Are you ready to buy a Plasma Display Panel? Then you should know more about the general characteristics of Plasma Display before you enter the shop and look puzzled over the differences and benefits of a Plasma Display Panel over a LCD TV. When it comes to indoor displays, Plasma Display Panel is one of the most all-around medium available today. The content for plasma displays is trouble-free to generate and manage, especially with a solid software program. In plasma display panels, three colors are contained in the pixels or better known as RGB. They are red, green and blue — evenly distributed onto the screen. These three colors are the primary requirement for the television to come up with a range of colors and thus a huge spectrum of colors. The plasma display panel must emit or illuminate tiny, glowing lights which are colorful to form an image. The pixels are made up of three lights, fluorescent in nature — a red, a green and a blue one. Plasma Panel is an electrically charged noble gas (typically argon, xenon, or neon) which is packed on millions of little compartments. These compartments lie between the transistor- glass’s two panes. The display panel of a plasma TV, is a flat panel that is similar to a large television. And it is here in the two panels between the transistor glasses, that the noble gasses are held. The gases held here are converted into plasma through electricity. This lets out a ultra-violet light ray which converts phosphors to send out light.

 The General Characteristics of Plasma Display Panel:

• Plasma displays are bright
• Plasma Display Panel is equipped to handle a whole lot of colors which might not be available on other technology.
• They have levels of light. So if a picture requires less light, they tune up accordingly. It is the same in the case of bright scenes requirements.
• Plasma display screen is made with a special glass that has the power to reflect  more light than the glass with which LCD screens are made. Hence, it causes more glares with the reflective objects in the surrounding.
• One can easily mount them onto any wall in the house.
• It offers wider lens which means the screen is wider and the picture does not get cut abruptly.
• images do not suffer from degradation at high angles unlike LCDs
• Given the hi-end technology, there is no blurring caused due to the motion. They give a slightly enhanced detailed and sharper image than the LCD televisions.
• Plasma Television Panel have a high definition & high contrast ratio
• As they tune up to light requirements, the images do not get washed out or become gray as they do on an LCD screen.
• The installation and maintenance are relatively simple.
• Plasma screens in the past was that, plasma could not generate the color black; it was more of a gray. New systems have overcome this drawback with new black drive systems and improved ratio contrasts.
• Helpful in reaching out to a large audience

The two main things you need to consider while buying a Plasma TV are the amount of power it would consume and the Environmental impact of Plasma TV. The features of a plasma TV that have an effect on the environment are the way it is manufactured, the usage at home and its disposal. The Plasma TV sets use gas ionization technology which consumes a lot of electricity so as to give tiny pixel cells contributing to a brighter and clearer image. Latest surveys on Plasma television sets revealed that the usage of these is the major contributor for electricity bills in most countries. The larger the size and clarity of the television the more amount of power it consumes.  The power consumption is at its peak while displaying bright and colorful moving images and does not reduce when the set is left in ‘Stand By’ state which most people tend to do often.

The introduction of energy star ratings for television sets has ensured that the manufacturing companies enhance the energy efficiency of their models. They were forced to drop their stand by usage from 20 watt/hr to 1 watt/hr thereby reducing the stand by usage time of the appliance. The broadcast of programs through satellite networks to households also consumes a lot of power and usage of Plasma TV’s only increases the usage because of the need to send the signals in both analog and digital formats.

The manufacture of the television sets includes working with glass and semi conductor devices which use considerable amount of energy. Besides, the transport of these sets through land and water causes more pollution.  Hence the companies have come up with more corporate social responsibility programs to keep in check the pollution and to optimize the usage of energy. And finally the disposal of the wastes generated by the manufacturing is also a major problem as they release toxic substances like Mercury, Cadmium which are used in electronic devices, into the environment. There are various waste disposal plans available which are safe and free of negative impacts, so it is advisable to contact an environmental engineer, to dispose the old and used sets off or better, to reuse them appropriately.

Hence the Environmental impact of Plasma TV has to be duly considered and comparisons must be made based on authentic information about the amount of energy utilized in the manufacture, the power consumption, Stand by time and the materials used in the manufacture, before selecting any particular brand. Appropriate screen size with an energy efficient model as recommended above needs to be selected from a manufacturer who has the best corporate social responsibility schemes in their organization. The retailer from whom a television is bought also has to share the environmental concerns and has to be knowledgeable of all the appropriate details. It is better to have the check list handy while purchasing any electronic appliance. The check list should contain an energy efficient brand, optimum screen size, comparison of prices and internal parts that assemble the appliance.

