If you have a cash tree in your back garden choosing a HD TV is easy pick the biggest and most expensive and your bound to be on to a winner right. Well I don’t know about you, but my money tree got lost in the post. For those of us that have to get the best value deals choosing the right TV can be a daunting task with so many options around you can easily find yourself bewildered by the waffle in the technical specifications.
LCD or Plasma
High definition screens come in two flavours plasma and LCD the similarities in the technologies end there. Plasma uses tiny gas plasma cells charged by electrical voltages to create a picture. LCD standing for liquid crystal display, the pictures on the screen are formed by the liquid crystal that has been pushed in the space between two glass plates having varying electrical charges applied to it. Both of these technologies have there strengths and weaknesses.
Just the Facts
Plasma screens have clearer black representation then its LCD counter part due to LCD backlight leakage but this is getting better with each new generation of LCD display. Plasmas have a wider viewing angle then LCD. Older LCD screens tended to blur fast moving images newer LCD do not suffer so much with this problem. LCD screens traditionally lasted longer then there plasma counterparts but this seems to be getting better, a plasma screen in the past would have lost half its brightness after 20,000 hours or more of use. If you use the TV for 24 hours a day, we are talking a lifespan of 2.2 years, modern plasmas screens can last up to 60,000 hours. LCD screens are guaranteed to last more then 60,000 hours or 6.6 years (24 hours a day use)
Size
Is bigger better, well if you are a man like me, yes. I wanted the 60 inch screen to go into my minimal sized living space but my wife soon gave me a reality check. In hindsight, I can see she was right. If you have a limited space, a large screen can totally dominate a living area. if I had that bachelor pad I so often dream about I don’t see it as a problem. if you have family get a screen to complement the size of the room not dominate it a screen size of 38- 42 inches is adequate for most sized rooms if you have a larger room then look at the 50 inch + models.
Screen resolution
Screen resolution is defined by the number of pixels, the more pixels the better the picture
You normal non HD Television = 480 lines this is normal terrestrial television 480p = 852 x 480 giving you 408960 pixels
720p =1,280×720 giving you 921600 pixels
1080i = 1,920×1,080 giving you 2073600 pixels
1080p =1,920×1,080 giving you 2073600 pixels with progressive scan
