TV Buying Guide
If you’re ready for an entertainment overhaul, you can taste widescreen glory without breaking the bank.
SONY Bravia 55" Full High Definition LED LCD TV KDL55EX720
Whether you’re upgrading or starting afresh, you’ll find home entertainment systems to suit every budget. At the heart of the modern lounge room lies a glorious widescreen television, but there’s more to home entertainment than just screen inches. A great home entertainment experience also relies on great sound, seamless connectivity and access to a wealth of online content without getting off the couch.
Reaching beyond the lounge room, you might also look to stream music and video around your home. The icing on the cake is an intelligent universal remote control, letting you drive your new entertainment system with just a few button presses.
Eyes on the screen
There are two main types of televisions; plasma and LCD.
Plasma offers superior picture quality compared to LCD, but initially cost significantly more. Prices plunged and these days you’ll find plasmas from the likes of Panasonic offer great value for money, while still looking much better than cheap LCDs.
LCD is matching the picture quality of plasma thanks to new technologies such as LED back-lighting. While it drives up the price, LED televisions improve the contrast and motion blur to rival plasma (yet are more expensive). Television manufacturers create ultra-thin televisions by placing the LED lights at the sides of the display rather than behind – known as "Edge-lit". Thicker LED televisions tend to have the lights behind the screen, known as "Matrix-lit" or "local dimming”. This allows for greater contrast and thus a better picture.
How big?
A big picture looks impressive, but don’t overdo it.
SONY 40" Full HD LCD TV
The optimal viewing distance for Full HD content is supposedly 1.5 times the screen size – but that would have you sitting a ridiculous 2 metres away from a 50-inch giant. Twice the screen size is as close as most people would comfortably sit – around 2.5 metres for a 50-inch screen when immersing yourself in a high-def movie. For general viewing you might sit back as far as four or five metres. Anything over 50 inches would dominate a small room and could be uncomfortable to watch. This might not bother you if you're setting up a dedicated home theatre, but it might not suit a multi-purpose living area.
The third dimension
The new range of internet-enabled televisions and Blu-ray players make it easy to access a wealth of online content.
Panasonic 50" High Definition 3D Plasma TH-P50XT50A
Sony’s TVs and Blu-ray players offer the widest range of content, including access to Catch Up TV from the ABC, SBS and Seven along with movie rental and subscription music services. Panasonic offers Seven content. Bigpond customers should look at Samsung and LG gear, although their Blu-ray players generally offer less than their televisions. Regardless of your Internet Service Provider, check which online services count towards your monthly usage limit.
Many new televisions and Blu-ray players are also DLNA-compatible, which means they can stream music and video across your home network from a computer or Network Attached Storage drive.
More to watch
The new range of internet-enabled televisions and Blu-ray players make it easy to access a wealth of online content.
Sony’s TVs and Blu-ray players offer the widest range of content, including access to Catch Up TV from the ABC, SBS and Seven along with movie rental and subscription music services. Panasonic offers Seven content. Bigpond customers should look at Samsung and LG gear, although their Blu-ray players generally offer less than their televisions. Regardless of your Internet Service Provider, check which online services count towards your monthly usage limit.
Many new televisions and Blu-ray players are also DLNA-compatible, which means they can stream music and video across your home network from a computer or Network Attached Storage drive.
Let's go high-def
Digital tuners are essential, as all of Australia will switch to digital-only television broadcasts by the end of 2013. Look for the purple “Digital Ready - High Definition” sticker, which means you can watch all the standard and high-def channels. The yellow “Digital Ready - Standard Definition” sticker means it lacks high-def digital tuners, while the blue “Digital Capable” sticker means it doesn't have digital tuners, although you could hook up a set-top box.
It’s worth paying extra for a television with an HD (720p) or Full HD (1080p) screen, especially if you’re investing in a Blu-ray player. Keep in mind there’s more to picture quality than just resolution. If you’re on a budget you’ll get a better picture from a high-quality 720p television than a cheap and nasty 1080p television.
Open your eyes
It’s not a numbers game -- use your eyes when looking for a great television.
Don’t be lured in by brightness and vivid colours, as these are easy to adjust. Instead look for detail in the shadows and watch out for the “black crush” effect where all the darkest shades of grey look black. Also look at the skin tones and detail in close ups of people’s faces. Don’t judge a television by animated movies, look for live action content.
Next watch for motion blur, especially in fast-moving action such as sport. Are the lines on the ground jagged? Are the players surrounded by a halo of blur? Does the ball become a streak? These are the tell-tale signs which help sort the good televisions from the not-so-good.
Source: TechLiving Magazine: Issue 11
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