Televisions
Buying a television is no longer a simple affair The sheer variety not just in terms of brands but also in terms of the different types of television means that you have to be prepared for a long stint at the dealer outlets looking through a couple of dozen models before hopefully finding the one that suits you the best
However you could save yourself some time by knowing what components you need to look out for when you choose a television Some of the important elements of a Television that need to be taken into consideration are
SCREEN SIZE
This is one thing you need to be very clear about The screen size is largely dependent on the size of your room The screen size of a TV is always measured diagonally and ranges from 14 up to 71 inches To know the exact size of the display screen remove another inch or so from the published screen size
The screen size is also one of the most important determinants of the price of the television See table below for an approximate price range in relation to the screen size
SCREEN FLATNESS
With so many variants in the market you can choose from Regular which is the old style curved screen semi flat truly flat plasma or projection and LCD Each of these have a certain range of screen sizes and it is the combination of the flatness of the screen and the screen size that determines how high or low your TV is priced
The standard TV screen is curved The picture tube here is conventional without any special modifications to it It has all the normal features like adjustable colour contrast and brightness Other features include auto programming super and hyper band tuner timer DVD LD VCD compatibility child lock and a host of others features However a drawback of the regular screens is that the natural curve of the screen will pick up light sources throughout the room The prices of these models range from about Rs 3 800 to Rs 16 300 If you are looking at absolute budget buying then these are ideal These also have the charm of being old world as most of has grown up watching these
Semi flat
Typically flatter the screen better the view A Semi Flat TV includes the FST Flat Square Tube and the FFST Full Flat Square Tube FST is flatter compared to the conventional picture tube and the FFST is even flatter than FST However neither are absolutely flat Flatness of the picture tube is good because it considerably reduces reflections and glare from light sources in the room resulting in consistent and easy to watch pictures Although try not to place lamps and highly reflective objects close by Nearby windows should also be blocked for better viewing The prices of these models range from about Rs 5 000 to Rs 15 490 This is a healthy compromise It gives you an almost flat feel at very affordable prices
Truly flat
The Truly flat tubes have a completely flat screen A truly flat TV is of three types Flat Super Flat and True Flat televisions The Truly Flat TVs reduce the glare and give a wider viewing angle without any distortions and thus provide a better viewing experience The price for these start at Rs 4 990 and could be as high as Rs 1 18 000 This is the kind of television that could even double up as an accessory in your living room Stylish looking with a host of features this for those obsessed with quality and dont mind spending the extra few bucks for it
Home Theatre systems are now very popular and this offers a get together feeling to the whole family and gives a pleasure and experience of the real theatre feeling with music and sound systems speakers and movies High Definition TV is the most exciting thing to happen to television since black and white turned to color The main fact you need to know is that HDTV pictures contain four times as much picture definition as the standard TV pictures we watch currently This translates into a picture that is bursting with extra clarity sharpness depth and a realism that is impossible to believe without seeing it for yourself Sound quality is also typically far better with HDTV as most HighDefinition programmes contain 5 1 Dolby Digital surround sound There are currently six High Definition sources There are several camcorders now capable of recording in HighDefinition meaning you can record your own films in HD and watch them back on your HDTV . Up scaling This is a cheat method of obtaining HD pictures Some
DVD players and external processors are available that use special processing to add extra lines and pixels of detail to standard definition DVD pictures effectively turning them into HD Broadcasting If you buy an HD television you will need to connect a separate tuner cable or satellite box to enjoy the benefits of HighDefinition programming Currently the two primary sources for this are Sky which launches its HDTV service in May 2006 and Telewest which already broadcasts a number of HD programmes to a limited area The good news is that new DVDs will have enough capacity to hold all of the extra information needed to store a film in HD meaning watching a DVD at home will be as close as weve ever come to true home cinema The bad news is that there are two different formats vying for supremacy and of course neither format is compatible with the other This effectively means that if different movie studios back only one format their films may not be compatible with the DVD player you have bought The first format is called HDDVD and is backed by the DVD Forum the official DVD industry body and manufacturers like Toshiba NEC and Sanyo The second format is Bluray and was invented by Sony and backed by the likes of JVC LG Panasonic and Philips HD Consoles Sonys PS3 is due at the end of the year and will feature Bluray playback while Microsofts Xbox 360 delivers games in HighDefinition already and will be upgraded next year to play HDDVD DVDs
