Plasma TV Buying Advice

Plasma TVs boast bright, colorful displays and a wide viewing angle, but there are a few issues you should consider before buying one.

Plasma TVs make a blockbuster first impression. A scant 6 inches thick or less, these sleek flat panels display bright images on screens measuring about 3 to 5 feet diagonally. A plasma screen is made up of thousands of pixels containing gas that's converted into "plasma" by an electrical charge. The plasma causes phosphors to glow red, green, or blue, as dictated by a video signal. The result: a colorful display with high brightness and a wider viewing angle than most rear-projection sets and LCD (liquid-crystal display) TVs. Thanks to steady improvements in plasma technology, the best of these sets have excellent or very good picture quality. Some picture tube TVs still do slightly better with fine detail, color accuracy, and subtle gradations of black and gray, but plasma TVs are coming closer.

However, the picture isn't all rosy. Like projection TVs using CRT (cathode-ray tube) technology, plasma sets are vulnerable to screen burn-in. Also, plasma sets run hotter and consume more power than any other type of TV. Because plasma sets are relatively new, their long-term reliability is still a question.