On buying a big screen TV

A co-worker asked for my advice on buying a big screen, what follows is a tidied up version.

In the world of big-screen TVs there are seemingly too many options to choose from. Plasma vs. LCD. HDMI vs. component. Tastes great vs. less filling.

There are two main types of large screen TVs on the market. flat-panel and rear-projection. Flat-panel is obviously sexier and slimmer, but the new microdisplay rear-projection has a lot going for it still.

C|Net has some great guides to help understand the differences:
Flat-Panel TVs
Rear-Projection TVs

The other types, are tube TVs and Front-projection, the former being too large and heavy for really big screen viewing and the later requiring special setups and light control.

Things I recommend getting (in no particular order):

HDMI connectors. This is the newest and most likely to stand the test of time way of connecting your cable box and DVD player to your TV. Next best is Component Video. Not composite. Component. (see composite is crap in the next section)
Extended warranty. The technology is still relatively new and getting insurance is probably a good idea. Read the fine print though. If you have to have more than 10 bad pixels in the center of your LCD screen before they’ll replace it, that’s not so good.

Discrete remote control codes. A bit of the geek stuff here, but if you think you’ll get a super remote (I recommend the Home Theater Master MX500) discrete codes will help a lot when creating macros. (details here, and scroll down to Discrete codes)
Surge protector
Have the cable guy come out and test the line to make sure you’re getting the best signal possible.
Nice on-screen menus. While not super important, they shouldn’t suck.
Decent zoom features on your widescreen. There should be a minimum of 4 zoom modes on a widescreen TV. These let you resize typical 4×3 broadcasts to more effectively fill the screen.

Things I recommend avoiding:

Super expensive cables. They’re suckerware. Middle of the road cables should suffice. The limiting factor is nearly always going to be your source signal (the quality of the DVD or cable signal). The incremental increase in picture quality with a three-times-as-expensive cable is NOT three times the quality.
S-video, cable, and composite cable is all mediocre in quality. HDMI and component cables are the ONLY way to get HD from your cable box to your TV. Read that last sentence again and memorize it.
And, by the way, HD cable will look a lot better than your DVDs. So don’t be surprised that your DVDs only look a little better on an HD TV than on a regular TV. That’s what HD DVDs are for.
You don’t need sound on your TV. Well, if it’s going in the bedroom you might want speakers built in. But for the home theater, you’ll never use the TV’s speakers.
Picture in picture. Avoid it. While it’s cool, it almost never works as you expect it. In order to view say, ESPN in HD and the Sopranos on HBO, you’ll need TWO separate cable boxes. This goes for other built-in TV video ‘features.’ Like thumbnails of the other channels. I’ve got it on my TV and while it was cool the first time I hooked it up, but doesn’t work for the digital channels (a deal killer right there) and is slow (a second deal killer). Haven’t used it again in years. Wasted feature. If you want features look for them in your Tivo or cable box, not the TV.
Channel favorites lists built into the TV. See above. Useless since you’ll very likely be using your cable box to change channels.
You don’t need surround on your TV. Get a separate surround sound system–it’ll always be better.
Basically you want a beautiful, big monitor, no speakers, no surround, and lots of inputs.
Touch-screen remotes. Again, the initial cool factor is high, but after using it for a while, you come to realize it’s better to have hard buttons to press in the dark instead of always looking at the remote’s smooth touch screen to find the right virtual button (hence my recommendation for the HTM MX500 remote above)

When I upgrade from my 57” Sony rear-projection (now going on 5 years old) I’d lean towards plasma. But the tug of the inexpensive microdisplays is very strong ( http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6463_7-5023901-4.html?tag=dir ). The plasma is cheaper for sizes larger than about 32″. It uses much more power, though which may increase utility bills.

The biggest reason for me to change my TV is that it constantly drifts out of alignment. Something apparently my wife doesn’t notice, but is annoyingly apparent to me. My rear-projection has three color guns and they need to be aligned regularly (a feature built in that I can do myself, so it’s not difficult, just a nuisance). DLP, LCD, Plasma and nearly everything else won’t suffer from this ailment. Just the old-school three gun rear-projection sets.

Wednesday, December 20th, 2006 Random Thoughts