Digital Media Class TV Comparision

                In today's saturated television market it can be difficult determining the best model and type of television for your hard earned dollar.  Most television specialists judge television's on the same basic attributes: contrast, viewing angle, and the way they handle motion.  The three categories of television's are plasma, liquid crystal display (LCD), and light emitting diode (LED).

                Plasma televisions have the best color contrast due to the way these televisions produce a wide range of color between white and black.  These television's can produce the "blackest blacks" or produce the color black without emitting much light.  This also allows plasma televisions the ability to produce the illusion of depth in the emitted images.  Plasma televisions are also considered to be superior at illustrating motion without blurry images and producing a uniform amount of light across the entire surface.  While all of the aforementioned positives may be enough to sell you on a plasma television, there are some negatives you may want to consider before purchasing one.  Even though plasma televisions possess a superior color contrast, they are not as bright as LCD or LED models and are subject to "burn in".  They also produce more heat and tend to be less energy efficient than LCD or LED models.  Plasma televisions also have a reflective screen which makes them a poor choice for viewing rooms with natural light.

                LCD televisions do not possess the superior contrast that plasma televisions do, however they have the ability to produce a brighter picture.  There is also no potential for "burn in" with LCD screens, unlike plasma's.  LCD televisions also do not possess the reflective screens that plasmas do, their non-reflective nature allows better viewing in rooms with natural light.  They are also more energy efficient than plasma televisions, give off less heat and are lighter in comparison.  Even with all the positives, LCD televisions are not without their faults.  Due to their "bright" picture, they do not do as well in dark rooms, where even their blackest colors give off a substantial amount of light.  LCD televisions also have a poorer viewing angle than plasma's, meaning the picture quality suffers as you watch from wider angles.

                Generally speaking, LED televisions tend to be an improved version of LCD televisions.  Instead of utilizing a fluorescent backlight like LCD models, they utilize light emitting diodes.  This allows LED televisions to have the ability to produce a much better contrast than LCD's and a better array of colors, while still possessing the non-reflective properties of LCD's.  LED's, like LCD's are not subject to "burn in", are even more energy efficient then LCD's, and have a wider viewing angle.  LED televisions are basically an improvement on LCD televisions, so they possess all the positives with substantially decreased negatives.  When LED televisions initially hit the market they were much more expensive than the other aforementioned options, due to the overall television market lowering prices,  LED's have become more affordable.

                Weighing all the pros and cons of all three television models, the LED has the most benefit verses drawback.  LED's take the positives from both plasma and LCD televisions, while dispossessing many of the negatives that the other technologies are hindered by.  Basically, LED televisions have excellent contrast, viewing angles, brightness, and energy efficiency with no "burn in", reflectiveness, overwhelming heat generation, in a larger, thinner package.