On so many nights you know you just want to be home with some ice cream and the TV. But then, both the ice cream and the TV can be like bad boyfriends…a wrong flavor in one, and a really bad picture quality in another (You do want to absorb all of Brad Pitt the way he bares it, don’t you?) can ruin your day, your mood, and your eyes. So what do you do? Chuck that ice cream away, opt for a nice fruit salad (for that miniscule waist’s sake) and go buy a good TV. But LCD or plasma? What do you need to know before you decide?
1. Space:
You don’t want to bring home a TV that you have to return the next day because it is too big to fit into your entertainment space. Measure out where you want the TV and bring the measurements as well as the tape measure with you when you go shopping. Leave a few inches on all sides, and most importantly, the back because that would make it easier to install the TV and allow for some ventilation when it is running. It is also important to measure space required for the installation of cables or real panel audio/video connections.
2. Size of Room:
A major mistake most people make is invest in a large TV when the size of the room is not bog enough. In such cases, viewing the big TV is quite the pain and optimal viewing experience is lost. Mostly, the rule of thumb is, for 26 inch LCD TVs, you should have about 4-5 feet space, for a 42 inch LCD or Plasma TV the same space would increase to 5-7 feet, and for the really big 50 or 60 inch Plasma, LCD or DLP sets, you should have about 10 feet to work with. This means that there has to be this much room for manipulation of viewing space according to the aspect ratio of the screen. That is especially true if you are viewing high definition content on the TV. For more details about this check out Viewing Distance Calculators from My Home Theater – Collins Cinema
3. Picture Quality
There are usually marked differences between models as far as picture quality is concerned so it might be a good idea to compare and contrast the models at the showroom. The first thing you need to know in this is the darkness stability issue. Ask the showroom assistant to turn off the TVs you like. Is the screen dark enough? Some screens may look grayish or greenish, meaning that they will not show you high-contrast pictures well. A TV cannot produce a black that is blacker than its screen, so look for the darkest black when the TV is turned off. The second thing to consider is the flatness of the screen. Some TVs have the screen at a slight angle, and you are looking for absolutely flat TVs because that is what you are paying for. The third thing you need to know is about scaling. Scaling is how a TV eliminates the defects in standard resolution video images to make them look better. Check for how the TV looks with both HD and standard resolution content, but do remember that with larger screen sizes, the quality of standard resolutions keep falling.
4. Audio Capability/AV Inputs and Outputs
A TV is not just about the visuals you see. It is also about the audio experience. The TV you buy must have at least one set of audio/video inputs and one set of audio outputs. On the input ports check for the RCA Composite, S-Video and component video inputs. If you want to use the TV for HDTV applications, you need component, DVI-HDCP or HDMI inputs. A/V inputs on the front may be useful if you want to hook up your camcorder or playstation.
5. 3D:
If you want a TV with 3D viewing, make sure you know what kind of glasses they are giving you. Are they Passive Polarized or Active Shutter glasses? Passive glasses look and feel like sunglasses and show you 3D images at half resolution of a 2D image. The Active Glasses may be bulky with all the batteries and transmitter, but the resolution of 3D is the same as that of 2D.
It is often a man’s world where they just assume that if a woman is buying a TV, she probably knows nothing about how it works. Don’t be fooled by those sexist men. Take your shopping list with you and tick off the boxes on it and buy the TV only when you know you are not duped into buying anything too frilly or pink.














