The Plasma Play

Back on the flat panel side, you’ve no doubt seen plasma screens by now. They’re in malls, airports, office lobbies, living rooms, and anywhere else people want bright, large, high-color displays with a very low footprint. The general consensus throughout most of the sales world is that plasma is the poor man’s substitute for LCD, the technology everyone will settle for until LCD screens can be made cost effectively at the same sizes as plasma panels.

Certainly, plasma display panel (PDP) construction is no less intricate than LCD. There are no polarizing filters with plasma, but instead of having cells filled with LC material, they are filled with a special gas and lined with a phosphor material. When the TFT electrode grid charges a particular cell, a dielectric material at the top of the cell excites the flow of charged particles which cause the gas to emit UV photons. When a UV photon hits the phosphor wall, it results in the release of visible light. Depending on the phosphor coating used, a burst of photon emissions will result in a red, green, or blue glow from that cell. This process can happen several thousand times per second per cell.

With no polarizing filters in the way, the viewing angles on plasma screens are practically that of CRTs, although LCDs have more or less caught up on this front, albeit sometimes at the expense of brightness or sharpness. Because plasma cells glow directly into the viewer’s eye and are not subject to several layers of filters, PDPs also tend to be brighter than their LCD counterparts.

Despite this, doomsayers abound and for some very legitimate reasons.

“LCD is the emerging technology,” notes BenQ national sales manager Rod Wilske. “They offer much better performance, much longer lifetime, are lighter in weight, and are a little more robust in shipping compared against plasma. But I say they’re an emerging technology because their price per square inch is relatively expensive. That’s why there’s still a lot of velocity in plasma.”

The fact is that plasma brightness starts to fade from the first moment it gets turned on. Phosphor ignition simply results in material dissipation. One estimate I found online states that after 1,000 hours of use a plasma screen should have 94% of its original brightness. At 15,000 to 20,000 hours, the display will be at 68% brightness.

After having just spent a mountain of money on a plasma display, I found all of this conventional information a bit disturbing. So I set out to find a plasma proponent and was lucky to find Alan Brawn, senior manager of business development at Samsung, which is the world’s leading PDP manufacturer. Brawn has 23 years in the display industry, much of which has been spent teaching certification-level courses on the subject and writing display technology articles for technical industry journals.

“I’m telling you that plasma is not going to die,” says Brawn. “LCD is not going to go down in price as radically as plasma is already dropping. The plasma displays are getting better and better. Plasma now has a 50,000-hour life on the panel. At six hours a day, five days a week, that’s 23 years of life.

“You set up your LCD and plasma displays according to standards,” he adds, “and I’ll put $1,000 on the table. You be the judge of which display you like best for video. My money says you’ll pick a plasma, whether it’s HD, 720, 1080, whatever. And frankly, I make a little more money off my LCDs than the plasmas.”

I circled back to Joel Silver for additional information about plasma longevity.

“The last ‘data’ I chuckled about was a claim of 30,000 hours from glass that had been in production for only eight days,” Silver says. “The numbers for how long phosphor-based devices last are not as important as the numbers for their ‘half life,’ or how long it takes for the image brightness to decay to 50 percent. Remember, human perception of light loss over time is minimal. Most people are shocked when we show them the differences between center of screen and corner of screen brightness on the monitors they have been living with. The reality we have seen to date is that plasmas last long enough to render obsolete any issues about longevity.”

Another oft-cited plasma problem is burn-in. Just like TVs, if you leave an image on a plasma screen long enough—and that can be well under 30 days—it will burn permanently into the screen. Obviously, this is not a concern in home theaters where displayed content is unlikely to stay static for even a few seconds. The real danger is in environments where plasmas are employed for signage. Airports are a frequent example. However, burn-in risk can be lessened by “seasoning” the panels with test patterns before deploying them. Additionally, many commercial panels now automatically shift the image according to a programmed pattern. And if nothing else, there are always flying toasters and other screen savers.

Ultimately, the LCD versus plasma debate falls out much like the LCD versus DLP debate in projectors. LCD is definitely the winner for sharp text and basic graphics (money allowing) while plasma wins for video. The nature of how sub-pixels are formed in each technology makes them appropriate to their respective tasks regardless of all other specs.

