History

History

Plasma displays were first used in PLATO computer terminals. This PLATO V model illustrates the display's monochromatic orange glow as seen in 1981. The monochrome plasma video display was co-invented in 1964 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign by Donald Bitzer, H. Gene Slottow, and graduate student Robert Willson for the PLATO Computer System. The original neon orange monochrome Digivue display panels built by glass producer Owens-Illinois were very popular in the early 1970s because they were rugged and needed neither memory nor circuitry to refresh the images. A long period of sales decline occurred in the late 1970s because semiconductor memory made CRT displays cheaper than the US$2500 512 x 512 PLATO plasma displays. Nonetheless, the plasma displays' relatively large screen size and 1 inch thickness made them suitable for high-profile placement in lobbies and stock exchanges.
Electrical engineering student Larry F. Weber became interested in plasma displays while studying at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the 1960s, and pursued postgraduate work in the field under Bitzer and Slottow. His research eventually earned him 15 patents relating to plasma displays. One of his early contributions was development of the power-saving "energy recovery sustain circuit", now included in every color plasma display.
Burroughs Corporation, a maker of adding machines and computers, developed the Panaplex display in the early 1970s. The Panaplex display, generically referred to as a gas-discharge or gas-plasma display, uses the same technology as later plasma video displays, but began life as seven-segment display for use in adding machines. They became popular for their bright orange luminous look and found nearly ubiquitous use in cash registers, calculators, pinball machines, aircraft avionics such as radios, navigational instruments, and stormscopes; test equipment such as frequency counters and multimeters; and generally anything that previously used nixie tube or numitron displays with a high digit-count throughout the late 1970s and into the 1990s. These displays remained popular until LEDs gained popularity because of their low-current draw and module-flexibility, but are still found in some applications where their high-brightness is desired, such as pinball machines and avionics. Pinball displays started with six- and seven-digit seven-segment displays and later evolved into 16-digit alphanumeric displays, and later into 128x32 dot-matrix displays in 1990, which are still used today.
1983
In 1983, IBM introduced a 19-inch (48 cm) orange-on-black monochrome display (model 3290 'information panel') which was able to show up to four simultaneous IBM 3270 terminal sessions. Due to heavy competition from monochrome LCD's, in 1987 IBM planned to shut down its factory in upstate New York, the largest plasma plant in the world, in favor of manufacturing mainframe computers.[38] Consequently, Larry Weber co-founded a startup company Plasmaco with Stephen Globus, as well as James Kehoe, who was the IBM plant manager, and bought the plant from IBM. Weber stayed in Urbana as CTO until 1990, then moved to upstate New York to work at Plasmaco.
1992
In 1992, Fujitsu introduced the world's first 21-inch (53 cm) full-color display. It was a hybrid, the plasma display created at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and NHK STRL.
1994
In 1994, Weber demonstrated color plasma technology at an industry convention in San Jose. Panasonic Corporation began a joint development project with Plasmaco, which led in 1996 to the purchase of Plasmaco, its color AC technology, and its American factory.
1997
In 1997, Fujitsu introduced the first 42-inch (107 cm) plasma display; it had 852x480 resolution and was progressively scanned. Also in 1997, Philips introduced a 42-inch (107 cm) display, with 852x480 resolution. It was the only plasma to be displayed to the retail public in 4Sears locations in the US. The price was US$14,999 and included in-home installation. Later in 1997, Pioneer started selling their first plasma television to the public.
2010 - Present
In late 2006, analysts noted that LCDs overtook plasmas, particularly in the 40-inch (1.0 m) and above segment where plasma had previously gained market share. Another industry trend is the consolidation of manufacturers of plasma displays, with around fifty brands available but only five manufacturers. In the first quarter of 2008 a comparison of worldwide TV sales breaks down to 22.1 million for direct-view CRT, 21.1 million for LCD, 2.8 million for Plasma, and 0.1 million for rear-projection.
Until the early 2000s, plasma displays were the most popular choice for HDTV flat panel display as they had many benefits over LCDs. As well as superior brightness, faster response time, greater color spectrum, and wider viewing angle; they were also much bigger than LCDs, and it was believed that LCD technology was suited only to smaller sized televisions. However, improvements in VLSI fabrication technology have since narrowed the technological gap. The increased size, lower weight, falling prices, and often lower electrical power consumption of LCDs now make them competitive with plasma television sets.
Screen sizes have increased since the introduction of plasma displays. The largest plasma video display in the world at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S., North America was a 150-inch (381 cm) unit manufactured by Matsushita Electrical Industries (Panasonic) standing 6 ft (180 cm) tall by 11 ft (330 cm) wide. At the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.,North America Panasonic introduced their 152" 2160p 3D plasma.

