Brief Guide to Buying a New Television

When you go to a TV shop, or try to buy a TV online, you will be assailed by a blizzard of choices. It's quite easy to end up in a state of confused indecision. Step back for a moment, and think it through. There are four basic questions that you should ask yourself:

• How much do I want to spend?
• Where will the TV fit into the room?
• What size screen do I want?
• How concerned am I about picture and sound quality?

The first thing you should know is that High Definition TV (HDTV) is about to happen. In fact, it is happening already: some TV companies are already broadcasting in it, or beginning trials, and recording programmes in it. This is said to be the next major revolution in TV broadcasting, with images that are up to four times clearer, better, brighter than what we are used to. (The high definition is delivered by having up to twice the number of vertical scanning lines per frame than normal TV - 1080 instead of 576.) There are four things to note:

• You will only get the benefit of HDTV on televisions with a visible screen size of 26" (26 inches) or larger (see below for explanations of these terms)
• You will need a TV that is built to specifications called 'HD-Ready' (most new TVs of the relevant kind are HD-Ready, but check that this is specified).
• You can receive HDTV broadcasts on all other forms of TV - you just won't see any difference.
• Initially, HDTV will only be available through satellite and cable services; Freeview digital TV is not yet geared to deliver HDTV.

TVs come in just about any size you could possibly want. Note that screens are measured diagonally, from one corner to the opposite corner, and the measurement - in inches - refers to the actual screen on which the image is seen ('visible screen size'), not including the housing around the screen. You can buy mini-TVs with screens about the size of a pack of cards, but these are relatively expensive and more a novelty than practical. The standard small TV has a 15" (15-inch) screen. A generous-size screen may be 26"; 32" is getting pretty large, while 44" to 70" screens can look very large indeed. It is important that you take good note of the space you want to put your TV in. Measure it, and take the measurements to the shop, because in any large TV shop, where massive screens may be on display, it is all too easy to lose a sense of proportion, and you end up with a TV that is too large for your room. Also, the various kinds of TV have different depths. For instance, the conventional, now old-fashioned CRT TVs are generally as deep as they are wide. But the 'flat-panel' LCD and plasma TVs are only a few inches thick, and can even be wall-mounted, like a picture. As a general rule of thumb, CRT and LCD TVs are good for small to fairly large sizes; plasma TVs become a good option in the larger sizes; while rear-projection TVs go to the biggest sizes of all (70" or more).

You can come home triumphantly from the shop with a ginormous flat-panel TV which fills half the wall of your living room - but unless you have a ginormous living room, no one is going to be impressed. You need to get a certain distance away from a TV to see its picture clearly. For a 32" screen you need to be at least 8 ft (2.4 m) away; for a screen of 43", you need to be at least 12 ft (3.6 m) away. (But the higher resolution of HDTV will allow you to sit closer to the screen.) Think about where you want to sit to watch your TV. Traditionally, three-piece suites were placed around the fireplace in the living room; when the television came along, it was put to one side of the fireplace, on a small table, so was viewed at an angle. Now you can mount a flat-panel TV on the wall, like a picture, so the chairs have to turn to face the wall - but there might be a fireplace, a door or a window in the way. Work this out before you head for the shop.

The shape of television has changed in recent years. Now widescreen has become a standard format. Widescreen TVs have screens with an 'aspect ratio' (the ratio of width to height) of 16:9, whereas traditional TVs are 4:3. The shift was inspired by the need to accommodate the widescreen format of films, and the ability of DVDs to reproduce this. Now broadcasters also use widescreen, and this is the format of HDTV; so if your TV doesn't have widescreen capabilities, you are likely to lose bits off the edge. Widescreen TVs usually allow you to switch formats at the click of a button to suit what you are watching, so you can watch in widescreen, or the traditional 4:3 format, or use the zoom facility to shape the image to your screen.

The original cathode ray tube TV worked by shooting electrons at phosphor dots on the back of the screen. This requires a tube that is about as deep as the screen is wide, so CRT TVs are fairly box-like and cumbersome (although some have 'slim-fit' tubes, which are flatter than the standard tube). CRT TVs are relatively cheap. They are particularly good as 15" portable TVs - useful for kitchens and bedrooms. These days portables are often sold as 'combi sets', with built-in DVD players, which are useful if space is tight. Standard CRTs generally don't come any larger than 36". There are widescreen versions, which usually have 'flat screens', so called because they do not have the same curvature as traditional CRT screens; this kind of 'flat screen' should not be confused with 'flat-panel', used to describe LCD and plasma TVs, which are altogether much thinner. The picture quality of CRT TVs is generally very good. Despite rumours that High Definition TV would not work with CRT, this is not the case: HD-ready CRTs are available.

Many people reckon that liquid crystal display (LCD) TVs are the best on the market. They work in the same way as flat-screen monitors for computers: liquid crystal, sandwiched between glass layers, is activated by an electric current. The picture-quality is good in all sizes, up to about 46", and larger screens (26" and larger) will show the real benefits of High Definition TV. (Most larger-format LCD TVs are now manufactured as HD-ready.) The non-reflective surface of the screen gives LCD TVs a wide viewing angle (over 150°), so people sitting to one side can still get a good view. LCD TVs are built in flat-panel format (i.e. they are very thin), which is good for space-saving, and means that you can put your TV on the wall. Note, however, that to do this with the larger TVs you will need good brackets, or a specially manufactured mount, which can cost up to £150 extra.

