In the early 2000s, if someone had a large budget for a TV, they chiefly had two technology types to choose from: the rear projection TV (with massive displays) and plasma TVs (known for their amazing picture quality). These TVs catered to different, but equally demanding, audiences. While projection TV buffs bought them for the big screen experience, the plasma TV enthusiast had bragging rights for possessing the most technologically advanced TVs money could buy. Plasma TVs were compact and among the first TVs that could be easily mounted onto a wall, giving them a massive aesthetic advantage over the much bulkier rear projection TVs (RPTVs).
By the mid-2000s, plasma TVs became more advanced and began to be available in much larger sizes and higher resolutions. Although the prototype 150-inch plasma TV from Panasonic wasn’t standard, it showed how far things could go. This was the era when home theater buffs began moving onto plasma displays en masse, leading to major manufacturers abandoning RPTVs entirely. While early LCD TVs were also gradually making their presence felt, they were considered low-end, mass-market products primarily because of the inherent flaws of early models. They had slow response times and refresh rates, and the backlighting delivered poor image quality and washed out colors. In other words, things were looking really good for the plasma display. It was loved by the enthusiasts, its main competitors (RPTVs) had become obsolete, and the newer LCD TVs just couldn’t compete on image quality.
Yet, in less than two decades after they arrived on the scene, plasma TVs would go extinct. And, as ironic as it sounds, the death knell was delivered by the humble LCD TV, which quickly graduated to LED technology and eventually solved most of the disadvantages that led people to choose plasma TVs over LCDs.
LCDs were quick to adapt, plasma TVs were hindered by chemistry
While plasma TVs look uncannily similar to modern LED or OLED displays, their DNA was entirely different. In fact, in terms of underlying chemistry, a plasma screen was essentially a grid of microscopic, inert-gas neon lights. The “pixels” on plasma TVs were extremely small chambers filled with gases like xenon or neon. When an electrical signal was passed through them, the gases were ionized into a state of plasma, which caused them to glow and emit invisible UV light. To make this light visible to humans, manufacturers added a layer of red, blue, and green phosphors, which “lit up” when struck by the UV light. This is how plasma TVs created the underlying RGB layer that formed images on the display.
While this process delivered extremely high-quality images for the time, creating an image using this process was extremely energy-intensive and produced a significant amount of heat. To cool things down, some manufacturers added an internal fan to the mix, which made some plasma TVs annoyingly loud. Then there were the other issues: Given that plasma TVs used gas-filled pixels, they had to be housed inside a thick shell of glass, which made these TVs much heavier than LCD TVs. Plasma TVs also suffered from another issue called image retention or burn-in, which would later plague OLED displays.
The use of physical gas-filled “pixels” also meant that companies had to go to extreme lengths to miniaturize them to be able to deliver higher resolutions. By the time these technological limits kicked in, LCD/LED technology had massively improved, and newer OLED tech delivered almost all the advantages of plasma displays, while eliminating most of their flaws.
The last major plasma TV brands ended production in 2014
The quick maturing of LCD/LED technology and the arrival of OLED technology on the horizon would eventually lead to companies abandoning research on plasma TVs, culminating in a complete manufacturing halt. Fujitsu and Pioneer were among the first major brands to give up on the technology, after they stopped making plasma TVs around 2007-2008. In the U.S., Vizio followed suit in 2009.
The second and final wave of production cessation began around 2013, when one of the major players in the plasma TV space — Panasonic — exited the business. The very next year, the two South Korean majors — Samsung and LG — also gave up on plasma TVs. The exit of these heavyweight brands was the final blow for plasma TVs. Although some smaller brands continued manufacturing them in limited numbers in China, even this would come to a halt within a couple of years, with some reports indicating that these brands stopped manufacturing plasma TVs in 2016.
It’s been well over a decade since the last of the plasma TVs rolled out of factories, and they’re now considered one of the TVs you might want to avoid buying used. However, the technology is still revered by serious videophiles as one of the best options for serious home theater enthusiasts, thanks to its excellent contrast ratios and wide viewing angles. In fact, it is not uncommon for these plasma TV enthusiasts to reminisce about their experiences with plasma TVs on online message boards and forums. Some have even meticulously maintained their old plasma TVs, which are in perfect working order despite being well over a decade old.