PC Internet There are several topend PCs now available capable of delivering HD files readily downloadable from the internet to HD screens HDTV Resolutions All digital displays make their pictures up using pixels where the more pixels a screen has the better the image This is called the screen resolution and it is well worth having a basic knowledge of the resolution formats if you want to make the most informed choice when purchasing your new HD kit The two formats for HighDefinition are 720p and 1080i The 1080i format contains 1080 lines of image information which is produced using the interlaced system This means the pictures on your television are produced in two separate sweeps with the odd lines 1 3 5 7 etc created during the first sweep and the even lines 2 4 6 8 etc created during the second The sweeps are so quick however that the human eye sees only one complete image The 720p format while having fewer lines of image information uses progressivescan technology where all the lines are created at once as opposed to two separate sweeps This ensures an exceptionally smooth image which is often preferable to 1080i for fastmoving footage Does Size Matter 169 vs 43 Television screens are available in two shapes regular 43 aspect ratio and widescreen 169 Regular pictures are four inches wide to three inches high while widescreen pictures are 16 inches wide to nine high Traditionally films are shot in widescreen format while TV is shot in regular hence the black bars that run across the top and bottom of a screen when you watch a film on a regular television
Bit Rate The bit rate is measured as bits per second and refers to the rate at which data is transmitted to your television As with resolution the more data the better the pictures and sound
Pixel Pixels make up your televisions image and are the smallest elements of a picture The more pixels in your picture the better m Bluray One of two HighDefinition formats for DVD Bluray was invented by Sony and is supported by manufacturers such as JVC LG Panasonic and Philips
Down Scaling The process of converting HighDefinition pictures to standard definition for transmission in standard definition programmes HDCP High bandwidth Digital Content Protection This is a copyright system that prevents unauthorized copying and distributing of copyrighted content Due to the quality of HighDefinition content the likes of Hollywood studios are becoming obsessed with HDCP to combat piracy and its likely that all nextgen HD sources will feature HDCP and thus only let you watch HD content at its maximum resolution for which you will need a DVI or HDMI connector HDDVD One of two HighDefinition formats for DVD HDDVD is supported by the DVD Forum and manufacturers such as Toshiba NEC and Sanyo
Buying a television is no longer a simple affair The sheer variety not just in terms of brands but also in terms of the different types of television means that you have to be prepared for a long stint at the dealer outlets looking through a couple of dozen models before hopefully finding the one that suits you the best
However you could save yourself some time by knowing what components you need to look out for when you choose a television Some of the important elements of a Television that need to be taken into consideration are
SCREEN SIZE
This is one thing you need to be very clear about The screen size is largely dependent on the size of your room The screen size of a TV is always measured diagonally and ranges from 14 up to 71 inches To know the exact size of the display screen remove another inch or so from the published screen size
The screen size is also one of the most important determinants of the price of the television See table below for an approximate price range in relation to the screen size
SCREEN FLATNESS
With so many variants in the market you can choose from Regular which is the old style curved screen semi flat truly flat plasma or projection and LCD Each of these have a certain range of screen sizes and it is the combination of the flatness of the screen and the screen size that determines how high or low your TV is priced
The standard TV screen is curved The picture tube here is conventional without any special modifications to it It has all the normal features like adjustable colour contrast and brightness Other features include auto programming super and hyper band tuner timer DVD LD VCD compatibility child lock and a host of others features However a drawback of the regular screens is that the natural curve of the screen will pick up light sources throughout the room The prices of these models range from about Rs 3 800 to Rs 16 300 If you are looking at absolute budget buying then these are ideal These also have the charm of being old world as most of has grown up watching these
Semi flat
Typically flatter the screen better the view A Semi Flat TV includes the FST Flat Square Tube and the FFST Full Flat Square Tube FST is flatter compared to the conventional picture tube and the FFST is even flatter than FST However neither are absolutely flat Flatness of the picture tube is good because it considerably reduces reflections and glare from light sources in the room resulting in consistent and easy to watch pictures Although try not to place lamps and highly reflective objects close by Nearby windows should also be blocked for better viewing The prices of these models range from about Rs 5 000 to Rs 15 490 This is a healthy compromise It gives you an almost flat feel at very affordable prices
Truly flat
