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Digital Light Projection (DLP) Plasma (PDP) Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) When buying a TV, you’ll want to look at the following specs: Contrast Ratio Response time Screen Resolution Backlighting (LCD and DLP) Color gamut Viewing Angle Refresh Rate (LCD) CONTRAST RATIO RESPONSE TIME Measurement of the difference between the darkest black, and the brightest white a panel can produce. Marketing term. (not scientific) No true standard measurement. Look for at least 10,000:1 Measurement of the time it takes a single pixel to go from black, to white, to black again. The lower, the better. Not a factor on DLP, or Plasma. Standard is 8ms, look for lower. A pixel is one small dot of light on a television, or monitor. Standard TV uses a 480i resolution, meaning there are 720 vertical lines, and 480 horizontal lines of pixels. “i” stands for interlaced, which means that only half of the lines of pixels are lit up at once. First the odd numbered rows, then the even numbered rows 1/30th of a second later. “p” stands for progressive (480P, 720P, 1080P) and means that all of the rows of pixels are lit up at the same time, and refreshed every 1/60th of a second, or 1/120th of a second. (depending on the TV) 480i is roughly .3 megapixels. (think digital camera megapixels) 720P 1080I/P 1280 vertical lines and 720 1920 vertical lines and 1080 horizontal lines displayed horizontal lines displayed progressively. interlaced OR progressively. Ideal for smaller HDTVs. Ideal for larger HDTVs (40” or (smaller than 40”) higher) Around 1 megapixel. Slightly higher than 2 Television broadcasts are megapixels. formatted in 720P or 1080i Important for HD movie discs. due to current technology limits. Whatever TV you buy, will convert any signal it recieves to its native resolution. So if you buy a 720P TV, it will convert the 1080i signal to 720p. SCREEN RESOLUTION Almost all DLP’s are 1080P Get 1080P for screens 40” or larger. Anything below 40” should be 720P. 1080P makes no difference on smaller screens. If going plasma, get 1080P. BACKLIGHTING If buying DLP, GET ONE WITH AN LED BACKLIGHT! New LCD’s are on the way with LED backlights. Currently using florescent bulbs. Plasma TV’s don’t use a backlight. COLOR GAMUT Range of color a television can produce. Plasma has a wide color gamut. DLP has a wide color gamut. Cheaper LCD’s use 8 bit panels. (lower color gamut) Look for 10 bit color, and 14 bit color processing on LCDs. VIEWING ANGLE Angle at which TV loses view ability. (Basically looking at a TV from the side instead of directly in front of it.) Typically listed at 178° Not an issue on plasma. Big issue with DLP. LCD depends on the type of panel. Determine with your own vision, don’t trust spec sheet. Newer LCD’s incorporate a 120hz refresh rate. Older models use a 60hz refresh. (each individual frame of video is displayed 60 or 120 times per second.) Film based material is recorded at 24hz. SDTV and 1080i material runs at 30hz. HDTV 720p and 1080p run at 60hz. 120 is a multiple of all 3 standard refresh rates! This reduces motion judder, and sharpens picture quality! Newer DLP sets are also using this technique. Large format television using DLP mirror technology. Uses a rear projector to project on front screen Size typically 50” or more. ADVANTAGES Inexpensive for size. Good color reproduction. Hides visual defects of last gen SDTV material. Although large in size, very light weight. DISADVANTAGES Must replace bulb every 3 – 4 years. (Unless you buy one with an LED bulb). Picture not as sharp. Poor viewing angles. Lower brightness. Uses gas filled cells (pixels). Electrical charge changes the gas to plasma. Plasma emits different colored light. Sizes range from 42” up to 102”. Typical sizes are 42” and 50”. ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES Wide viewing angles. Screen burn-in. Best current color reproduction. Not ideal for computer monitor use. Higher electrical consumption. No motion blur. High Contrast ratio. Heavier than others. Darker black levels Glass screen reflection. Uses 2 thin panels to “sandwich” a thin layer of liquid crystal gel, which is separated into pixels. Uses a backlight and electrical voltage to produce light for each pixel. Size ranges from 11” up to around 60”. ADVANTAGES Large range of sizes Double as computer monitor. No burn-in. Competitive price. Lower electrical use. Sharper picture. DISADVANTAGES Can’t achieve perfect black level. Some ghosting and motion blur. (not so much with new tech) Narrower viewing angle. Color not quite as detailed. BLU-RAY Chaired by Sony Uses ultra-violet laser. Uses optical disk with 50Gigs of storage. Java Based interface. 1080P HD audio support. De-facto standard in HD media. Basically the High Definition version of a DVD. HD-DVD Chaired by Toshiba Uses ultra-violet laser Uses optical disk with 15Gigs of storage. MS Hdi interface. 1080P HD audio. Abandoned format. COMPONENT HDMI COMPONENT Analog signals Separates video into 3 signals. Does not carry audio. Carries HD signals. Cannot be used to up-convert copyrighted material to HD. (Using a DVD player that converts DVDs to HD-like quality) Can carry 1080, but not well. HDMI Digital signals Combines digital audio and video. Carries all HD signals, at full quality. Since the signal is digital, you can buy an HDMI cable from monoprice.com for $4.00 that is just as good as a $100.00 Monster cable. If your TV sits in a corner, and you want to get the most size for your money, a 50” DLP (with LED backlight) may be the right choice for you. If you watch a lot of movies, your TV sits parallel to the wall, and your furniture is arranged in a way that you need a wide viewing angle, a plasma may be right for you. If you play video games, have a bright room, want to wallmount your TV, and don’t need a wide viewing angle, an LCD TV is right for you. DLP: Stick with Samsung. JVC, Mitsubishi are OK. Plasma: Pioneer and Panasonic are your best choices. LCD: Sony, Samsung, LG, and Toshiba are the best brands. I would recommend staying away from budget brands (Westinghouse, Vizio, Element, Insignia), as they use cheaper components and have significantly poorer picture quality. ALWAYS buy a warranty.