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Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)
How the technology works
Electrical currents can cause liquid crystals to change their shape. This allows them to act as light valves -- different amounts of current allow different amounts of light to pass through the crystal. This lets the LCD device create a greyscale image. To add color, most projectors use a series of mirrors that split the light into red, green and blue beams. Each beam passes through a separate LCD, and a lens collects the three beams and projects the image on the screen.
Advantages of the technology
Flat-panel displays like LCDs and Plasmas are significantly brighter and feature higher contrasts than traditional CRT sets. Which means that an LCD TV will perform exceedingly well under most ambient light conditions. A brightly lit room won't wash out its picture, nor will lamplight cause a glare on your television screen. The beauty of these flat screens is that you don't have to turn out the lights to see the image clearly and easily. Nor do you have to worry about eyestrain, since neither LCDs nor Plasmas flicker the way old-fashioned TVs do
Disadvantages of the technology
Because LCDs were used for data display that did not require fast refreshing rates they did not have a fast refreshing rate. That has not changed. What it means is that fast moving objects on the screen will look awkward and mechanical since the screen cannot keep up. So the viewing experience can be significantly diminished (even to the point of unwatchable with some brands). The newest technology with name brand LCDs have typical refresh rates of 16ms or less (the lower the number the better). This means that fast moving scenes will look good and is true until you get to screen sizes over 35.
Price range of the technology
Around $200-$3,000.
