Shopping for a new HDTV can be exciting and scary. Of course, it doesn't have to be that difficult. Suite 101's Bill Kallay eases the pain of shopping for that new high-def display.
Pretty Pictures
Entering a store that sells HDTV sets can be an eye opening experience. When shopping the sales floor, be wary, to a degree, of sets that appear super bright and sets that make a Blu-ray disc look very “fluid.”
Depending on the store, some demonstration television sets are taken out of the box, placed on the shelf, and never tinkered with for picture quality. Other sets are tinkered with too much. Some stores either hire a professional, or have someone on staff adjust the picture quality to meet or exceed high definition standards. Also be aware that in a store, the HDTV sets may be fed a video signal with cheap wiring or a bad signal.
Sets that look too bright on the store floor are usually set that way to make customers say, “Wow!” This is similar to a car dealer putting a shiny car on its showroom floor with spot lights on it. Once the customer takes that shiny car home, it doesn’t look the same as it did on the showroom floor. The same can be said for HDTVs. It’s not totally dishonest. Stores want to sell things, especially things with high mark-ups. But the buyer of an HDTV should be aware of what to look for.
Stores sometimes use discs that have mostly bright scenes, making customers think that a super bright picture constitutes a brilliant set. Bright scenes on a good set will still illicit joy from a viewer, but thousands of movies and television shows are not made to look that way. Only by using a calibration DVD/Blu-ray, or hiring a professional video technician, will give an HDTV the picture it’s designed to have.
On the other hand, some sets are adjusted to look too dim. Sitting next to an overly bright monitor, most consumers will automatically think the dimmer set is a bad set. That might not be true. Stick with most of the major brands as mentioned in Part One, the sets will more than likely be equal in picture quality.
Blu-ray Abuse and Pixilated Pictures
The beauty of the new Blu-ray disc is the high definition picture it affords. Match Blu-ray with an HDTV, the resulting picture and sound quality can be stunning. But some stores abuse this wonder of technology by showing Blu-ray discs at the wrong frame rate.
Most films are shot at 24 frames-per-second. By not setting the Blu-ray player to correctly, or not setting the HDTV monitor to correctly show this frame rate, the picture will look hyper fluid and almost too clear. This is not how most movies are supposed to be seen.
Also, standing too close to a monitor might reveal the limitations of the video source being shown on these store sets. Boxy and pixilated picture quality is usually the case of video compression. Standing a few feet away from a properly calibrated set might show a great looking picture. Yet standing closer to the set will show pixilation. This does not mean the set is bad.
Since most consumers who buy an HDTV have DVD players and perhaps satellite television that already compresses digital information, a compressed picture is still going to look pixilated if one sits too close to the screen. A high definition source like Blu-ray will look sharper and cleaner even when sitting close without the severe pixels.
Price
Smaller kitchen or bedroom sets in the range of 20 to 37-inches can be found for a few hundred dollars. These are exceptional bargains compared to just a few years ago. When the first flat screen small sets came out, they retailed for over $1000.00. Now those same sized sets, with better technology, retail for under $500.00.
Indeed, bigger sets over 40-inches can be bought for $2000.00 or more. But why spend that much? Most of the technology and parts inside most major brand sets are the same or very similar. Like computer and car companies, many HDTV companies buy their parts from third party manufacturers. This isn’t to say that TV companies don’t apply their own technology and building specifications to these sets, because they most likely do. Spending an extra $1000.00 on some new technology one manufacturer touts doesn’t guarantee the picture quality will be any better.
So how much to spend? Generally, spending between $700-$1500 will get a consumer an excellent television set ranging in size from 42 to 52-inches. This is based on recent price checks at national and local retail stores. Going above that price range may get a set with some extra features like a thinner chassis or an Internet feature, but often they’re not worth a few extra hundred dollars. Most HDTV sets are already very thin, and Internet access can be done through a laptop or cell phone.
Price may be a factor in the size of the screen, as well. Is it worth spending an extra $300-1000 for two-four inches of extra screen space? Depends on need or desire to get a bigger screen. In most homes with reasonable sized rooms, 50-inches and above is recommended. Look for deals and compare prices.
