Website Menu

It is now becoming increasingly hard to buy a traditional CTR television. Virtually every mainstream manufacturer are creating widescreen LCD and Plasma televisions. In fact, today, there is a wider range of television technology available than ever before. Whilst CTR and Rear projection screens look set to go the way of the dodo, the real competition is a battle, 'Plasma Vs LCD'. At present, LCD seems to be winning the war, with the majority of screens from 18 inches to 42 inches being LCD. But, the larger the screen, the better the chances of it being plasma. As a technology, the general wisdom is that plasma produces a superior picture on larger screens.

Recommended Resources to try

• Comet - Supply a wide range of Televisions and Television's.
• Currys - Offers an extensive list of Televisions at cheap prices.
• Digital Direct - Established high volume online retailer of TV’s.
• TV Cables - They sell a wide range of cables and accessories for home cinema.
• CW Digital - HDReady LCD, LCD TV, LCD TV with inbuilt PVR.
• TV City - Provide digital TV, HDTV, flat screen TVs.

The main type of screen types are,

• CRT Widescreen TVs
• TV and video combis
• Traditional CRT TVs
• Portable TVs
• LCD screens
• Plasma TVs
• Rear projection TVs

A few things to consider are,

Visual technologies

Plasma and LCD screen TVs are the latest kids on the block, in terms of technology. Even though they have a long history of development, only by 2003 did they become mainstream. In 2003 they were still very expensive to buy. The main selling feature of Plasma and LCD is that they are very thin and can be attached to a wall like a mirror or picture. Plasma screen panels are made up of thousands of tiny gas chambers that illuminate phosphors to produce colour when charged by electricity. They come in the usual (16:9) Widescreen format for viewing films in the format originally intended by the director. When buying a Plasma or LCD TV it is important to get a good Pixel resolution, because the higher the number of pixels displayed on the screen, the higher the picture resolution will be. Luckily for customers, by 2008, the price of both these technologies has come down considerable.

Because, until 2003, Rear projection TVs were the biggest televisions available for domestic homes. They were designed with a flat screen and the screen size goes upwards from 40 inches. The sound quality of these televisions is usually not their best function, but nicam stereo sound is usually standard. They were designed to be used in conjunction with a home cinema sound system. You should mainly be looking at the quality of the picture from a rear projection TV. An advantage of these screens having a flat surface, you can expect less screen reflections. With less distortion in the corners of the picture, you can watch these TVs from a much wider viewing angle. Rear projection TV's are still the cheapest way to get a big screen for low cost (2003). As a technology, they do suffer from significant ghosting problems. This has led to most manufacturer's no longer making rear projection TVs, as of 2008.

Features to look for? 100Hz flicker free is also a good feature to look for. It uses digital processing to double the frequency rate which removes all traces of flicker and makes the image more vibrant. Standard TVs use 50Hz scanning which can cause flickering on a big screen. This means that a widescreen television with 100hz flicker free technology has a better picture quality. Some television brands also have an enhanced version of 100Hz flicker free technology which minimises large area flicker and additionally reduces line jitter. This makes the whole picture more stable with smoother motion and generally greater clarity especially during fast action scenes.

Sound technologies

Nicam stereo sound has been available on televisions since the late 1980's, when it used to be an expensive addition to a television set. Nicam stereo sound was introduced into television programmes in 1989 by the BBC and ITV. But, only by about 1995 could Nicam stereo sound by heard on all programmes, such as Coronation Street. By (2003) Nicam stereo sound is usually standard on most televisions sets, apart from the real bargain basement / cheap televisions. Currently (5/5/2003) nicam stereo sound will be standard on widescreen televisions up until about the £350 - £400 price range, when widescreen televisions are included with Dolby Virtual surround sound.

Virtual Dolby sound is now becoming standard on a range of TVs, and it is gradually taking over from nicam as the standard sound system for televisions. Virtual Dolby TVs adjust the way the sound emerges from the two stereo speakers on the TV, so that your ears are fooled into thinking they are hearing sound from behind them, even though there are no rear speakers. Virtual Dolby delivers a superior sound to Nicam, but is not up to the quality of Dolby Pro Logic or Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS. We have seen TVs, for as low as £300 now coming with virtual Dolby sound as standard. Whether it will replace Nicam stereo sound completely is debatable.

For in the ultimate in sound, many televisions are packaged with a home cinema kit. Thes kits usually come with Dolby digital 5.1 sound as standard. Dolby 5.1 delivers five separate full channels of sound: left, right, centre, rear left, rear right, plus a sixth channel devoted to bass. The ".1" of Dolby Digital 5.1. Dolby Digital 5.1 is available from DVDs, Sky+ boxes as well as PlayStation 2 and the Xbox. Along with Dolby digital 5.1 sound you should also check for the Power output (RMS), because the higher the watts the TV produces the better the quality of sound should be. Many home cinema sound systems are now available on the market to produce Dolby digital 5.1 sound.

Posted on 07 / 01 / 2006

Sony PFM-42X1N Plasma Screen

The TV has been a great purchase, and I have no regrets. So what are the good points?, it really compliments my room and looks cool, produces a beautiful picture, great controls, no problems setting it up with my home cinema and set-top box - so it works great with terrestrial, digital and DVD. Which my Sony Home Cinema installed it's a superb setup, and I am glad I decided to pick Sony as a brand.

User Rating -
Albert Dixon

Posted on 07 / 07 / 2003

Philips 14 inch CFT Screen

You have probably seen this saying on TV quite a bit “Let’s make things better” because this is Philips famous saying. We needed a portable TV for the bedroom which had a 14 inch screen and because Philips has been around for quite some time now, I felt they would know what it takes to make a quality TV. For a 14 inch TV it is well equipped with features such as a scart socket, FM radio, NTSC compatible, Remote control and Text memory for later recall of text pages. At £115 it wasn't too expensive and after 3 months is working fine, hopefully it will last as long as my old Hitachi TV which kept going for 25 years.

User Rating -
Kenny Moore, Essex

Popularity
Value for money
Ability to find on the Net
Better value than high street

Total

-
-
-
-

 
-

7
8
7
9

 
8

At the moment it is possible to find televisions such as a 32inch widescreen for cheap prices such as £300 and lower. Some of these cheap televisions even come with Dolby surround sound instead of nicam stereo.