Introduction
Why you should upgrade
Size considerations, HDTV |
Connectivity options
Design issues
At the store |
At the store
Judge the picture quality yourself in-store
When deciding on which TV to purchase, don't settle with simply looking at the specifications sheet. This is because, while one panel may offer a higher resolution than another, there are many other important factors which determine image quality such as the quality of the internal converter, the brightness rating, the contrast ratio, and so on (see our Big Screen Buyers' Guide for more information about what these specifications mean). Therefore, run any potential purchase through a slew of visual tests personally before laying down the cash.
The easiest way to judge the picture quality of a television in the store is to bring in your own DVD and ask the sales clerk to play it. This both ensures that you're viewing a digital signal, as well as that you're viewing the best picture that the TV can display. Try to select a DVD that offers a good mix of bright, colourful frames and darker scenes, enabling you to gauge the full range of the panel's abilities. The Matrix is a great film to use for this purpose.
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 The Matrix: An ideal test DVD |
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Don't fall for the popular in-store brightness trick. The showroom of many electronics stores is often far brighter than your average living room. Compounding this, store clerks often increase the brightness of the panel itself to capture the attention of buyers wandering through the store. Thus, make sure that you're able to fiddle with the brightness controls before jumping to conclusions. It's also a good idea to cycle through all available preset picture modes to determine which one looks the best.
An issue that many plasma and LCD TVs have lies in their ability to crisply displaying dark scenes. Specifically, in such dimly lit scenes it's not uncommon for a panel to have difficulty showing a sufficient level of detail in objects. Another potential issue lies in discerning differences between shades at the lower end of the colour spectrum, particularly noticeable in greys. Grey objects can also appear to have a bluish tinge, so watch out for this.
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 The store showroom doesn't always present optimal conditions for judging image quality |
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If you're considering purchasing an LCD TV, it's imperative that you check for ghosting issues. Due to the nature of LCD technology, individual pixels don't change colour immediately. The delay associated with this is known as the pixel-response rate, and the longer the delay, the higher the chance that you'll experience ghosting or streaking issues when changing images in quick succession (such as in a frenetic movie chase or fight scene). So skip to any of the action sequences in the DVD you've chosen to test with and watch out for ghosting.
Another important check to make when purchasing a flat panel is that there are no dead pixels (ones that are always off) or stuck pixels (ones that are always on). Dead pixels can be weeded out the easiest when the panel is displaying a completely white image, while stuck pixels can be caught out on an all-black image (look for glowing red, green or blue spots).
Furthermore, one factor that we've continually noticed in our testing of digital TVs is the immense variation in the ability of panels when it comes to producing accurate skin tones. Look to see if skin tones are natural and true-to-life, being sure to avoid panels that give skin colours an orange tint.
Finally, general colour reproduction should be bright and vibrant, without appearing cartoon-ish or washed out. Look for deep reds and smooth greens and blues. Also, whites should be white, not a light shade of grey.
It's easier to see flaws in a panel when comparing it directly to a competitor than when it's viewed on its own, so try to do a quick image quality comparison if you're deciding between two similarly priced panels.
Warranty considerations
Generally, you'll want the retailer to provide at least a one month guaranteed replacement policy for defective units (such as an LCD TV with dead or stuck pixels). In addition, try to obtain a three-year warranty that includes both parts and labour. In-home service warranties are generally better than back-to-base warranties.
Another critical factor to consider is how the retailer receives its stock. Many smaller online resellers drop ship their products directly from the distributor, and thus have little control over the returns and replacement policy. This could cause headaches should you receive a defective unit. So try to purchase your new TV from a vendor that purchases direct from the manufacturer and actually stocks inventory in its own warehouse.
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Gregan Curteis
03/04/2006 10:29 AM
I think you should include advice such that no current televisions digital or otherwise will support connections for Blu-Ray or HD-DVD for HD content yet. As many computer users are aware, they'll be forcing us to upgrade all of our hardware if we want to watch a High-Definition version of any HD-DVD or Blu-ray, else the image will be a scaled down version (I've heard mention of 640x480 res?), all due to copy-protection restrictions. Also worth mentioning is that Foxtel digital doesn't support High-Definition, so if you're a Foxtel cusotmer there's little reason to upgrade to a HD-TV at this time. My advice to people would be either stick with their analogue sets for now, or if they *need* to buy a tv, to buy a cheapish (less than $1000) widescreen SD-TV and use either Foxtel digital or a SDTV set top box. At least then they'll be enjoying good picture and audio quality in widescreen. It'll be years yet before 1080i content will be widely available on free-to-air, and it's yet to be seen whether Foxtel will offer HD content at all. And the Blu-Ray and HD-DVD standards war is a good war to stay out of unless you wanna risk being on the losing side. Also if the regulations change and they allow multichannelling on free-to-air then there'll be no HD content whatsoever - you'll be buying your HDTV prematurely as it won't be displaying HD content free-to-air and won't have the copy-protected connections for HD-DVD or Blu-Ray. Xbox 360 in HD can't be THAT good by itself... Best to stick to SD for now and save your money until everything HD is worked out. I'd stay out of the game for the next 5 years at least.
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bleh
11/04/2006 09:57 PM
sadly a HDTV IS required in order to experience the xbox 360 PROPERLY.... the resolution can be (depending on the games)heavily squashed on an SDTV.
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