What it is:
LCD or Liquid Crystal Display panel televisions first appeared in the 1970's. Like a laptop computer screen, a flat panel direct view LCD consists of a panel of viscous liquid sandwhiched in plastic. A network of transistors that control individual pixels (little dots of color that make the picture) drives the liquid. When a transistor delivers an electrical charge, the crystals "untwist" to an exact degree to filter light generated by a lamp behind the screen. This filtered light results in an amazingly bright picture on your LCD TV screen.

Benefits:

   1. LCD's are thinner, lighter, and sleeker than traditional CRTs, a.k.a. Tube TV's
   2. LCD's are immune to "burn in", so there's never any harm from video games left on too long, DVD's in pause, or Television station logos in the corner of the screen.
   3. LCD's also do not need magnetic shielding from you Home theater or surround sound speakers.

Limits:

   1. Currently LCD's are more expensive and somewhat limited in viewing angles and contrast ratios. However, the new breed of LCD TV's have improved on this.
   2. LCD's screen size is somewhat limited to 30 inches and less. Though, this is changing rapidly as well. It is very likely you will find LCD's up to 37 inches in flat panel models on the market today.