Are you in the market for a brand new big screen TV? If so, you may be confused by all the choices and terminology that surrounds the modern big screen TV. Basically you have four types of big screen TVs. They are the plasma, LCD, CRT, and rear projection. To further help you determine which type of TV to purchase, you need to look at your budget and see how much TV you can afford. Prices for big screen TVs range from $500 to $3000. This price range includes TVs that are at least 27 inches. Of course the different price range for each type of big screen TV is different.

Flat panel plasma TVs has thousands of illuminated fluorescent lights that form an image. Plasma TV’s are more like monitors which needs an external TV tuner to display broadcast signals. Plasma displays are digital and they have higher resolutions than CRTs. Here are some of the pros and cons to owning a flat panel plasma TV:

Pros

• Large Screen Size
• Slim Profile
• They can be wall mounted, ceiling mounted, or placed on a stand.

Cons

• Very Expensive
• Very susceptible to burn-in (damage done to a TV screen as a result of the long display of a static image).
• You can only expect about a year and a half of serious use before apparent loss in picture quality.
• They have a poor black level (ability to render the color black, which affects picture detail).

The flat panel LCD TV is basically a larger version of a laptop computer screen. As plasma TVs requires an external TV tuner, so do flat panel LCD TVs. LCD’s are almost an inch thinner than plasma but is limited to a size of 40 inches. Here are some of the pros and cons of owning a flat panel LCD TV:

Pros

• Slim Profile
• Retail Price is falling

Cons

• Limited screen size.
• Poor black level.

Rear Projection CRT’s are great if you want a screen size of 40 inches or more. The idea behind Rear Projection CRT’s is to combine both a projector and screen into one box. The projector casts the image on the rear of the screen. You see the image when you look at the screen head-on. These TV’s use three cathode ray tubes to shoot red, green and blue onto the projector screen. The pros and cons to owning a Rear Projection CRT are as follows:

Pros

• Offers the most screen size for your buck.
• Excellent picture quality.
• Excellent black level.

Cons

• Very heavy and deep.
• Cannot be viewed in bright light.
• Narrow viewing angle.
• Hard to maintain.

Rear Projection LCD televisions are becoming more prevalent. They work just like a slide show by directing light through a silicon chip and then magnifying it for projection. The pros and cons are as follows:

Pros

• Excellent Picture
• Slim Profile

Cons

• Expensive
• Poor black level.

Another type of TV is a rear projection DLP. DLP stands for digital light processing. The projectors manipulate thousands of tiny mirrors on a semiconductor chip. The color is generated by shining a light through a rotating color wheel that has red, green and blue on it. The colored beams hit the semiconductor chip forming an image to project on the screen. Here are the pros and cons:

Pros

• Again an excellent picture.
• Capable of displaying HDTV at full resolution.
• Requires no maintenance.

Cons

• Expensive
• Limited viewing angle.

The hot thing in the television industry is HDTV. HDTV stands for High Definition Television. It is digital television capable of much higher resolution than analog television. HDTV’s come in two formats. The first is 1080i. It is capable of 1920 x 1080 resolution. Currently this is the highest resolution available. This format paints out lines of the image in alternating patterns, therefore it cannot display progressive-scan DVDs. While the images are brilliant in 1080i, critics claim movement doesn’t read well on the screen. The second format is the 720p. The resolution on the 720p is 1280x720. Even though it is lower than the 1080i, the 720 remain the most commonly used HDTV format. While the 1080i cannot display progressive-scan DVDs, the 720p is a progressive-scan format. This means that the TV paints every line of an image in order.

Many stores sell what is called HDTV ready TVs. It does have the capabilities of HDTV but it still can’t receive high definition input without a high definition tuner.

You can also buy televisions that are wide screened. They were designed to resemble a movie theater screens.

Judging a TVs picture quality is a subjective term. The problem in judging a TVs picture quality is that what looks good in the store may not look the same when you take the TV home. It is a different environment. The showrooms at the store are usually well lit and stores usually fix the TV in a manner in which the TV will look its best. If at all possible take a DVD or videotape to the store and test the quality of the picture by using what you know is a quality that you are familiar with.