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Shopping for TVs is, in a word, overwhelming. You go to the store, you start looking at sets, features, shapes and sizes. Suddenly you feel like the only thing you're going to leave the store with is questions and a headache. For example:
If you attack these questions piece by piece, it's really not that complicated. This guide will walk you through the basic decisions involved in TV shopping and explain the available features in plain, easy-to-understand language. Each section will present an aspect of the decision-making process and give you a detailed description of the relevant factors. By making decisions along the way, you can whittle away at the choices until you've narrowed it down to one or two sets. Let's get started.
One Size Does Not Fit AllOften, people think bigger is better when it comes to TV screen size; but that is only true to a point. A large TV in a small room will seem awkward and may make watching TV uncomfortable. On the other hand, a TV that is too small will force you to squint to make out details and pull you out of the experience of what you are watching. Making the right decision about the size of your television is the first step in TV buying. TVs range in size from 5 inches up to 64 inches and greater. TVs are measured by their screen size. This measurement is made diagonally across the viewing area. You can use this measurement to help you decide which size is right for the space you'll be using. Start by mentally placing the TV in the room. Most TVs get deeper and heavier as the screen gets larger. Make considerations for height, width and depth when placing it in the room. Make sure your location is reasonably close to a good power source. Once you've placed the TV, measure the distance from your couch or viewing area. There is a formula to calculate the optimum screen size based on the viewing distance. Different TV sources alter the equation. The formula is simple:
Cable, Antenna, Video tape = Multiply the number of feet between you and the screen by 4 inches. Of course, very few of us watch only one kind of TV. Use the chart above as a guide to find an average distance and screen size that is appropriate for your needs. If you already have an entertainment center or armoire that you don't plan to replace, then you will be limited to the TV size it can hold. Remember, when fitting a TV into a piece of furniture, you need to consider depth and weight in addition to height and width. You should also factor in a couple of inches into your measurement to allow for proper ventilation for the new set. Generally speaking, 27 inches or less is good for a bedroom or secondary television. Thirty-two inches and larger is a nice size for a family television or entertainment center.
The television is one of the most significant inventions of the 20th century. In the past few years, there have been tremendous leaps in TV technology. Twenty years ago, TV shoppers had very few choices. These days, several TV technologies are competing with one another. This makes TV shopping all the more difficult. Each TV type has strengths and limitations based on the technology being used. Deciding what type of TV is right for you starts with understanding the factors that affect a TV's performance. Viewing range is an important factor, especially when shopping for a big-screen TV. The viewing angle represents the total area in front of the screen that the image can be seen without distortion. When it comes to viewing range, some TVs are better than others. This is based on the technology used to deliver the picture. For instance, because a plasma TV uses tiny lighted cells to produce the picture, if you are viewing these cells at an angle you will lose picture clarity. A traditional tube TV (CRT) uses a cathode ray to paint the screen with the picture. This method allows for a wide viewing angle. Black level is your TV's ability to produce the color black. TVs create image color by mixing the colors red, green, and blue. Black is the absence of color and serves to provide detail to an image. Achieving a true dark black is something newer TV technologies such as LCD (liquid crystal display) and plasma are struggling to create. To this day, nothing beats an old-fashioned tube TV (CRT) for black level. Resolution is the number of pixels per square inch. Pixels are tiny, colored dots that combine to form the picture you see on the TV screen. The more pixels there are on the screen, the higher the resolution. The higher the resolution is, the better the picture quality. Resolution measurements are is this type of format: 1280x720. These numbers correspond to the number of horizontal and vertical pixels in the image. To give you an idea of the available range, a CRT TV is capable of up to 480 lines of resolution, while an HDTV can produce 1920x1080. Burn-in is the term for the damage done to a screen by static images that are displayed for a long time. Both tube TVs and plasma TVs are prone to this kind of damage. When a static image like a stock market crawler, station logo or video game score display is left on the screen for a long time, the image gets burned into the screen by the picture-producing mechanism. Burn-ins will appear as "ghost" images on a screen. The chance of burn in can be reduced on any type of TV by setting the contrast levels at their middle settings and making sure static images are not displayed on a TV for hours at a time. Glare is created when a TV screen picks up ambient light from the room and reflects it back at the viewer. This is a particular problem with tube TVs that have curved glass screens. To counter this, manufacturers provide flat-screen versions that drastically reduce glare. They are more expensive, but may be well worth the extra money if glare is a problem in your home. Durability is a desirable trait in anything you buy. Once again, the technologies used are the greatest determining factor in the life span of your new TV. LCDs and CRT TVs are known for their long lives. On the other hand, plasma TVs and projection TVs have much shorter life spans despite their much larger price tag. Price is an obvious factor when shopping for anything. In the world of TV shopping, price is stacked based on the size and type of television. Plasma and LCDs are more expensive than CRT TVs because the technology is newer and more expensive to produce. The most important thing to remember when TV shopping is that the highest price does not necessarily mean you are going to get the best picture. Screen size is an interesting limitation that affects all types of TV. The limits are set based on the practicality of implementing a particular type of technology for the screen size in question. For example, a CRT tube TV gets taller and wider as the screen size increases. It also gets deeper and heavier in order to accommodate the larger tube needed to produce the picture at that size. CRTs top out at about 40 inches because any larger would make them impractical. LCDs, which are based on transistors and capacitors, suffer from a similar limitation but for a different reason -- increasing size beyond about 37 inches produces a display that is too likely to contain a bad transistor. Plasma TVs and projectors, on the other hand, really have no limit to screen size other than the price.
