Top TV Display Technologies

In the good old days, buying a TV was easy. Often the decision on which model to buy was determined by the color of the wood finish on the TV’s cabinet. Today, things are different. Aside from the bewildering number of options when it comes to screen size, built-in features, apps, and even remote controls, there is also a variety of display technologies from which to choose. Here is a list of the most common display technologies available today along with what’s important to know about each when you’re looking for a new smart TV.

CRT TV
In many ways, a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) display is like a giant light bulb. However, instead of a filament that heats up and glows, there’s an electron “gun” located at the narrow end of the “bulb” that shoots electrons at phosphors coated on the inside of the big end of the CRT. This causes the phosphors to glow and render the image that you see on the screen.

Good: Potentially excellent picture quality; pre-owned models can be purchased cheaply.
Bad: CRT TVs are heavy, bulky, and very expensive to make in sizes larger than 35 inches diagonally. It’s also difficult to make CRTs with totally flat screens. CRTs are also susceptible to “burn in” if a still image or graphic remains on the screen for an extended period of time. Additionally, CRTs aren’t very energy efficient, and very few companies make CRTs capable of displaying high-definition video. Need we say more?
Important to know: The address of the closest pawn shop.
Major brands: You name the company—they probably sold CRT TVs at one time.

Plasma TV
A plasma display panel (PDP) consists of a thin layer of millions of miniature gas-filled cells connected together by an electrical grid, all of which is squeezed between two pieces of glass. When energized by electricity, the gas inside the cells heats up and ionizes—in other words, it turns into a plasma. This causes a phosphor coating to glow and create the image on the screen.

Good: Plasma displays are very bright and have the ability to produce a wide range of colors with excellent contrast. The brightness level across the screen is very uniform, and plasma displays boast extremely wide viewing angles. Plasma TVs can be made in sizes up to 150 inches diagonally.
Bad: Although lighter and much thinner than an equivalent size CRT TV, plasma TVs are heavier and thicker than LCD TVs of the same size. Plasma TVs generate a lot of excess heat, which usually makes them less energy efficient than LCD TVs. Some plasma TVs make buzzing noises at high altitudes (approximately 6,500 feet and above).
Important to know: No major manufacturer is producing plasma display panels for the consumer market anymore. Don’t bother to look for any 4K UHD plasma TVs because they don’t exist.
Major brands: Sony, Samsung, LG, Panasonic, Pioneer Elite, Toshiba

LCD TV
Unlike a plasma display that uses glowing phosphors to generate light, an LCD TV uses a matrix of liquid crystals in front of a light source (called a backlight). The liquid crystals can be turned on or off in order to block the light or allow it to pass through.

Good: LCD TVs are bright and very energy efficient. They are much lighter and thinner than plasma TVs with the same screen diagonal measurement. In fact, some LCD TVs have been advertised as being thinner than a standard #2 pencil.
Bad: LCD TVs are poor at producing dark gray and black areas in an image. On some LCD TVs, scenes with lots of movement—especially sporting events—suffer from motion artifacts (smearing of the image), although higher refresh rates minimize this effect. LCD TVs have limited viewing angles, which means the brightness and color of images can look different depending on the angle at which you’re viewing the TV.
Important to know: LCD TVs use a variety of light sources for backlighting the panel, including cold cathode fluorescent lamps, LEDs, and scented candles. (Just kidding about that last one.) The placement of the backlight source—for example, behind the LCD panel or along the edges—as well as the total number of lamps or LEDs can greatly affect the uniformity of the screen’s brightness. Look for an LCD TV with at least a 120 Hz refresh rate to avoid seeing motion artifacts in the image.
Major brands: Sharp, Sony, LG, Samsung, Panasonic, Vizio

LED TV
The LED TVs you see on store shelves aren’t exactly what the name implies. A true LED TV uses clusters of red, green, and blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to make up each pixel on the screen. They’re super bright and are most often used for large venues (arenas and stadiums) and outdoor signage (billboards). The so-called LED TVs normal people with normal home theater systems buy do employ LEDs, but they’re used as the light source for the backlighting required by the TV’s LCD panel. So, in reality, an “LED TV” is really just a type of LCD TV.

Good: LED TVs are bright and have a wide color gamut. They can also be extremely thin.
Bad: Because LED TVs are essentially an LCD TV, they can suffer from the same drawbacks mentioned above.
Important to know: Many LED TVs have the ability to dynamically brighten or dim specific areas of the screen in order to improve the contrast ratio. It’s often referred to as active dimming. Models with LEDs located on the edge of the screen can support active dimming, but full-array LED TVs have the LEDs arranged in a grid pattern behind the LCD panel. Zones or groups of LEDs can be dimmed or brightened to improve the contrast ratio even more. This is called local dimming.
Major brands: Sharp, Sony, LG, Samsung, Panasonic, Vizio

OLED TV
An organic light-emitting diode (OLED) TV uses a film of organic compound that emits light when electricity is applied. Because the organic compound film generates its own light, this type of TV does not require a backlight.

Good: OLED TVs can be thinner and lighter than LCD TVs, but the OLED TV’s most significant claim to fame is its combination of stunningly deep black levels with high peak brightness, plus an exceptionally wide viewing angle and lack of any noticeable motion blur or smearing. OLED TV panels can be flexible, which means the technology can be used to make large curved screens.
Bad: OLED TVs are still difficult to manufacture, so they haven’t come down in price as quickly as had been hoped.
Important to know: At the moment, most large-screen OLED TVs have curved screens, although flat OLED TVs are also possible to manufacture.
Major brands: LG, Samsung

Quantum Dot
Quantum dot TVs aren’t made out of millions of tiny balls of frozen ice cream, although it would be cool (both literally and figuratively) if they were. The technology would probably be easier to understand, too. A quantum dot TV is much like an LCD TV in that it requires a backlight, but in this case the TV uses a blue LED light source. The necessary red and green colors are emitted by tiny (the smallest are only about 30 atoms in diameter) semiconductor nanocrystals, called quantum dots, that are behind or along the TV’s screen.

Good: Quantum dot TVs create extremely bright images with an expanded gamut of colors that are very saturated and accurate.
Bad: The technology is expensive. No, very expensive.
Important to know: Like LED TVs, quantum dot TVs are LCD TVs. The quantum dot technology is used to produce a more color-pure backlight source.
Major brands: LG, Samsung EH