Types of TV

What type of TVs are available?

There are 3 main types of TV available plus HDTV (this is not a type in its own right).

The traditional CRT television, most TV’s older than 2003 will be of this type, and you can still buy these today, any new TV you buy today no matter what its type should be Digitally equipped, (or you should be informed that it isn’t and that you will need a set top box before you make your purchase).

Then comes the new style of TV fast taking the lion’s share of the market, Plasma TVs and LCD TVs these have had bad press in the past due to the poor picture quality they gave with fast moving action, major improvements in the technology means this is a thing of the past, and as long as you choose a respectable brand you shouldn’t worry about this anymore, before you buy watch a game of football keep you eye on the ball, you will know instantly if the TV you are looking at is capable of rendering fast moving action without pixilation or distortion.

LCD or Plasma

Generally speaking whether you choose LCD or Plasma Screen would be down to the size of your Screen, Plasma lends itself to larger Screens (above 42in) much better than LCD does though advances in both technologies is bring the gap between them ever closer and LED has all but closed it.

In the past Plasma Screens tended to suffer from burn-in, this is where a constant image on the screen starts to leave a mark, can happen if you leave a video or in this day and age live pause on for too long, this has all but been eliminated on good quality TVs according to manufacturers but its always best to be safe than sorry, never leave a Plasma screen on pause for more than 15 minutes.

LCD Screens do not suffer from this problem

Plasma Screens have a much better contrast then LCD Screens, meaning blacks are much blacker and whites much whiter, helping make to give you Vivid picture quality but as mentioned the introduction of LED for the backlight on LCD Screens has narrowed the gap a great deal between Plasma and LCD TVs.

LCD screens colour definition and contrast isn’t as vivid as a Plasma Screen and the picture looks slightly less natural.

In general like for like Plasma screens weigh more than LCD Screens and consume more energy but the introduction of new power saving modes means they can each run in power saving mode and both types will consume much lower amounts of energy, this comes at the cost of a dimmer picture though.

Plasma Screens run on active gases (see Plasma Vs LCD) that loose there effectiveness over time and could leave you with a duller picture over time, half life is around 60,000 to 100,000 hours.

Plasma Screens display fast fluid motion much better than LCD screens, especially in the larger Screen sizes.

HDTV

High Definition TV, What amazing pictures and comes in both LCD and Plasma Flavours, if you are going for this don’t forget the blu-ray or the DVD Upchanger, HD signals don’t transmit at the full capability of HDTV even when they are promoted as HD Channels (this should change in the future), they only give you 720 resolution at most , not the full 1080i/p fully HD capable TVs can render, for that you need Blu-Ray or a DVD UpChanger. Some Video Game Consoles are capable of giving you 1080i/p and of playing Blu-Ray Discs.

A HDTV is HD ready, that means not everything you watch will be in High Definition the signal has to be broadcast in HD, At the moment there are no HD channels broadcast over FreeView, (terrestrial TV Aerials) but OfCom has suggested there will be broadcasting room for at least 4 HD channels, so there may be some available in the future. To receive HD broadcasts at the moment you will need to Subscribe to a Satellite or Cable TV provider.