Pointers on buying a TV

I am thinking about buying a new TV. I will admit its been a long time since I've bought one so I need a crash course on the best features. I dont even know the difference between LCD or LED. Do I need WiFi capabilities? Actually, I don't know what questions to ask, so please educate me. Yeah, I know I'm lame. Lol!

Posted in the man cave cuz TV seems to be a man's territory.

Thanks yall.

you can buy a window

LCD-TV is pretty much the norm, most tech-geeks perfer it over LED and Plasma for various reasons, some of which xdimplez mentioned.

Get one with HDMI-port if you want to be able to plug it to your laptop and watch streamed movies and tv-shows on the big screen. Pretty much my only requirements. LCD with HDMI.

Say don't you have a man around you can consult about this ;P

i can tell you enfant doesn't know what hes talking about.

You should get the 4k tv or an LED panel tv

My bad, I meant LED, not LCD! =)

I actually prefer LED, and like Dimps, I went to best buy and bought their open box specials. You would need wifi if you want s subscription to NetFlix or want to use your tv for apps like Skype. Also, ask with TVs are best for "all around" watching vs just watching movies. 3D capability isn't a necessity and get one with multiple HDMI ports. The more pixels you have the better the picture quality. Also get something with 120 hertz refresh rate just to be on the safe side. The minimum should be at least 60hz because all movies are shot at either 30 or 60 frames per second or something like that. Plus most cable companies send their programs at 120. That brings me to another thing...the processor. Get something with a at least a dual core processor. The new ones are quad cores.

Buying a TV is like buying a car. It boils down to your personal taste.

LED gives you true black, and longer TV life as opposed to something labeled "LCD". The latter uses fluorescent backlighting that has lower life (20,0000 hours as opposed to 50,000 hours).
I agree on the 120 Hz refresh rate.
It prevents ghosting on fast action movies/shows.
Look for multiple HDMI ports for good sound and hi fidelity video.
1080p is minimum for a main viewing screen (living room, wet bar room, etc...
3-D, you're paying extra for something you probably won't use. Get a good Blu-Ray DVD player and you'll get as good as you'll get in a theater.

They still make HD tv's without HDMI ports? Dahell??

I thought the HD tv's without the HDMI ports were the projection screen HD TVs which I would imagine are no longer made right?

Anyways people say LCD TV and LED TV like the LED TV is not just another LCD TV. LED tv is not referring to a new display technology per say. They Both are LCD tvs. The difference between your typical original LCD tvs and the newer LED-LCD tvs is that originally the backlight was a fluorescent bulb but the new LED-LCD tvs have a LED backlight. MOST of the new models today have the LED backlight anyways so you don't really have to worry about it I would imagine unless your buying a really basic model.

So really your choice is between an LED-LCD tv and a Plasma tv.

Plasma has been for awhile hailed as the best simply because the blacks displayed on the screen like when people enter a dark cave or w/e are a lot deeper and real while the processors on LCD screens have a hard time interpreting infinite blackness. In truth though, there are LED-LCD tv models today that have "advanced local dimming" backlights that can have blacks that rival Plasma tvs.

Also, Plasma tvs tout having the most fluid and realistic motion. LCDs have in the past been a little less fluid with motion and sometimes choppy especially if you didn't have a fast enough processor or when a processor starts to go bad or is overheating. These days however, you can get LCD tvs with a fast enough processor to avoid the blur and choppyness. The LCD tvs with processors that have 120Hz refresh rate or higher have sophisticated processing that virtually eliminate motion blur.

Over all what you really should consider is the lighting of the room this tv will be viewed in and the time of day it will be typically watched. If there is a lot of windows in the room and it will be watched typically more during the day time or the room is just a really bright room your going to want to go with an LCD tv because it displays brighter than Plasma tvs. If the room is a darker room or you will typically be watching the tv at night then maybe you want a Plasma tv to enjoy it's darker blacks and color contrasts as well as it's supposed motion display superiority. You can usually find Plasma tvs priced lower than LED-LCD tvs of similar screen sizes and features. However, Plasmas have a limited range of sizes for their screens (42"-65") in comparison with LED-LCD tvs.

Anyways, Plasma for sure is not as bright as

(continued)
Anyways, Plasma for sure is not as bright as LED-LCD tvs and it is not as energy efficient as well.
They both will probably will last the same amount of time granted you don't leave them running without watching them.

And Yes you want one that has application functionality for everything that is available but at a least a minimum of Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and maybe youtube. But new ones like the one at my house can connect to soooooo much stuff.... stuff I've never even heard of before. Anyways, if this was too much sorry. Either way I hope it helped.
🙂

Posted by enfant_terrible


Say don't you have a man around you can consult about this ;P

I do, but I like to get lots of opinions. Not that I don't trust his, but I know a lot of you are more tech savvy than us old folks.
😛

Thanks yall. I appreciate the education and patience in your explanations. Now, just gotta go shopping! 🙂