Direct view or CRT TVs are the old stand-by, tube-type sets we've all come to know and love. Because these sets use cathode-ray tubes to "paint" the image on the screen direct-view TVs have a bright, clear picture that can be viewed from any angle in the room. Pros:
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Flat panel TVs are all the rage now, with their slim profiles and large screen size. There are two types to choose from: plasma and LCD. Plasma TVs work by illuminating thousands of tiny fluorescent lights to create an image. LCD TVs operate like the screen of your laptop. While these TVs can't be beaten in terms of cool points, there are some things to consider. Here's the skinny...
Plasma TVs Plasma displays are digital and have higher resolutions than CRTs. When shopping for plasma TVs, it's important to note that not all plasma displays can produce the full resolution of HDTV. Some Plasma TVs are considered EDTVs (enhanced-definition TVs), with a resolution of 852x480. On the higher end ($10,000 to $20,000), there are full-blown high-definition plasma TVs capable of a dazzling 1365x768 resolution. Pros:
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LCDs are larger versions of your laptop computer screen. Just like plasma TVs, LCDs require an external tuner to receive input. LCDs win for slim, coming in at almost an inch thinner than plasma, but are limited to about 40 inches in screen size. < Pros:
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Rear-projection TVs (RPTVs) are great if you are considering a large-screen TV (40 inches and greater). The basic idea of RPTVs is to combine a projector and a screen into one box. The projector casts the image on the rear of the screen. You see the image when you look at the screen head-on.
CRT rear-projection TVs use three cathode ray tubes to shoot red, green, and blue onto a projection screen. These huge beasts have long been a staple of home theaters. Pros:
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DLP (digital light processing) projectors work by manipulating thousands of tiny mirrors on a semiconductor chip. Color is generated by shining a light through a rotating color wheel that has red, green, and blue on it. The now colored beam hits the semiconductor chip to create the image used for projection. Pros:
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LCD big screen TVs are becoming more prevalent. LCD projection works like a slide show by directing light through a silicone chip and then magnifying it for projection. Pros:
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LCoS is an emerging LCD technology that operates differently from other LCD displays. LCoS rear-projection TVs work by directing light through a series of polarizers (a type of light filter used to organize light waves into a single path for reflection) before being magnified and projected onto the screen. Pros:
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When you are looking for screen sizes in excess of 100 inches, it's time to consider front projection. Not a TV in the true sense of the word, front-projection TV (FPTV) works like the projector you see at your local movie theater. A separate projection device casts the image onto a dedicated screen on the adjacent wall. If you are looking for a true home theater and you have deep pockets, this is the way to go. Some lower-end front-projection models don't produce a bright enough picture to view it in a fully lit room, and you'll have to dim the lights to get a good view. The lumens value indicates the brightness of the projected picture; the higher the lumens number, the better.
