Flatscreens: Should You Buy a Plasma, LCD or Wait for OLED?
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What Are the Benefits of Owning a Flatscreen TV?
The evolution of TV units has blossomed into the age of the flatscreen TV. The ancient '50s furniture cabinet that only included a tiny screen took up half the living room.
Then TVs got smaller and smaller, until they became portable - all the way down to hand held size.
Now the bigger is better craze is pumped up by extreme picture quality and large, yet thin screens. The LCD and Plasma TVs make it possible to have precision quality with an almost movie theater-sized screen in your home.
Why own a flatscreen? For the TV addict, particularly a sports fan, the flatscreen TV is like having prime placeholder tickets to every major sporting event broadcast around the world.
So intense is this viewing experience, that the flatscreens spawned a new trend in homebuilding - the dedicated home theater room. Add surround sound speakers, a popcorn machine, and a drink cooler and there's no reason to surface for hours.
Flatscreen TVs are also desirable to people who just want to see news, movies or how-to shows with the highest screen resolution, and save space in the process. Traditional TVs are nothing more than ugly black boxes taking up space.
The thin, wall-mounted flatscreen TVs are perfect for blending into the décor like a carefully chosen piece of wall art rather than a purchase that requires major furniture arrangements.
You can even buy screen covers for the wall-mounted flatscreen TV that are fine art reproductions.
Flip a switch, the art rolls up - and there's the TV!
Which Brand of Flatscreen TV Has Won You Over?
What's the Difference Between LCD, Plasma, and LcoS Flatscreen TVs?
When it comes to Flatscreens, a TV is no longer just a TV. The options for picture quality and performance are constantly evolving, so the savvy buyer must keep in touch with what's new.There are three basic types of flatscreens: Rear Projection, LCD and Plasma.
Rear Projection is the cheapest flatscreen TV, but also the heaviest and largest. You can get up to a massive 60", but you might have to rearrange the furniture to get the right viewing angles. Rear Projection sets can't be mounted on the wall.
LCoS or Liquid Crystal on Silicon, mixes prism colors to project onto the screen. For what you get in picture size, you sacrifice brightness. The projection bulb needs replacement periodically at cost of $200-$500.
The LCD Flat Panel TV is super thin, lightweight and perfect for wall mounting. The LCD brightness is attractive, yet not as sharp as a Plasma. Black, grey and rapid movement can appear blurred in LCDs.
Slight damage to a screen section can create the dreaded "dead pixel" zone in the screen. Check your warranty coverage for this. LCD size availability isn't as large as Rear Projections.
Plasma TVs are acclaimed for having the best picture quality - particularly with motion and contrast. These can be wall-mounted but generate more heat than LCDs, so be careful where it's placed.You won't find a cheap Plasma TV but you can shop for bargains among competitors. There's a motto with Plasma TV sellers - larger the screen, the bigger the price tag.
There's also one more version of the flatscreen TV emerging onto the marketplace - the OLED. You can read more about it below.
The Latest Technology in the Flatscreen Market:
Category: File - :OLEDScreen.jpg|thumb|A 3.8 cm (1.5 in) OLED display
Category: File - :Sony oled.jpg|thumb|Sony XEL-1 (front)
Category: File - :Sony XEL-1.jpg|thumb|Sony XEL-1 (side)
An organic light emitting diode (OLED), also light emitting polymer (LEP) and organic electro luminescence (OEL), is a light-emitting diode (LED) whose emissive electroluminescent layer is composed of a film of organic compounds. The layer usually contains a polymer substance that allows suitable organic compounds to be deposited. They are deposited in rows and columns onto a flat carrier by a simple "printing" process. The resulting matrix of pixels can emit light of different colors.
Such systems can be used in television screens, computer monitors, small, portable system screens such as cell phones and PDAs, advertising, information and indication. OLEDs can also be used in light sources for general space illumination, and large-area light-emitting elements. OLEDs typically emit less light per area than inorganic solid-state based LEDs which are usually designed for use as point-light sources.
A significant advantage of OLED displays over traditional liquid crystal displays (LCDs) is that OLEDs do not require a backlight to functionOLED vs LCD Comparison. Thus, they can display deep black levels, draw far less power, and can be much thinner and lighter than an LCD panel. OLED displays also naturally achieve much higher contrast ratio than LCD screens using either CCFL or LED Backlights.OLED vs LED Comparison
OLED - The Next Evolution of Flatscreen TV Technology
In the world of flatscreen TVs, LCDs are not large enough, Rear Projections are too bulky and Plasmas have burn-in problems.Not to worry - the giants of TV technology are fine-tuning the next wave in flatscreens to address all of those problems with the OLED. The OLED is TV delivered by Organic Light Emitting Diode, which was pioneered by Kodak in the 1980s.