The Truly flat tubes have a completely flat screen A truly flat TV is of three types Flat Super Flat and True Flat televisions The Truly Flat TVs reduce the glare and give a wider viewing angle without any distortions and thus provide a better viewing experience The price for these start at Rs 4 990 and could be as high as Rs 1 18 000 This is the kind of television that could even double up as an accessory in your living room Stylish looking with a host of features this for those obsessed with quality and dont mind spending the extra few bucks for it
Home Theatre systems are now very popular and this offers a get together feeling to the whole family and gives a pleasure and experience of the real theatre feeling with music and sound systems speakers and movies High Definition TV is the most exciting thing to happen to television since black and white turned to color The main fact you need to know is that HDTV pictures contain four times as much picture definition as the standard TV pictures we watch currently This translates into a picture that is bursting with extra clarity sharpness depth and a realism that is impossible to believe without seeing it for yourself Sound quality is also typically far better with HDTV as most HighDefinition programmes contain 5 1 Dolby Digital surround sound There are currently six High Definition sources There are several camcorders now capable of recording in HighDefinition meaning you can record your own films in HD and watch them back on your HDTV . Up scaling This is a cheat method of obtaining HD pictures Some
DVD players and external processors are available that use special processing to add extra lines and pixels of detail to standard definition DVD pictures effectively turning them into HD Broadcasting If you buy an HD television you will need to connect a separate tuner cable or satellite box to enjoy the benefits of HighDefinition programming Currently the two primary sources for this are Sky which launches its HDTV service in May 2006 and Telewest which already broadcasts a number of HD programmes to a limited area The good news is that new DVDs will have enough capacity to hold all of the extra information needed to store a film in HD meaning watching a DVD at home will be as close as weve ever come to true home cinema The bad news is that there are two different formats vying for supremacy and of course neither format is compatible with the other This effectively means that if different movie studios back only one format their films may not be compatible with the DVD player you have bought The first format is called HDDVD and is backed by the DVD Forum the official DVD industry body and manufacturers like Toshiba NEC and Sanyo The second format is Bluray and was invented by Sony and backed by the likes of JVC LG Panasonic and Philips HD Consoles Sonys PS3 is due at the end of the year and will feature Bluray playback while Microsofts Xbox 360 delivers games in HighDefinition already and will be upgraded next year to play HDDVD DVDs
PC Internet There are several topend PCs now available capable of delivering HD files readily downloadable from the internet to HD screens HDTV Resolutions All digital displays make their pictures up using pixels where the more pixels a screen has the better the image This is called the screen resolution and it is well worth having a basic knowledge of the resolution formats if you want to make the most informed choice when purchasing your new HD kit The two formats for HighDefinition are 720p and 1080i The 1080i format contains 1080 lines of image information which is produced using the interlaced system This means the pictures on your television are produced in two separate sweeps with the odd lines 1 3 5 7 etc created during the first sweep and the even lines 2 4 6 8 etc created during the second The sweeps are so quick however that the human eye sees only one complete image The 720p format while having fewer lines of image information uses progressivescan technology where all the lines are created at once as opposed to two separate sweeps This ensures an exceptionally smooth image which is often preferable to 1080i for fastmoving footage Does Size Matter 169 vs 43 Television screens are available in two shapes regular 43 aspect ratio and widescreen 169 Regular pictures are four inches wide to three inches high while widescreen pictures are 16 inches wide to nine high Traditionally films are shot in widescreen format while TV is shot in regular hence the black bars that run across the top and bottom of a screen when you watch a film on a regular television
Bit Rate The bit rate is measured as bits per second and refers to the rate at which data is transmitted to your television As with resolution the more data the better the pictures and sound
Pixel Pixels make up your televisions image and are the smallest elements of a picture The more pixels in your picture the better m Bluray One of two HighDefinition formats for DVD Bluray was invented by Sony and is supported by manufacturers such as JVC LG Panasonic and Philips
Down Scaling The process of converting HighDefinition pictures to standard definition for transmission in standard definition programmes HDCP High bandwidth Digital Content Protection This is a copyright system that prevents unauthorized copying and distributing of copyrighted content Due to the quality of HighDefinition content the likes of Hollywood studios are becoming obsessed with HDCP to combat piracy and its likely that all nextgen HD sources will feature HDCP and thus only let you watch HD content at its maximum resolution for which you will need a DVI or HDMI connector HDDVD One of two HighDefinition formats for DVD HDDVD is supported by the DVD Forum and manufacturers such as Toshiba NEC and Sanyo
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