Plasma TV

Choosing the Best Plasma Screens

Getting ready to treat yourself to a brand new Plasma TV? Learn about plasma television technology and get the inside scoop on what you should consider when choosing your flat screen.

• Panasonic VIERA (www.panasonic.co.nz/VIERA)

• Audio and Home Theatre
• Electronics Brands
• Major Electronics Retailers

Self confessed technology geeks and home theatre aficionados alike can’t get enough of big screen technology. It seems nowadays bigger and flatter definitely means better, and the technology behind Plasma TV has become one of the most exciting consumer electronics developments of the past decade.

Plasma TV has quite literally changed the face and shape of television, from the old familiar cathode ray tube CRT-type televisions that have been around for 50 years, to a sleek, nearly flat display that’s light enough to hang on your living room wall like art.

Plasma TV displays deliver high-definition television (HDTV), upping the anti and impact in home theatre viewing for users world wide.

How does a Plasma TV work?
The technological home theatre magic within a plasma screen consists of pockets of Xenon and Neon gas mixture, or plasma, located between two electrodes. Outer flat slabs of glass form the outside of the plasma screen, surrounding these gas pockets of plasma.

The gas mixture within these pockets contains both positively and negatively charged ions which interact to produce colours on the screen. The pockets are also coated with the fluorescent material phosphor which displays colour when it reacts with rays of light. A pixel is a unit consisting of three smaller areas, each coated with red, blue, and green colour-producing phosphor material.

To produce a colour image a certain amount of electrical current enters the pockets of gas when the electrodes become charged. The electrical current causes the positive and negative ions within the gas to become excited, and the excited ions then collide with each other, as they try to travel towards their oppositely charged electrode.

Every collision of these ions produces rays of ultraviolet light called photons, which react with the coloured phosphor material coating the pixels. The pixels then release different amounts of red, blue, or green light to display the image you see on your plasma screen

Why buy a Plasma TV?
Prices for plasma TV screens continue to drop, and many home theatre experts suggest plasma displays offer the best value among thin and flat televisions of larger screen sizes.

Modern plasma TV displays are also capable of producing very dark blacks for viewing in dimly lit environments, and do extremely well in handling video containing quick motion for sports and action-movie fans.

Selecting the right Plasma TV flat screen is simple a matter of setting your budget and understanding your television requirements so you can find the best option to match the two.

Buying a Plasma TV: Where to start?
A good way to start narrowing a list of possible plasma display options is to determine the screen size that best matches your space requirements and budget. Most plasma TV display sizes range from 37 inches to 65 inches measured diagonally, so get a sense of what screen size is going to offer the best viewing impact in your home without overpowering the room.

The idea of buying a 65 inch screen for your intimate-sized family room might seem like a fun idea at the time, but how practical will it be in the long term? If you're unsure which size screen is the best option for you, chat with electronics brands experts while you're out shopping, and they will be able to show you a range of sizes and make a few recommendations based on your viewing environment.

Resolution is another factor in the cost and image quality of a plasma TV display. For pixel-based display technology, native resolution refers to the number of unique pixels provided along the display's horizontal and vertical axes. The more pixels a display offers for its screen size, the closer to the screen a viewer can sit without noticing the display's pixel structure.

More important issues to consider when choosing your Plasma TV include HDTV support, connectivity and the number of inputs, and appearance so you can comfortably integrate your stylish new flat screen with the rest of your décor.

For more information on where you can find Plasma TV flat screens in your region visit the NZS.com directory.

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Technology images from Flickr: Plasma TV, Microchip and Cable.