Once the pinnacle of home entertainment, plasma TVs dazzled viewers with immense screens, fast refresh rates, and excellent contrast – often showcasing the latest blockbusters or premium cable dramas to envy of friends and neighbors. However, rapid display advancements since plasma‘s peak in the mid-2000s leave the formerly-revered technology lacking today.
Let‘s explore plasma TV capabilities during their competitive reign, how momentum shifted toward new flat-panel technologies, and the key factors making plasma all but obsolete for modern viewing needs.
A Brief History of Plasma TVs
What exactly is a plasma TV? And what gave rise to their temporary dominance in the market?
Plasma displays utilize hundreds of thousands of tiny cells sandwiched between two glass panels. Invisible to the naked eye, each cell contains a mixture of gases. When voltage gets applied, the gases become electrically charged plasma, giving off ultraviolet light. Built-in phosphors then convert this light into the colored pixels that compose the TV image.
Early plasma prototypes first appeared in 1964, but more practical production only commenced in the late 1990s. In 1997, Fujitsu introduced the first mass-produced plasma television – boasting a sizable 47-inch screen.
Rival manufacturers quickly followed, unleashing increasingly massive plasma displays to satisfy viewers‘ demands. Screen dimensions leapt from 20 to 30… to 42… to 60+ inches in just a few years!
In 2008, Panasonic pushed the plasma size envelope even further – unveiling a record-shattering 150-inch model. While short of practical for home use, this behemoth symbolized plasma‘s image quality capabilities and domination of premium spaces like high-end home theaters.
By 2010, over 20% of all TV shipments employed plasma display technology – the undisputed preference for living room spectacle and movie magic with near life-like picture depth. Their reign would soon enter its twilight.
The Fall of Plasma
So what changed to cause plasma‘s downfall? As the 2010s approached, upstart rival LCD and LED displays utilizing liquid crystal and diode-based panels entered the scene.
These displays equaled and eventually surpassed plasma in viewing dimensions, refresh rate performance, color reproduction and brightness – closing gap after gap. And they enjoyed two major advantages:
Lower energy demands – illuminating LCD and LED screens proved far less electrically taxing – dropping power consumption a whopping 40-60% over comparable plasma models!
Cheaper manufacturing – absent the intricacies of charged gases and phosphor coatings, LCD and LED panels utilized streamlined components lending to high-volume production. By 2005, costs to fabricate these basic displays undercut plasma‘s economy of scale.
Facing pressure from ever-improving functionality and competitive pricing, plasma TV sales peaked around 2006-2007 then began gradual decline as LCD and LED bit into market share each quarter.
Recognizing the writing on the wall, hit hard by the 2008 financial crisis, and facing razor-thin profit margins, major manufacturers like Panasonic and LG ceased plasma television production as early as 2014. Today, plasma TVs only remain available on the resale market – no longer actively manufactured and sold.
Now let‘s examine the myriad reasons why plasma fell out of favor and merits avoidance for modern viewers seeking to maximize their home entertainment utility and enjoyment…
8 Compelling Reasons to Avoid Plasma TV Today
||Pros|Cons|
|-|-|-|
|Picture Quality |Immersive viewing size, fast refresh rate| Glare disrupts contrast, permanent burn-in risk escalates over time |
|Performance|Smooth fast-action video playback | Phosphor lag causes distracting trails, higher altitude environments induce buzzing, overheating |
|Design|Slim profile enables wall mounting|- Heavy (80-100 lbs for a 50" model) risks damage in transport|
|Technology Lifespan|-|No ongoing manufacturing or component support as technology obsolete|
|Power Efficiency|-|Uses 2-4X more electricity than LCD/LED alternatives costingowners $30-60 more per year |
|Repair Difficulty |-|- Finding replacement parts difficult with no production
– Complex construction complicates repair procedures|
Above we summarized some key pros and cons surrounding plasma TV ownership – specifically related to picture quality, performance variances, outdated design limitations, disappearing manufacturer support, inefficient operation, and repair challenges as the technology ages.
