Comparison of CRT, LCD, Plasma, and OLED

Parameter 	CRT 	LCD 	Plasma 	OLED
Brightness 	Some compensate for ambient light 	Very poor in direct sunlight without reflective design (battery powered devices);uneven backlighting in older models;low temperatures can cause dimming or blackout 	Some panels are highly reflective, should be used in a dark environment for optimum picture quality 	Poor in bright ambient light;white color dimmer than LCDs of same brightness
Contrast 	Over 15,000:1Display "Technology Shoot-Out: Comparing CRT, LCD, Plasma and DLP Displays", Dr. Raymond M. Soneira, DisplayMate Technologies website 	Over 1,000:1 	Over 20,000:1 	Over 1,000,000:1
Color 	Excellent 	Good on most newer models 	Excellent 	Vivid and wide gamut,blue OLED degrades faster than other colors so manufacturers may overdrive the blue LEDs to compensate, causing oversaturated colors organic materials decay over time (2011)
Color depth 	Unlimited 	Up to 68 × 109 	68 × 109Crutchfield – LCD vs. PlasmaCNET Australia – Plasma vs. LCD: Which is right for you? 	
Black level 	Excellent 	Poor due to bleed through 	Excellent 	Excellent
Ghosting and smearing 	No ghosting or smearing artifacts;slightly blurry;halo may appear around objects with high contrast to background 	Display motion blur on models with slow response time, and the elimination technique (strobing backlight) can cause eye-strain 	None even during fast motion, advancements in 3D have eliminated phosphor trailing due to the use of fast-switching phosphors 	None even during fast motion
Response time 	Sub-milisecond 	1–8 ms typical (according to manufacturer data), older units could be as slow as 35 ms"LCD Monitors, TVs: Electronics – Microcenter", Scroll down and look at the bar on the left to see the number of monitors they offer that have certain specifications. Retrieved April 2013 	Sub-millisecond 	Sub-millisecond
Frame rate 	60–85 fps typically, some CRTs can go even higher ("200 fps at reduced resolution"http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/rd/pubs/whp/whp-pdf-files/WHP169.pdf);internally, display refreshed at input frame rate speed 	60 or 75 fps typically;internally, display usually refreshed at 200 Hz 	60 fps typically, some can do 120 fps;internally, display refreshed at eg. 480 or 600 Hz"What is 600Hz Sub Field Drive?", Retrieved April 2013 	
Environmental influences 	Magnetic fields may cause distortion or shimmer,earth's magnetic fields may cause distortion 	Low temperatures can cause slow response, high temperatures can cause poor contrast 	High altitude pressure difference may cause poor function or buzzing noisesPlasmaTVBuyingGuide.com Plasma TVs at Altitude 	UV exposure can damage,water can damage organic materials
Flicker and eyestrain 	Part of the screen always lit during refreshes;flicker noticeable at refresh rates below 85 Hz 	Depends; as of 2013, most LCDs use PWM (strobing) to dim the backlightExplanation of why pulse width modulated backlighting is used, and its side-effects, "Pulse Width Modulation on LCD monitors", TFT Central. Retrieved June 2012. which can cause severe eyestrain for some peopleDiscussions of severe eye-strain with the new MacBook Pro, "Eye strain from LED backlighting in MacBook Pro", Apple Support Communities. Retrieved June 2012.A discussion of LCD monitor eye-strain, "Is a LED monitor better for eyes than a LCD?", SuperUser. Retrieved June 2012.An enlightened user requests Dell to improve their LCD backlights, "Request to Dell for higher backlight PWM frequency", Dell Support Community. Retrieved June 2012. although the flicker isn't visible because it is normally done at 200 Hz or faster	Poor due to phosphor based but improving in newer models 	Part of the screen always lit during refreshes due to multiplexing
Aging 	yes 	yes 	yes 	yes, different colors age at very different rates
Weight 	Heavy, especially for larger units, a screen weighs about 	Light 	Heavy, however, less weight gain per size increase 	Very light
Size 	Bulky depth, 7" smallest possible for color screen, over 40" is very heavy 	Compact, can be manufactured almost any size and shape, very thin allowing mounted distance to user for less focusing-related eyestrain 	Up to 150"(3.8m) 	Compact, can be made in nearly any size or shape.
Energy consumption and heat generation	HighTom's Hardware: Power Consumption Benchmark Results for CRT versus TFT LCD "Benchmark Results: Different Brightness Testing" 	Lowwith CCFL backlight 30–50% of CRT, with LED backlight 10–25% of CRT 	Varies with brightness but usually higher than LCDhttp://www.digitaldirect.co.uk/articles/plasma-vs-lcd-flat-screen-differenceshttp://www.hometheater.com/gearworks/106gear/ 	Varies with brightness but usually lower than LCD (except when displaying a lot of white area)
Screen burn-in 	Yes, the reason screensavers became popular 	Discoloring may occur due to thermalization, but usually it is not permanent;dead or stuck pixels may occur in manufacturing or usage 	Severe in early models, dead or stuck pixels may occur in manufacturing or usage 	Yes, dead or stuck pixels may occur in manufacturing or usage
Maintenance 	Hazardous to repair or service due to high-voltage, requires skilled convergence calibration and adjustments for geographic location changes 	Difficult to replace backlight 	 	
Is compatible with Light pens or guns 	Yes 	No 	No 	No
Electro-magnetic radiation emission 	Emits strong electromagnetic radiation in the audio-frequency to low-frequency RF range (from the electron beam deflection coils) 	Emits very little electromagnetic radiation 	Emits strong radio-frequency electromagnetic radiationeham Amateur Radio Forum "Plasma TV – Mother of All RFI Producers", Retrieved April 2013 	Emits very little electromagnetic radiation
Other 	No native resolution. Currently, the only display technology capable of multi-syncing (displaying different resolutions and refresh rates without the need for scaling). Display lag is extremely low due to its nature, which does not have the ability to store image data before output, unlike LCDs, plasma displays and OLED displays.	The LCD grid can mask effects of spatial and grayscale quantization, creating the illusion of higher image quality.M. d’Zmura, T. P. Janice Shen, Wei Wu, Homer Chen, and Marius Vassiliou (1998), “Contrast Gain Control for Color Image Quality,” IS&T/SPIE Conference on Human Vision and Electronic Imaging III, San Jose, California, January 1998, SPIE Vol. 3299, 194–201. Many newer models are powered by an external 12V power supply (for thinness), and could (with a special cable) be connected directly to the computer's power supply, possibly saving power, desk space and wall-outlet space 	Screen-door effects are more noticeable than LCD when up close, or on larger sizes;http://www.home-theater-automation-and-electronics.com/PlasmaTelevisionGuide.htmlfragile and required to be upright to avoid screen collapse	No backlight needed, can be fabricated on flexible plastic substrates for flexible displays
==References==
Category:Television technology
Category:Display technology