Help Choosing A Large Screen HDTV

So it’s time for you to choose a new television.

Unless you’ve been really unlucky or are a gadget freak, it’s likely that things have moved on since you last looked at televisions. The big choice now is between LCD and plasma high definition televisions.

So what’s the difference and which type of display should you choose?

When large flat screen televisions first came in, your only affordable choice was plasma. Now you have the option of LCD as well, except at the really large sizes where LCD technology hasn’t caught up yet.

An LCD screen is made up of lots and lots of small dots or pixels. These are activated as needed but if a pixel dies, it will show on screen as a black dot. This is most noticeable on a PC monitor but it also happens on televisions. the difference is that you’re less likely to notice it on a television screen unless a cluster of nearby pixels fails, which will then start to bug you as you watch. You can insure against this to some extent by making sure that your manufacturer’s warranty covers the failure of pixels but some guarantees put a minimum number of failed pixels before the warranty applies.

Plasma television screens send an electrical charge which is then passed through a pixel grid a bit like the old fashioned television screens in order to create their colors.

It is generally thought that plasma screens produce blacker blacks than LCD screens, which tend to display black as a dark charcoal gray.

At the very largest screen sizes then plasma is probably your only choice because of the technicalities of producing flawless LCD screens.

One of the current best 50 inch HDTV screens is the Panasonic Viera TH-50PZ800U. It has a high contrast which makes for stunning television viewing and game play and it’s very affordable. You can find out more about the Panasonic TH-50PZ800U here.