5 Things to Consider When Buying an HDTV

Planning on buying an LCD TV? Check out these 5 simple tips that will aid your decision.

Size: Bigger is not always better when it comes to screen sizes. It really seems to be so, but if you have space constraints, then a 55-inch mega screen is no use. Consider the wall where it will be hanged, its bareness, its size etc. Thus the size of your wall dictates the size of your screen, but then that’s just the beginning. Read on.

Viewing distance: Just having a bare wall is not enough. If you are too close to the wall then your screen size makes a huge difference: too large and you will see the pixels. Not good. Too small and you cannot see clearly, especially if you get a 32 inch full HD screen and sit farther away. Remember this formula: viewing distance should be about ¼ of the screen size, BUT viewing distance is in feet, and screen size is inches. Thus for 32 inch 16:9 LCD sit about 8 feet away.

Price: How much money do you have realistically? The HDTV is still a luxury, and even though Croma's latest marketing campaign urges you to buy giving the excuse that recession is over, think about facts like spending, say, Rs. 10,000 more on just one more additional feature. For eg. 100 Hz Motion feature in TVs looks like sh*t anyways, why pay extra for that? Get a lower end model, provided all else about the HDTV is equal. Marginal benefit starts falling rapidly after a certain point in our market.

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Features: This is more of a corollary of the previous mentioned point: only pay for what you need. If watching Youtube or accessing Flickr on your TV is not your idea of fun, then forget the high end models with internet connectivity for videos. Stick to good old cable TV. But on the other hand check which brands have the same features for a lesser price. Do horizontal A/B comparisons, and for that take help from super cool, informative, almost orgasmic sites like Tech2.com, run by a bunch of handsome geeks.

LCD or Plasma? This is a much broader topic, and the truth is LCDs have Dwarfed plasmas long ago in terms of market share, but, don’t write off that plasma TV just yet. IN summary, if you're more of a film watcher than gamer or sports fan, go for a plasma. Plasmas have way better contrast, and also much deeper colors due to that. Image looks richer from a mile away. The new LED-lit LCDs are definitely an improvement, but then in India the latter costs a bomb.