Without some serious research, buying a new TV that best suits your needs can be a pain in the rear. LED LCD, plasma screen, CCFL LCD; it all comes down to price unless you know what you’re getting into beforehand. I’ll lay down the differences and strong points between the three so you’ll be able to make an informed decision.
Plasma Screens
We’ll start with plasma screens. These are a great choice when it comes to size/price ratios, so you’ll be getting your money’s worth no matter how big you want your screen. Let’s take a closer look at the plasma screen phenomenon:
- Excellent color contrast and black levels, meaning you’ll get a clear, realistic picture with a clean, sharp transition between the lighter and darker parts of the screen.
- Higher contrast may be necessary for a prettier picture, and as a result, the energy consumption will spike a bit. It’s nothing extreme, but it’s worth noting.
- Lower screen brightness. Not a dealbreaker, but it might irk someone who’s used to blinding LCD screens. Choosing a plasma TV with anti-glare/reflection screen material is generally a good idea.
- Flexible pricing, as mentioned above, to suit any potential buyer.
LED LCD
Next up is LED LCD, the big, bright, and fabulous option. These guys tend to have a higher price tag, but they make up for it with other positive traits:
- Much lower energy consumption. The TV won’t pay for itself, for the record. This caters towards a more “environmentally savvy” type of customer, rather than someone looking to save money in the long run.
- Exceptional light output. No matter how dark the room is, LED LCD can compensate. The maximum brightness setting is enough to hurt your eyes, to say the least.
- Uniform brightness may be an issue for the more attentive, perhaps perfectionist TV shoppers. Due to the positioning and nature of the LED backlights, there may be some disparity in the overall brightness of the screen, though it will not impact picture quality.
CCFL LCD
Last but not least, the CCFL LCD. These TVs tend to be low-end, thus have a much lower price attached to them. While they don’t have any outstanding traits to their name aside from their reasonable pricing, they are by no means inferior TVs. Consider them cheaper versions of the LED LCD TVs; a little less bright, a little more energy consuming, slightly reduced contrast ratio, but still an feasible option.
If you live in the Tri-Valley area (Pleasanton, Dublin, Livermore) your choices for purchasing computer hardware and software is limited. There are a number of small, boutique computer repair and supply businesses, but for a store with a wide selection of items, at prices competitive with the Internet, your only real choice if you want to stay local is Best Buy in Dublin. If you are willing to travel a little bit, Fry’s Electronics in Fremont is the place to go. Here’s a quick comparison that might help you decided whether or not to make that trip.
Two years ago at about this time I compared and reviewed some 
