Flat Screen TV – What size TV will You Buy?
Now the saying bigger is better is actually a good buying guide regarding flat TV screen sizes. In our experience in most situations, you should go with the largest screen TV that suit your requirements, so room size, viewing distance and your budget.
So How Do You Know What Size Screen to Get?
The key is the relationship between TV screen size and viewing distance. So to help you pick the right size for your room we use a loose range distance formula. We suggest watching a flat screen TV from 1.5 to 2.5 x TV size for the best picture.
For example – if you have a 50” TV, your viewing distance would be from 6ft to 10ft approx.
What should I buy Plasma or LCD TV?
Both plasma and LCD will give you a bright picture, as well as a slim design that can be fitted to a stand or fixed to a wall.
Plasma are known for their smooth motion, rich colour and impressive colour level – if you considering a plasma, bear in mind it is not available in the smaller sizes, so not good for the smaller rooms in your home like the kitchen. They also reflect light so not good for well lit rooms.
LCD also offer bright clear picture, most LCD TVs have anti glare screens to cut down on room light reflection, great for lighter rooms. Some LCDS don’t have the same richness of colour and deep contrast as a plasma TV.
LCD TVs are a good all purpose TV. LCDs offer a wider range of sizes; the higher end models offer a more fluid motion.
TV Screen Resolution
TV makers use picture resolution numbers like 720p/ 1080p this tells us how sharp the picture is on the TV, in other words the amount of picture information a TV can display.
Now with these numbers being thrown around may seem confusing and complicated. But it is not has hard to understand really let me explain; Today’s digital TVs use what we call grid of dots called pixels generally more pixels means a sharper picture so a top of line TV showing 1080p resolution can show a more detailed picture than a 720p screen resolution.
But if you are watching a 1080p Bluray movie, its kind a like shoving a 10lb of potatoes into a 5lb bag. So your TV has to throw away some detail to fit that 1080p image on the screen. With a 1080p resolution you can see every type of high def detail signal without losing everything. Extra detail is more visible on today’s larger TV screens, that’s why it is advised a 1080p resolution TV for your main viewing area.
Video Signal Resolution
Now when it comes to video signal resolution as oppose to screen resolution, there are a couple of things to know first such as; the “p” in resolution terms stands for progressive and the “i” stands for interlaced. The main thing to remember here is that a progressive signal has twice as much picture information as an interlaced signal with the same resolution and generally looks more solid and stable. The on screen motion is more fluid.
Although you will find standard definition 480p signals, and high definition 720p, 1080i/p signals you may be surprised to learn that there is not many 1080p broadcasts available. Right now your main source for 1080p content is actually high def bluray discs.