Why are people still selling the 55 inch tv plasma and should I avoid buying it used?

The 55 inch tv plasma is still circulating in the Nigerian used market because they were built like absolute tanks and some cinephiles genuinely refuse to let them go. Plasma technology works by illuminating millions of tiny gas filled cells. Because each cell generates its own light a plasma TV can turn off individual pixels completely resulting in true perfect black levels and an infinite contrast ratio that modern budget LED TVs simply cannot achieve. In a dark room the cinematic color depth of a high end Panasonic or Pioneer Kuro plasma from 2012 still destroys many mid range LEDs sold today. This is why you still see them heavily advertised; they produce a stunningly natural picture without the artificial backlight bleed common in cheap LEDs.

However despite the beautiful picture quality you should absolutely avoid buying a used 55 inch tv plasma today. The drawbacks are massive and financially punishing. First they are monstrously heavy requiring heavy duty wall mounts and two strong men to lift. Second they are basically massive space heaters. A 55 inch plasma consumes upwards of 400 to 500 watts of continuous power. Running it on a prepaid meter will double your electricity bill and you cannot power it on a standard 2.5 KVA generator without tripping the breaker. Finally plasma screens suffer from irreversible screen burn in. If a previous owner watched a news channel for hours the station logo will be permanently burned into the glass forever ghosting over your movies. The technology is beautiful but entirely dead.

I had a 50 inch LG plasma for 10 years. The picture was glorious but it made my living room incredibly hot. You literally had to turn on the AC just because the TV was on. I finally sold it for scraps.

Do not buy it! If the power supply board burns which happens often with NEPA fluctuations you will never find a replacement part. Nobody manufactures plasma components anymore.

If you want those deep plasma black levels without the terrifying electricity bill save up and buy a modern OLED TV. OLED is the spiritual successor to plasma; it turns off individual pixels but uses a fraction of the power.