saurabh said:
I pretty new to screen types and dont understand them well. Whats are the differences between Plasma, DLP, LCD, CRT. What are their good or bad features and how do you decide between them, given that price is not a factor and are of the same size.
Well, CRT has long been the "Gold Standard." The resolution and color accuracy of a good CRT is still very hard for any other technology to top. But CRT is being replaced, mostly because newer solid state technology is cheaper & more compact, not so much for performance reasons.
Pros: Excellent resolution, SOTA color accuracy.
Cons: Pricey (at least the large ones), very large and heavy, and you lose brightness over the light of the set. Picture somewhat succeptible to "burning in." Convergance can be an issue.
Plasma- Sleek, sexy & thin. Resolution falls short of CRT, and color isn't as good. IMO plasma falls well short of CRT performance wise and exhibits several problems- false contouring, poor black level, and slow gray scale transition. Most of these areas are improving, however, and the prices are coming down.
Pros: Very compact & thin. Trendy, "sexy."
Cons: Absolute performance, price is a tad high (but coming down). Very very succeptible to screen "burn in"- game on one at your own risk.
LCD- This uses liquid crystal displays to project a picture. The cost is very low and the color is pretty good. The PJ market is being hotly contested by LCD and DLP.
Pros: Price- LCD is pretty economical and very compact. Good resolution & Long life. LCD's have no possibility of burn in. Potential for good performance.
Cons: Space between pixels causes a 'screen door effect,' although newer LCD panels exhibit this much less than older models. Somewhat poorer contrast and black levels than newer DLP, and not in the same league as CRT.
DLP- This technology is based on
Texas Instruments Digital Light Projection Engine. It uses a small chip covered with micromirrors and a spinning color wheel to project an image. DLP is very compact, very affordable and lightweight.
Pros: DLP, like LCD, will never burn in. Resolution is very good, and contrast/black levels is generally better than LCD. Can project a bright picture vs CRT.
Cons: The sequential color wheel pattern can cause color separation artifacts, aka "Rainbows", that are very disconcerting to some viewers. Many people can't see the effect at all (myself included) but those who can simply can't live with DLP. Bulb life varies, but can be expensive. Black level better than previous generations of DLP, but still not as good as CRT.
Summary: The technology isn't as important as the implementation, and all can be viable. For smaller TVs, it hard to touch a good ol' CRT. In direct view and RPTVs they can be a good choice, although getting maximum performance usually requires professional calibration. CRT can be extremely expensive if you want a projector, though. Plasma is the hot product right now, but even the best plasmas I've ever seen fall short of the better DLP & CRT sets (although this is partly subjective). IMOHO plasma isn't quite ready for prime time yet, but it's improving. You can also fit a plasma set in places no other TV will fit. To me, LCD doesn't quite get me there, although I'll concede I haven't seen the very latest HD models. I prefer DLP, but I can't see the dreaded "Rainbow Effect"- if you can, you'll never be able to tolerate it.
This is obviously a "TV For Dummies" simplification, but I hope it's useful. I imagine someone will come along soon and say everything I wrote was wrong.