Let‘s explore the 8 most impactful limitations in detail:
1. Glare and Reflected Images Disrupt Viewing
Plasma screens possess a glossy glass covering that reflects ambient room light as well as objects and people situated around the display. This glare interferes with perceived depth and color balance – especially in well-lit environments.
Studies confirm that image glare detracts substantially from viewers‘ enjoyment. Owners often counter with makeshift solutions like fully closing curtains or turning off lights when actively viewing – very disruptive compromises.
Anti-glare films can reduce reflections, but introduce their own distortion and degraded clarity. Modern LCD/LED sets utilize specialized matte coatings or polarized filters to combat glare by design – making plasma‘s Achilles heel still evident today.
2. Phosphor Lag Causes Distracting Trails
Plasma cells generate an initial burst of ultraviolet light that gets converted into colored visible picture via phosphor coatings on the rear glass panel. But these phosphors have limited heat tolerance and duration of peak light output.
Displaying very bright, high-contrast images for extended periods overloads and exhausts the phosphors. This manifests as yellow or green trailing ‘ghosts‘ behind moving objects on screen from uneven pixel lag.
Once perceptible, phosphor lag cannot be reversed or rectified. Merely avoiding content that heavily taxes the decaying phosphors masks the issue temporarily. Permanent phosphor degradation remains irrecoverable nonetheless – marring plasma picture quality irrevocably over time.
3. Image Retention Further Plagues Plasma Sets
Much like the permanent burn-in condition covered next, plasma screens also suffer from temporary image retention after displaying static content over long periods. This leaves a faint ghostly after-image even when switching imagery and channels.
While retention often abates gradually once stimulating content replaces the previous static image, residual artifacts tend to linger for quite awhile – long enough to prove distracting and detrimental to enjoyment of the current program.
4. Permanent Burn-In Remains an Enduring Weakness
Allowing static user interface elements, network logos, video game HUDs, or black bar letterboxing to persist for multiple hours risks permanent discoloration called burn-in – plasma‘s most infamous Achilles heel.
Uneven wear causes cells in frequently-activated screen regions to simply exhaust their luminance far sooner than surrounding areas. Burn-in thereby leaves irreparable shadows precisely conforming to routinely displayed graphics overlayed across the underlying picture.
Absent replacing the actual plasma glass display panel, no reliable home remedies adequately resolve burned-in images. Perhaps worse still, manufacturers exclude burn-in and retention from standard plasma warranties – providing sufficient clue to its industry-acknowledged inevitability under regular multi-hour daily use spanning years.
5. Performance Variability Based on Altitude
You may not realize that a plasma TV‘s operation depends substantially on proximity to sea-level altitude. The combination of glass panel thickness and internal gas pressure calibrated for sea level environments leaves them prone to functional impairments when situated at substantially higher altitudes.
Specifically, at heights exceeding 5,000-6,500 ft above sea level, the lower atmospheric pressure outside plasma displays fails to properly counterbalance internal pressure of contained gases.
This imbalance then causes erratic voltage potentials inside the glass cells, yielding thermal management issues. Affected sets manifest audible buzzing or humming noises from straining electrodes. Left unchecked, sustained arcing risks permanent circuit damage.
Most infamously, altitude changes in airplane cabins completely disable onboard plasma entertainment screens. Terrestrial viewers near sea level don‘t encounter such issues. But those residing a mile or more above sea level likely see plasma TV ownership as more hassle than it‘s worth.
6. Heavy, Bulky Design Makes Transport Difficult
Contrasted against slimmer modern displays using space-saving LEDs for illumination, plasma‘s industrial design necessitates bulky pressurized metal framework surrounding thick front/rear glass display panels – leaving them seriously heavy units!
A 50-inch plasma can weigh 80-100 lbs – more than double the heft of an equivalent flat panel LCD or OLED television. Manhandling bulky, sensitive display equipment poses real risk for damage. Plasma displays generally prove overwhelming for a single person to securely lift, transport, and properly wall mount without incident.
