Your LCD HDTV Guide
Wednesday, March 19th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
Shopping For an LCD HDTV Can Be Confusing. That’s Why Best HDTV Reviews Has Put Together This Handy LCD HDTV Guide
Anybody shopping for an LCD HDTV can quickly find themselves overwhelmed by the amount of information available. The manufacturers provide plenty of information on all of their models, and of course all that information is presented in a way that makes their televisions look better than the competition’s. If you want to know what is really important to look at when comparing models and what is just marketing, read our handy (and short!) LCD HDTV guide.
What to Look For
There are six only important considerations when shopping for an LCD HDTV:
- resolution
- aspect ratio
- contrast ratio
- response time
- viewing angle
There are six primary resolutions that the LCD HDTVs can display: 480i, 480p, 720p, 960p, 1080i, and 1080p. This is an easy decision to make: you want 1080p. 1080p is the clearest, most vivid picture of all the resolutions. If the television you are looking at is not capable of displaying 1080p, move on to the next one.
All HDTV units have a widescreen aspect ratio. When looking for the best LCD HDTV, you will have to choose between 16:9 ratio and 16:10. 16:9 is the most common, and is the same aspect ratio that movies are shown in a theater. The only advantage that 16:10 has is that more of your screen will be used when you are watching a non-widescreen source, such as regular non-high definition television programming. If the majority of what you will be watching will not be natively widescreen, such as really old movies and television programs, choose a 16:10 ratio; otherwise, go for 16:9.
Nowadays, the contrast ratio of LCD televisions is frequently listed twice, once as a “dynamic” contrast ratio, and once as a “true” contrast ratio. The most accurate number is the true contrast ratio. The higher this number is, the better: brighter whites, darker blacks, and everything in between more vibrant and accurate. The true contrast ratio of the best LCD HDTVs will be at least 1000:1.
The response time is another easy decision. All the best LCD HDTVs have an 8ms response time or lower. If the response time of the television you are considering is less than 8ms, great. If the response time is greater, find another unit to look at.
The final technical consideration you need to look at is the viewing angle. This is where the art of selecting the best LCD HDTV comes in. The technology used in LCD televisions will render the image invisible if the viewer is too far to the side. The best angle to watch the unit from is straight on. If the location of the unit is such that the viewers will all be looking straight at it, then the viewing angle is less important. But if many of the viewers will be to the sides of the unit, then the viewing angle becomes more important. Older LCD televisions have viewing angles of about 90 degrees; that is, 45 degrees to either side of center. That may be enough if the unit will be in a small room, but if you are outfitting a large room, you will want the viewing angle to be as close to 180 degrees as possible. The best LCD HDTVs have a viewing angle of between 160 and 178 degrees.
What to Ignore
There is one major selling point for LCD HDTVs that you can ignore: refresh rate. Most have a refresh rate of 60 Hz, while newer models are starting to feature a 120 Hz refresh rate. The refresh rate used to be important with CRT televisions, because if the pixel wasn’t refreshed quickly enough, its brightness would fade which created a flickering effect. Because pixels in LCD HDTVs don’t turn off until they’re told to, the frequency with which the pixel is refreshed isn’t important. Instead, look at the response time.
With the information in this LCD HDTV guide, you should now be able to make an informed decision. The best thing to do is to make a list of the models you are considering and compare them to this guide. Cross off the units that don’t measure up, then compare the other features like connections to come up with the LCD HDTV you want to buy.
You can browse and purchase LCD HDTVs and thousands of other HDTV products at eBay and Amazon.com.
March 19th, 2008 at 12:52 am
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