HD TV - A Consumer's Minefield

Shopping for a new Full HD TV can be overwhelming, there is so much choice and jargon to work your way through. Hopefully this resource will help summarize some of the features of the various makes of Full HD LCD TVs in a bid to make life a little easier. It does not include HD Plasma and LED TVs which is another subject in itself.

The 200hz Motion Plus technology built in to Samsung Full HD LCD TVs is said to streamline all the scenes on the screen by creating and inserting a ‘middle’ image between two neighbouring scenes. This eliminates motion blur and distortion especially for fast moving images.

Wide colour Enhancer 3 provides stronger brighter colours. The luminance levels are intensified so the red, green, blue, cyan, magenta and yellow colours are more brilliant enhancing the viewing experience.

Medi@2.0 is a range of features that brings computer functionality Samsung’s TVs, adding music, images and games in the form of a content library. Use USB2 connectivity to bring your personal video, photo and music files to your TV and wireless connectivity to stream PC content to your TV also.

‘Crystal TV’ utilizes glass surfaces in the design of their TVs for a stylish look and as and eco-friendly way to eliminate VOCs used in painted surfaces this helps in making the Samsung Full HD LCD TV the more environment friendly option.

Panasonic HD Televisons have a feature called Viera Cast, its a web menu that is built in to the TV. It allows the user to enjoy internet content like YouTube, web photo albums, weather updates and financial information displayed on screen. The Viera Cast content menu will auto update when new content becomes available.

Viera Link allows the user to connect HD compatible devices through the use of a HDMI cable and also they have built in SD memory card slots for direct viewing of camera and camcorder movie content along with a built in HD photo viewer for digital photography.

Sony Bravia LCD Full HD TVs come with Motionflow 100hz and 200hz technology which delivers incredible detail and super smooth motion image blur reduction. The Bravia Engine 3 delivers impressive detail, contrast and true to life colour tones.

Home networking enables room-to-room wireless connectivity, allowing the user to listen to music and view movies and photos on screen. Sony’s AppliCast enables the users to connect to RSS internet feeds whilst watching the TV.

Sony has improved the power consumption of their TVs, compared with the equivalent models in last years Bravia range, the current range are said to be on average 20-30% more energy efficient.