If size is a deciding factor, know that 40” is essentially the state of the art in today’s large LCD category. LG is prepping a 55” panel for its next flagship. On the plasma side, Samsung has a 70” model and is gathering steam for an 80” release next year.

A Glimpse at Lows and Highs

The number of projectors on the market is staggering, but it doesn’t take long to realize that most of them are near-clones of one another. Right now is one of those rare moments when a new model arrives at a certain price point and heralds a shift throughout the entire product category. LG’s DLP-based RD-JT91 is that model. At the entry-level $999 price point, most brands offer 1,200 to 1,400 lumens, 2,000-hour lamp life, moderate contrast, and about 35 dB of noise during operation. LG sweeps the field aside with 1,700 lumens, a 3,000-hour lamp, 2,000:1 contrast, and a whisper quiet 31 dB—25 dB in economy mode.

At 6.4 pounds, the JT91 is a bit stout, but it makes amends by having a short throw lens able to span a 100” display at only 3.5 meters distance. The exterior is a rugged magnesium alloy, you get DVI with HD compatibility on an SVGA native resolution, and there’s also a USB port for mouse control. In the sub-$1,000 category, vendors must now scramble to follow LG’s lead.

At the opposite end of the small business market price range sits strong performers like NEC’s LT260K, which features a 0.69” DMD chip delivering XGA native resolution and a 1600:1 contrast ratio. The unit pumps out a brilliant 2,400 lumens in standard mode and 1,900 lumens in economy mode, and the fan noise at 32 dB and 29 dB respectively is a remarkably low considering the brightness. Speaking of which, the LT260K’s brilliant output enables the projector with a 46.4” to 970” projection distance, making this unit an excellent choice for larger presentation venues, especially when you take into account the larger number of mounting and security lock options, bi-directional keystone correction (35 degrees horizontal and 40 degrees vertical!), and wireless network connectivity.

Special NEC bonuses include USB connectors for more precise control via a PC, advanced color controls, VGA/audio pass-through, and a 1W mono speaker. IT managers will be happy to see NEC’s inclusion of special security access features. Unless a coded PC Card is inserted or a designated password provided, the projector will not work. Despite all of this functionality, the projector only weighs 6.5 pounds.

Sitting at the start of the size ladder on the large flat panel side, I really like BenQ’s DV3070 LCD display ($3,200), and that wasn’t an easy selection for me. This 30” widescreen sports a brightness spec of 500 nits and a 500:1 contrast ratio. (Nits are a measurement of direct light while a lumen is a measurement of reflected light. Because direct light is brighter than reflected light, a nit is brighter than a lumen.) With a 1280 x 768 native resolution, 480p/720p/1080i support, and essentially all of the major video inputs, I actually didn’t start getting impressed until I hit the 16ms response time, 170-degree viewing angle, and 10W attached speakers.

Normally, I can’t stand integrated monitor speakers. But if this unit is going on a wall or at the head of a conference table, it’s not like the client will have a lot of room for discrete speakers or stray wires. And since most integrated speakers are only 1W or 2W, BenQ’s 10W design came as a welcome improvement.

The DV3070 also has a built-in TV tuner. Honestly, I’ve been prejudiced against the whole LCD TV phenomenon. Anyone prepared to drop that much money on a flat screen TV is going to have digital cable or satellite service and won’t use the integrated analog tuner for which he just paid an extra $100 to $200 because you can’t reach anything higher than channel 125 on an analog tuner. Yet in speaking with vendors, I had to admit that there were some niche environments where affluent LCD buyers would appreciate a built-in tuner (say, a remote cabin beyond digital reach) and many corporate environments might want the benefits of a Bloomberg or CNN feed without the hassle or expense of a digital set-top box. So, point to BenQ. The DV3070 is spendy compared to other 30” LCD TVs, but its advanced filtering features and excellent image quality will leave buyers in this range happy.

