TRUE OR FALSE
Both LCD and plasma displays use three discrete color cells for each pixel.
The viewing angles of LCD displays tend to be wider than those of plasma displays.
Plasma displays are brighter, lighter, and last longer than LCD displays.
Plasma and LCD are the only viable technologies for flat-panel displays.
ANSWERS
1. TRUE. Each cell represents one of the primary colors — red, blue, or green. Each pixel contains three cells. For example, a 1280x720 resolution display has 3 x 921,600 pixels or 2,764,800 individual cells.
2. FALSE. Although improvements such as using compensating film overlays have increased the viewing angles of LCD displays, plasmas have the advantage because of their basic construction. Plasmas are “emissive” displays, meaning they create their own light, while LCDs are “transmissive” displays, meaning they require a light source behind their liquid crystal cells, which creates a longer path to the front plate.
3. FALSE. While plasma had several performance advantages just a few years ago, LCD displays have made significant improvements to the point where they're now comparable on most parameters. The remaining issues are maximum size and cost — where plasmas have a slight advantage — although most industry experts expect this gap to close soon.
4. FALSE. Reflective technologies such as LCoS and DLP — which are more commonly known in projection systems — are showing up in RPTVs that are becoming thinner and thinner. While the thinnest RPTVs are still around 9 inches deep, for some applications they might be considered a competitor to other, “flatter” displays.