Life-time
The rare gases used in plasma display panels have a life-time and will fade gradually over use. Earlier plasma displays had a quoted half-lifetime of 20,000hrs, following which the image brightness will fall to half its original value. However, the latest generation of plasma displays boosts a quoted half-lifetime of 60,000hrs. Similarly, LCD displays have an expected quoted half-lifetime of between 50,000hrs and 60,000hrs. It is true that quoted half-lifetime figures by manufacturers tend to be somewhat inflated, but still these figures contrast heavily with the typical 20,000hrs half-lifetime for direct-view CRT TV sets.
But what do these half-lifetime figures imply? Statistics show that TVs in an average US household remain on for over 7.5hrs a day. Furthermore, on average, a TV set is replaced every 7 years. Taking a conservative figure of 30,000 hours half-lifetime for either technology, this works out to well over 10 years of daily use before these flat-panel TV sets would need replacement.
It is thus clear that lifetime is not an issue when it comes to comparing plasma vs LCD display technology.
At the same time, keep in mind that there is no way to regenerate the gases in a plasma display. Similarly, it is impossible to repair any ‘dead’ pixels that may develop during use in an LCD panel. The only option in these circumstances will be to replace the display.
