But what led to the disappearance of this TV technology?
And if you’re looking for a plasma TV replacement, what should you get?
How Did a Plasma TV Work?
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Plasma TVs had tiny pockets of gas that released light when charged with electricity.
Most of this light was ultraviolet, which is invisible.
Related:What Is Contrast Ratio?
Panasonic
So essentially, plasma TVs were self-emissive and didn’t need a backlight.
All these characteristics helped plasma TVs win over the consumers.
Related:6 Mistakes People Make When Buying a TV
What Went Wrong?
LG
Although plasma TVs had several positives, they were far from perfect.
For example, they couldn’t get very bright and were most suitable for dark-room viewing.
Even the best plasma TVs could only reach just over 100 nits ofpeak brightnessin a 10% window test.
LG C1 is one of the best OLED TVs on the market. It’s offered in sizes ranging from 48-inch to 83-inch.
In comparison, the top modernLED-backlit TVs can offer over 1000 nits of peak brightness.
Related:OLED vs. QLED, and More: Which TV Should You Buy?
Plasma TVs were also susceptible to temporary and permanent image retention orburn-in.
But it became less of an issue as the plasma technology matured.
Another downside to plasma TVs was their power consumption and heat generation.
They required a lot of power to work and would need multiple internal fans to keep them cool.
And lastly, while these TVs were lighter and thinner thanCRT TVs, they were still heavy and thick.
But with the advent of LED backlighting, everything changed.
The LED-backlit LCD TVs (LED TVs) were thinner and required much less power to work.
The last nails in the coffin of plasma TVs were the arrival ofOLEDand4K TVson the market.
Plus, OLED TVs offered most of the picture quality advantages of plasma TVs without many downsides.
For example, OLED TVs have self-emissive pixels like plasma TVs.
So they can reach a near-infinite contrast ratio, something that’s not even possible with plasma TVs.
As a result, a plasma TV can’t produce perfect blacks.
Plus, they can get a lot brighter and are significantly thinner.
Unfortunately,burn-inis also an issue for the OLED TVs.
All-in-all, if you want to upgrade from a plasma TV, OLED TVs are your best option.
They’re typically more expensive than their LED-backlit LCD counterparts, though.
So if you’re constrained by budget, you could also go for an LCD TV.
LG C1 is one of the best OLED TVs on the market.
It’s offered in sizes ranging from 48-inch to 83-inch.
But unfortunately, as competing TV technologies cropped up, plasma TVs had far too many downsides to survive.
