Big Flat Screen Tv

Flat Screen TV Buying Guide - How To Select a Television Which Best Suits Your Requirements

What Are the Main Television Kinds?

Now, I'm assuming you've already decided on the kind of size TV you want, so here we can deal with more important issues. Regarding the display technology available, you have ultimately 3 main sorts of Television screen: LCD, LED, and Plasma.

LCD Televisions
- Thin, light.
- Come in a range of sizes.
- Ideal for bright rooms.
- More brands and sizes to choose from than Plasma.
- Typically cost more than Plasma TVs of a similar size, but this is now becoming less so as time goes on.

LED
- A style LCD display, but with different lighting.
- Uses LED to light the LCD particles, versus Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamps, as were used in older LCD televisions.
- Better energy efficiency.
- Longer lasting - doesn't degrade like older style LCDs.

Plasma
- Great for large televisions (42 inch or more).
- Are easily viewed from virtually any angle.
- Fantastic for high-speed action, for example games, sports or action videos.

Which Company?

Samsung
- Market leader and innovator.
- LED pioneer.
- Extremely popular brand - probably the top, if you ever had to name just one number 1 make. Definitely the best-selling in Britain, anyway.
- Superb picture quality.

LG
- Another popular make.
- Makes a variety of plasma televisions, and also makes LCD and LED.
- Makes some fully featured screens known as Infinia.

Panasonic
- Market leader for Plasma TVs.
- Also makes LCD.
- Makes some extremely large TVs.
- One of the first to offer 3D.

Toshiba
- Makes a wide range of high definition televisions, from value to fully featured HDTVs called the Cinema Series.
- Have plans to begin making 3D sets soon.

VIZIO
- Newer brand (started in 2002).
- Makes LCD TVs.
- Companies itself as "America's number 1 LCD Television make"

Features

There are numerous features that TVs have nowadays, but listed below are a few of the main things to look out for.

Screen Refresh Rate (Frame Rate)
- For LCD, go for new 120Hz or 240Hz TVs.
- Plasma has extraordinarily high-speed transition between frames, so copes better with high-speed digital action.

Internet
- PC input - some TVs have PC input, so you can surf the net on your TV.
- Internet@TV - some Samsung TVs come with a function called Internet@Television, which gives access to the internet when you watch Television.
- Some other new TVs also allow internet access to services like YouTube, Netflick, Facebook, etc.

Connections
- Wi-Fi - log on to your home network.
- HDMI - High Definition Multimedia Interface.
- PC input - as mentioned above.

Easy Settings & Specific Modes
- Game Mode - some TVs (e.g. Samsung) come with a specific mode for game playing, which optimizes the sound and image specifically for this function.
- Picture Wizard - this is an easy step-by-step wizard that comes with LG TVs and lets you easily adjust your picture settings.
- Some TVs can even detect the lighting of your room and automatically optimize your screen settings.

The Decision is Yours

So, as we can see, there's a lot of different factors that can determine which sort of Television you are likely to buy. After you have decided on the size of the screen you then need to decide on the screen type, whether it's Plasma or LCD. Once you have decided on that, it's best to take a look at the brand that is the leader in that particular technology. For example, if you'd like an LED style LCD Television, then Samsung might be your best bet. However, if you decided on Plasma, then LG is a good choice. Once you have made that decision, it's really just a case of keeping an eye out for the features you need, and reading reviews from existing customers, to determine whether it's the best model to buy.