What Television Shoppers Need to Know

If it’s been a while since you shopped for a TV, you might find all the new options and changes in technology overwhelming. You’ll come across plasma, LCD, widescreen, high-definition and many other concepts that you don’t understand. Truth is, most people don’t. Most people just buy something they saw in an ad that looked neat, or that they think will impress their friends. This article is for people who to make a better-informed choice without drowning in more info than they need.

Your TV must fit your room

Size is one of the least negotiable options, so narrow that one down first. Not only must the TV physically fit where you want to put it, but it should be the right size for the viewing distance from where you’ll be seated when you watch. Remember to leave a few inches on every both sides and the top of the TV for ventilation. The back panel will need as little space, too – just enough for the cables to jut out.

As for your viewing distance, it should be 3-6 times the size of the TV. That is, if you buy a 36 inch TV, you need to be seated at least 9 feet from it, and no more than 18 feet from it. If your room doesn’t allow you to be that far from the TV, you’ll need a smaller one.

One caveat: if you are watching high-definition TV on a widescreen set, you can sit closer (as little as 1.5 times the set’s size) and still watch comfortably. Sitting more than 3x the distance away may lose the “theater immersive” experience these TVs can provide, but you’ll still be able to see very clearly.

Regular vs. Wide Screen

Regular TVs provide a roughly square image, while widescreens are more rectangular. Widescreens are generally more expensive, so if it’s not a feature you care about, skip it. Most TV is filmed for regular TVs while movies often look better on the widescreen format. However, TV stations are broadcasting in widescreen more and more often, so widescreen is probably the way to go if you’re concerned about feeling your TV is obsolete in a few years.

Take some time to watch TV on a widescreen at a store. And don’t just watch the DVD or widescreen-filmed sports event they play on it: switch the channel to ordinary broadcast TV and see how that looks. There may be black bars down the side of the picture that annoy you tremendously, or you may find you like this format.

Picture Quality

Nothing has really changed here: you should look at a lot of TVs in stores, and see which one gives the sharpest, brightest picture that’s most to your taste. Be sure to tinker with settings like brightness, color and contrast or you might get a false comparison between one set with factory settings and another that’s been tweaked to look great in the store. It’s also a good idea to look for a set that has a dark (blackish) screen when it’s turned off. The more gray the screen is (or greenish), the less definition you can expect.

One choice has been virtually eliminated for you: manufacturer’s are hardly selling anything but flatscreen TVs. These are felt to be overwhelmingly superior to the old style picture tubes (better definition, less glare), hence the lack of market interest in the old style.

Plasma, LCD, LED-LCD…

What do these mean? Put simply:

Plasma TVs produce bright colors and rich blacks. They’re great for dimly lit rooms, and for sports and video games. They don’t lose clarity when viewed from an awkward side angle. They are generally more expensive, though you can easily find a plasma that’s affordable.
LCD TVs handle the glare in brightly lit rooms well. They’re more energy-efficient than plasma, which means you might save a noticeable amount on your electric bill. They lose a little clarity when viewed from the side.
LED-LCDs are new. They produce colors and blacks nearly as rich as plasmas. They’re energy efficient like other LCDs, and they lose clarity when viewed from the side.

Plasma is generally considered the best choice for viewing clarity, but if you want to save money on your energy bill and don’t plan on viewing the TV from the side, and aren’t concerned about having the highest possible contrast (you’re going to get far better contrast with any of these than with a set from a few years ago), then LCD or LED-LCD is a great option.

Again, you should look at many TVs at stores to see what works for you. Some people actually find plasma sets uncomfortable to watch or undesirable because the image is so sharp: the sharpness that thrills sports fans and gamers may offend the eye of someone whose favorite TV experience is watching old movies.

High-Def? What else?

Another choice that’s virtually been eliminated is whether or not to go high-definition. Virtually all new TVs sold are now high-def, since even broadcast TV shows signs of moving in that direction.

Sound

Sound matters, too, but you have a lot of options here. First, you can look for a TV that has great sound as is. Or you can buy a speaker system to get premium sound, if your home can take it. Be aware that many speaker systems, even at reasonable volumes, send soundwaves traveling through walls to your sleeping kids or apartment neighbors. These systems can be overkill for many viewers. What sounds good in an electronics store may blow you away in your medium-sized living room.

Many TVs have great sound out of the box. If you don’t know of any reason why you’d love having a home theater system, skip it.

Connecting with your everything

Where the options really get overwhelming is when you learn that you can hook newer TVs up to gaming systems, computers and even iPhones. A salesperson is likely to ask you whether you have these items and whether you’ll be using them with your new TV. If you have them but have never even considered hooking them up to the TV, talk to people who have. If you don’t know any, ask the salesperson questions. Consider that the TV can’t give you Wii and HBO at the same time, so if you anticipate household arguments about who gets TV time now, you might want to buy a second, cheaper TV for use with a gaming system (or retire an existing TV to that function).

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