Differences Between CRT Tube, LCD, and Plasma TVs

Since television became commercially available in America in the 1930s, the standard tube television has been the norm. Most tube televisions use a cathode ray tube (CRT). The filament in a CRT is heated up inside a vacuum - all encased in a glass tube - and creates a stream of electrons. This stream shoots out of the tube and onto a flat screen of glass that's coated with (in the case of a color television) a sheet each of red, green, and blue phosphor. The phosphor sheets are lined up in stripes or arranged in dots, and the entire screen lights up when struck with the stream of electrons. The arrangement of electron pulses on the phosphor sheets creates the colors and determines the pictures you see on your television screen.

Recently, LCD (liquid crystal diode) screens have become wildly popular in the television market because of their amazing picture clarity. LCD screens work by blocking light. Basically, a solution of liquid crystals is sandwiched between two perpendicular panes of polarized glass. With this configuration, it becomes possible to manipulate the intensity of light as it passes through the crystalline matrix and out of the glass panel on the other end, producing the colors and pictures you view on the screen.

Plasma televisions are also popular on today's market. Plasma televisions use thousands of sealed, low pressure glass chambers filled with neon and xenon. Behind these chambers are colored phosphors, one red, one blue, and one green. When charged, the chambers of plasma emit UV light, which then strikes the phosphors on the display to produce colors and pictures on your screen.

All of the televisions manipulate electromagnetic waves into acoustic and light energy for your viewing pleasure. While CRT televisions have been the norm for many years, the newest technologies of LCD and plasma displays are quickly overtaking that norm because of their increased picture clarity. With improved technologies, "ghosting" and 'burn in' are starting to become problems of the past. In addition, the lifespan of the newer televisions is growing, making them a better investment in the long run.