LCD Televisions
I just moved into a new flat in a nice, quiet suburb of San Francisco, California. The place was semi-furnished but newly painted, light and airy.
The focal point of the house was a large living room – good for entertaining guests. Since I’m a single working girl and am fond of watching home movies, I decided to buy myself a 36-inch LCD television to complement my high definition DVD player.
But I didn’t have a clue as to what is an LCD television and what to look out for when buying one!
Well, an LCD television is something like your typical computer or laptop monitor. It is made of two flat pieces of material, of which one layer is coated with a special polymer to hold the liquid crystals inside. The liquid crystals inside an LCD television does not produce light, so a separate light is placed behind it to light up the screen.
There are several advantages when buying an LCD television. Firstly, it is rather thin – about 2 inches only, compared to a plasma television or your standard CRT TVs.
It also does not heat up as much as CRT TVs or plasma TVs, has an increased image clarity than plasma TV, and a longer operating life than plasma TVs – which is about 60,000 hours of play. By the time it conks out, you just need to change the light source – and then it can be usable again.
The focal point of the house was a large living room – good for entertaining guests. Since I’m a single working girl and am fond of watching home movies, I decided to buy myself a 36-inch LCD television to complement my high definition DVD player.
But I didn’t have a clue as to what is an LCD television and what to look out for when buying one!
Well, an LCD television is something like your typical computer or laptop monitor. It is made of two flat pieces of material, of which one layer is coated with a special polymer to hold the liquid crystals inside. The liquid crystals inside an LCD television does not produce light, so a separate light is placed behind it to light up the screen.
There are several advantages when buying an LCD television. Firstly, it is rather thin – about 2 inches only, compared to a plasma television or your standard CRT TVs.
It also does not heat up as much as CRT TVs or plasma TVs, has an increased image clarity than plasma TV, and a longer operating life than plasma TVs – which is about 60,000 hours of play. By the time it conks out, you just need to change the light source – and then it can be usable again.
What to look out for when buying an LCD television? Watch out for the pixel count. An LCD television, particularly the flat screen type, will have a specific number of pixels in its monitor. Buy the one which has a minimum 1280 x 720 pixel resolution. Some models might have more, so that would be even better.
No point buying a 42 inch LCD television if your set’s motion response time, which is the rate by which your TV monitor displays fast-moving action, is slower than 8 milliseconds. Buy one which is between 8 to 12 milliseconds.
Lastly, find a set with a contrast ratio - which is the difference between light and dark areas of your monitor – that is 1,500:1 or even higher. The larger your LCD television is, the higher should be the contrast ratio.
With these tips, I hope you manage to find you dream LCD television – and spend lots of time viewing it with your friends and colleagues.
No point buying a 42 inch LCD television if your set’s motion response time, which is the rate by which your TV monitor displays fast-moving action, is slower than 8 milliseconds. Buy one which is between 8 to 12 milliseconds.
Lastly, find a set with a contrast ratio - which is the difference between light and dark areas of your monitor – that is 1,500:1 or even higher. The larger your LCD television is, the higher should be the contrast ratio.
With these tips, I hope you manage to find you dream LCD television – and spend lots of time viewing it with your friends and colleagues.