Introduction

Flat-panel displays are the future of television - whether consumers like them or not is another matter. HDTV, digital convergence, and high-resolution DVD will all have contributed to making CRT TVs obsolete within two years. That's not the case yet, but it is on the way. And if you're tempted to acquire a flat-panel TV, you will need to deal with another issue: the choice between two technologies that are complementary yet very different from one another: plasma and LCD.

For computer monitors, the choice is easy, with LCDs having won the market, but for TV, the two technologies are still competing. This article is intended to give you a good look at both technologies, their strong points and their weaknesses, so that you can get an idea of what the choice of each of the technologies implies for home use. The article is based on a presentation made by Tom's Hardware Guide France on December 23rd in partnership with the magazine La Recherche, as part of a cycle of technology conferences at the CNAM engineering school at the Arts et Métiers museum in Paris.