How to Buy an HDTV that's Perfect for You

So, you've decided the time is reight to buy an HDTV. You've saved up the money, cleared a space in the living room and persuaded your wife, husband, partner, significant other that it's time you got with the 21st century.

How do you make sure you buy the HDTV that's right for you?

Hopefully the articles in this site will help you reach a decision, but the aim of this piece is to re-cap the things you should consider before you buy.

Size
It's tempting to go for the biggest TV you can afford, and it's certainly true that HDTV is at its very best on bigger screens, but don't fall into the trap of buying a TV that's too big for the room its will be situated in. If you plan on installing your new HDTV in a home theater, you can afford to opt for a huge screen or a projector. But if you want a TV for a smallish living room, kitchen or bedroom, you don't want sometyhing that's going to dominate the whole room. Even at 26in, HDTV looks amazing.

Connections
The next thing to consider is the way in which your new TV will connect to the resto of your equipment. If you have a cable, satellite, or free to air HDTV Tuner, you'll need to make sure that your new TV can connect to it using either DVI, HDMI, or component cables. Ideally, if you're tuner has a HDMI output, you should go for a TV with an HDMI input, and likewise if your tuner is DVI. However, all is not lost, if you don't, as HDMI to DVD adapters are readily available. You should try and avoid TVs which only have component connections as they are less likely to be future-proof. For example, rights management schemes such as HDCP don't support component connections.

Type
LCD or plasma, DLP or LCD? What about rear projection? There are so many different technologies in use in TVs today, the choice can be bewildering, and its going to get worse. The best thing you can do is research, research, research until you understand the dfifferences between each different type of TV. Hopefully you'll find the snswers to most of your questions on this site, but when you can't, try Wikipedia

Once you've got it all figured out, use this handy little tool to make the final decision as to which HDTV to buy.