Taking the plunge with a big screen television? Here's 10 questions you should be asking yourself before you hit the shops.
2. Where in the room should the TV go?
3. Types of televisions
4. Going digital
5. What are the most important specs?
7. Inputs
8. What about accessories?
9. How much does a big screen TV cost?
10. Should I buy now?
1. Do I have the room for a big screen television?
You may have your heart set on that enormous 65-inch display, but if you're going to cram it into a cubicle-sized room it may be better to lower your expectations. There's no doubt big screen displays look great, but they're not at their best if your nose is practically touching the screen. No matter what the quality of the product, the closer you are to a large screen, the more you'll notice flaws within the picture. A rough rule of thumb is to sit between 1.5 and three times the screen width distance away if you're planning on buying a widescreen television. For 4:3 screens, it's at least up to three times the screen width away. So if you're looking at a 42-inch widescreen, for example, your couch needs to be at least 1.6 metres away. For 60-inch widescreens, that increases the distance to roughly 2.3 metres away.
You'll need a decent sized room for larger TVs.
2. Where in the room should the TV go?
Where you want to put your new telly can have a large effect on the type of screens you should be looking at. If you've got a spare wall that you think needs a bit of sprucing up, then a flat screen plasma or LCD are your best bets. If you're happy to put it on a stand or on shelving with other components, then throw in wider rear projection screens or even wider CRT televisions into the mix. Just remember that if you're planning on wall mounting, you need to be sure that your wall can take a plasma or LCD screen's weight. Plasmas and LCDs may be light compared to other types of TVs, but they can still weigh upwards of 20-30kgs. Mind you, Panasonic's 65-inch Viera TH-65PV600A tips the scales at a massive 79kg!
If you want a full refresher on the different types of television technologies out there, have a look at our Quick Guide to TV types. There are basically four different types of television -- direct view tube TVs, plasma, LCD and rear projection. Direct view tube TVs are the televisions you grew up with -- they're the bulky CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) sets that most people still have. While they are quite heavy and take up a lot of space (particularly in these large sizes we're exploring), direct tube TVs still offer outstanding quality pictures at an extremely reasonable price.
Plasma screens, along with LCD screens, are what you should be looking at if you're after a set that will give you high quality mixed with good looks. Plasma and LCD screens are also your best way into the digital television world, particularly if you're keen on experiencing high definition TV. There are of course differences between plasma and LCD (read our article on plasma vs LCD to see what's right for you), but the rough rule of thumb is that plasmas are cheaper on a screen inches per dollar equation.
Rear projection televisions used to be as bulky as their direct view cousins, but some of the latest models being released are becoming extremely thin and stylish. You can't quite mount them on a wall, but some rear pros, such as the 70-inch Sony Bravia KDS-70R2000 can offer almost as much style as a panel display at a much lower cost per inch basis.
Make sure your new screen can display HD quality pictures.
4. Do I want to go digital?
While any new television you buy will be able to display digital TV, not all of them can get you the highest level of digital TV signal available in Australia. There are two 'flavours' of digital TV in Australia -- standard definition (SD) and high definition (HD). SD signals give you DVD quality pictures, while HD signals can produce a much sharper image that has up to twice the horizontal and almost three times the vertical resolution of SD. Any television, providing it has an appropriate tuner, can display SD television.
To be able to display HD, your new television must have a minimum resolution of 576 lines x 720 pixels @ 50Hz progressive (576p). HD can also be 720p (720 horizontal lines progressive), 1080i (1080 horizontal lines interlaced) or 1080p (1080 horizontal lines progressive). The 1080p format is the latest and greatest, appearing in high-end television models designed for Blu-ray and HD DVD video players.
If you want the best television experience, go for a set that can display HD (the sales collateral on these sets will usually say something like "HD Ready"). Bear in mind though that not all television shows are being broadcast in HD quality. For more information, check out our feature on digital TV in Australia.
5. What television specs are the most important to look out for?
You're bound to get hit with dozens of tech terms in your quest for a new TV. To keep it simple, we suggest focusing on three main technical specifications when making your decision: brightness, contrast and resolution.
Brightness (sometimes called luminance) is how bright a screen can get, and is usually expressed as a figure followed by cd/m2 (for example, 1000 cd/m2). Cd/m2 is a measurement based on the light wax candles produce and stands for candela per square metre. So 1000 cd/m2, for example, means the set has the equivalent brightness of 1000 candles packed into a square metre. Obviously the higher the number, the brighter the screen. If you want to place your new TV in a brightly lit room, then brightness is an important spec to note.
Big screens with built-in HD tuners are becoming more commonplace, and this new LG 50-inch plasma throws in a digital recorder as well.