The plasma video display was co-invented in 1964 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign by Donald Bitzer, H. Gene Slottow, and graduate student Robert Willson for the PLATO Computer System. The original monochrome (orange, green, yellow) video display panels were very popular in the early 1970s because they were rugged and needed neither memory nor circuitry to refresh the images. This was followed by a long period of sales decline in the late 1970s, as semiconductor memory made CRT displays cheaper than plasma displays. Nonetheless, the relatively large screen size and thin body of plasma displays made them suitable for high-profile placement in lobbies and stock exchanges.
In 1983, IBM introduced a 19-inch (48-cm) orange-on-black monochrome display (model 3290 'information panel'), which was able to show four simultaneous IBM 3270 virtual machine (VM) terminal sessions. That factory was transferred in 1987 to startup company Plasmaco,[1] which was founded by Dr. Larry F. Weber (one of Dr. Bitzer's students) with Stephen Globus and James Kehoe (who was the IBM plant manager).
In 1992, Fujitsu introduced the world's first 21-inch (53-cm) full-color display. It was a hybrid, based on the plasma display created at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Science & Technical Research Laboratories (STRL) of Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK), achieving superior brightness.
In 1996, Matsushita Electrical Industries (Panasonic) purchased Plasmaco, its color AC technology, and its American factory. In 1997, Fujitsu introduced the first 42-inch (107-cm) plasma display. It had a resolution of 852x480 and was progressively scanned.[2] Also in 1997, Pioneer started selling the first plasma television to the public. Many current plasma televisions, thinner and of larger area than their predecessors, are in use. Their thin size allows them to compete with large projection screens.
Since then, plasma displays have become thinner and larger in screen size. The largest plasma video display in the world at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, was a 150-inch (381 cm) unit manufactured by Matsushita Electrical Industries (Panasonic) standing six ft (180 cm) tall by 11 ft (330 cm) wide and expected to initially retail at US$150,000.[3][4]
Until quite recently, the superior brightness, faster response time, greater color spectrum, and wider viewing angle of color plasma video displays, when compared with LCD (liquid crystal display) televisions, made them one of the most popular forms of display for HDTV (high-definition television) flat panel displays. For a long time, it was widely believed that LCD technology was suited only for smaller sized televisions and could not compete with plasma technology at larger sizes, particularly 40 inches (100 cm) and above. Since then, improvements in LCD technology have narrowed the technological gap. The lower weight, falling prices, higher available resolution (important for HDTV), and often lower electrical power consumption of LCDs make them competitive with plasma television sets. In late 2006, analysts noted that LCDs were overtaking plasmas, particularly in the important 40-inch (1.0 m) and above segment, where plasmas had previously enjoyed strong dominance.
The industry has also been trending toward the consolidation of manufacturers of plasma displays, with around fifty brands available but only five manufacturers. In the first quarter of 2008, a comparison of worldwide TV sales broke down to 22.1 million for CRT, 21.1 million for LCD, 2.8 million for plasma, and 124 thousand for rear-projection.
In an effort to compete with smaller LCD panels in the market, Vizio released the VP322, a 32" plasma television, in May 2008. This display uses a 32-inch panel made by LG and has a contrast ratio of 30,000: