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about .When considering the purchase of an HDTV set one of the
first decisions will be whether you want a widescreen or a
4:3 TV.
If your interests lean mainly towards movies, DVDs and
HDTV, a widescreen set would be a better choice. If you are
a "commercial" television type of person or family, you may
be better off with a 4:3 set now but you should probably get
ready to buy a widescreen set to replace this one in a few
years.
Manufacturers are producing fewer 4:3 sets and more 16:9
sets. There are no 4:3 TVs available in sizes larger than
40" (not just HDTVs any TVs). This indicates that the future
is widescreen.
You will also have to decide how large a TV you want, or
can fit into your house. Buy the largest that will fit, or
that you think will be watchable from a particular distance.
Do you want, or have, surround sound? A large portion of
the large screen experience can be the surround sound
experience, so you need to budget for that. Buy the best you
can afford
Will you want a direct view, rear projection, plasma,
LCoS, LCD, DLP, front projection, etc, type of TV. All of
these are various ways of saying size and money...
As for brands, they all have strengths and weaknesses.
Some are better and more expensive. Some are less expensive
and not as good. But most HDTVs have a good pictures when
properly set up, so you may wish to investigate reliability.
The cheaper sets often are less reliable and more prone to
problems.
You may wish to be aware of the following reliability
numbers - sorry, some of the brands were not listed...
Consumers Reports reliability numbers indicating % of sets
with significant problems or repairs required, lower numbers
are better.
Mitsubishi - 9%
Hitachi - 10%
Panasonic - 11%
Sony - 11%
Toshiba - 12%
Pioneer - 12%
Phillips - 13%
RCA - 16%
Another reason to purchase a certain brand over another
is that some brands are simply more popular and therefore
it's more likely that you will be able to find information
if you are having a problem or trying to activate a special
feature, whereas a less popular brand may not have that sort
of information available. For example, if you check out some
of the manufacturers forums online, some brands have lots of
posts, others have very few.
Do you want a TV set with the internal digital tuner?
These types of hdtv cost more. Most people buy HDTV "Ready"
sets. This means you will have to purchase/rent an external
set-top-box (STB). The STB will enable you to receive
Digital HDTV signals over-the-air (OTA), or Satellite
signals, or Cable signals depending on the type of STB and
your location. As the STBs improve you will be able to
upgrade, purchase or rent integrated STB DVRs, HDSTBs, etc.
Where you buy your HDTV can also be very important. If
you purchase online or from a "box-store" you're less likely
to get good service. A smaller store may charge a little
more, but it may be worth because of the service you may
receive, the consultation and the highly recommended setup
performed by a professional technician.
It's extremely important to have your hdtv properly set
up once it's in your home. The manufacturers set up the HDTV
to look "bright" in a brightly lit store, these settings are
not appropriate for the home. You'll either need a
technician to do that for you, or put some work into it
yourself with a setup disk like AVIA, Video Essentials or
Sound and Vision Home Theater Tune Up. Sometimes you can
borrow these DVDs from libraries.
Picture color and quality in the store are typically not
good measures of the TV, since it will need to be set up
properly once you get it home as mentioned above. Do not
purchase your set on the basis of picture quality in the
store, unless you know for certain that the HDTV has been
properly set up, this is only likely to happen at a smaller
"high end" store.
Ergonomics and features can be important when considering
the remote control. If you are going to use it a lot, make
sure you like it - is it backlit for example.
Check out the various "stretch modes" for widescreen TVs
to see if you like one set's approach more than another.
Most HDTVs do the four basic stretch modes in a similar
manner.
Purchasing an HDTV is no different than a lot of other
"expensive" purchases. Do your research. "Test Drive" the
units, take your time, and buy the best you can afford
because nobody ever regrets buying quality.
We hope you enjoy
our hdtv website, and
we wish you the best!
~ The GOM Electronics the best hdtv electronics news and reviews Staff |
