A flat, shallow, light-weight television system that uses gas excited by an electric pulse to give off ultraviolet rays which in turn excite red, green and blue phosphors to generate an image. he primary advantage of a plasma television versus a cathode ray tube model is the depth of the system. While a 40-inch CRT display may be two feet deep, a 40-inch plasma display is only a few inches deep. And while a 40-inch CRT display may weigh 100 to 150 pounds, an equivalent plasma display weighs 60 to 80 pounds. lasma displays are also perfectly flat and viewable from any angle. Due to the screen curvature of a CRT-based television, the display suffers from reflections, poor performance from an angle, and picture distortions due to the screen curvature (straight lines bending up, down or sideways at the edges of the screen). Plasma displays eliminate these problems providing a bright, high-quality image in a small space. he primary disadvantage of plasma display technology is its cost with most current models running in the area of $10,000 for a 40-inch display. ormal CRTs generate an image by bombarding phosphors with electrons thus exciting the phosphors, which glow to generate light. Plasma televisions also use phosphors to create an image, but instead of using a deep and heavy cathode ray tube to generate electrons, plasma televisions use gas excited by an electric charge to emit ultraviolet rays, which in turn excite the phosphors. Plasma is a term used to describe electricity illuminating a gas, thus plasma televisions. hen a video signal enters a plasma display, a series of processors determine how much electric charge should be applied across the various areas of the screen to generate the proper image. The charges excite the gas (plasma) and the gas emissions of ultraviolet rays excite the phosphors to glow. The end result is an image similar to that of a standard direct-view CRT television from a device that can hang on the wall.