Sony and Samsung are in a dead heat race to bring the OLED TV into the market as the "next big thing" for flatscreen TV. The OLED solves the most irritating problems of current flatscreen issues.
OLED picture quality is high contrast, captures motion without blurring, gives a wide angle of view and delivers exquisite true to life colors. Oddly, what Epson learned in developing the ink jet printer helped in refining the OLED.
Taking organic layers on top of TFT substrates put Epson into the OLED market as a serious contender. While Epson focuses on large flatscreen TVs, Sony is developing a display that's just slightly thicker than the credit card you used to buy it with.
So what's the downside? The OLED picture comes from almost hair-thin organic layers over TFT (thin film transistor) substrates. This makes manufacturing as delicate as brain surgery.
New systems for mass production are needed. Power consumption is low, so these wallpaper thin TVs aren't massive heat generators.Increasing the screen size while maintaining the thin flatscreen is possible, but still challenging.
Every manufacturer is wrestling with the problem that the blue LED tones tend to deplete twice as rapidly as the red and green LEDs.
Still, the OLED is above and beyond the best in flatscreen TV technology to come along in a long time.
Did You Know You Could Get a Great Deal on a Flatscreen TV on eBay?
Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand byHow to Choose a Flatscreen TV That Delivers the Best Picture
Flatscreen TVs deliver a movie-theater viewing experience and look more attractive in a room than their but the choice is more about your viewing preferences than the decorator value of a flatscreen.Before shopping, decide where and how you plan to view the Flatscreen TV. Room location usually limits the flatscreen size. Go with measurements in hand so that you don't get enamored with a flatscreen that's bigger than the available space.
Pay attention to the lighting in the room. To get highest picture quality, you may need to add blackout curtains or relocate the TV away from large windows. Is this TV primarily for viewing sports, movies or general shows and news?
Major league sports nuts want the biggest screen and the highest resolution, usually HDTV. Rear projection screens quickly capture your attention in the store display, but think carefully about the space this larger unit requires.
Even the thinner LCD flatscreen looks great, so how do you choose? There's your clue - all TVs look great in the store because the display area is designed to show off the best features of each flatscreen TV.The angles, lighting and speaker arrangement are perfect, but that doesn't mean it will look the same in your room. Park your excitement long enough to view, measure and note the store arrangement.
Then go home and see how this works in your room. Better still is to see a rear projection screen, LCD or Plasma in an actual home setting. The "best" flatscreen isn't the newest or most touted in the technology forums. The best flatscreen is the one that fits your space, viewing habits and budget.
Order Your Flatscreen TV or Accessories Direct from Amazon!
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The Plasma TV Blog
Flat Screen TV Tips and News
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byShould I Buy a Flatscreen Monitor for My Computer?
The old, bulky computer monitor is dead - long live the sleek, space-saving Flatscreen monitor! Those old CRTs (Cathode ray tubes) took up valuable desk space.Screen images came from phosphors chemicals to produce colors when zapped by electrons, which is wearing to the eyes over long use.
The LCD (liquid crystal display) flat screen monitor is thin, lightweight, attractive to view and doesn't bombard you with electromagnetic radiation like the CRTs did. The screen quality is fantastic and the larger sizes (17" - 19") are reasonably priced.
Flatscreen computer monitors have bonus items - such as built in speakers, headphone jacks, web cams and easy access USB hubs in the back for other peripheral devices. The flatscreen monitors are becoming more "green" in nature as many are already Energy Star compliant.
Samsung 206BW 20-Inch Digital/Analog Widescreen LCD Monitor
(Black)
For regular computer users, the flatscreen monitor is kinder to the eyes, with the larger size making it possible for some viewers to work without their glasses.
With so much emphasis on video on the 'net these days, flatscreen computer monitors help consumers devour movies, TV shows, and games online with ease.
What Makes a Plasma TV Different?
A plasma display panel (PDP) is a type of flat panel display common to large TV displays ( or larger). Many tiny cells between two panels of glass hold a mixture of noble gases. The gas in the cells is electrically turned into a plasma which emits ultraviolet light which then excites phosphors to emit visible light. Plasma displays should not be confused with LCDs, another lightweight flatscreen display using different technology.Afterdawn.com - Plasma displayGizmodo - Giz Explains: Plasma TV Basics
What Questions Do You Have About Flatscreen TVs?
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Reply
- Mkt07 Mkt07 Feb 7, 2008 @ 7:09 pm
- Hey, thanks for all that intel. I´m just thinking of buying a new TV. You had some helpful information on this lense. All the Best, Gesa.
