Flat Panel Televisions
When purchasing a flat panel TV, it is best to know the options
available for your budget. Here are a number of things to consider when
purchasing or evaluating a Flat Panel TV. Flat Panel Tv's include:
The three types of television mentioned above are the three
Flat Screen
television types and can inlclude any of the following options below:
- High Definition
Upgradeable or HDTV-Ready
High Definition Upgradeable or HDTV-Ready simply means that the TV is
capable of producing the highest resolutions possible for modern
digital television. “Upgradeable” means that
you’ll need to first add a separate HDTV receiver before you
are able to view the pictures in high definition(1080i or 720p).
However, regardless of whether the TV is “upgraded”
or not, the picture is still fantastic. When watching DVD's or TV
broadcasts, the picture quality will be close HDTV quality because most
flat panel sets are equipped with line-doublers to improve the picture.
- 16:9 Aspect Ratio
Unlike conventional televisions sets, most flat panel (plasma, LCD and
rear-projection televisions) Tv’s have a wide, rectangular
screen that is similar in shape to a movie screen. This is called the
16:9 aspect ratio—for every 16 inches in width, the screen is
9 inches in height. Compared to conventional TVs, which are 4:3 in
aspect ratio, the field of vision is much wider for flat panel TVs. The
purpose of the 16:9 wide-screen television, is to be able to view the
movie in its proper format, which greatly enhances the picture quality.
This also eliminates the horizontal black bars on either side of the
picture in DVD's that are widescreen formatted. Many events are shot in
HDTV format (example: Pay-Per-View sporting events and movies, the
Olympics, etc.) and with the escalating purchase of high definition
television, 16:9 widescreen format very well may be the way we watch TV
in the future.
- Reverse 3:2
Pulldown
Most television shows are shot on film at 24 frames per second. When
the 24 frame per second film is transferred to video ,which runs at 30
frames per second, the picture quality becomes slightly distorted in
the translation. Flat panel televisions are able to correct these
distortions through a series of what are called
“reconversion techniques”, which reverse the
distortions. This results in a smoother, cleaner picture. If you want a
flat panel Tv that delivers optimum picture quality for Television
Shows, it is recommended to look for this feature.
- 3D Y/C Digital
Comb Filter
The 3D Y/C digital comb filter’s job is to take the incoming
information from the cable signal and separate it into usable
information. Most flat panel televisions have digital 3D Y/C comb
filters that do good job at which virtually eliminating what is know as
“dot crawl”, wherein the edges of objects on the
screen appear rough and somewhat distorted. In addition, a good digital
comb filter will counter the effects of something called
“moiré“, where still objects appear to
move and ripple. Most high end flat panel TV’s have component
inputs from video sources (such as a DVD player) that separate the
signal before reaching the TV and bypass the digital comb filter. This
results in an even clearer, brighter picture.
- Picture-in-Picture
Picture-in-Picture (or PIP) allows you to watch two shows at once, with
the second show in a box in a part of the screen. Though PIP is not
exclusive to flat panel televisions, only flat panel
TV’s allow you to watch the second channel without
needing an external tuner (for example, from a VCR).
- Inputs
“Inputs” refer to how a given audio or visual
component connects to the flat panel TV. The input format that offers
the highest video quality is known as “component
video”. Component video inputs separate the information(such
as brightness, color, etc) into usable data before entering the
television, which produces optimum sound and video quality . A close
second to “Component Video” input is the S-video
input. Whereas “component video” separates
brightness( blue signal and red signal) , S-video just separates
brightness only from red signals. All flat panel televisions will also
have inputs for various multimedia devices such as DVD players. Some
even allow you to connect a computer.
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