Do you remember the times when the first flat-screen televisions appeared in stores? Plasma televisions were then the pinnacle of dreams – huge screens, great picture quality, and modern design that caught the eye. For many people, it was the first taste of cinema at home. Today, it is difficult to find them on store shelves, but they were the ones that paved the way for the technologies we now consider standard.
The First Step Towards Revolution
In 1964, three scientists from the University of Illinois – Donald Bitzer, H. Gene Slottow, and Robert Willson – created something that seemed merely a technological curiosity. The plasma display, which is the subject here, was intended to support the PLATO educational system, but its potential reached much further. Although the first models were large, cumbersome devices, they initiated a new era in image display technology. In hindsight, it can be said that plasmas were a precursor to the era of large screens that we are now testing in the OLEDs category on our website choose.tv.
The first plasma television – a luxury for the chosen ones
In 1997, Fujitsu introduced the first commercial plasma television to the market. It looked like magic – a "HUGE" 42-inch screen that could hang on the wall, offering excellent image quality. But the magic came at a price – around 15 thousand dollars. At that time, this expense was comparable to buying a car. Nevertheless, plasma televisions began to gain popularity among technology enthusiasts.
Why were plasmas so special?
What distinguished plasmas was the quality of the image. Deep blacks, rich colors, and wide viewing angles made movies look incredible on them. At that time, LCD was just starting out, so plasmas had no equal, especially when it came to large screen sizes. If someone wanted a true cinematic experience at home, the choice was simple – a plasma television.
Comparison HDTVTest: Panasonic ZT60 Plasma vs Pioneer Kuro KRP-600A vs VT
What went wrong?
Plasmas had their drawbacks. They were energy-consuming, expensive to produce, and their screens had a tendency to burn images - if someone watched a news channel with a ticker at the bottom for too long, it could turn out that the ticker would be "forever" burned in. Additionally, competition in the form of LCD began to offer cheaper, lighter, and more energy-efficient solutions, and later OLEDs entered the scene, which simply outperformed plasmas in every way.
Legacy of Plasma
Although plasma TVs have now gone into history, their impact on the industry was enormous. They taught us that image quality, black depth, and color reproduction matter. One could say that plasmas laid the groundwork for today's OLED TVs, which continue their tradition by offering even better experiences. It may seem that the next step will be more affordable MicroLEDs, but when will that happen? We hope that it will be soon.
From Interesting Facts
In 2002, Donald Bitzer, one of the creators of the plasma display, was honored with a place in the National Inventors Hall of Fame in the USA. His work, which began as an educational project, forever changed the way we consume content.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_display
