Televisions

Once upon a time choosing a new TV was easy - black and white or colour, big or small? Today there is a huge variety of choice, here we'll explain what the various new technologies are and what their individual benefits are, hopefully leading you to being able to make a purchase based on your needs - or desires.

Whatever type of TV you are looking to buy, there are some universal quality indicators that we list here, you'll see them labelled in the television specification - now you'll know their implications!

Screen Resolution: Measured in pixels, the greater the pixels the better the picture quality.

Dolby Surround: Any TV you buy will use Dolby Pro Logic to process Dolby Surround, however some new TVs will have the ability to process the improved Dolby Pro Logic 2, and if you're a made crazy DVD or Computer Games fan some even have Dolby Digital 5.1 which is radically better then the previous two.

Good Connectivity: The quality of the leads has a big impact on sound and picture quality - it's worth investing in decent gold-plated Scart leads for instance if you have a good system to go with it.

LCD Televisions

LCD stands for Liquid Crystal Display, it works by shining light through liquid crystals, the various images are created by different intensities of light. Because there is just one sheet of liquid crystal between two panes of glass LCD TVs are very thin. There has been criticism of LCD TVs, like picture and colour distortion when viewing from an angle, the cost, the lack of depth in displaying the colour black to name a few, but the technology is improving all the time and it is safe to say it is already proving to be the most superior technology for television viewing. Plasma TVs are still better for very large screen size, but LCD TVs have a higher native resolution for the same size which becomes more important with the advent of HDTV (Higher Definition Television).

Features to look for:

HDTV Readiness

Most new LCD Televisions come equipped with HDTV technology. High Definition TV delivers an unparalleled picture quality - but you have to have channels or programmes delivered in this format for it to work. As analogue broadcasting is phased out (it will be completely by 2010) all broadcasting will be in HDTV so it really is a good idea to make sure your television is HDTV ready.

Freeview Compatibility

Freeview is a free service with some excellent channels, quite a few of the new LCD TVs come with a Freeview decoder built in so you don't have to buy a seperate set top box for it.

Viewing Angle

The quality of the picture on LCD TVs can be reduced if you are watching from an angle, it's important to ascertain how a model performs from various angles - the newer more expensive models are generally very good for this, but it's best to check anyway. It's also an important factor if you are wall mounting the TV, too high and not angled towards the viewer and the picture may not be great.

Pixel Response Time

Traditional televisions have a "pixel response" time (meaning the time it takes to move from one colour to the next) of 15-17ms while the average LCD is 20-30ms, newer models are much quicker but if it's not you'll get some blurring with fast moving objects on large screens. So check for response times and aim for models with lower ones.

Make sure you get a warranty of some length for your TV too, LCD TV's are not cheap and there are a number of things that can go wrong with them, however a good LCD TV should outlast the warranty by many many years taking you safely into the digital age when anologue TV is phased out.

Shop By Brand

Philips LCD Televisions, Sony LCD Televisions, Samsung LCD Televisions, JVC LCD Televisions, LG LCD Televisions.




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