Discover the essential insights you need before purchasing your next TV. Explore our guide to the 5 key factors to consider when buying a new television.
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Category: Tips
TV shopping is this year definition of sensory overload. Staring into a wall of gigantic synchronized plasma and LCD screens that are singing back at you in a harmony of countless sound boxes and subwoofer speakers -- all while a salesman is talking into your ear -- is enough to unnerve even the most seasoned of shoppers.
That is exactly why you should go into the TV shopping experience with a game plan! In this article, we will cover a few of the most important things you should consider before ever even setting foot into a department or electronics store.
1. What display type are you looking for? Here is a quick run-down of the most popular display types, along with their strengths and weaknesses:
- Plasma TVs -- featuring high contrast and a wide range of viewing angles, these televisions are perfect for home theatre setups, but offer less-than ideal performance in well-lit environments.
- LCD TVs -- affordable and featuring solid performance in all environments, these are ideal for bedroom use.
- LED -- the most popular television option out there right now, these TVs offer a golden middle ground between the previous two options.
- OLEDs -- a better but more expensive version of LEDs that anyone with the budget should consider.
2. Beware of gimmicks. As we said before, new TVs can be quite flashy. Television manufacturers understand this fact and sometimes attempt to wow their potential customers with features that did not necessarily enhance the viewing experience. One fantastic example of this are curved televisions - which , as beautiful and as expensive as they are, do not work very well for most customers intended needs. Curved televisions are meant to be placed upon a stand for optimal viewing, whereas most people nowadays prefer to mount to their televisions. Ultra HD TVs are another good example of this. The level of resolution offered by these TVs isn't matched by most TV programs, making the display rather useless, at least for now.
3. Size matters. First and foremost, you should measure the area where you plan on putting your television. As obvious as this sounds, you wouldn't be the first person to end up purchasing a television that simply doesn't fit where you wanted to use it. Secondly, consider this frequently-cited guideline: your television´s diagonal width should be roughly 1 inch for every two inches of viewing distance. Therefore, if you were planning on using your television from 8 feet of distance, a 48-inch screen length would be ideal according to this theory.
4. Hook up options. Televisions nowadays are equipped with HDMI cable inputs and Bluetooth pickups , and this isn't going to change anytime soon. If you are one of the few customers out there who still values older pickups (i.e. VCR or older DVD inputs) you should probably ask about compatibility before making a purchase.
5. Go smart. Even if you are of the VCR watching variety, you still should probably invest in a smart TV. Internet-compatible televisions are the future, like it or not.
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