HDTV reviews

The trick with buying an HDTV is who you can believe. With all of the HDTV reviews out there, you might wonder if they’re telling you the truth or just trying to get you to buy the most expensive television they endorse. To help clear things up, here are the general categories that HDTV reviews discuss and what you need to know in order to be an educated shopper.

What’s it cost?

Obviously, the more you spend on an HDTV the better, but then again, you need to know what the general prices are for the various models and sizes. For example, you can get an LCD HDTV for less than $300, but you can also get a large plasma HDTV for over $3000. What you’ll want to do is comparison shop to get a ballpark figure on what you SHOULD be spending.

Here are the three factors that will account for most of the cost:

  • Size
  • Picture quality
  • LCD vs. plasma

How big is it?

When you’re shopping for an HDTV, the size really does matter. If you have a larger room, you will want to choose an HDTV that is larger. Large rooms also may benefit from a plasma HDTV as these allow for more angles to be easily seen during movie time.

4.3 vs. Widescreen

If you’re not a technology junkie, you might not understand the difference between these two viewing options. In the simplest manner, the 4.3 is when you get 4 inches of width for every three inches of height. You might recognize this when you’re watching movies and the black lines are visible on the top and the bottom. With the widescreen option, you don’t get these lines, or you might see them on the sides rather than the top and bottom.

Connectivity and fun extras

When you’re looking through the HDTV reviews, you might see these connectivity possibilities as well as extras:

  • Picture in picture (PIP) – this allows you to watch two programs at once.
  • Various connections – RF being the lowest quality and HDMI being the highest.
  • Universal remotes
  • Sound quality enhancers
  • Tuner enhancements – these really aren’t worth your while unless you don’t have a cable or satellite hookup.

Try to determine whether you actually need these extras before you start reading HDTV reviews because it will help you to sort through what you actually would like to pay for.

Here’s the truth

When you’re looking for an HDTV, you’ll want to look for HDTV reviews that give you the bare facts about the television that you’re looking for, and then you can make a decision based on those facts. Try making a list of the most important features and then making sure that these features are top quality when you’re shopping through the reviews and in the stores.