How Does Plasma Television Work?

If you know the basics of what a plasma television is, you may be wondering, "How exactly does it work?" Plasma television actually operates in a similar manner to fluorescent light. Your plasma TV is filled with an inert gas which, when electrically charged, emits UV light. UV light can't be seen by the naked eye, but it can be used to excite photons on a television screen and create visible light according to a specific broadcast pattern.

The gas inside a plasma television is divided into over a million "cells." A grid of electrodes controls these "cells" of gas and tells your plasma television which to ionize, and with what intensity. Subpixels of red, green, and blue are contained in each pixel, to create every possible color in the spectrum. Unlike a regular CRT television, the entire screen of a plasma TV is lit all at once, so you don't get the "flickering" effect you see with traditional televisions.

Popular Plasma Television Brands

Although Philips was the company that first brought plasma television to the attention of the public in 1998, today there are many competing popular brands. Currently Panasonic dominates the plasma market with 4 of the 5 top-selling models, but people all over America are buying flat-screen TVs from Sony Plasma Television, Pioneer Plasma Television, Zenith Plasma Television, Hitachi Plasma Television, Sharp Plasma Television, NEC Plasma Television, and Gateway Plasma Television, among many others.