Difference Between HDTV and Plasma

HDTV vs Plasma

In the old days, there was only one type of TV. The only question was how big was the TV you wanted. Currently, there are many new technologies and even more confusing terms. Two of these are HDTV and plasma. The main difference between HDTV and plasma is in what they actually refer to. “HDTV” stands for “High Definition Television,” and basically indicates that the TV has a higher resolution than standard TVs. HDTVs are often large-screen, flat panel displays. On the other hand, plasma is one of the newest TV technologies. Others include: LCD, LED, and the much older CRT. Although there were plasma TVs that were not HDTVs, those are already discontinued, and all plasmas presently are HDTVs.

One of the primary advantages of plasma is its potential in making large displays. In fact, the largest TV on record is a plasma TV that measure 150 inches. Plasma TVs cannot be made very small, and the smallest plasma TV is just shy of 30 inches. Other HDTVs can be made in much smaller dimensions. Twenty-inch LCD HDTVs or less are quite common. Scaling the size of LCD TVs up, though, can be quite expensive and difficult. So if you want a really big screen, a plasma HDTV should fit your needs perfectly. However, if you are short on space, you should consider other HDTVs like an LCD.

Among HDTVs, plasma is the only one that suffers from burn-in. This is a problem caused by a static image on the screen like a logo or a channel number. When it stays on the screen for too long, the image can be burned into the screen causing it to appear even when you are watching something else. This was a very big problem with plasmas in the early days. Even though measures have been taken to minimize the burn-in, it can still happen in all modern plasma TVs. Other HDTV technologies do not have the same problem although they have other problems of their own.

If you are concerned that a plasma TV is not an HDTV, rest assured that modern plasmas are. But if you expect to do a lot of gaming on your TV, you should steer clear of plasmas as games have a lot of static images that can eventually get burned into your TV screen.

Summary:

HDTV is an indication of a TVs resolution while plasma is one of the technologies used in TVs.
Plasma TVs are not available in small sizes while other HDTVs are.
Among HDTVs, only plasmas are susceptible to burn-in.

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