They are called the techniques of the XXI century. They are huge and flat. They have a bright screen and no problems with the linearity and focus. What's their name? Plasma panels.
How does this stuff work and why is it so very good?
Let's start with what is plasma, that has given them the name. It's the rarefied gas the molecules of which are ionized. Yes, they do fill those panel with gas. By these all technologies are required? Let's see.
About a three quarters of a century all the TV-set were using one technology: the cathode ray tube. It's a tube with one end wider than on other, on the wide end there is the screen.
A gun fires rays of electrons inside this tube, they hit the phosphor atoms with which the screen is covered, the atoms start shining and you get a TV picture on your screen.
The image is vibrating and flickering and because of the beam going all the time forward and back on the screen. But that isn't the greatest trouble.
We all know that the larger the screen the more it's pleasant to watch it. But for the usual TV-sets larger screens means a larger 'belly' of the cathode ray tube.
But there no problem that can't be solved. And so one day there appeared the plasma panels with the diagonals reaching 60 inches and the width only about 15 cm.
The colored picture on the plasma screen is formed by illuminating tiny fluorescent lights. Each pixel of the screen contains three lights: red, green and blue. By varying the intention of those lights the plasma screen forms the full range of colors.
The lights are being illuminated by means of ultraviolet rays which appear in plasma.
The brightness of picture depends on the time of illuminating of each pixels. The cells in the brightest places are 'shining' all the time, in the darkest places pixels aren't illuminated at all.
Every bright cell of the cathode ray tube TV-set is flickering all the time because the ray is lighting in 25 times per second, the plasma screen are free from this effect because there's no moving ray in them.
But the size and the smooth shining of the screen aren't the only advantages of the plasma panels.
Plasma panels for functioning don't need to form electromagnetic fields that makes them any harmful radiation free and safe for you, your relatives and pets. Absence of any electromagnetic field is also a reason why the plasma screen don't cover with dust.
A plasma panel isn't a TV set ' in fact it's only a screen meant for displaying any video information. That why they are rather universal and can be either a TV-set (if a TV receiver is connected) or a computed display of a huge size. Plasma TV-sets already contain TV receiver in them.
The picture on the plasma screen is very like the same in the cinemas, that's why they are just perfect for watching DVD movies on the home theater. The picture in the sight angle about 160 degrees is viewed without any distortion.
Plasma panels aren't only flat, thin and compact, they are also rather light for their square sizes, which makes them very movable. You can place them almost anywhere you like, plasma screens can be easily hung on the wall on the height of your eyes ' most comfortable for TV viewing.
The most obvious minuses of plasma panels are their prices and consumption of energy. The prices on plasma panels start from about a couple thousands dollars, yet they have a rather long terms of exploitation.
The energy consumption isn't little either. The reason is that each cell of the screen has to be kept active all the time in order to decrease the time of response. The developer are working in that programs, we can only hope they'll be successful in that.