I Want To Buy A Flat Screen Tv But There Are Too Many Choices! Please Help!?
I have been researching tvs and i find that there is a serious range of prices for what seems like the same size tv. I want between a 37-42 inch screen but then get totally lost when we start to talk about HZ and the difference between 720p and 1080p. Do i want plasma or LCD? Please help!
You can have HD. Or you can have widescreen. You can have both at once, or you have have neither. Let me explain.
First I will define widescreen. The screen of the monitor you are looking at is most likely four-thirds as wide as it is tall. This is a 4:3 ratio monitor. This is NOT widescreen.
In a widescreen display, the screen is sixteen-ninths as wide as it is tall, or sixteen-tenths. This IS widescreen, and it is 16:9 or 16:10 ratio.
And then there is HD. There is a lot of terminology to HD and I will explain. Getting progressively better as you go down the list, we have:
• 420i (not HD)
• 420p (sort of HD)
• 720i (sort of HD)
• 720p (HD)
• 1080i (HD)
• 1080p (It’s…. Beautiful…) (HD)
In the above descriptions, the numbers (480, 720, 1080) represent the number of horizontal lines of pixels in the screen. So a 1080p monitor has 1,080 rows of pixels in its screen.
The letters in the descriptions (“i” or “p”) tell you if the screen is interlaced scan or progressive scan.
• Interlaced (“i”) means that it shows every other line, and then every OTHER line, over and over.
So a 1080i screen shows lines 1, 3, 5, 7… and then 2, 4, 6, 8…
• Progressive (“p”) means that the screen shows ALL the lines at once. This means that a 1080p screen shows lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 5… and so on over and over.
Again, you can have HD and not widescreen (but this is uncommon), or widescreen and not HD, and often widescreen AND hd, or often neither HD or widescreen.
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Now, as for LCDs and Plasma screens… LCD screens are generally better for use as computer monitors, and plasma screens are better as TVs. The drawback to a plasma screen TV is that if you plan to use it for video gaming, then stationary objects like HUDs can be “burned” onto the screen, sometimes permanently. This never happens to LCD screens.
Buying a HDTV isn’t easy! There are a couple of factors to consider when buy one!
First would be the screen size, which you already picked out. Second would be the whole 720p, 1080p thing! The screen resolution depends mostly on the size of the screen and the distance from the TV you are. See link #1 below for the seating distance chart that i used to buy my TV!
The last thing to consider is the whole Plasma VS LCD debate! Many people swear by both types and say the other is junk, which doesn’t help you much when buying a TV! The fact of the matter is this: Plasma TV’s have the best picture quality…PERIOD! They have the highest contrast ratio’s, fastest pixel response times, fastest refresh rates, and produce the most vivid, sharp & rich looking colors of the HDTV’s! See link #2 for more info on both types of TV’s.
However, LCD’s are available in a wider range of sizes as well as being better suited for bright rooms with lots of ambiant light. Their screens have a better matte finish then Plasma’s do, helping them prevent glare!
In my opinion, for HDTV’s sizes 42″ or larger…Plasma is the best option…hands down(go with a Panasonic or Samsung)! For sizes 40″ or less…go with a LCD(Samsung, Sony, Panasonic or LG)!
Here are some great websites! But my opinion is the plasma, not LCD!
here is a whole bunch of information on this subject
it would take too long to explain it all here so here is a link