Aren’t Flat-Screen LCD TVs in your list of ‘must-haves’ for this Christmas Season?  Have you recently purchased a LCD TV or are you planning to buy one? LCD TVs are a boon to the human race of course and you shall see why! You might want to consider the environmental effects of LCD TV. LCD televisions are typically more energy efficient every per square inch than any other TV available in the market. However, this does not mean that you can buy any LCD TV and expect it to be green. Many large-screen LCD televisions over 50 inches are nearly as bad at wasting electricity as plasma TVs. You may find that your power bills are always on the rise when you bring home more electronic appliances that frequently exhaust power whether they are kept in on or off mode. When considering the purchase of a plasma or LCD TV many people are worried about how much power it uses and increasingly what the total ecological cost is. Yes there are negative environmental effects of LCD TVs.

When it comes to calculating the carbon emissions, the televisions made earlier, emitted at least one hundred kilos of carbon dioxide a year. In case of a large plasma television, it was around 400 kgs. This is because; there are no small plasma screens available.

However it depends upon the company and also the size of the LCD TV once purchased. For example, many top brands that manufacture LCD televisions mechanically adjusts back light concentration in response to the brightness of the image and adjusts the screen brightness in response to ambient luster.

LCD-based TVs have backlights which shine through an LCD panel to create the image. Since the pixels are situated in the panel, and not the backlight, the TV’s power does not largely depend upon the resolution. Any LCD TV has a life of about 55,000 to 60,000 hours and the plasma televisions have about half the number of hours in life.  Plus if the technology can make the gadget last longer, it is better for the environment. LCDs are effective also because they weigh less and are sleeker in comparison to other plasma televisions. Hence, they are more appealing to customers. And at the end of the day, a plasma television consumes more energy than a LCD television.

While the environmental effects of LCD TV aren’t a blessing, you can keep the following points in mind before you select your LCD TV, if you already haven’t:

• Select an energy resourceful model with a suitable screen size;
• Choose an global manufacturer representing corporate social responsibility; and
• Find a local merchant who shares your ecological concerns.

• Go for a “green” LCD Television.
• If one really wants to go green, it is best; they turn off the electronic items from the main switch whenever their use is over. Televisions mustn’t be left on, on a stand by mode. When it is left this way, it continues to use up the energy. When you switch off your LCDs TVs when not watching, you help to increase the positive effects of LCD TV usage.

When this technology of Plasma was initially introduced they came with a resolution and in a ratio which was relatively smaller than the ones we get today. The resolution available with the first models of Plasma televisions was 840 x 480 pixels or 853 x 480 pixels and the ratio was 13:9 in sizes of 37, 42, 43 and 47 inches. This was mainly done to match the native display resolution. Well it may seem a bit confusing because we’ve haven’t stated any names yet, well the name of the early advancement in Plasma TV’s were known as enhanced definition Plasma television.

Now the native resolution was originally TV’s which already had digital cable devices fixed on them. The resolution of the incoming signal had to be scaled down to native resolution of the display panel of the Plasma’s. These are known as EDTV’s. since most of the broadcasters wouldn’t broadcast on a resolution of 853 x 480 pixels or the other alternative, such TV’s were useful since they could scale down to image in order to fit the display panel. But services that would send their videos in the same resolution were iTunes and some video games.

People also started noticing a fact that although these TV’s were not High Definition but due to downscaling done in order to fit the display panels, the image quality on these EDTV’s looked far better than the quality of a DVD on the same Plasma. EDTV uses the same connectors as a HDTV; one requires a progressive DVD player or a gaming console in which the component video cable is connected which consists of three RCA cables meant for video only. Since it has a device which can downscale the resolution for the display panel in case of an HDTV this cannot take place and since all the broadcaster do not broadcast their signal in HD, the image quality will become poor for those specific channels on a HDTV.

Similarly it is a money saver because although the signal provided will be HD, you will be getting clearer images on a EDTV by all the broadcasters since it is observed that all of them broadcast on resolutions greater than the general ED resolution. EDTV’s are a treat for gamers as well, since most of the consoles are EDTV compatible provided there was an component connection which most often provided by the producer of the gaming console. Even the latest gaming consoles like the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 are EDTV enabled with HDMI or VGA components.

Although the EDTVs were the first ones in the line for Plasma technology to be introduced, it proved to be unsuccessful and that is why till today any new service has to be made compatible to an EDTV. Since they were the first ones to enter the market they got hold of a huge market share and it is impossible for every customer to switch to an HDTV when he owns an enhanced definition Plasma television.