CRT projectors combine three cathode-ray tubes in one box to fire red, green, and blue light to create the image on the screen. Pros:
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CRT Front-Projection TVs CRT projectors combine three cathode-ray tubes in one box to fire red, green, and blue light to create the image on the screen. Pros:
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DLP projectors are just like their rear-projecting brothers. DLP projectors use scads of tiny mirrors to reflect an image onto the screen. Pros:
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LCD projectors are outboard versions of the projectors used in the rear-projection models. Out of the box, this design allows for larger screen size than its RPTV equivalent. Pros:
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When considering TV types, there is a big distinction between analog and digital. In CRTs, you'll notice a big price difference between the two. A digital direct-view TV will have much greater resolution than its analog counterpart. Most digital TVs can display progressive-scan DVDs (480p) and HDTV (usually 1080i) at full resolution. Analog sets cannot. Analog TVs send a signal telling the television's electron gun how to "paint" lines on the screen. The problem is that the signal degrades in transmission, affecting the amount of fine detail in the image. Digital sets send this same information in bit streams (lines of data made up of ones and zeroes). The advantage is that these digital signals do not degrade, so the picture is much better on a digital set. You should also consider the source. No matter how much money you spend on a TV, the picture will only be as good as the source signal it receives. For instance, a DVD will look better on a low-end television than an analog broadcast antenna signal will look on a high-end HDTV. That is because the quality of the digital signal sent to the analog set is far superior to the analog signal sent to the digital HDTV. Sources break down like this:
Analog = Good
The key when thinking about sources is to match the right TV with the source available to you. Digital signals on a digital TV (DTV) will allow you to watch digital broadcasts and progressive-scan DVDs at their full quality. In addition, you will be able to watch most hi-def broadcasts. Enhanced-definition TVs (like plasma TVs) will also benefit from a digital source, but they won't have enough resolution to do HDTV broadcasts justice. Hi-def broadcast sources will look best when viewed on an HDTV. Here's a breakdown of source/display combinations:
Analog source to analog TV = Analog picture (good)
The buzz word right now in TV land is HDTV (high-definition television). HDTV is a digital television capable of much higher resolution than a standard analog TV. When thinking about whether now is the time to go high-definition, here are some things to consider: Many stores feature what they call HDTV. What they should say (and some do) is "HDTV-ready." Even though a TV has HDTV capabilities, it still can't receive high-definition input without a high-definition tuner, which can be pricey if you choose to buy one (as opposed to renting one from your HDTV broadcast provider). HDTVs come in two formats: 1080i is capable of 1920x1080 resolution (the highest currently available), but it is an interlaced format: The TV paints every other line of the image in alternating patterns, so it cannot display progressive-scan DVDs. Also, some critics claim that while still images are more brilliant at 1080i, movement doesn't read well on the screen. 720p turns out a resolution of 1280x720. While lower than 1080i, it still remains the most common HDTV format. Only the most discerning of videophiles can tell a difference in quality, and since it is a progressive-scan format (the TV paints every line of the image in order), it can be used for both standard and progressive-scan DVDs. At this point, some primetime shows and sporting events are simulcast in hi-def. But if you're in an area that does not receive hi-def broadcasts, then this does you no good. There are close to a thousand hi-def stations on the air in the United States as of May 2004. For a list, see HDPictures: HDTV On the Air!. Because HDTV broadcasting is still fairly limited, DVD viewing is the big selling point for HDTV. If you put a progressive-scan DVD player together with an HDTV, the results are breathtaking. Most people who are buying HDTVs are doing so to reap the full benefits of their progressive-scan DVD player. It is possible to get into an HDTV for around $700, so if you're a serious movie buff, it may be time to make the switch. Normal television will look a little better on an HDTV, but don't expect miracles. In fact, on a larger-screen HDTV, the set will actually reveal the imperfections of an analog broadcast. Keep this in mind.
Aspect ratio relates the units of horizontal measurement on a TV screen in proportion to the vertical measurement. You'll notice when you're in the store that TV screens come in two shapes -- 4:3 for normal televisions, and 16:9 for widescreen TVs (for movies or HDTV). Widescreen televisions are made to be shaped like movie screens. You've probably seen the message before a video starts that reads, "This presentation has been formatted for viewing on your television..." The formatting they are referring to is video formatting. If you've read How Video Formatting Works, then you know that formatting is the process of cutting, stretching and/or squeezing images to fit different aspect ratios. The problem with video formatting is that the image often becomes distorted or cropped at the edges when it's transferred. If the image is not cut, then it is stretched, squeezed and just generally reshaped to fit in those black bars called the letterbox. Widescreen TVs have offered movie buffs an alternative to formatting or letterboxing that more accurately recreates the movie theater experience. For every 16 inches of width, they offer 9 inches of height -- and no cropping. With widescreen, films can be seen at home exactly as they were seen in the theater. There are, however, two downsides. First, 16:9 TVs are noticeably more expensive than their 4:3 counterparts. Second, when you watch 4:3 broadcasts on a 16:9 aspect ratio, the TV stretches the image to fill the screen. People look shorter and fatter and, depending on the screen size, the picture may appear grainy. Sports are still primarily broadcast for viewing on conventional televisions. If you watch a game on a widescreen, your favorite power forward may suddenly look more like a linebacker. Widescreen TVs have a tendency to stretch images intended for normal TV screens. Many TV manufactures offer different picture modes on their widescreen TVs to help solve this problem. A 4:3 setting is usually available and works by putting black bars on the sides of the screen, called picture boxing. If you don't like the bars, all manufacturers offer a mode that crops a little and stretches a little to fill the screen with out distorting the picture too much. You should experiment to see which works best for you.
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