HDTV Buyers GuideThe purpose of this HDTV buyers guide is to help you decide which type of HDTV is best for you. It won't tell you which model is best, for that you'll need to read a few HDTV reviews. If you're unsure exactly what we mean by HDTV, or if you're a bit hazy about the criteria for a TV to be legitimately described as HDTV, you may want to read the article What is HDTV? then return to the is HDTV buyers guide. Briefly, in order to be called an HDTV, a television set must have a vertical resolution of at least 720 lines, be able to display 16:9 format widescreen pictures (so it must have a horizontal resolution of at least 1280 pixels), and have either component, DVI, or HDMI inputs. If you don't remember anything else from this HDTV buyers guide, rember that. If you want to be able to connect to either a Blu-ray or HD DVD player in the future, you should go for a set with DVI or HDMI rather than component. The reason for this is that the new digital rights management technology which will be placed in HD DVD and Blu-ray players will only work over DVI or HDMI so even if you can connect one of those platyers via a component input, you will be limited to watching your discs at low resoultion. The other choices you have to make are whether to go for a LCD, plasma or rear-projection TV, or even a projector, and how big a TV to buy. Although LCD and plasma TVs have a number of similarities in terms of the way they look, there are key differences which are beyond the scope of this HDTV buyers guide, but you can read about them in this LCD vs plasma HDTV article. In a nutshell, LCD is a superior technology which has largely taken over from plasma at screen sizes below 42 inches. Even above this level. LCD is encroaching on territory that used to be dominated by plasma. At higher screen sizes, plasma TVs still tend to be cheaper than LCD, but this is changing quickly. In terms of the size of TV to go for, this is dependent on the room you will put the TV in. The benefits of high definition are definitely much more visible at higher (32 inches and above) screen sizes, but there is still a very noticeable improvement in quality on TVs as small as 23 inches, like the Sony KLV-S23A10. If you plan to put the TV in a small living room, bedroom, kitchen, or office don't discount 23 and 26-inch TVs.
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