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Plasma TelevisionsPlasma HDTVs have generally been a more expensive technology than LCD displays, but this gap is shrinking. Plasmas offer benefits like darker blacks and more accurate colors over LCD displays, but are generally not as bright and have their own set of issues.Plasma displays are made up of many small cells that are filled with gas, typically neon and xenon. High voltage electrical impulses are used to excite this gas, which produces the state called Plasma from which the displays derive their name. As a plasma is produced, it releases electrons that then excite phosphor materials that line the cell, which produce the red, green and blue lights that are used to create an image. Three cells, one for red, green and blue, are grouped together to form a single pixel on the display. By modulating the electrical impulse to produce brighter or dimmer combinations of these three colors Plasma displays can produce any color in the visible spectrum. Because they lack the backlights that LCD displays use, Plasmas are able to produce much deeper blacks and a higher contrast between the darkest black and brightest white. This also helps them produce more accurate colors. The negative to Plasma displays are that they cannot get as bright as LCD displays, and they use a lot of power. The two are related, for example if you are looking at an all white display on a Plasma you'll notice the brightness drops significantly, this is because the television has reached it's maximum power draw and is thus unable to produce the maximum level of brightness across the entire screen, a phenomenon known as White Falloff. Plasma displays are also susceptible to burn-in: if a static image is left on the display for long periods of time, it can result in a "ghost" effect as the burned in image remains visible even after the display has switched to another image. Due to the more difficult construction of Plasma displays, they have generally been relagated to larger, more expensive HDTVs. But as costs have come down, we are beginning to see smaller Plasma displays and they have become more competitive with LCD displays in that market.
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