4 things should be Important to Buy a TV

4 things TV buyers should know

I'm looking to buy a new TV during the festive season. I'd like to know what is the best-sized display to buy, and whether I should buy a plasma, LCD, edge-LED, or LED. Also, what is a Smart TV?

Given the different technologies being employed today, buying a TV can be quite daunting. Here's a quick primer to help you buy a set that's just right for your home...

Size:

For this, consider the distance between your HDTV set and where you and your family will be sitting while watching it. For minimum TV size, the formula is 'viewing distance/3', and for maximum size, it is 'viewing distance/1.5'. So, if you watch TV from eight feet away (96 inches), your minimum TV size should be 32 inches (96/3), while your maximum TV size could be 65 inches. Now all you have to do is find a model between this range that best fits your budget.

LCD, plasma, or LED:

Of these three technologies, LCD is the cheapest of the lot. It's bright, fairly thin, and if you're on a tight budget, then these are TVs worth considering. Besides, LCD sets do not draw too much electricity. On the downside, images won't look as sharp or realistic when compared to the other two technologies listed here.

Plasma screens, on the other hand, are capable of the darkest of blacks, smooth picture quality, and flawless performance when it comes to reproducing motion on the screen. This technology is ideal for fast-paced sporting action. However, plasma screens are energy guzzlers, consuming nearly twice the power of LCDs.

And lastly, there are LCD TVs that use 'light-emitting diodes' to illuminate their screens. These sets are known as LED TVs and are further divided into edge-lit LED and Full LED. The former has LEDs around the border of the display, which results in slimmer models. Full LED screens, however, are capable of greater precision in screen lighting, and this means better contrasts and a more vibrant range of colours than is possible with LCDs and edge-lit LEDs. Now while LED TVs are the priciest of all three technologies, they are also most energy efficient, consuming just a third of electricity when compared to plasma TVs.

Smart TV:

Depending on your budget you can also opt for a Smart TV. These come with a range of apps for web services such as Skype, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Picasa, etc - and connect to the internet via an Ethernet cable or wirelessly through Wi-Fi . Here, you will need to check if the set has Wi-Fi built-in , or is Wi-Fi Ready. For the latter, you'll need to buy a separate dongle to access your Wi-Fi network.

Importantly, just because a TV comes with a USB port, does not mean it will support an external hard drive, or will even play videos from a pen drive. So check what digital media formats it supports - and more importantly, if it can read portable hard disks.

Viewing angles:

And finally, before finalizing a set, check for viewing angles. Some TVs will give you the best display only if you're sitting right in front of it. Move to the right or left and you will see some shift in colour. This shift is defined by the type of panels used: Twisted Nematic (TN), Vertical Alignment (VA), and In-Plane Switching (IPS). IPS screens offer the best viewing angles, while TN are the worst. Opt for an IPS screen if you are buying a television set for your living room.

That said, trust your eyes. Before buying an HDTV look for details in hair, look for blurring in sporting action, compare the colour output and contrast in different models, and check for viewing angles. Also, don't forget sound quality. The thinnest TVs are not known for the best sound, so you'll have to keep that in mind.