There's never been a more exciting time to consider purchasing a new television. Unfortunately, there's never been a potentially more confusing time to be looking for a new TV, either. In addition to the continuing shift to Digital TV and high-definition TV, there are a number of recent display technologies that are changing the way televisions look. With all these amazing advances, how can you be sure you're making the right choice?

Fortunately, you've got plenty of thoroughly up-to-date career sales people to rely on when you come to a ListenUp showroom to experience the latest technologies with your own eyes. In the meantime, to help you sort things out a bit, we've put together this brief (but oh-so entertaining) TV-technology primer.

Plasma and LCD flat-panel TVs are only five inches or less in depth.

LCD
When it comes to small size, LCD-panel TVs from companies like Sharp, Samsung, Mitsubishi and Sony definitely win the prize. Using technology similar to that used in laptop computer screens, these super-thin (less than five-inches deep) televisions range in size from 10-inches to 40-inches diagonal. In addition to being extremely slim, LCD-panel TVs are lightweight, too.(Samsung's new 40-inch LCD-panel HDTV Monitor weighs less than half that of a 40-inch CRT-based HDTV Monitor.)

Although not quite as light as a picture frame, it's still easy to hang on the wall up and out of the way. LCD-panel TVs typically use less electricity than an equivalently sized CRT, too. One potential issue to be aware of with LCD-panel TVs, however, involves viewing angles. Depending on the TV, the colors can begin to change or wash out when viewing an LCD-panel TV from extreme angles. In most home theaters this won't be a problem; but it can be an issue in smaller rooms, like bedrooms or kitchens, where you might view the TV from a variety of angles. One solution to minimize this problem is a swivel bracket that can extend the TV into the room and turn it in the appropriate direction when you need it. Manufacturers have also developed new designs that offer wider viewing angles than models that were available a few years ago.

Click to see larger picture.

Plasma
Plasma TVs continue to be the TV technology that has everyone talking. Ranging in size from 32- to over 60-inches diagonal, these phenomenally flat TVs with cabinet depths between three and five inches provide an even larger wall-mountable picture than LCD-panel TVs. Plasma TVs create a picture by electrically exciting millions of tiny gas bubbles held in place behind a front glass panel. While you don't have viewing-angle issues with plasma TVs, they do have the potential (an issue plasmas share with CRTs) for "burn-in" — a non-reversible screen discoloration that occurs when one area of the screen is brighter than another area for a considerable amount of time. (You've probably seen the effects of screen burn-in on the arrival/departure monitors at any major airport.) It's easily avoidable, however, simply by using a viewing mode that fills the entire screen with an image — and by avoiding extended viewing of channels with static images.

Here's a Samsung 61" Widescreen HDTV with DLP Technology.

DLP, LCD and SXRD
Projection televisions — both front and rear — are also benefiting from technological improvements. The three most widely used technologies are DLP, LCD and SXRD. Developed by Texas Instruments, DLP is a "reflective" technology, using millions of tiny, pivoting mirrors on an integrated circuit chip to control the light being reflected from a light source to a screen. In the case of LCD for projection TV, tiny LCD screens are used to control the light projected from a bright lamp onto a screen. This is known as a "transmissive" technology since the light is transmitted through the LCD panel(s).

SXRD is Sony's name for proprietary refinements to a reflective technology that uses a layer of liquid crystals to control the reflection of light to a screen. Because the electronics used to control the pixels that make up the liquid crystal layer are located beneath — rather than within — the layer, more pixels can be densely packed on the device resulting in a smoother image on the screen. Sony also claims much faster-than-average pixel response time, meaning images with motion will look just as sharp as still pictures.

In most DLP- and LCD-based projectors, the actual light engine and lens assembly is considerably smaller than what you'd find in a CRT-based projector. As a result, a DLP-based rear-projection HDTV from Samsung with a 61-inch diagonal screen is a surprising 19.4-inches thin and weighs less than 100 pounds. Likewise, Sony's 60-inch Grand Wega LCD-based rear-projection HDTV Monitor is an equivalently slender 21.4 inches in depth and weighs a little over 100 pounds. Front-projection TVs are benefiting from the size reduction as well, with some front projectors being small enough to fit in a briefcase. The reduced size means more homeowners are willing to hang one of these unobtrusive, decor-friendly front projectors on their ceilings to get the benefit of the largest images in their home theaters.

Unlike CRTs that lose brightness over their lifespan, DLP, LCD and SXRD TVs use replaceable lamps so you can always enjoy a sharp, bright picture.

DLP, LCD and SXRD rear-projection models deliver a big picture with a slim profile.

Video resolution: What should you look for?
Specifications such as 720p, 1080i and 1080p describe the resolution of a digital video display. The number refers to the number of vertical pixels (the tiny picture elements that construct a digital image) — if a TV has a native resolution of 1920 x 1080, this means it has 1920 pixels across by 1080 up and down.

The letter refers to how the image is drawn, in either interlaced or progressive format. In the interlaced method every other line of the picture is drawn every 1/60 of a second, and the remaining lines are drawn the next 1/60 of a second. Because this happens so quickly and because we have what is known as persistence of vision, we perceive these two fields as one picture. The more advanced progressive method draws the whole picture all at once, which makes for smoother images, especially in scenes where there’s a lot of action.

Although there are other factors that effect image quality, such as black level, gray scale and color accuracy, in general, the higher the resolution number, the better the picture. For comparison purposes, the first DVD players output 480i, then progressive scan models did 480p. The first generations of HDTVs had resolutions of either 720p, 768p or 1080i.

In 2005 a handful of HDTVs were introduced that had a native resolution of 1080p, meaning they scaled all incoming signals to 1080p. This elevated level, dubbed Ultra-HDTV by some, could produce truly stunning performance, but this capability was mitigated by two factors: 1) very few of the sets had the ability to receive a 1080p signal, and 2) there weren’t any devices capable of outputting a 1080p signal, anyway.

Today, manufacturers have turned out a slew of sets that can not only display 1080p but can actually receive a 1080p signal, and with the arrival of Blu-ray and HD DVD players capable of 1080p output, you can actually buy a source device to feed a 1080p television. The $64,000 question is: Can you really tell the difference between 720p/1080i performance and that of the new 1080p sets?

And the answer is…
It depends. Aren’t you glad we cleared that up for you? Seriously, though, there are a several variables that determine how much impact a 1080p display will have – principally screen size and viewing distance. Most experts agree that on TVs smaller than 50 inches at a normal viewing distance of eight to nine feet, the effect of 1080p is pretty subtle. However, on bigger screen sizes this advanced resolution can make a significant difference, with smoother, more film-like and realistic image quality. This makes 1080p one more important step in truly recreating the movie theater experience in your home.