The high definition television has made waves in the current market. But there is something that is between HD television viewing and it is ED resolutions aka Enhanced-definition television. It is also known as the ED TV in the United States of America. ED or enhanced definition lies somewhere between the standard definition television and the high definition television. It is superior to the standard television but inferior to HD TV.

An ED resolution television is a device which manages a display of 480 – 576 line signals progressively scanning and not an interlaced scan which is 480i and 576i. Although it is not as powerful as HD TV, different countries have different view points about ED resolutions. In some places, 576p digital TV is recognised as HD TV while 720p is minimum requirement for HD TV. This is because many a times, televisions which are equipped with technology which lies in between HD and Standard definition, are known to be HD ready. These often display 1280 x 800 panels where as a fully equipped HD TV will use 1920 x 1080 resolutions.

The ED TV requires more bandwidth when compared to an SDTV. It requires a composite video more or an S- video mode. It will require higher bandwidth media to comfortably accommodate more data transfer. If one wants to make use of an ED TV to watch a movie DVD or to play a game, they must make sure the game console or the DVD player is connected via a 3RCA cable or a VGA connector.

In comparison to HD TV, ED TV requires much lesser bandwidth. Hence, due to this, television stations can broadcast numerous ED TV stations at once unlike HD TV. The pixels used for broadcasting ED TV are non square which is similar for standard definition. Similar amounts of horizontal pixels are used in the ratio of 4:3 and 16:9. Most ED TVs have a resolution of 852 x 480 which leads to scaling of any sort of display. When one downloads using iTunes or video games, 852 x 480 resolution is used.

In the absence of HD TV earlier, people found the ED TV a good option. A plasma television is the best option to use when one has ED resolution TV as it can display picture without interlacing the signals.

If one is a keen gamer, then games are best played on ED TV. Plus an ED resolution television is regarded as the best invention since the time of colour television. This is because it offers great video viewing experience to the customers. And it is cheaper than the HD TV of course. So if one is happy with the resolution offered with ED TV and does not want to shell out the extra money, ED TV is their best option. It is, however, said that the picture quality of a HD TV is twenty times better than that of an ED resolution TV.

High definition television or HDTV refers to very high resolution imaging. In simple terms – the moving images on your television screen. If you had to break that down each second would contain approximately 24 frames. Each frame is an image. Each image contains pixels. Now the higher the number of these pixels used the clearer would be the image. HDTV works on the principle of providing the best possible image or moving images to the viewer. Today because of advanced technology like digital broadcast and video compression, we have seen the demise of analogue HD systems which was the standard system that was in use.

Back in 1973, the International Telecommunication Union of the United Nations dealt on developing and agreeing upon various standards with regard to HD systems. In fact the ITU  had its radio sector called the ITU-R was expressly involved in developing Analogue HDTV. The ITU-R’s primary aim was to create a global awareness for this technology but soon it was discovered that these would not fit into the broadcasting bands which would be available to home users. From here on the focus was then of the different standards like MPEG-1. Later broadcast companies, consumer electronic companies and other regulatory bodies came together to form the DVB organization which would be involved in agreeing upon specifications which would be formally recognized by the ETS.

One of the earliest HD systems was developed by Japan known as MUSE which is a method of encoding was first worked upon in the late 70’s. This was a dot-interlaced digital video compression system that used modulation of the analog to transmit the rays in order to deliver high definition signals into the homes of consumers. Japan started broadcasting this analogue high definition signal known as Hi-Vision into homes in the late eighties. MUSE as a compression system would ‘fold’ a 200 MHz signal into 8.1 Mhz and therefore this reduced the burden on the bandwidth. It was also the start of the 16:9 aspect ratios becoming a more prevalent standard at the time. This particular aspect ration continued its presence into the 2000s with more and more development on HD systems to become more efficient carriers and reduce bandwidth usage at the same time.

At the time Japanese broadcaster NHK was using MUSE to send HDTV signals into viewer homes. But even with the various limited standardizations of HD that took place in the subsequent years it was not considered a success. This can be attributed to various economic reasons. NHK’s MUSE for instance required more than four times the bandwidth in comparison to a standard definition broadcast. There were efforts made to reduce the burden on bandwidth but even with the shrinkage of the same to twice that of SDTV did not prove to be adequate as there was the matter of distribution. Seven broadcasters would have to share on channel on a daily basis if they wanted to use even this compressed format of the technology. Japan is the only country which has successfully done a public broadcast using analog HDTV. The demise of analogue HD systems in Japan eventually happened in October 2007.

