India Broadband Forum

just4kix

The following articles discussed the flat panel TVs in great detail:

• The TV debate - LCD vs Plasma vs Traditional CRT
• Buying guide to LCD TV

This article extends the thought process further.

Size and Viewing Distance
It is generally recommended that your sitting position is at a distance that is at least two times the diagonal screen size - OK, for the purist the figure is 1.8 times. This means that if the TV is 40" diagonal, the best viewing distance is 72" or 6 feet. Anything less is strain to the eyes, more means some very minute details may be lost.

HD Ready or Full HD
Perhaps a repeat of or carry-over from previous article.

HD ready means 1366x768 pixels. This is also known as 720p. True or full HD means 1920x1080 pixels or 1080p. Full HD obviously means more clarity, brilliance and overall quality. But ...

In my opinion, unless you are going to watch true high definition (Blu-Ray, PS3, XBox, etc.), 1080p or Full HD is something that you can do without or it will bring you no extra benefit. If you are going to watch standard cable/DTH, VCR/VCD/DVD, etc. then there is no real extra "joy" that you will get from a true/full HD TV. In fact, cable/DTH will look better on HD-Ready TV.

Wall mount or Table mount
Wall mount looks more professional. But this means that you cannot move your TV. So unless you have a dedicated home theatre room, the wall mount is not necessary and in fact will reduce your options quite a lot. But wall mount does have a lot of advantages:

• When professionally installed, the wall mount makes the TV very sturdily installed. A table mounted TV can be easily dislodged (and broken) by a bad shove.
• Imagine a wall mounted flat panel TV mounted high on the wall opposite to your bed. You can watch TV while in sleeping position!
• When professionally installed with cables concealed in the wall, the wall mount looks grand indeed.

Number of inputs
Most flat panel TVs have a certain number of inputs - 3 or 4 HDMI, 2 or 3 component, 1 or 2 composite, a VGA (for computer) and maybe USB. These are usually sufficient for the most. But if you are a compulsive geek (like me), you may run out of options. Please make a full list of devices that you may be connecting to the TV today and near future.

Ergonomics
Check the buttons on the TV. Are they touch sensitive or pressure sensitive? Where are they located? How easy is it to reach them? How good is the remote?

Also make sure that some important inputs, like USB, are easily accessible. For instance, it will be most inconvenient to plug in your USB stick to the TV when the USB port is accessible from the rear - a side port is much better.

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