The technology is different for the way in which the picture is created for the two types of TVs. In addition, the LCD gives off less heat and no radiation. The plasma TVs give off more heat and radiation.

• Better color accuracy and saturation.
• Better motion tracking with little or no lag in fast moving images.
• Offer wider screen sizes.
• Less expensive.
• Better contrast ratio and ability to render deeper blacks.

Disadvantages

• Heavier than LCD's when buying the same size screen.
• Use more heat.
• Have usage issues in higher altitudes.
• More susceptible to burn-in of static images.
  

• No burn-in of static images.
  
• Cooler running temperature.
• No high altitude use issues.
• Increased image brightness over Plasma.
• Lighter weight than comparing the same screen sizes as a Plasma.

• Lower contrast ratio, not as good rendering deep blacks.
• Not as good tracking motion.
• Not as common in large screen sizes.
• It's possible that individual pixels can burn out causing small, visible, black or white dots to appear on the screen.
• More expensive than Plasma.
  

After you have decided on which TV to purchase, either an LCD or Plasma, you can perform some manual adjustments to improve the picture quality. Let's look at some of the adjustments you can make.

If you have purchased a Plasma TV, you can reduce the chance of screen burn-in by fine tuning the picture controls. This is done by lowering the brightness and contrast. The effect of this will reduce the amount of energy the TV uses and will lower your electric bill. 

Virtually all HD TV's come with several factory preset picture settings when taken out of the box. Some of these settings are:

• Dynamic
• Vivid
• Movie
• Pro
• Standard - non HD broadcasts
  

Additional fine turning settings will help you tailor your picture even better. This can be done by the following controls:

• Brightness - This controls the black level. Which means it changes the color and brightness of black within the picture. Adjust this control to your liking.
• Contrast - Sometimes known as "Picture", this controls the sets overall light level. It usually comes with this setting set at a high level. Reduce it to 50% of the maximum rating. For Plasma TV's by reducing this setting you will reduce the possibility of burn-in.
• Color - Most TV's come with the color set correctly. However, your goal here is to avoid a picture where everyone looks like they are sunburned. Other settings that influence color are "Tint" or "Hue" and Color Temperature.
• Sharpness - Will generally improve the look of lower quality signals like standard broadcast, cable, and satellite programs. Be careful not to set this setting to high as it may cause halos around the edges of objects onscreen.

After making the above adjustments it may take some time to getting used to the difference in the picture.  Try living with the new settings for about a week before changing them back. This will allow your eyes to get adjusted to the new settings.

• More and more broadcasts are switching to HD? Because of this it makes sense to buy an LCD or Plasma with HD (High Definition).
• Movie theater picture type views are those of HD screen aspect ratio of 16:9.
• The wider angle of HD is preferred for viewing sports and DVDs. 
• The standard CRT TV's have a screen aspect ratio of 4:3.
• How wide of a screen do you want?
• If you buy a screen size 42%u201D and below the LCD is probably the best choice.

What should I do now? Based recently on legislation just passed in California, banning large flat TV's that do not meet certain watt standards by 2011 may become popular in other states. The ban is on sets smaller than 58" and must meet watts of 183 or less by 2011. By 2013, the standard is lowered to 116 watts or less. Currently, the average plasma TV runs on 383 watts and the LCD TV runs on 232 watts. Not knowing how the picture quality will be, on these lower wattage TV's you may want to get your large HDTV now. Go to the banner below to look and buy your HDTV!