In plasma screens, images are created by thousands of tiny gas cells lined with phosphor. The picture quality is almost as good as that of LCD screens, but plasma TVs go up to larger formats than LCD TVs generally do. So if you want a very large flat-panel TV (44" to 70" and more), plasma may be your answer. Plasma TVs can be wall-mounted, but they have a slightly reflective surface (so, for instance, light from windows can be intrusive); but they can be viewed from wide angles. New plasma TVs should be HD-ready.

If you want a very large TV indeed, you might consider a rear-projection TV. It sounds like some kind of cinema, but is nothing of the sort. Instead the image is projected within the relatively deep box of the TV onto thousands of tiny mirrors, and then reflected back onto the screen. This works well for very large screen sizes, from 44" upwards. Various technologies are used, including CRT (the technology permits much thinner housing than normal CRT TVs) and LCD, as well as DLP (digital light processing) and LCoS (liquid crystal on silicon). Rear-projection TVs will be able to take high definition images, but their picture quality is generally less good than that of either LCD or plasma TVs. Also, the housing is about 2 ft (60 cm) deep, and heavy, so cannot be wall mounted. The advantages of rear-projection TVs, however, are firstly their size and secondly their price: you get a lot of TV for your money.

You can go one stage further, and use a projector that throws the image across a room onto a screen of up to 300" - genuinely like the cinema. (This experience is often referred to as 'home theatre'.) Such systems tend to be expensive, and require a darkened room and - because of viewing habits - are probably better suited to watching DVDs. However, front-projection systems can also show TV programmes, if connected to a TV tuner of some kind - or video games, if connected to a games console.

These are three ways in which picture quality is rated. Resolution is a question of the number of pixels (short for picture elements) that make up the image on the screen: the more the better. Good quality screens will have 1,024x768 pixels; CRTs can have 1280x768 pixels; the higher figure of 1366x768 pixels is often found in LCD screens; HDTV goes up to 1920x1080 pixels. Brightness has an effect on the vibrancy of the image, and is measured in candela (cd) per square metre. Most new LCD TVs have a brightness factor of about 500cd/m². The contrast ratio is the difference between the brightest white and the darkest black, and is a measure of image clarity. Viewers used to be happy with a ratio of 500:1, but new LCD TVs commonly have a ratio of 1000:1, or even 3000:1. But don't be persuaded by the statistics alone. High figures for contrast and brightness can actually make the image look too pristine and glaring for some tastes. The best way to know what suits you best is to go to a shop, and look at demonstration models.

Just as picture quality is improving all the time, so too is sound. Here again, you need to work out what you want. Good TV sets generally come with good basic sound systems, such as Nicam stereo. But you may want to go one step further with surround-sound and 'home-cinema', which sends the sound to a set of five or so speakers placed around the room. With subwoofers to boost the bass notes, you really will feel as though you are in a cinema - listen to those helicopters flying overhead! Surround-sound may come as part of the TV package; alternatively you can buy it as an add-on for £250 or so. A leading name in the field is Dolby, with five-channel surround-sound Dolby Digital 5.1 at the top of the range: High Definition TV will be broadcast in Dolby 5.1.

The relatively recent introduction of digital TV provided not only better images and sound, but also a far more efficient way of delivering services - i.e. more channels. Satellite and cable providers use digital TV, but you don't need to be signed up to them to get it. Freeview set-top boxes permit you to get access to about 30 TV channels (and numerous radio stations) for the single one-off payment of the cost of the box. Most relatively modern TVs can be hooked up to a Freeview box, especially if they have a Scart plug socket. Some TVs are now sold with a digital receiver already installed: they are known as IDTVs (Integrated Digital TVs) - but you don't need one if you have satellite or cable TV. Digital TV is expected to become the norm in Britain, to the extent that broadcasting in the traditional analogue signals is destined to cease, region by region, between 2008 and 2012. Some hard-disk 'personal video recorders' (PVRs) come with a built-in Freeview receiver; these obviate the need for a separate video recorder, and permit you to pause while viewing a live programme, and so on. PVRs with twin tuners allow you to watch one channel while recording another, or to record two channels simultaneously.

Satellite TV and cable TV offer a hugely increased number of channels in return for monthly payment. Satellite TV requires the installation of a 'mini-dish' (not so small in fact: about the size of a dustbin lid) on the outside of your house. You can only get cable TV if there is a cable network running through your street. The various packages offered by the service providers carry a range of options (including telephone services, broadband computer links and so on), which you have to sort through. Some also offer advanced hard-disk PVR recording and viewing facilities (such as Sky+).

DVD players, video-cassette players and games consoles can be hooked into new TVs by means of standard, multi-pronged Scart plugs and Scart leads. Most new TVs come with two Scart plug sockets, sometimes more. If you really value your picture and sound quality, it is worth investing in high-quality Scart leads.

At present, we tend to have one screen for the television and another for the computer. They are separated not only by usage but also by habit. Televisions are generally for entertainment, and watched from a distance, in comfy chairs, calling for only the limited interactive functions provided by the remote control. Computers are highly interactive: we sit close to the screen, often at a desk. But increasingly the functions are merging: television is becoming more interactive (shopping channels, spots channels); and you can watch some TV on your computer through broadband services on the internet, and through TV tuner cards installed in some PCs (in fact the recent “Media Center” version of Windows makes this much easier, with integrated TV guide and hard-disk recording). Games and DVDs can be played on both TVs and computers.

It is highly likely that the two will increasingly merge, and so too will the activities of the service providers. But we will also have to adapt our viewing habits, and the way we arrange our furniture - and that may prove a greater obstacle to change than the technology.

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