HDTV Sets Selling Well As Citytv Becomes First Local Canadian Station To Provide News In High Definition

It started out as almost an offshoot of radio.

It wound up going from black and white to colour.

It later added stereo.

And now there’s been what you might call a ‘see’ change – the shift to High Definition.

With a giant screen that some experts have said is like ‘looking through a window’ and exceptional surround sound quality, HDTV sets came out of the box with huge fanfare and even bigger price tags.

But like all consumer electronic devices, the more people who bought one, the lower the price fell. And now even the most unassuming HDTV set is within the budget of most consumers.

And with Citytv becoming the first local station in Canada to show all its local news and much of its original programming in Hi-Def beginning Monday, there’s more to see than ever before.

How will it look?

“In a standard definition television picture, you have 525 lines of resolution. And the aspect ratio is 4X3,” explains CHUM Television Operations Manager John Morrison. “But in a high definition, it’s wide screen, 16X9 aspect ratio and it’s 1080 lines of resolution so it’s a bigger, brighter picture. So it’s very impressive.”

But that leaves a new dilemma for many who still haven’t put their money down: what kind of TV should you buy? There are several different types of sets, each with their own pluses and minuses. The most common are plasma and LCD, short for liquid crystal display.

Here’s a look at the advantages of each.

Plasma:

They generally have better contrast and detail, especially in dark coloured scenes.

They often have better viewing angles. If you’re sitting off to the side, they’re often easier to see. But thanks to new technology, LCD’s are quickly catching up.

They’re usually cheaper. Plasma sets can come in bigger sizes but you’ll mostly pay less for them.

Although things are changing, some experts warn Plasma is more susceptible to ‘burn in’ than its LCD challenger. That means if you’re a video game buff or like to leave your TV on a station that has the same image up all the time – like a stock ticker –  it could leave an imprint on your expensive screen if it remains there for several hours. Plasma proponents deny it, insisting the TVs perform the same way LCDs do.

There’s a common myth that plasma TV’s ‘leak out’ their contents over time. Most experts agree there’s simply no truth to it.

LCD:

They’re generally said to have slightly better resolution, because they put more pixels on your screen. The difference may be negligible to most of us, but to video enthusiasts, everything counts.

But there’s a problem many have reported  – LCDs don’t display black colours as well as Plasmas, and many often describe seeing the darkest shade as grey.

They tend to have slightly longer life spans than their counterparts. Most LCD HDTVs are designed to last around 60,000 hours. Plasmas, while improving, can go 30-50,000.

Although things are changing, LCDs are said to have a slower ‘response’ time on their picture than Plasma TVs. This means if you’re playing a video game on them, the action may not seem as fluid. But again, many companies are improving this slight flaw.

According to the TV maker Hitachi, which manufactures both kinds of sets, here’s the major differences between one and the other.

Plasma
High Contrast
High Brightness
Widest Colour range
Best for moving video
(fast display)
Lightest
Lower Average Power Consumption
Widest Viewing Angle
Generally lower cost than LCD
Best for large screens

LCD
Good Contrast
Good Brightness
Vivid Colour
Light Weight
Lower Peak Power Consumption
Wide Viewing Angle but not as good off centre
Higher Cost than Plasma
Best for small screens

Courtesy: Hitachi

Other advice:

–Watch for two different numbers – 1080i and 720p. There are two different formats that HDTV can be displayed in and you want to buy a set that’s capable of showing you both.

–Beware of HD-Ready sets. It’s a “TV that’s capable of showing high definition but the consumer has to go out and buy a separate box that will send the signal to the TV,” outlines Chris Hogg of Digital Journal Magazine. “It doesn’t have anything built in. If it’s HDTV, it means it has one built right into the TV.”

–Set a budget and try to stay within it. There’s always a bigger and better – and more expensive set – in the store.

–Don’t buy a new no-name discounted TV because you really do get what you pay for.

For more information on what you should know before venturing out to buy an HDTV set, click here.