Plasma Vs LCD

Plasma or LCD? It's the biggest question in flat screen televisions. Or so most of us thought. But the reality is that choosing a flat screen television should be a series of small questions.

How big a screen do you want? What will you be watching? Where will you be watching it, and in what light? What is the power consumption differences between Plasma and LCD?

Plasma/LCD tv image with text: Plasma technology uses slightly more energy than LCD technology but offer many advantages, including a definitively better picture quality. Moreover plasma TVs are also gentler on eyes because they are not glaringly bright.

Difference in technologies

The majority of TVs sold in Australia are either based on Plasma or LCD technology. While they both provide you with an image they do it in very different ways.

LCD TVs use a backlight system that constantly uses power to light the screen, this is independent of the image being displayed.

Plasma TVs consume varying levels of power depending on what is being displayed on the screen.

As an example a Plasma TV uses considerably less power in darker scenes than in bright scenes. LCD TVs use a similar amount of power when displaying either a bright or dark scene.

Plasma advantages

We truly believe that Plasma technology is superior to LCD technology for large-screen models for the following reasons:

  1. Better Motion Response
    Instantly updating each pixel for each new image, Plasma has been designed and built from the ground up for showing moving images on larger screens, producing sharp, crisp and vivid images without blurring or smearing.
  2. Better Contrast
    Panasonic VIErA Plasma TVs have a native contrast ratio of up to 40,000:1* (or in LCD number terms 2,000,000:1). What this means is they can reproduce more realistic blacks, giving you more life-like images in living rooms conditions.
  3. Amazing Colour
    Panasonic VIErA Plasma TVs can display up to a staggering 134 billion viewable colours on screen, this means up to an amazing 6144 steps of gradation can be achieved allowing even the tiniest detail to be shown on screen.
  4. Better Viewing Angle
    Panasonic VIErA Plasma TVs maintain a high contrast and picture quality when viewed from almost any angle. So even if you often entertain friends for big sporting events at home everyone will have the best seat in the house.
  5. Environmentally Friendly with a Long Life Span
    Panasonic VIErA Plasma panels offer a long service life of more than 30 years (or 100,000 hours),* when watched for eight hours a day. Panasonic is conscious about the environment. That's why the current range of VIErA Plasmas are lead free and contain no mercury. This reduces the impact on the environment when recycling or disposing of Panasonic TVs.


*  Number of hours until the panel's brightness is reduced to half its initial level, based on operation in the standard mode with dynamic content. Panel faults excluded.

The New Panasonic VIErA Neo Plasma Series

Panasonic's Neo Plasma is the next generation of TV. Neo combines breakthrough revisions in three critical areas - materials and processes; discharge gas and cell design; and circuit and drive technology. The result is twice the luminous efficiency of previous displays, thinner design, lower power consumption and a whole new world of image quality.

  • Neo Speed
    600Hz Sub-field drive Neo Plasma delivers Full HD motion and still images with 1080 lines of resolution. For even greater clarity Panasonic's unique image-analysis technology optimises frames to display fast-action scenes in 1080p Full HD resolution.
  • Neo Contrast
    The new Neo Plasma range incorporates an improved panel production process and the new Real Black Drive system. This pre-discharge control system combines with Neo Plasma technology to achieve next-generation black reproduction with a cinema-like 2,000,000+:1 Dynamic contrast ratio.
  • Neo Colour
    Neo Plasma offers the equivalent of a full 6,144 steps of gradation assuring smooth, rich image expression. This superb gradation performance means that even the most delicate shades of colour are accurately reproduced. Neo Technology is only available from Panasonic VIErA and is a feature in the following Panasonic series: Z1, V10, G15 and G10 Plasma TVs.

For more information on Plasma vs LCD TV please visit www.lcdorplasma.com.au.

eco ideas For more information on Panasonic Global Environment Initiatives, visit our eco ideas website.