CRT vs LCD vs LED vs OLED - Choose your TV

Getting value for your money is always everyone`s priority no matter how spendthrift you are. When it comes to television sets there are a myriad of factors you should put into consideration before choosing to purchase a particular tv set. However, understanding the technology in a tv set would be a good start to getting a tv that is well suited to your unique individual needs as well as your budget. What made you choose the set in your house?

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In the market, there are over ten tv technologies. However, we are sharing with you what to look out for in the latest or common technologies.

1. CRT

The cathode ray tube(CRT) is still very much alive all over the world. The CRT tv can be defined as a vacuum tube that projects an electron beam on the fron of the tub covered with phosphorous which glows when hit by the electrons

Why Would You Buy A CRT tv?

These are some of the reasons why someone would want to buy these tvs:

• CRT televisions still manage to deliver high contrast ratios, excellent color accuracy, a very deep shade of black, and equally important, a relatively wide color gamut.
• The images produced by a CRT tv are mostly of exceptional quality void of image distortion.
• It is way easy to set up and works well in almost all kinds of environment.

Why Should Not You Buy A CRT tv?

• They consume a lot of power at times two to three times power consumption of a LCD tv
• They are very bulky with a 21-inch screen weighing over 25KGS
• Manufacturing of the heavy and large glass tubes very expensive
• They are limited in screen size with the biggest ever made crt tv being 40-Inch

2. PLASMA TVs

This tv technology, though no longer in production, is based on the fluorescent bulb principle with the display having two cells separated in between by a narrow gap in which there is an insulating layer, address electrode and display electrode. Neon gas is injected into the gap and sealed in plasma form.

When the gas is Electrically charged, it strikes red, green and blue phosphors thus creating an image on the plasma screen. It has some similarities to the CRT tv in that it still employs burning of phosphor to generate images thus still suffers from heat generation and screen burn of static images

Why Would You Buy A plasma tv?

• Renders deeper black color and comers with higher contrast ratios
• Better color saturation and accuracy
• They are progressive enough to be plugged into computers to form a bigger PC monitor
• They come with a wider viewing angle which is handy in smaller rooms where you might not directly face the computer.
• Enough even brightness as they use direct lighting of phosphors

Why Should Not You Buy A Plasma tv?

• Suffers from image burn-in in which an image is permanently on the screen after it is displayed for long. This is due to use of scintillators and is experienced with CRT tv as well.
• They are very expensive to manufacture and the need for very high performance semi-conductor electronics makes them very uneconomical
• They do not last long as the phosphor wears out with time
• They do not reproduce black scenes properly but instead displays them as shade of gray

3. LCD TVs

Liquid crystal displays panels are made up of two layers transparent material, polarised and glued together. On one of the layers is a polymer coating  which hold individual crystals. Current is then passed through the crystals blocking or allowing light to pass through. This creates images. However, they do not produce of their own and they use a fluorescent or LED light source for viewers to watch them

Why Would You Buy an LCD tv?

• They function well even in high altitude areas
• They consume less power compared to their Plasma counterparts
• They produce less heat
• They have higher resolution thus able to produce images and graphics in high definition
• They do not employ use of heavy equipment and large lights thus they are not as bulky as CRT

Why Should Not You Buy an LCD tv?

• They are more expensive compared to plasma TVs of the same size
• They are not the best to use in dimly lit conditions
• They are fragile with just a firm touch on the screen leading to permanent damage on the screen
• They have limited viewing angle compared to the Plasma

4. LED TVs

These are not as much different from the LCD tvs as they may sound. The difference is in the back lighting. The earlier versions of the LCD tvs used bigger Compact Fluorescent tubes for this purpose but were soon replaced with the more efficient LED lights. These should be properly referred to as LED LCD tvs.

This technology is further broken into Direct LED and edge-lit LED. In direct LED, the screens are directly lit by an array of LED lights directly behind the LCD screen. Edge lit LED have the LED lights around the edges of the TV frame.

Why Would You Buy an LED tv?

• They are more energy efficient compared to other TV technologies
• They produce less heat which is ideal even in crowded places
• They have improved color accuracy compared to LCD tvs
• They are lighter and thinner compared to standard tv versions

Why Should Not You Buy an LED tv?

• The only downside to LED tvs is the cost but this is going south with increased competition in the market

5. OLED TVs

These have been around from 2013. It is based on an organic substance that is used as a semi conductor in LED. The substance is sand witched between two conductors. When Electrical current is passed through the substance, bright light is produced taking place in every single pixel in an OLED display. 

OLED tvs are superior in terms of the frame size, lower power requirements, wide viewing angles and highest contrast. However, they are very expensive but the prices are set to drop as the technology is adopted by major tv companies.

Which one would you buy for your home?