You've seen and heard all about the flat panel TVs. Now it's time for you to enjoy your own flat panel experience. This is a basic flat panel tv buying guide. We also have a more specific lcd tv buying guide and a plasma tv buying guide. We suggest you review all our buying guides to get a complete idea on how to select the best flat panel tv for your needs. Flat Panel TV Buying Guide ...
Screen sizeLCDs range from 13 to 65 and Plasma TVs range from 30 to 84. There will be a Flat Panel TV that will fit your needs. From the kitchen to the bedroom or the living room and, of course, the nicest home theater you will be able to find a flat screen that fits your needs.
HD-BuffsLCDs support higher resolution than most plasma TVs so if you want the most out of your HD-content LCDs have a slight advantage to Plasma.
Brightness and ContrastLCDs tend to be a little brighter than plasmas but plasmas have higher contrast. For best picture quality get a plasma with 10,000/1 contrast ratio.
HDMI inputsHDMI is a new input used for HD-DVDs, HD-satellite, HD-cable boxes, next generation-video game console and other hardware to support HD content.
Aspect RatioFlat Panel TV screens today come in two shapes. The most familiar one is called 4:3, which represents four inches of width for every three inches of height. You can also buy wide-screen, or 16:9, televisions, which take the same shape as many movies and HD-programming. Most people watch more regular TV than DVDs and movies, so 4:3 sets are the most popular choice. Almost all large flat-panel TVs are wide screen. It's just a matter of time before 16:9 becomes the most popular choice
Pixels & Burn-inBurn-in is often cited as one of the main drawbacks of plasma TVs. Plasma TVs can suffer from burn-in produced by static image--such as a stock ticker, a network logo, or letterbox bars gets etched permanently onto the screen because it sits in one place too long. With technologies such as 'pixel orbiter,' new plasma TVs have addressed burn-in and significantly reduced the issues of older models.. LCDs don’t suffer from burn-in like plasma, but, like plasma the LCD TVs can have dead or stuck pixels which’s looks like a little colored dot on the screen, a dead pixel can not be repaired so the entire TV will have to be replaced
Flat Panel resolutionLook for a Flat panel TV that can supports 720p or 1080i/p HD-resolution for HD-programming and other HD-content
Life SpanThe average name brand Flat Panel TV will last 50,000 to 80,000 hours to half life this is around 20 years at 6 hours per day. Expect less on a no name brands
Motion TrackingIn the resent years LCD TVs have improved and caught up with plasma TVs but they tend to have a problem with fast moving images such as sporting events which makes images not as fluid and crisp and tend be blurred with movement but this is not nearly a problem that it used to be years ago.
Computers and Video GamesMost plasma and LCD TV 16:9 (wide-screen) and 4:3 (normal) can double as computer monitors. They'll also hook up to a game console without any problems. So which technology is better for these purposes? From a performance standpoint, it's hard to pick a winner, but because of plasma's burn-in risk, LCD is the safer choice for computer work and gaming
High altitudesHigh altitude (6,500 ft and higher) can affect the performance of plasma displays because the gas held inside each pixel is stressed, and has to work harder to perform. Some manufacturers make plasmas that are specifically designed for high-altitudes, but they may be priced higher than standard models. LCD TVs, however, are not affected from High altitude like plasma TVs are.
WarrantyThe standard warranty covers parts for one year and labor for 90 days. High-end TVs, often have a one-year labor warranty. Some manufacturers also offer in-home service on more expensive and larger models that are difficult to ship.
