I have 3 tvs in my house I often find myself watching tv in the basement where my Plasma is just because the LCD looks terrible in the dark why is this so
In: Technology
Also refresh rate. Plasmas have very high refresh rates versus 120hz on many LEDs. Makes any motion smoother, loved my plasma for basketball. But the LG OLED is similar, true black not as good as some describe here but again, close to the plasma.
>isn’t LCD newer and the new standard
Evolution in things like energy consumption, heat generated during use, cost of production, size/weight, etc., can all make LCDs better for both manufacturer’s and consumers without improving the picture quality. “The new standard” is not a hard and fast metric for quality.
Plasma’s pixels can individually turn on and off. Think of them as little tiny light bulbs.
LED and LCD displays don’t work that way. Instead there is a giant backlight that lights up the whole screen (we’ll simplify and ignore zones for this explanation). Each pixel has a liquid crystal that can twist. Twisted in one way and it blocks light, twisted another way it lets light through. Think of LCD as millions of tiny little doors. When pixel is on, the door is open.
If you’ve ever been in a dark hotel room with the hallway lit outside, you would’ve noticed that there is always a little bit of light leaking through the bottom and edges of the door. Same thing here. The liquid crystal cannot block 100% of the light, and therefore a pixel is never truly dark. This degrades contrast and picture quality, as the whole picture has a greyish tint to it.
> isn’t LCD newer?
No. LCD TVs have been around since [1984](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LCD_television). The first plasma TV was sold in [1995](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_display). But their price, weight, and power demand meant they saw limited adoption in the market, especially as the older LCD tech closed the quality gap while keeping prices low.
LCD tv’s weren’t invented for better picture quality.
They were adopted because of lower production cost.
Punctuation is helpful:
Why does a Plasma HD tv look about a million times nicer than a HD LCD? Isn’t LCD newer, and the new standard? They both are 40 inch as well.
One thing nobody will ever tell you tho is that if you buy an OLED you will never be able to go back. You’ve been warned
I have a low res Panasonic plasma.858 x something.
It is amazing. Look vibrant with accurate colors. From 6 feet away you can’t tell it’s low res.
I got it in 2008.just riding it out now.
Trying sonething:
Let’s imagine TVs as windows, and the technology inside them as the glass that affects how clearly you see outside. Plasma TVs have special “glass” that shows vivid, deep colors and true blacks, like looking through a clean, clear window at night. LCDs, on the other hand, have a layer of “frost” on the glass because they use backlighting. This backlight struggles to show true blacks, making dark scenes look more washed out—like peeking through a foggy window.
Even though LCDs are newer, they’re designed differently. It’s like upgrading to a newer model of a car that’s great in daylight but poor at night. That’s why your Plasma looks better in the dark—it’s simply showing you the picture more accurately.
Your experience is totally normal! That Plasma in your basement excels in low-light settings, creating a more immersive and pleasant viewing experience compared to the LCD, which performs better in bright rooms.
In short, it’s not about which one is newer but about how they handle light and colors, especially in dark environments.
I bought a 50 inch plasma off a friend during a divorce fire sale for $400 including the stand. Gorgeous TV. Spoiled my palate.
Once you have a plasma the only replacement is OLED.
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