are as follows:

* Over the air with an antenna. Most cities in the US with major network affiliates broadcast over the air in HD. To receive this signal an HD tuner is required. Most newer high definition televisions have an HD tuner built in. For HDTV televisions without a built in HD tuner, a separate set-top HD tuner box can be rented from a cable or satellite company or purchased.
* Cable television companies often offer HDTV broadcasts as part of their digital broadcast service. This is usually done with a set-top box or CableCARD issued by the cable company. Alternatively one can usually get the network HDTV channels for free with basic cable by using a QAM tuner built into their HDTV or set-top box. Some cable carriers also offer HDTV on-demand playback of movies and commonly viewed shows.
* Satellite-based TV companies, such as DirecTV and Dish Network (both in North America), Sky Digital and freesat (in the UK and Ireland), Bell ExpressVu and Star Choice (both in Canada) and NTV Plus (in Russia), offer HDTV to customers as an upgrade. New satellite receiver boxes and a new satellite dish are often required to receive HD content.
* Video game systems, such as the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and digital set-top boxes that rely on an Internet connection, such as the Apple TV, can output an HD signal. The Xbox Live Marketplace, iTunes Music Store, and PlayStation Network services offer HD movies, TV shows, movie trailers, and clips for download, but generally at lower bitrates than a Blu-ray Disc.
* Most newer computer graphics cards have either HDMI or DVI interfaces, which can be used to output images or video to an HDTV.
* The optical disc standard Blu-ray Disc (25GB-50GB) can provide enough digital storage to store up to 10 hours of HD video content, depending on encoder settings.
* A DVD-R disc (~4.7GB-9GB) can also provide storage for 20-40 minutes of HD video content, readable by a blu-ray player, depending on encoder settings.
More Great Information Plasma TVs

A plasma display panel (PDP) is a type of flat panel display now commonly used for large TV displays (typically above 37-inch or 940 mm). Many tiny cells located between two panels of glass hold an inert mixture of noble gases (neon and xenon). The gas in the cells is electrically turned into a plasma which then excites phosphors to emit light. Plasma displays are commonly confused with LCDs, another lightweight flatscreen display but with very different technology.

Seamless plasma displays have appeared in an effort to address the need of consumers for a large plasma screens. While traditional plasma displays are characterized by a thick bezel surrounding the screen, new seamless plasma displays offer 4-7 mm gap in video walls. This technology allows constructing video walls of multiple plasma panels tiled together contiguously, in order to form one large screen.

Unlike traditional plasma displays, seamless plasma panels must be used along with control software system, which make it possible to display single or multiple images on the video wall at one time, to switch between content from multiple inputs, to adjust color balance in the video wall, etc.