Your LCD HDTV Guide
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.
An HDTV Select Guide is Only Useful if it is Understandable
January 30th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
Wading Through the Unnecessary Technical Information From an HDTV Select Guide to Get to What’s Important.
The good news for anyone looking to buy a new high definition television, there’s bound to be an HDTV select guide you can find which will answer all of your questions. Unfortunately, most of these guides are filled with techno-babble than the majority of consumers will neither understand nor even care about. Of course, a few will care about how many pixels are displayed on their new screen and the technology used to illuminate each of these pixels, but the vast majority just want an HDTV select guide to help them get the best picture from their new high definition television.
That is an easy question to answer. It is estimated that about 80 percent of the consumers who have purchased a high definition television are not watching HDTV because they do not have the signal. Most cable, satellite and some local over the air channel providers broadcast in high definition but unless the set top box is sending a digital signal to the television, the picture will show little improvement. A plain English HDTV select guide will explain how to let your provider know you need a high definition signal.
Many of the HDTV select guide choices may offer references to specific brands, but for the most part that is going to be by consumer choice. Your individual experience with a brand may make you love or loathe the name, despite their reputation in an HDTV select guide.
Your Eyes Can Be the Best Guide
It is not unusual for big screen high definition televisions to cost over a thousand dollars, so it is not a decision that should be made lightly. Some people have a television that costs as much as a used car and put more time into choosing the car. Buying a new HDTV should be at least a two-visit process, where you go to the store and look at televisions that have the best picture, in your opinion, then you go back home, find in online HDTV select guide and compare the models you looked at in the store.
One very important piece of information you can get from an HDTV select guide is size recommendations based on how far you sit from the screen. With this information, you should also measure the distance from your chair to where the television will be placed, and stay that far from the display when you’re at the store. Additionally, be sure to look at the side angles of viewing. You will most likely be sitting directly in front of the television, but check out the HDTV select guide to find
You can browse and purchase thousands of HDTV products at eBay and Amazon.com.
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