Contrast is the difference in the visual perception which in general is supposed to be between lighter and darker objects. The Contrast ratio in Plasma TV can be defined as the ratio of the degree of the part that is brightest to the degree of the darkest spot that can be produced by the television. This ratio is expressed as the number of shades of grey in between those spots. A higher contrast rate is a requisite of almost every appliance but it also needs to be capable of providing it. 5,000:1 which is considered a good ratio of contrast but when it is used on screens larger than 42 inches, the image may get blurred. Hence it becomes important to determine the perfect contrast ratio depending on the system requirements so that an optimum viewing experience is guaranteed every time. However this ratio between the brightest and darkest spots determines only the contrast ratio that is static by nature.

Different manufacturers have different methods of contrast ratio ratings and hence it is not advisable to compare the ratings of each other. But the most popular method that has been used to measure the contrast ratio is the CRT or the Cathode Ray Tube method. This method uses an ideal room which absorbs all the light and any light that comes would be from the Television. Hence the contrast ratio of the image would be that of the Television. The other methods to determine the contrast ratio are ‘full on full’ method, ANSI Contrast method and by using DLP Projectors.

There can be no relation to the claimed contrast ration by the company and the actual display the user receives. This is due to a number of incorrect and illegal ways resorted to by the manufacturers in measuring the contrast ratio. Sometimes they do not use the entire screen but use a small portion of it to get the bright light or even the usage of the screen without the protective panel so that the brightest spot can be manipulated. The darkest spots are also manipulated by turning off the display while taking the measurement. Hence the contrast ratio must be ensured from the above said methods acceptable methods.

Contrast ratio in Plasma TV is one of the most important deciding factors one needs to consider before buying it. As per marketing practice it is only the contrast ratio that has a dynamic capability is displayed and in many cases this is not directly comparable to the static contrast ratio. Plasma TV with a particular contrast ratio would show a better quality picture than an LCD with the same contrast ratio. The best way to determine the contrast ratios in these scenarios is to measure these capabilities of a TV in a totally dark room because in ordinary circumstances the reflected light from other surfaces will contribute to the light from the TV and makes it hard to measure the exact contrast ratio.

Every time an animation film is released or a big budget film is released, we get to know about the Blu Ray 3D DVDs of the same being made available for customers who can get their copy and keep for personal usage. People rush to buy the same. This is because buying a Blu Ray disc of the film means that you are assured of high quality film viewing experience unlike regular DVDs or VCDs.

A Blu-ray 3D, the term stands for the technology which is superior to the DVD format. It is an optical disc storage medium which is used to store high definition film or video. A blu ray 3D can store data up to 20-25 GB per layer and if it is a dual layered disc, it can store about 50 GB of high definition data. Yet, the storage capacity of a Blu ray 3D disc can go up to about 200 GB at times. There are 100 GB Blu ray discs available in the market as well. While the Blu ray discs are much superior to the likes of DVDs, they all look the same.

But why is it called a Blu ray 3D disc? This is because it was coined from the term blue-violet laser which is used to read the discs. A Blu ray uses a wavelength shorter, 405 nanometre to be precise, than a regular DVD which needs a 650 nanometre red laser wavelength. Yet, it has the capacity to store high definition data ten times more than a DVD. To prove its worth, there was a format war held in the past, where the Blu ray discs competed with the regular DVDs and end the result was that the Blu ray discs won hands down!

Before Blu ray, a DVR Blue prototype was unveiled at a technology exhibition. But later in the year, the project was renamed and announced as Blu ray. And this high definition storage disc was created by a nine member team!

It was made available to the consumers for the first time in 2003. The pricing for the Blu Ray player was very high initially yet they did not have any sample video or movies to run on it then. Hollywood had still not accepted this technology as there no management backup to this. Hence a Blu ray disc association was formed in association with 20^th Century Fox Studios. Further specifics required to market the product were defined by 2006.

By 2009, many big names in the electronics world launched their own Blu ray 3D disc players. It is developed in association with the BDA which now represents the interests of the electronics, hardware and film making sphere. Given the high quality film experience it offers, it has soon become a household name and people prefer buying a Blu ray disc over any CDs or DVDs available in the market. There is no known technology surpassing Blu ray at the moment. These can be bought online as well as at selected stores.

