Best TV Review

Here at Best TV, we know how confusing it can be when walking into an electronics section, walking over to the televisions, and being bombarded with numbers, phrases, and “specs.” TVs with 1080i resolution use to dominate the HD world, offering the best picture at the time. However, in the past couple of years the new bully on the block – 1080p – has made it difficult for the 1080i’s to survive. In fact, you will rarely find a new 1080i television – you will find either 720p or 1080p.  This is basically due to the fact that 720p visually looks the same as 1080i in most cases (until you get into the 42″+range). Also, if a person wants to spend more money on a better picture, they will most likely be shopping for a large TV, and will most likely be willing to spend more to get the best. This leaves only a small piece of the pie willing to buy a 1080i resolution set, and manufacturers know this. Keeping this in mind, Best TV takes a look at both:

1080i:

The “i” stands for interlaced, which means that of the 1,080 lines of resolution, the even lines appear, then the odd lines, then the even lines, etc. This all happens extremely fast, around 0.033 seconds. Although it is fast, it is not as fast as a 1080p display, which shows all of the lines at the same time. The 1080 part comes from the number of horizontal lines in the display, 1920 x 1080. 1080i and 720p are considered standard HD definition.

1080p:

This technology has the same amount of pixels as 1080i, 1920 x 1080. However, the “p” means the display is progressive, meaning all of the lines are produced at the same time, taking about 0.016 seconds to display the image (twice as fast as interlaced) . 1080p can supposedly display over 2,000,000 pixels, double the resolution of a 720p display. 1080p is commonly referred to as “ultra HD,” “full HD,” or “true HD.” This is the latest and greatest technology, and dominates the high-end TV market.

1080p obviously offers a better picture, but also comes with a much higher price. Also, 1080p technology really only applies to Blu Ray DVDs and Blu Ray video games – everything else (cable TV, regular DVDs, etc) is displayed in regular HD (720p or 1080i). In the future there will definently be more use for a 1080p set, but that will be years from now. 720p resolution offers a better picture than 1080i when it comes to viewing action movies, sports, video games, etc. This is true up until about 52″ and above, because at that point the image suffers, in which case a 1080i set would be preferred. Lets break down that information one last time:

Best TV Summary:

1080p > 1080i if using Blu Ray technology

1080i > 1080p displaying everything else

720p > 1080i on screens under 52″

1080i > 720p in screens over 52″

Consider this Best TV advice when buying a big screen TV:

1. Choose the Right Screen Size for your Room

Your seating distance will determine your sense of picture clarity and detail as well as the quality of the viewing experience. If all you watch are true HDTV images, then you can sit as close as twice the diagonal screen size– about 8 feet away for a 46-inch or a bit more for a 50-inch diagonal screen. But sitting that close may not be practical, because until the final conversion to all-HDTV broadcasting is completed (that’s at least 5 years away) a lot of your TV viewing may well be conventional analog TV, and those images may look fairly crummy up close. (Remember early big screen TVs?) If you watch regular non-HD TV sitting too close to a big screen, you’ll see all the flaws.

2. Flat Panel or Box

Those futuristic and very cool plasma and LCD flat panels that are only a few inches thick are appealing, but budget, screen size, and your need for optimal HDTV clarity are big factors you must consider. To get full HDTV resolution on a plasma panel means getting a 50-inch diagonal screen, and that’s expensive (about $3,000+). If you are willing to abandon the flat panel and accept a more conventional box (one that’s no more than 14 inches deep), you can get full HDTV resolution for a fraction of that amount. A 50-inch diagonal DLP rear-projection set that’s only 14 inches deep and weighs about 75 pounds would be $3,200. Also, you will still get a bright, stunningly good HD picture, minus the ultra-cool flat-panel appeal, of course. If you still like the flat panel and are willing to accept good but not true HD picture quality, you can save a lot of money on a smaller LCD or plasma display.

3. Do You Really Need HDTV Resolution?

Best TV understands how attractive (if not sexy) a flat panel TV can be. Let’s say you won’t give up on the thin flat panel display, that you simply must have it. If you are satisfied with DVD clarity– it’s called Standard Definition (480 lines).  There is also Enhanced Definition (EDTV) with 480-line progressive scanning (480p).  The picture won’t be HDTV, because the plasma screen will convert incoming HD signals to its own resolution, but DVD’s will look great, and any programs shot in HD will look a lot better than on your old analog set. And you’ll have your flat panel!

