After decades of using cathode ray tube televisions, several manufacturers have started to offer much thinner and thinner televisions to the market. a new panel technology. We are talking about plasma televisions that revolutionized the industry. It should also be noted that there is such a strong marketing campaign around this new technology that even today you can find people who think they are the ones who deliver the best image quality.

And TV manufacturers have made sure that when someone mentions plasma TVs, they are talking about a product that is synonymous with quality and high end. it was like this for a while because evolution was significant compared to the old CRT. In this article, we wanted to pay homage to this type of television by talking about its origins, what its technology consists of, and its successors.

It took decades to see the first plasma television

Although the plasma display was developed for the PLATO (Programmed Logic for Automatic Instructional Operations) computer system by a group of researchers at the University of Illinois in the 1960s, it wasn’t until the late 1990s that televisions with this technology were commercialized. All this time there was monochrome screens (orange, green or yellow) they are very popular because of their stiffness and break from items like memory or circuits to update the image.

Image: Wikipedia

In 1973, IBM developed an 11-inch monochrome display with this technology that accompanies the IBM 3270 computer and is capable of displaying up to four terminal sessions simultaneously.

The Plasmaco company, which was founded in 1983, also played an important role in the development of this technology. In fact, it was acquired in 1996 by Matsushita Electric Industrial, who established the Managing Partner in 1983. first computer with plasma display. The latter is known today as Panasonic, one of the companies that most promotes plasma technology.

When Pioneer introduced the first plasma television to the public in 1997, the technology had begun to evolve greatly and was promising. bigger screens and better image quality and brightness.

Much larger panels with higher image quality

The plasma television has a series of small cells placed between two glass panels. These contain a mixture of noble gases (neon, argon and xenon), which after charging the electrodes creates a voltage difference between the back and front, causing the gas to ionize and change its state to plasma. After this process, the ions of the gas move towards the electrodes where they collide and produce photons, thus causing light emission.

Image: LCD Repair

This technology televisions with much greater brightness than tube televisions were allowed to be produced. Additionally, they were popular given their larger size, as we can find plasma televisions larger than 70 inches on the market.

In terms of image quality, it’s been an incredibly noticeable leap. A larger color gamut and deeper blacks than LCDs, given its low brightness. However, it was the televisions that got very hot and disturbed the user when the television was on for long hours. In fact, as with OLEDs, there was a fear of burning the panel in plasma televisions.

We can find all kinds of plasma models in different sizes in the market. Manufacturers like Pioneer, Panasonic, LG or Samsung, among others, have shown the world the capabilities of this technology in televisions that have become very popular, but yes, Significantly more expensive than CRT TVs.

Price and recession buried this technology

The price disadvantage and the requirement for a large diagonal for the manufacture of the panel meant that plasma television became part of a very busy market. latter, LCD technology continued to grow. And although the first LCD televisions were significantly inferior to plasma, they were gradually conquering the public, eventually struggling with the dead pixel or ghosting problems of the first generations.

plasma in the last years of life reached only 5% of the market shareIn a context where brands like Samsung or LG dominate the flat screen market with LCD technology.

In 2014, most plasma TV manufacturers finally abandoned the technology, although it became obsolete a few years ago. However, it will always be remembered as one of the technologies that most helped advance the image quality of televisions.