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13.
PLASMA
DISPLAYS VS OTHER TYPES OF DISPLAYS
Until recently, most people associated flat panel displays with liquid
crystal display (LCD) technology. As the quality of colour plasma displays has
improved, they in turn have become major contenders in this field, but the
manufacturers firmly believes that there is room in the market for both
technologies since their strong points and eventual applications differ
somewhat.
The LCD panel suffers from a number of limitations such as severe yield
problems as the size of the panel grows bigger and a narrow viewing angle. The
problems with yield are likely to keep a focus on mass production of smaller
screens. As for the viewing angle, what may be viewed as problematic for certain
applications such as televisions or monitors that are used by several people
simultaneously, can in fact be an asset on a single-user device such as a
notebook computer. For example, the narrow viewing angle is a guarantee of
privacy in a public place such as an airplane. More significant is the contrast
between the self-luminescent PDP and the requirement for back lighting for a
truly bright LCD.
In terms of image quality and viewing angle, colour plasma displays offer the
biggest challenge to the traditional CRT, and manufacturers strongly believes
that they will eventually replace the CRT for larger size applications, that is
20-25 inch and larger, up to about 100 inches. The largest size of PDP currently
on the market, 42 inch panel, weighs only 18 kilograms, one sixth the weight of
an equivalent CRT. It is only about 65mm deep, one tenth the depth of a CRT.
Initially, low levels of production will keep PDP costs higher than CRTs but
these are expected to decrease dramatically as production levels increase,
eventually making PDPs cheaper than CRTs. Finally, there is also the question of
scope for further increases in size. It is a fact that CRTs are now at their
limit in the 30-40 inch range. Fujitsu, on the other hand, is already making the
leap to the next generation of plasma display panels, with 42 inch panels
already in mass production and plans in place for a second production line
capable of processing glass panels in excess of 70 inches.
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