Buying an HDTV – The 5 basic steps
Buying a new HDTV can be confusing and intimidating, but if you break the process down into smaller parts, it will start to make sense. The main factors to consider are:
- budget range
- Screen size
- Design (Plasma, LCD, etc.)
- special uses
- Options
budget range
The first is the first. HDTV costs are most closely related to screen size, but also screen type, picture quality, and brand name. You’ll have to read the reviews of the individual sets to get all the details, but here’s a general idea of what you’ll get in each price range:
Less than $500: HD-Ready (tunerless) LCD TVs 20 inches and smaller. 15-inch HDTV with built-in tuner. You can find some up to 27 inches from certain brands, like ViewSonic and Olevia.
$500 to $1000: 32-inch and smaller LCD, HDTV with built-in tuner, 50-inch and smaller DLP HDTV.
$1,000 to $2,000: 46-inch and smaller LCD, 50-inch and smaller Plasma, and 65-inch and smaller DLP HDTVs.
$2,000 to $4,000: 52-inch and smaller LCD, 60-inch and smaller plasma, and 75-inch and smaller DLP HDTVs.
Another thing to keep in mind is the significant discounts you can find on last year’s models. HDTV technology is updated all the time, as is computer technology. If you can deal with not having the latest technology, you can find some incredible deals: 40 percent off, or more, on games as young as 18 months.
Screen size
It’s important to get the right size HDTV for your viewing space. In the old days, the right size TV was the biggest you could afford, but today many people can afford a TV that’s so big it dominates the viewing room, forcing them to sit so close together that imperfections on the screen, or individual pixels, are visible.
Another problem with sitting too close to a widescreen HDTV is that your eyes will move from one side of the screen to the other, as if you were watching a tennis match from center court. These rapid eye movements can cause dizziness and a headache.
First, look at the area where you’ll be watching TV and measure the distance from the TV screen to the center of your couch, bean bag, trunk, or whatever you’re sitting on. This distance should be 2 to 4 times the diagonal measurement of the screen. So a 24-inch rig would be good for viewing from 4 to 8 feet, a 50-inch rig would be good for 8 to 16-foot range, and a 60-inch rig would work well at 10 to 20 feet. feet.
display style
The most popular types of flat panel HDTVs these days are LCD, plasma, and DLP. Cathode ray TVs still exist and usually have a great picture, but the larger CRTs are extremely heavy and bulky. They are slowly losing ground to flatter profile technology.
LCD stands for Liquid Crystal Display, and it’s the same type of screen used in most new computer monitors (you’re probably looking at an LCD right now), cell phones, and many other devices. LCD screens work best when you want a medium or small TV, need a lighter weight TV, or watch TV in a well-lit room.
Plasma TVs have a glass screen (as opposed to the plastic LCD screen) with an ionized gas sandwiched behind it that creates an image when excited by electrical charges. Plasmas have a slight edge over LCDs in image quality, especially when viewed at an angle, but they can have more glare on the screen in bright light.
DLP stands for digital light processing. These kits use small oscillating mirrors behind the screen to create an image. DLP TVs are technically rear projection TVs, but they’re usually pretty flat. They are cheaper than LCD and Plasma in the large sizes, but are often too heavy and thick to hang on a wall.
special uses
What do you plan to do with your HDTV? Are you a gamer, sports fan, or movie buff? Different types of outfits are great for slightly different things.
DLP TVs often have very bright screens, but can lose detail in very dark scenes. This makes them ideal for watching sports, news, and outdoor scenes, but not so good for movies with lots of dark images. Plasma TVs have a great picture and still look great when viewed from a wide angle, with no darkening or color shift. However, a room with many windows can cause glare problems on the Plasma glass screen. LCD TVs are much brighter in bright light, making them ideal for daytime viewing in bright rooms. In a well-lit room, an LCD TV can look better than a good plasma TV. And LCD screens have better, sharper resolution at medium sizes, making them ideal for use as an additional monitor for your computer.
Options
All HDTVs come with a slightly different feature set. A tuner is required to receive over-the-air broadcasts. Since they add expenses, and many people only use their HDTVs to watch cable, satellite, DVD, video games, or computer input, they’re not always included. Look for a built-in ATSC tuner or buy an external tuner to get over-the-air broadcasts.
It’s nice to have good speakers built into your HDTV. But if sound quality is really important to you, you’re better off with high-quality external speakers.
Connections are important. You’ll want at least 2 HDMI inputs to connect to a cable box, DVR, or DVD player. Other types of connections, such as component and S-Video cable inputs, are useful if you want to use external components that use these cables. And if you intend to use your HDTV with your digital camera, you’ll need a USB or memory card input.
getting help
Using an online HDTV buyer’s guide can also help. Find one that balances enough attention to detail with an overview.