Product face-offsArticles >
Guide: Choosing your new TV
HD Ready, Full HD, Freeview, LCD, plasma … if you’re a bit confused by all of these terms and don’t know how to choose your new TV, then don’t worry, digitalversus.com will explain it all.
Vincent Lheur
Date: 2008-09-03
Date: 2008-09-03
Don't forget ...
Once you’ve chosen the type of TV that suits you, there are a few other points you shouldn’t forget to check which can make a big difference between two otherwise identical models. Think about what connectors that are offered, how easy the menus are to use, whether or not the remote control is comfortable and whether you would actually be comfortable having it in your home!
Bear all of these points in mind and you should have everything you need to choose the TV which best suits your needs. Remember too that you can compare any two televisions that have been through our labs in our Product Face-Off for TVs.
Bear all of these points in mind and you should have everything you need to choose the TV which best suits your needs. Remember too that you can compare any two televisions that have been through our labs in our Product Face-Off for TVs.
- Should you go for a screen with an LCD panel or plasma?
- Will a HD ready TV be OK? And is it the same as a Full HD screen?
- Do you need a digital tuner that's ready for HD?
- How big do you need your TV to be?
The advent of digital terrestrial television means that, in many territories, all televisions must include a digital decoder, with a view to eventually turning off analog signals. The EU has suggested that analog transmission disappears from member states from 2012, and in the US the FCC has set a date of February 17, 2009 for exclusively digital broadcasting.
Our ongoing product surveys for televisions are divided up into four sizes of screen, based on the diagonal measurement from one corner of the screen to another. We continuously test the following size screens in our labs:
> Ongoing survey: TVs up 29" (below 74 cm)
> Ongoing survey: TVs from 30" to 39" (76 to 99 cm)
> Ongoing survey: TVs from 40" to 49" (102 to 124 cm)
> Ongoing survey: 50" and bigger TVs (127 cm and beyond)