Dropping a unit risks cracked glass, detached cables, or worse. Escalating size/weight with larger screen diameters only amplifies transport precautions and difficulty getting units safely home and setup. Clearly, more nimble display technologies hold key practical advantages today.
You can see in the chart above that even as plasma TV screen sizes increased over the early 2000s, weight savings failed to materialize year over year – culminating in hefty, difficult-to-manage units by the late 2000s.
7. Poor Energy Efficiency Drains Electricity
Driving all the charged plasma cells inside a display demands major electricity draw to generate luminance. Compared against more efficient LCD and LED-backlit televisions, plasma models require nearly 2-4 times greater energy consumption for like-sized units!
All those extra kilowatt hours add up, impacting monthly power bills noticeably. One study discovered a 50-inch LG plasma television cost over $30 more per year in electricity than a similar dimension LCD display – contributing hundreds of dollars in added energy costs over just a few years of typical viewing.
Eco-minded consumers rightfully upgraded to less intensive big screen options that didn‘t feel so gluttonous under typical multi-hour daily operation.
8. Repair Challenges Compound with Discontinued Legacy Technology
As a remnant technology no longer actively manufactured, practical repair options for aging plasma units suffer progressive limitations as well. The intricacy of interior components leaves repairs best left to specialized technicians.
But even qualified experts face hurdles sourcing replacement parts for discontinued models. And invested repair costs often approach outright replacement prices on the used market – with no guarantee of extended longevity before another component fails.
Many damaged plasma TVs end up entirely scrapped due to lack of parts and expertise necessary to return older units to satisfactory working order. Repairability ranks low on plasma‘s fading value proposition in the face of shiny new alternatives.
Viable Modern Replacements Outclass Aging Plasma TVs
Contrasted against the myriad limitations above, you may wonder what display technologies do make good alternatives to obsolete plasma sets today? Consider these three ever-improving modern successors:
OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode)
- Self-illuminating pixels switch off completely for perfect black levels unmatchable by plasma
- Paper-thin panels hang easily on walls
- Anti-burn-in features and panel refreshers prevent plasma issues
- LG‘s entry-level OLED C2 Series models start under $1300
LCD/LED
- Extremely energy efficient – uses about half the power of plasma
- Abundant affordable large screen sizes from trusted brands
- LED backlights and quantum dot filters enable brightness plasma can‘t match
- TCL‘s mid-range 6-Series models start under $800
Mini-LED
- Innovative multi-zone backlighting improves LCD image precision
- Thousands of tiny LEDs facilitate intensely high contrast
- Dynamic refresh and variable refresh support fast gaming
- Hisense U6HF performsnearly on par with OLED for under $500
Let Plasma TVs Rest in Peace
As we‘ve explored here, plasma represented the pinnacle of living room display technology for a number of years – garnering legions of fans with immense screens and velvety image depth.
However, all good things must come to an end. And a myriad of inherent limitations – from permanent burn-in risks, to bulky weight, environmental performance fluctuations, reflected glare, excessive energy demands, and fast aging support – ultimately spelled a swift demise for plasma TVs as 1080p and eventually 4K resolution LCD, LED, and OLED models offered superior specifications and longevity.
The power, utility, and flexibility of these modern display innovations simply outpaced the extra viewing nuance afforded by plasma‘s fundamental technology tradeoffs as the landscape and audience expectations shifted.
While plasma TVs served their niche well for a time, their asterisk-laden capabilities clearly no longer satisfy the needs or tolerance of most buyers today.
In 2023 and beyond, discerning viewers seeking maximum enjoyment from their display purchases need not settles for flawed legacy technology when more versatile solutions at equal or lesser price points abound. Let plasma RIP and thank it for the memories – but make your next television an LCD, OLED, or perhaps tantalizing mini-LED!
Sources
- DisplayMate: TV Display Technology Shoot-Out Article #23
- Rtings.com: TV Weight Database
- CNET: Plasma vs LCD 2013 Total Cost of Ownership Comparison
- CEPro: The Rise and Fall of Plasma TV
