The huge screen plasm, HDTVs or High Definitions are taking over. The main reason is that once you see a sport’s event on one of these screens, you just can’t go back to your old CRT television. The meaning of high definition is that it has a lot more pixels than Standard Definition. Just as a 600 DPI printer will give you much greater detail than a 300 DPI printer, a high definition television will be able to display a lot more dots on the screen than a standard TV. The result - much better picture quality.

The two primary kinds of flatscreen TVs are plasma and LCD. Along with their other benefits, both of these sets showcase exceptional picture quality. Of the two, it’s generally conceded that the LCD technology produces a better overall image quality - especially in terms of color saturations and more naturalistic skin tones. However, the plasma models have the advantage in a better “black level” displays which makes the image crisper and clear. Both LCD and plasma televisions have their adherents. Which one is better for you is a matter of personal preference which only you can determine.

Old style CRT televisions used a cathode ray or electron gun to paint the screen with a picture. The newer plasma style televisions work on a different principle

The higher resolution of plasma televisions are because plasma television do not use scan lines. Instead a plasma TV is pixel based. The pixels form a matrix of cells or transistor electrodes filled with an inert gas. The cells are coated with phosphorous and are sensitive to electrical current and emit red, green and blue lights in response to electric current.

When you turn on the TV, the cells are activated. When you turn it off, the cells are de-activated.This is the same way that computer monitors work. The three primary colors can create all the colors needed. The end result is a crystal clear and smooth image being displayed on the screen. But another reason for the stellar picture quality of plasma TVs is that while CRT televisions can display images in thousands of colors, plasma televisions can produce millions of colors.

Nearly all plasma TVs have what is referred to as a built in line doubler. What this does is take an interlaced video source and strip out the extra lines to create a single-interlaced frame output. In effect, it “doubles” the resolution of the regular TV signal. The end result is a smoother and higher resolution picture. Now, since plasma TVs can’t play interlaced signals directly, they use a line-doubler to modify the signal into a format which they can read. There’s more than one algorithm that can be used to “deinterlace” a signal and the quality of the resulting image depends to a large extent on which algorithm is brought into play.

There are a few problems with CRT screens, especially the older models. Some have  trouble with glare, particularly when watching TV in a room flooded with sunlight. For the most part, this is becase of the curvature of the screen. Most of the flat screen models, now available, have pretty much eliminated this problem.

Plasma televisions have another advantage as well in that they aren’t susceptible to the usual image distortions that CRT televisions are subject to. So no matter where you view the picture from, you get a true view of the picture.

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