Gadget Guy: Buying Affordable HDTVs

Has the high price of high definition television kept you from making the plunge into HDTV? The prices are coming down, but you need to be careful about what you get for the money.Walk into any TV showroom and there will be big screens in all price ranges. One growing segment caters strictly to the budget conscious.A lot of companies have cropped up to make discount televisions, said Ryan Brown with Magnolia Home Theater. Personally, I found a lot of those to be somewhat problematic or at least a compromise.Still-- you can get a good picture at a good price-- about a thousand dollars for a 42-inch screen. And, if you can accept a much smaller picture, sets that use conventional picture tube technology can give you a pretty good HD picture for hundreds less. Those TVs have always been less expensive but retained a picture quality that is very high, Brown said.

Getting the best picture on your new HDTV

Here are a handful of pointers on getting the best picture on your new HDTV, be it a flat-panel LCD television, plasma or rear-projection unit.

Is it really HDTV?

First, make sure it's truly a high-definition television, capable of displaying up to 1,080 lines of resolution. Don't assume a widescreen LCD or plasma television is an HDTV set just because it's flat, as it may only be an EDTV ("enhanced digital television"). EDTVs can display only 480 or 576 lines of resolution, so be sure you read the television's specs before you buy.

HD programming

Depending on where you live, you might receive some free over-the-air HDTV broadcasts (if your television has a built-in ATSC tuner), but most of us will need to buy or rent an HDTV receiver box from our cable or satellite TV provider.

High-definition television: How much of it can you stand to see?

Reports Sharon of Roseville: "Today's topic is HDTV. How it all began: I was making a Sam's Club run and was mesmerized by the TV display at the store's entrance. There were Shrek and Donkey in full living color. I could see the moles on Shrek's neck and each and every hair on Donkey.
"It was one of those moments that could have gone either way within minutes — but I allowed common sense to take the place of instant gratification and decided to consult with my High-Tech son-in-law.
"Step Two: I told my son-in-law that I wanted one of those TVs, and he told me to research it. I did. Here's one TV I found: '50" HD Plasma TV incorporates advanced technology to reproduce beautiful, natural-looking images with exceptional, full 1080p HD resolution. With 2.07 million pixels, twice as many as standard HD models, the TH-50PF9UK features Real Black Creation technology for deep, rich blacks delivering a high contrast ratio of up to 5,000:1 and 16-bit processing for an outstanding 4,096 steps of color gradation.

Sony heading back into plasma TV market?

DigiTimes: Sony is considering returning to the plasma TV market and is in talks with Fujitsu Hitachi Plasma Display (FHP), according to market rumors. Taiwan Sony said it has not received any notice about such a plan and it is not very likely that Sony will support PDP TVs again since the eighth-generation (8G) TFT LCD plant from S-LCD, a joint venture between Sony and Samsung, will enter volume production by the end of 2007.
Rumors said executives from Sony have had discussions with FHP about related issues, but the company has yet to finalize any decision since executives within the company have not reached a consensus.
fhp fujitsu hitachi plasma Samsung Sony