Comparison of CRT, LCD, plasma, and OLED displays

This is a page that lists advatages and disadvantages with CRT, LCD and Plasma.

Comparison

CRT

Pros:

• High dynamic range (up to around 15,000:1), excellent color, wide gamut and low black level. The color range of CRTs is unmatched by any display type except OLED.
• Can display natively in almost any resolution and refresh rate
• No input lag
• Sub-millisecond response times
• Near zero color, saturation, contrast or brightness distortion. Excellent viewing angle.
• Allows the use of light guns/pens

Cons:

• Large size and weight, especially for bigger screens (a 20-inch unit weighs about 50 lb (23 kg))
• High power consumption
• Generates a considerable amount of heat when running
• Geometric distortion caused by variable beam travel distances
• Can suffer screen burn-in
• Produces noticeable flicker at low refresh rates
• Normally only produced in 4:3 aspect ratio (though some widescreen ones, notably Sony's FW900, do exist)
• Hazardous to repair/service
• Effective vertical resolution limited to 1024 scan lines.
• Color displays cannot be made in sizes smaller than 7 inches (5 inches for monochrome). Maximum size is around 24 inches (for computer monitors; televisions run up to 60 inches).

LCD

Pros:

• Very compact and light
• Low power consumption
• No geometric distortion
• Little or no flicker depending on backlight technology
• Not affected by screen burn-in
• No high voltage or other hazards present during repair/service
• Can be made in almost any size or shape
• No theoretical resolution limit

Cons:

• Limited viewing angle, causing color, saturation, contrast and brightness to vary, even within the intended viewing angle, by variations in posture.
• Bleeding and uneven backlighting in some monitors, causing brightness distortion, especially toward the edges.
• Slow response times, which cause smearing and ghosting artifacts. However, this is mainly a problem with passive-matrix displays. Current generation active-matrix LCDs have response times of 6 ms for TFT panels and 8 ms for S-IPS.
• Only one native resolution. Displaying resolutions either requires a video scaler, lowering perceptual quality, or display at 1:1 pixel mapping, in which images will be physically too large or won't fill the whole screen.
• Fixed bit depth, many cheaper LCDs are only able to display 262,000 colors. 8-bit S-IPS panels can display 16 million colors and have significantly better black level, but are expensive and have slower response time
• Input lag
• Dead pixels may occur either during manufacturing or through use.
• In a constant on situation, thermalization may occur, which is when only part of the screen has overheated and therefore looks discolored compared to the rest of the screen.
• Not all LCD displays are designed to allow easy replacement of the backlight
• Cannot be used with light guns/pens

Plasma

Main article: Plasma display

Pros:

• High contrast ratios (10,000:1 or greater,) excellent color, and low black level.
• Virtually no response time
• Near zero color, saturation, contrast or brightness distortion. Excellent viewing angle.
• No geometric distortion.
• Softer and less blocky-looking picture than LCDs
• Highly scalable, with less weight gain per increase in size (from less than 30 in (760 mm) wide to the world's largest at 150 in (3,800 mm)).

Cons:

• Large pixel pitch, meaning either low resolution or a large screen. As such, color plasma displays are only produced in sizes over 32 inches.
• Image flicker due to being phosphor-based
• Heavy weight
• Glass screen can induce glare and reflections
• High operating temperature and power consumption
• Only has one native resolution. Displaying other resolutions requires a video scaler, which degrades image quality at lower resolutions.
• Fixed bit depth. Plasma cells can only be on or off, resulting in a more limited color range than LCDs or CRTs.
• Can suffer image burn-in. This was a severe problem on early plasma displays, but much less on newer ones
• Cannot be used with light guns/pens
• Dead pixels are possible during manufacturing