If size is what matters but your client wants to preserve quality (and, ahem, not waste money), then the obvious selection is Samsung’s delicious 63” PPM63H3Q plasma display ($10,000). With a 3,000:1 contrast and 1,000 nits brightness, this monolith can easily tackle signage as well as video, even in bright environments. Samsung packs this model (like most of its plasmas) with advanced image enhancement and correction circuitry and multiple anti-burn tools, not to mention PiP, digital pan and zoom, and landscape/portrait orientation support.

Samsung’s on-board processor also makes setting up large-scale displays a relative snap. You can install multiple PPM63H3Q units in 2x2, 1x5, 5x5, and similar “tile” configurations. Normally, such arrangements require an external processor. Additionally, Samsung has the unique value-add of a two-year on-site parts and labor warranty plus the ability for resellers to offer extended warranties. Even if you don’t need the biggest displays, Samsung plasmas are one of the best display opportunities in the channel.

Values In Big Video

Sourcing large display equipment may be a little trickier than standard system hardware. Conventional distributors are sure to carry the displays, but you may find additional value through other suppliers.

“High-end flat panels are big and heavy and physically hard to ship around,” says BenQ’s Rod Wilske. “One of the first considerations should be the distributor and whether the distributor is adept at handling these oversized, sensitive products. While the mainstream distributors are selling plasmas, there are specialists like Electrograph or ActiveLight that are familiar with these things. So aside from making sure your sales rep knows what he’s talking about, make sure the distributor knows how to handle the logistics of big screens.”

Particularly if you’re a small integrator new to the large display space, you’ll want the guidance of a specialty distributor. These are the reps who can loan you the experience necessary to advise clients through tricky video configurations until you build up enough knowledge and confidence on your own. Specialty disties are also more likely to stock backup SKUs and accessory items than a standard IT distributor.

It goes without saying that partner programs should be a key aspect of your large display strategy. What I find encouraging is that many vendors are going out of their way to create and adapt programs specifically targeted at helping channel partners succeed in large displays. LG, for example, simply expanded its generous and entertaining Life’s Rewards program (www.LGsuperseller.com) to include its LCD and projector lines. (How can a program that uses sweepstakes to give away trips to Hawaii and a hybrid Lexus SUV not be entertaining?) Fun and games aside, LG’s program is one of the most aggressive in the industry about putting demos, marketing funds, rebates, and more in the hands of resellers to help spark unit sales.

Another good example is BenQ’s Home Cinema Partner Program (HCPP) for LCDs and home cinema projectors, which was built within its Qreseller program (www.qreseller.com) specifically to make sure that resellers were properly educated about this relatively complex product group. HCPP resellers apply to BenQ online, and the vendor then issues a license with which the partner can buy HCPP product from the distributor of its choice.

“We established this program for a couple of reasons,” says Rod Wilske. “First, for the projectors. A home cinema projector is a pretty kludgy animal, and as plug-and-play as they are it’s pretty easy to make them look bad. And these are HD projectors. They’re beautiful. But we just didn’t want PCwhatever.com to sell this thing on the Internet to a customer who ends up dissatisfied and results in a $5,000 return. So we try to focus this program on resellers who do the installation, integration, and calibration and make sure end-users are supported with this product. Home cinema projectors are probably not going to be consumer retail products, but the LCD TVs probably will. So it helps us keep our channels clean when these go on retail shelves. We’re working to insulate margins, but we’re doing it for the guys who do the local support and service we desperately need so we have happy end-users.”

Perhaps the best back-end value to be found here will come from education. There is simply so much to learn here, and it’s not that you need to do what the pro A/V installers do but that you should know most of what they know and put it to work in your own solutions. The trick is getting PC builders into classrooms where video technology is taught.

This has to change. System builders need to recognize that wall displays of the 21st century are largely just another monitor linked to a computer. However, because those monitors have capabilities and applications beyond that of a traditional desktop monitor, it is essential to gain the knowledge necessary to maximize this potential for your clients. This is best done through industry standard certification programs offered by groups such as CEDIA (www.cedia.net) and the ICIA (www.infocomm.org), which does a bit better job of embracing the PC space.

With all of this in hand, the large display world is your oyster. As my hapless plasma installer demonstrated, the world needs PC resellers with in-depth understanding of video and A/V integration. This is the future, and our channel has the ability to capture this business.