Flat Screen Comparison – Plasma vs LCD vs LED Comparison

When flat screen TVs and displays first hit the market, they only came in one form of technology: plasma. Today there are more technologies for flat screens in the market. Now if you go to buy a flat screen TV, you will have to decide whether you want a plasma, an LCD, or an LED model. Actually, LED is somewhat of a misnomer, as LED TVs use LCD technology in the screens, the only difference is that they use LED lighting to backlight the screen instead of fluorescent and cathode lighting that most other LCD screens use. So that means that all LEDs are LCDs but not all LCDs are LEDs. This may be confusing at first but the reason that they don’t call them LCD LED TVs is that LED lighting is better and smaller, allowing the overall size of the TV to be much smaller than typical LCDs, while still being able to be brighter and last longer. The tradeoff, however, is that most LED TV sets are more expensive than LCDs using other lighting technologies. As for TV sets based on the older plasma technology, they are typically less resolution than LCDs, have less contrast, not as bright, don’t last as long, and are prone to screen burn-in. Of course the tradeoff here is that plasma TVs are usually cheaper than the same sized LCD or LED screens. So it all depends on what your personal needs are versus your planned budget. If you want to get the biggest size possible for the cheapest price you will probably be looking at plasmas and maybe lower priced LCD TVs. If you want the absolute best screen that will last the longest with the smallest physical size so you can easily hang it on the wall and transport it with you when you move, then an LED TV is the way to go. Or if you want a compromise of all these features you may want to take a look at LCD TV sets.