TV and Internet Providers

If you want to buy a new TV now then you have even bigger sizes to choose from, and some important new technology is starting to emerge, making it really hard to nail down which model you should get. One good thing which makes your choice easier is that it looks like the plasma TV is a dying breed, it seems the LCD TV has won that particular war. There are still a few plasmas on the market which are trying to grab your money, but the LCD is firmly in control now so think long and hard before you go against the trend.

Below you will find two TV technologies you need to think about when you go shopping again:

3D TV is here: That’s right, 3D TVs have started to crawl out of the lab and make it onto the store shelves, and I am sure the floodgates will now open for more, but are they worth looking at? The big problem with anything 3D at the moment is the glasses that you have to wear if you want to experience it. The current ones use ‘active shutter’ technology which means each lens has a shutter on it that opens and closes faster than you can notice, so each eye receives a slightly different image. I think they are cumbersome, and wearing glasses ruins the experience, I wouldn’t mind wearing them to watch the odd 3D film, but watching normal TV in them? No thanks.

So I think it is best to wait for a few years before you get your first 3D TV, that way we can wait for the technology to move forward and see if they find a way to get rid of the glasses, or if we are stuck with them. Also by then the price will have come way down, the bugs have been ironed out, and a clear market leader will have emerged.

LED backlighting is available: Yes the TVs often referred to as LED TVs are out, when in fact they are LCD TVs with LED backlighting. The reason this technology has drawn interest is because it rips out the CCFL backlighting that every other LCD TV uses, which can be a little bulky, and it puts in smaller and lighter LEDs instead. This means the TVs are ultra slim at the sides, and are just 2 inches at their thickest point, but is that really worth more money when current TVs are pretty slim anyway?

I think it is a really good step forward for LCD TVs, and I will be getting one in a year or so for sure, but at the moment they cost a lot more than the normal version because the technology is all new and sparkly, and I don’t think it is worth paying that much extra for. Instead have a look in a year or so, and if the price difference between the TV you are looking at with and without LED backlighting is just 10% or less, then maybe get one, otherwise I don’t think it is worth it.

Another thing you need to think about is the size, for me then a 42 inch LCD TV is more than big enough for the main TV of the house, but if you want to show off then a 55 inch model definitely makes a statement.