What Is a Plasma Display?

In order to be an informed buyer of a plasma display, you must understand exactly what it is. It helps to start with a basic understanding of how traditional television works. Traditional television is based on the cathode ray tube (CRT), which was patented in the 1930s by Philo T. Farnsworth. The cathode ray, a thin beam of electrons, is aimed to scan rapidly across a phosphor-coated screen. A phosphor is a substance that gives off light when exposed to certain types of energy: in this case, electrons.

A plasma display also uses a phosphor-coated screen. However, instead of using an electron beam to scan across the surface of the television screen and light it up, a plasma display uses ionized gas, or plasma. Because there is no cathode ray tube, plasma TVs only need to be deep enough to accommodate the gases that create the electric charge. Thus the screens can be made much larger than those of CRT TVs, without adding as much weight.

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.