Every once in a while it's a good idea to take a look at what kinds of TV

display technologies are out there and run through how they're doing

compared to each other. The most basic technology used in TV screens of

course is the cathode ray tube. This is the big vacuum tube like

monstrosity that's been around since the TV was first conceived of well over

half a century ago. The cathode ray tube produces pictures by firing

electrons at the screen of the TV where they're converted into photon of

various colors, which in turn produce the pixels that the pictures that we see

are composed of. This type of technology is still available, but has largely

fallen out of favor in recent years because it's difficult to manufacture in the

16:9 aspect ratio that's now preferred for devices like HDTV sets (though

there are HDTV sets that take advantage of cathode ray tube technology),

because cathode ray tubes take up a lot of space, and because they

consume significantly more power than newer technologies. While it

would be nice to think that we're above such things, it's worth pointing out

that cathode ray tube TV's have also fallen out of favor because flat panel

TV displays are much more stylish.

The flat panel displays that are so much in favor these days actually come

in two varieties with the possibility of a third variety on the horizon. For a

long time the leading type of flat panel TV display on the market was the

Plasma screen. Plasma screens are composed of tiny pockets of gas that

glow when excited by an electrical current. Each pocket of gas represents

one pixel and the result of having them combine to form a picture is a

screen capable of rich colors, deep blacks, and an ability to display quick

movement. Another advantage of the Plasma screen display is that there's

now physical limit on the size of a Plasma screen TV (although there are

economic limits). Plasma screens do have a decent number of

disadvantages though. Plasma screens consume a lot of energy, they fade

in brightness over time, they don't look that good at higher light levels, and

if you try to use one at an altitude in excess of six thousand feet it will make

an annoying buzzing sound.

The most popular type of flat panel TV these days is the LCD display. LCD

displays have longer theoretical life spans than Plasma screens. They also

consume less energy, function well at any elevation, and look better in a

wider variety of light levels. LCD screens work well with computers and are

becoming increasingly affordable. They do have some problems with

displaying deep blacks and have some trouble with blurring while

displaying fast moving objects. Both of these issues are less of a problem

on newer models.

The flat panel TV technology that's in the pipeline is called Laser TV. This

type of technology uses actual lasers to produce images on the screen. It

promises to get around some of the problems of the LCD technology while

consuming less energy than the Plasm screen. It should also be lighter

and more durable than earlier types of screens because of greater use of

plastic in the design.

Clearly, no matter what kind of TV you end up with, there are some

interesting options out there.