Harry Potter The Moives

Technological advancements seem to happen so quickly that buying something simple such as a television even becomes intimidating. Choosing whether you want color or black and white is no longer the biggest decision to be made during this process. Staying on top of the terminology, available options, and types of televisions can overwhelm anyone interested in buying a new HDTV.

The first step in determining which HDTV to purchase is that of deciding whether you prefer LCD - liquid crystal display - or plasma. In the simplest of terms, plasma televisions consume more energy but offer bigger sizes, darker black tones, do not blur during portrayal of motion, and offer better viewing from a wider variety of angles. LCDs use less electricity and have less tendency toward glare because of their matte screens. LCDs also do not typically suffer burning of an image onto their screen, as plasmas might. They generally look brighter than plasmas, too.

There are two primary resolutions for consumer HDTV screens: 720p and 1080p. The quantity of horizontal lines on which colors appear across the television screen to make up images is represented by the number in the resolution. Obviously, the larger number offers greater resolution than the lesser, but some viewers do not notice a difference as much as others.

Resolution will generally only make a difference for gamers right now. This may change in the near future, but for now only video game sets fully exploit the quality of the higher resolution screens. All broadcast television is presently available in 720p, so even if a 1080p HDTV is tuned into a channel, the screen still appears at 720p resolution.

Brightness, contrast, and refresh time are other points to consider when purchasing a new HDTV. Brightness is specified through a measurement called Candelas per square meter, or cd/m2. As with resolution, the greater the number of cd/m2, the brighter the screen imagery will appear. This is important when the television is viewed in brightly lit rooms and the video must appear more vivid than the room's lighting, for example.

Contrast represents the range of the brightest coloration versus the darkest coloration. The broader the spread in this ratio, the more quality exists in the contrast. 4000:1 is a good contrast ratio. Quite frequently, some television brands tout very inflated contrast ratios, such as 1,000,000:1. This is a marketing ploy, so if the numbers are very widely spread from brand to brand, ask a sales representative for more information about the picture quality.

Fast moving images on the HDTV screen can create a shadowy trail called "ghosting, " if the refresh time of the unit is slow. Look for a fast refresh time in milliseconds, such as 5ms or better. When the screen is able to refresh quickly enough to keep up with changing colors of the imagery, ghosting will not appear and viewing will be more seamless during intense on-screen action.

For all of your gadgets and any future technological components you may wish to connect to your HDTV, ensure there are as many HDMI ports as possible. About 4 or 5 HDMI ports should suffice, although more is certainly better. These ports will provide connectivity for camcorders, DVD players, video games, cable or satellite receivers, and other such items. USB ports and other memory card slots are also great options to have on your HDTV.