These days, televisions are commonly found in almost everywhere. In fact it is not altogether surprising to find multiple television sets within a home. Today of course with the kind of technology we have, there is a vast array of television types that one finds from your basic high definition television to LCD to plasma screens. However at one point early in its development, analog systems for high definition televisions were introduced which was a revolution in the history of television technology.

A High definition television (HDTV) when introduced basically provided a higher viewing resolution which means the picture was a lot clearer than the traditional television systems which were in common use at the time. These were called Standard Definition or SDTV. To give you an idea, HDTV has anywhere from 1 to 2 million pixels per frame which is roughly five times more than SDTV. Of course today’s technology is far superior providing digital broadcasts while employing video compression techniques. Prior to this however HDTV broadcasts were done using analog systems.

The terminology ‘high definition’ at the time was used to describe television sets which used higher than 30 lines of resolution. Of course at this time in the late 1930s, the previous models of comparison were the mechanical systems (less than 30 lines of resolution) which were in use prior to the analog. It was about a decade or so later that France started to transmit using an 819 lines system. This of course was monochrome only and was used only on VHF to broadcast the very first television channel in France. This technology lasted for about 35 years before it was discontinued in 1985. Similarly in the then Soviet Union, the fist HDTV was developed and it was called Transformator or Transformer. This system was capable to producing images which had over 1100 lines of resolution. Of course the technology was developed not for commercial but for military purposes to enable teleconferencing between the various military commands. The project which started out as research never really saw the light of day and eventually was scrapped with being used either in the military or in the civilian broadcasting sphere.

At the same time, Japan was announced as the world renowned leader amongst countries in the area of electronics. It was only in the year 1969 that a Japanese broadcaster NHK developed a consumer HDTV which had a  ratio of 5:3 as compared to the  traditional aspect ration of 4:3 which was considered to be the standard at the time. The 5:3 allowed for a slightly wider screen format than the 4:3. It was finally towards the end of 1994 that regular broadcast begun on the channel with commercials and programming.

In 1981, the Japanese MUSE system was unveiled for the first time in America. It contained the same 5:3 aspect ratio as the Japanese system. US wanted to introduce HDTV as the new technology but higher requirement of bandwidth on the system caused it to be rejected by the FCC. Today of course there are vastly improved and advanced systems than the old analog systems which were all but wiped out after the mid-90s.

The world is quickly turning into 3D! Yes, believe me or not, the 3D is new rage amongst film makers across the world. Earlier 3D films were restricted to children’s science films which were purely for education purposes. Apart from this 3D films were not highly attractive and one could view them only in the science museums or specialised theatres.

But today a 3D film is coming of age. In the recent past, technology has surpassed many glitches and obstacles one faced while making a 3D film. Today there are specialised virtual cameras that used to make 3D films. With the help of these cameras, a multi-camera set up is created. Hence, it captures the whole surrounding environment which can be edited in real time. It helps to greatly enhance the depth of perception of an image. The images captured in the special virtual camera provide two different perspectives. The virtual camera generates the two different images just like computer graphics does. A viewer must wear specialised glasses to see such a film. This is because these glasses provide an illusion of depth to the human eye.

But 3D is not something new. According to research such films existed even in the 17^th century. But due to the lack of awareness, technological restrictions, and the standardised formats, it was not used much. But in America the 3D films existed since 1950s. It was only in the 80s and early 90s, that the whole world took notice of 3D films.

3D films were made using the Anaglyph technology. In the anaglyph technology, the two different images are superimposed in a light setting which are additive in nature and the images are then screened in colours complementing each other on a white paper. Now the glasses used to watch these films, have a red and blue lens. These lenses separate the images by filtering the colour out and then render the black colour.

These are much easier to watch, the anaglyph images when compared to the stereogram ones. But the stereogram images offered better coloured images which are almost accurate. Anaglyphs offer good colour renditions to the images but they are muted in nature.

Today 3D films are being made in different streams of entertainment and not just films. Television soaps or mini series films are also using the 3D technology. Animation uses 3D in a big way. DVDs of such films are being released in 3d as well. This means one can watch 3D films at home too.

A 3D film is best viewed in the IMAX theatres or specialised theatres around the world. If one watched a 3D film in a dome theatre which is a larger than life version of a planetarium, the experience gets richer. In a dome theatre, a 3D film will provide much more effects than a normal screen theatre. It is more personal in such theatres. 2D is going out of fashion as films which have viewing options in both; people prefer 3D over 2D today. No one can deny or compare 3D film viewing experience.