4. Wide-Screen 16:9 vs. Standard 4:3

Though the widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio (the ratio of the screen’s width to its height) is the HDTV standard, and matches most movies on DVD and HDTV programs, there are many TV series and news shows shot in the conventional, squarish TV shape of 4:3. Give some thought to the ratio of material you watch, and whether you’d prefer a digital HD 4:3 set that will display conventional TV programs full-screen, and wide-screen HD programs with black bars at the top and bottom. Remember that if you choose a wide-screen HD set, regular TV 4:3 programs will have large black bars to each side, unless you use the set’s stretch mode, which will extend the edges of the image to fill the wide screen, at the expense of sometimes considerable image distortion. Some 4:3 sets also have raster compression, a vertical compression mode that maintains HD 1080i or 720p scanning lines so you get true HD clarity. You should look for that feature in a 4:3 HD set.

5. Big-Screen Choices: Know the Virtues and Flaws

If you are set on a big HD screen (Best TV Review understands) and you don’t want the hassle of a front projector that requires a totally darkened room, then a rear-projection TV (RPTV) is a logical and in some instances, a more economical choice. Most RPTV sets will get you true HD picture resolution, and will cost much less than a 50-inch plasma flat panel. The least expensive are the big and bulky CRT rear-projection sets, available in a wide choice of screen sizes, from 40 to 80 inches diagonal, almost all in HD versions with 16:9 widescreen displays. Like direct-view HD CRT sets, rear-projection CRTs are very heavy and have considerable depth. The image looks its best in a dimly lit room, and at increasing angles, the screen typically becomes dim or darkish. Uniform brightness over a wide viewing angle is not a virtue of CRT rear-pro sets. Lifespan on average is about 7 to 10 years.

Plasmas are the kind of television most associated with high end home electronics.  All plasma televisions come in a flat panel variety. Most are sized in the 40-49″ range. They are competitively priced against LCD flat panel televisions, and feature a stunning picture that puts you in the middle of the action. Plasmas weigh more than LCD’s, but nothing additional supports couldn’t handle. They are susceptible to burn-in, but despite rumors to the contrary, the gases that power the picture can not be refilled. While they are too young to accurately measure, plasma televisions should last anywhere from 10-20 years.

Keep in mind that true HDTV resolution can’t be found in plasma TVs smaller than 50 inches. There are two HDTV broadcast standards – 1920×1080 interlaced (1080i), and 1280×720 progressive (720p). So, in order for a plasma TV to be considered truly ‘HD’, it should have at least the same amount of pixels as a 720p signal, or more.

‘HD’ in smaller sizes of plasma means that there are more pixels than ‘ED’ plasma, but generally not as many as there are in a true HD display. So, you’ll find that it’s difficult to see any substantial difference in picture quality between these two types of plasma TVs, particularly when viewing an HDTV program.

When viewing a widescreen DVD, you may often be surprised to see that the less expensive EDTV plasma TV actually looks sharper than the more expensive HDTV plasma TV! That’s because the image resolution of a widescreen DVD (nominally 704×480) is very close to the actual pixel count (852×480) in an EDTV plasma. However, new blue ray DVD’s are made for 1080 resolution.

The bottom line? Think about where you’ll put your plasma TV, how far you’ll be sitting from it, and what you’ll be watching on it most of the time. If you’ll be sitting eight feet or more from a 37-inch or 42-inch plasma TV, you’ll probably be quite happy with an EDTV version.

Now to address a few concerns about plasma: First of all, today’s plasma TVs don’t have the same problems with premature image aging (burn-in, burn-out) that plagued older plasma monitors and TVs. That’s because the mix of gases used in the panels have been changed to improve longevity. You’ll hear the figure ‘60,000 hours’ thrown around; be conservative and figure half that, which is 30,000 hours. 30,000 hours is the equivalent of watching eight hours a day of television, seven days a week for 10 years.

No, you don’t need to recharge the gas in the panel – it can’t leak out

Best TV Review gives Plasma screen TVs (HD) a rating of 9.5.

The Good: The best picture quality you can get (in normal to low lit settings), long lifespan, modern/sleek design, very slim chance of ‘burn-in,’ cheaper than LCD in the bigger sizes, perfect for movies/gaming/sports, cheaper EDTV’s can offer the same picture quality when viewing DVD’s (480p), the gas does NOT need to be recharged

The Bad: Not much here.  Expensive (but worth the money), smaller sizes aren’t in true HD, weigh a little more than LCD’s