There has been a lot of excitement surrounding the recent release of a host of 3D TVs in 2010.
However, many consumers have been left pondering the question whether Plasma or LCD TV technology will be better suited to the displaying of 3D content.
While at first impressions it may appear that both these technologies will provide the same experience, this is not necessarily the case, I have tried to outline the basic pros and cons of Plasma and LCD display technology and explain the impact of these in relation to the 3D capability of these displays.
Viewing angles In the case of viewing angles, Plasma 3D TVs have a significant advantage over their LCD rivals.
This is mainly due to the manner in which the light is created in each type of panel.
In the case of LCD displays, the TV backlight is directed normally to the TV screen.
As a result, when you view the TV at an angle you get a less uniform light distribution.
In the case of Plasma TVs, individual phosphors on the TV screen are excited by UV light excitation and as a result they glow and emit light in all directions, this allows for excellent viewing angles in Plasma 3D displays and giving Plasma 3D TV's the edge when it comes to viewing angles.
Refresh rates While new 3D LCD screens do have an improved refresh rate compared to older models, they still have problems when displaying fast moving video content.
The reason for this is that LCD displays have a finite refresh rate for each pixel.
When viewing a fast moving scene, the screen isn't able to refresh each pixel fast enough to keep in sync with the image and it leads to blurring or ghosting of the image.
Plasma 3D TVs do not suffer from these problems as they have almost instant pixel refresh rates, so ghosting or blurring is eradicated.
Older Plasma TVs used to suffer from a motion trail effect due to phosphor lag time (the time it takes the phosphor to stop glowing).
However new 3D Plasma TVs have developed phosphors with very low lag times.
Screen brightness LCD 3D TVs do have an advantage over Plasma TVs with regard to screen brightness, especially with the development of LED backlight technology.
When considering 3D TVs, screen brightness is important because of the use of 3D glasses.
Both Active Shutter glasses and passive polarized 3D glasses cause a loss in light transmission resulting in the image being dimmed, therefore the brighter the screen the better.
Gaming 3D gaming is an extremely exciting prospect for console enthusiasts and will undoubtedly be one of the chief factors driving consumers to adopt 3D technology in their homes.
LCD technology definitely holds the upper hand over Plasma TVs when considering gaming.
The two main reasons are, the screen brightness issue discussed earlier andthe fact thatLCD TVs have the capability of being able to push up the resolution of the display even for smaller sized screens.
One major disadvantage LCDs have in comparison to Plasma TVs is their long pixel refresh rate times causing ghosting issues, where as plasma TVs are much better when it comes to the displaying of fast moving scenes.
So it appears that both LCD and plasma 3D TVs are extremely capable in providing an awesome home entertainment experience, although it could be assumed that plasma TVs have the edge over LCD as they do have that faster refresh rate, a better standard of black levels (although LCD TVs have improved significantly in this area over recent years) and they do show a better colour fidelity.
That being said if the main reason for purchase is for gaming then it should be considered whether speed or picture quality is your main priority.
It needs to be taken into account that there will always be differences between makes and models available on the market.
But on the hole at the moment it appears that plasma TV is the best choice.