With all of the new TV technologies crowding the marketplace, it's time to update our HDTV Buying Guide.

But before I explain some of the new jargon buzzing around showroom floors, like LED TVs, 240Hz frame rates and Internet widgets, I want to lay the foundation so you will have a firm footing when a sales rep begins spouting high tech testimonials about one model or another.

When I walk into the television section of a consumer electronics store, I see those blank, befuddled stares. There you are - assaulted by a wall of HDTVs all playing the same program. And for the life of you, all those flat screens look very seductive, but still pretty much the same. How do you decide? Where do you begin?

Yahoo Widgets on an LG LH50

It's easy to become flustered in the presence of this chorus line of sexy, beautiful models with their thin bezels and full HD measurements. If, dazzled by their radiance, you begin to hyperventilate, just picture their parents. The thought of those chunky boxes with knobs sticking out should bring you back to earth.

Let's start this Guide with this simple statement. It's a TV. Nowadays, they are bigger and flatter then they were in the 20th Century. They are preceded by HD, but they're still televisions.

Whether you grew up watching The Honeymooners or Moonlighting, Bonanza or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you probably have purchased one or two TVs in your life. Buying this high definition television shouldn't be any different.

It's a TV. And despite all the technological mumbo-jumbo, how you decide on what HDTV to buy really isn't any different than it was ten or twenty years ago.

All of us want to think that we are making a wise, informed choice and are getting our money's worth, especially in this economy. So let me discuss a few factors that you may wish to consider.

Before we begin, we need to establish a couple of basic terms. The HD in HDTV stands for high definition. In comparison, those old boxy TVs that we grew up with are standard definition, (SD), though they were never called that because there was no HD.

Without being too technical or exact, the picture that we see on a TV screen is made up of thousands of little dots called pixels. SD TVs use fewer pixels to create a picture, which means less detail - or definition - than an HDTV. More definition translates to a sharper, cleaner, finer image - a "honey come look at this" humdinger of a picture.

Representation of 1080p, 720p & 480i - More Pixels = Sharper Image

Definition for TVs is stated in terms of resolution. When you go shopping, you will probably run across these two common resolution numbers, 720p and 1080p. As you would guess, a 1080p TV uses more pixels than a 720p TV. Both are considered high definition TVs. (For comparison, standard definition is usually stated as 480i or 480p. I don't even want to get into i, interlace, and p, progressive.) I will discuss resolution as a factor in choosing a TV later.

At the end of 2009, almost nobody makes standard definition TVs. For example, of the 230 TVs that Best Buy has listed online, only two are SD, the rest are HD. So if you are buying a new model TV, about your only choice is an HDTV.

In our original Guide, I predicted that "in a couple of years, we will simply drop the HD tag and go back to calling them TVs." Indeed, we are moving in that direction, though HD still carries significance in a number of topics of consideration.

Next >> Picture Quality   

Pages 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9