Contrast is how well a screen can produce blacks or whites. This spec is usually expressed as a ratio, such as 1200:1 for example. What the contrast ratio measures is how many 'steps' the screen has between displaying full black and full white -- in other words, how many shades of grey it's capable of producing. A set with a high contrast ratio can reproduce dark scenes with plenty of detail, producing images with a smooth shift from light to dark areas without any patches.
Resolution essentially measures how many pixels there are on a screen. The higher the number of pixels, the sharper and more detailed an image the screen can produce. You'll often see this spec expressed in two figures, such as 1024x768 (which means the set has 1024 horizontal lines and 768 vertical lines of pixels).
But remember that just because you have a screen with a high resolution doesn't mean you're always going to see high resolution images. Your source signal (such as the TV signal or a DVD) needs to be equally high -- you'll need a high definition TV signal playing on a high definition resolution screen to get a true HD experience. In fact, normal analogue signals may even look worse on high res screens because they can expose the poorer signal's faults.
Tom Holzel
28/11/2005 12:12 PM
Have you ever noticed how so many display gurus tell you a lot about flat panels, but never make any judgement calls? Most are afraid to offend a potential sponsor or client, or suffer from excessive PC (in which it is never polite to call a spade a spade--too "direct"). Here is Velocity Associates' straigh skinny. COSMIC CAVEAT: Do not, repeat, not buy last year's model of any big screen TV. This is a very rapidly evolving market, technology-wise, and the changes from one year to the next are still substantial. There will be many tempting close-out specials. Don't bite. If you must buy now, you can choose between plasma, LCD, front projection & the new slender (18-inches deep) reap projection systems. 1. Plasma (called PDPs) are the cheapest flat-panel systems and are currently the best today for any sports viewing because they have no motion lag. They are also the biggest, and large size is very important. (Most people who bought smaller big screens wish they had gotten a larger size.) There is an un-examined, un-discussed "Big Screen Effect." This is the strong human preference for larger images over smaller ones--even if the smaller ones appear sharper and brighter. 42-inches is the smallest I'd consider. It requires moderately subdued lighting for best picture quality. (But none compare for impact with a 100+ inch image.) 2. But, PDPs aren't good at showing HDTV, so I would not buy one today, any more. They are also power-hungry and run hot. They should not be used at all for showing computer imagery as they will slowly burn-in static images--although this is much improved in the latest models. 3. LCDs look great in higher ambient light but all today suffer from motion blur, and they generally don't come larger than 37-inches, kind of too small for the impact you want. But, next year, some LCDs will come out with--finally--a reliable sharpness enhancement that actually works. (See "Aptura" LCD, above.) This sharpness enhancement removes one of the two LCD "don't buy it" factors. The other is a size limit, but maybe they'll also come out with a larger--at least 42-inches, version. If available in native HDTV, i.e. at least 1080 X 780, and you can afford it--go for it next fall. 4. The other two considerations are front and rear projectors. Front projectors in HDTV go for around $3500 and will give you a whopping image size--which looks really great and impactful--just like being in the movies. But you need a substantially darkened room--but if you have one, it's a great theatrical experience. You'll also want at decent, high-powered hi-fi along with it. The Sanyo Z-4 is making big waves in this arena at a street price of around $2300. 5. But consider also the LCOS or DLP rear-projection systems. They're only 18-inches deep and also in the $3000 range. They offer excellent picture quality at a decent size in HDTV. The only quibble here is they come in two versions--single light engines (using field sequential color) and multiple (usually 3) light engines. The single light engine version cause some people to see occasional color flashes, depending on how sensitive they are to flicker. I am very sensitive to flicker and do not enjoy watching single-engine RP (rear projection) products, but other people enjoy them just fine. Blink your eyes rapidly while watching one to see if you experience occasional color flashes. One additional nice feature of the LCOS or DLP systems is that the pixel fill is around 90%, so there is no chicken-wire effect, such as you get with PDPs, or even LCDs if you move up too close. Single-engine front projectors don't usually run into the color flashing problem because they are much dimmer in large screen sizes. Remember, theater motion pictures are only 10 fL bright--not really bright enough to stimulate your flicker sensitivity. (A modern TV is 150 fL.) In a dark room, a very big image can be as dim as 2-3 fL and still be very satisfying (think driv
Report offensive content
Ron Smith
13/01/2007 06:49 AM
I found this Web Site excellent. It gave me all the information I was looking for in looking for a TV. I wanted to know the difference between LCD and Plasma and HD, Pixels, It covers everything you need to know before you make that final decesion buying a TV. Thankyou and I will pass it on to all my friends.
Report offensive content
sonny
02/06/2008 08:25 PM
very helpfull thanks
Report offensive content