There’s a good chance that you’ve seen a mass of HDTV ads and articles online, on the television and in the media. But are you aware that not all high definition television can truly be called Full HD TV. There is a plethora of makes, manufacturers and models of televisions on the market. Though many of thse are high definition, if you want the best high definition picture for your buck in order to make the most of your home cinema, DVD or gaming setup then you should read on. When it comes to televisions then you want a Full HD TV to get most out of your home viewing exprience.
Full HD TVs come in all shapes and sizes, and the subject can be a bit confusing. The technologies include terminology like LED, plasma, Full HD LCD TVs and specifications include terms like HD Ready, 1080i and 1080p. Firstly size is all important, 42 inch HDTVs are most likely the most popular screen size, but a bit more consideration to size should be taken rather than just buying the biggest screen you can afford. You should consider the size of the room and the position where the TV will sit, if it’s a small room then a 42 inch TV may look out of place and be too big for the position that you will be viewing from, this may result in an uncomfortable viewing experience by straining the viewer’s eyes.
When considering purchasing a full HD TV set you must choose between LED, plasma and LCD. To summarize LEDs have the best life span and are more energy efficient, but they are still a bit more expensive than LCDs. LCDs are the best value, have a better life span than plasmas and are lighter, but plasmas have a better picture quality.
The most popular type is the full HD LCD TV. High definition LCD television sets display a good quality image. LCD TVs have a longer life and don’t suffer from screen burn like plasmas do, they are also use less energy and are lighter and slimmer. Plasmas however have a better picture quality more vivid colours and better contrast ratios. LCDs have better refresh rates for a smoother picture which is good for games consoles and watching high paced action. If it comes down to price, popularity has driven the price of LCD HD TVs down and these are the best value.
The new kid on the block is the LED TV, this term however is slightly misleading as an LED TV is actually an LCD TV that uses LEDs as a light source rather than fluorescent lights. The advantage of this is that they can be made much thinner and are the best when it comes to energy efficiency (LEDs consume less power). Also fluorescent lights do not have as good a life expectancy as LEDs. As would be expected, the benefits of LEDs plus the fact they are new to the market means that LED HD TVs are still quite pricey.
When it comes down to what makes a TV a Full HD TV, then you need to look to whether it is 1080p, 1080i, 720p or HD ready. HD ready and 720p are unusually the same thing, though they are classed as high definition the 720 indicates they have less pixels and so they are not the highest resolution, this specification tends to be used for smaller sets.
1080i indicates that the set has the higher resolution, but the ‘I’ indicates the television uses what is called interlaced scanning (to be technical this means alternate lines of pixels are refreshed rather than every line). 1080i is the ‘in-between’ standard and is an improvement over 720p but will not be as sharp a picture as 1080p, and because of this TVs that use this standard will be a bit cheaper.
However for the true Full HD TV effect then 1080p has the best quality. It has a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, the ‘p’ indicates the scanning method used is progressive scanning where all lines of pixels are refreshed for every frame. 1080p high definition sets are a bit more expensive but if your wallet can stretch to one then this is the option to take for the best Full HD TV experience.
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