Buying a Television

Thing No. 1  

Go HD.

Even for programs that are not being broadcast in HD, HD display can still provide a sharper picture.  Plus, a lot of the good stuff is being broadcast in HD and more on the way not to mention all your DVDs.  If you’re subscribing to Digital Cable or Satellite, you really only need an HD monitor since the signal is already digital.  The following will help you understand this thing called HDTV: High Definition Television is a function of the program first being recorded in HD, the signal being sent in HD (or digitally) a tuner that can decode HD (this may or may not be built into the set – it doesn’t have to be if you're getting it through your digital cable or satellite set top box because the tuner is in there) and an TV/Monitor capable of displaying an HD picture.  Some of these will provide a better picture even when all of them are not present but all four are required for 100 percent, true HDTV.

Thing No. 2  

Don't read reviews more than a few months old.

The market has changed dramatically.  The plasma people used to point the finger at LCD and say Plasma blacks were blacker (LCD technology had light leaking through) and that there was more distortion when viewing at an angle with LCD as well as blur with a fast moving picture.  It used to be that if you wanted a big screen (over 42”) Plasmas were more available and cheaper.  All of this has gone away and LCDs have caught up and surpassed Plasma in these areas plus, they are cheaper, lighter to ship and available in ginormous sizes.  The pundits are expecting the Plasma market to flatten and eventually die by 2010.

Check reviews out here: cnet reviews.

Thing No. 3  

Decide if you're 1080p ready.

The high end of the market is 1080p; sometimes referred to as True HD or Full HD.  This is the highest quality picture around although, absolutely nobody is broadcasting in 1080p yet.  (If you were geek enough to sit through Star Wars Episode III and you happened to be in a theatre equipped with 1080p projection, you saw it as George Lucas did shoot the film in 1080p digital video.)  You'd think they'd leave it at that, let us decide and leave us alone;but, not so fast trigger. A 1080p set will deconstruct a 1080i signal (which some content IS currently broadcast in; can you believe this?) and put it back together again in 1080p. One day, after all kinds of governmental, FCC gobbledygook transpires, 1080p will be the broadcast standard.  However, we'll be damned if we know when that is.

Thing No. 4  

Get a wide screen.

All your DVDs and more and more programming are formatted for wide screen.  The square sets either show black bars above and below or they distort the picture.  Not cool. We believe that they will be sorry unless we're talking about a small TV for the kitchen or something like that.  Otherwise, the trend is toward larger and larger screens (42”+) so don't feel like a stupid couch potato American for having a giant TV – everyone's doing it.

Thing No. 5  

The world is flat (and dark).

The flatter the screen, the less picture distortion and glare you’ll get from light sources in the room.  Also, the darker the screen when turned off, the higher contrast the picture will be.  You’d be surprised at how different screens look when they are off.  Some are slightly green, some are a dark grey.  Put everything on black for the best picture.