1TECHNOLOGY

The Kudos Guide to Buying A New TVIt’s official: cumbersome, awkward CRT televisions (that’s fat TVs with electron guns inside to you and me) are over.

Sony and Panasonic have already halted production of traditional cathode ray tube TVs and, at the time of going to press,

Samsung have not re-released their last CRT model for 2008; with this in mind, it’s time to go High-Defi nition ready, fl at-screen.

To help us take this exciting step forward Kudos enlisted the help of Sevenoaks Hifi to make the big choice: Plasma or LCD?

don’t fall fl at...

plasma or LCD?

2 TECHNOLOGY 3TECHNOLOGY

plasma

the scienceThe name refers to the plasma formed

by the two gases (xenon and neon) held

inside the screen; these gases are

trapped in minuscule cells, which are

held between two panes of glass. The

plasma created by the gases is attracted

to electrodes in the screen, forming sub-

microscopic beams of atomic energy.

The front panel of the screen is covered

in a substance called phosphor, which

is divided into red, blue and green cells.

The phosphor glows when exposed to the

atomic beams, thus creating light. The

combination of one bank of three cells

– individually covered in the red, blue and

green phosphors – creates one pixel on

the display of your television. Imagine

this pattern recreated 1280 times and

you have the image displayed by a typical

plasma television.

cons• SHORTER LIFESPAN It has been claimed that

signifi cant technological advances

have put this reputation to bed,

but the cheaper plasma models

will still tend to have a shorter

lifespan than LCD equivalents

• SCREEN BURN-IN The constant display of images

like browsing menus can cause

these images to become imprinted

within the display, because one

area of the phosphor-covered

screen is used more than others

pros• STUNNING PICTURE Because of the phosphorous

light display, plasmas create a

very bright picture that generally

does not reduce in quality as the

size of the screen increases

• GREAT ANGLES The distribution of gases

throughout the whole screen

means that a plasma image is

clear from every viewing angle

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2 TECHNOLOGY 3TECHNOLOGY

LCD

the scienceLCD, or Liquid Crystal Display, is a technology

that has long been in use for electronic

watches, calculators and clocks. Each

element of an LCD display is created by liquid

crystal molecules being electronically aligned

by electrodes. Because the crystals are liquid

they can bend – or refract – light in order to

provide a variety of contrast; fi lters on either

side of the crystals provide a spectrum for

the light, which is provided by a backlight.

Television displays take this principle of light

manipulated by electrifi ed liquid crystal

and add layers of complexity. In an LCD TV

display, each pixel on screen is a minute

glob of liquid crystal that is controlled by a

grid of intersecting electronic connections.

Each pixel inside its electrifi ed box can be

individually controlled by a transistor, to allow

more or less light through in different shapes

and patterns, thus creating an image.

cons• AWKWARD PICTURE Each pixel is an image that

needs to be electronically

refreshed, and on some models

this process does not happen

quickly enough; this can result

in fast action on screen

getting lost

• PIXEL FAILURE Like any small electrical

connections with operating

switches and gates, the

circuits controlling individual

pixels can fail, leaving

‘dead’ pixels

pros• THE SMALLER, THE BETTER The nature of the liquid crystal

technology means that

expansion to larger sizes is a

diffi cult process, but it does

mean that the picture on

smaller LCDS can be better

than on plasma equivalent

• ECO-FRIENDLY The use of a backlight

signifi cantly lessens the power

consumption of the LCD TV;

they can consume up to 60%

less power than a traditional

cathode ray tube television

• SEVENOAKS HI FI SAY... xxx

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• PRICE RANGE xxx

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• SEVENOAKS HI FI RECOMMEND MODEL: xxx

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