The lowdown on flat-panels
VENTURE into a home entertainment store on a Sunday afternoon to shop for a new flat-panel TV and very little seems clear beyond those ludicrously sharp, bright, oversized images of sweat beads on some jock’s face or taste buds on a grasshopper’s tongue. The sales staff, weary of explaining the difference between seemingly identical models -- “They’re all good. How big’s your wall?” -- don’t illuminate much. Still, the reduced prices on the sets are very tempting.
“I think most customers who come in are pretty bewildered right now,” says Pam Crane, executive vice president of Ken Crane’s home entertainment stores. “Given how drastically the technology has improved and the prices have fallen in so short a time, it’s hard for anyone to keep up -- on either side of the fence, frankly.”
If current trends are any indication, even 52-inch LCD TVs ($4,000 average price) will be cheaper and better by the end of the year. The average $1,877 price for a 42-inch set could drop 35% to $1,175 by the winter holidays, the ISuppli industry analyst group said Tuesday. The average plasma price was $5,000 in 2002, according to the Consumer Electronics Assn. Now it’s $1,500. And they’re going for less than that.
“It’s what we call a ‘profitless prosperity’ right now,” says Crane. “There’s a lot of product and it’s really become a price war. The big winner is the consumer.”
As TV sizes keep swelling, resolutions keep improving and technologies keep advancing, new design dilemmas and solutions pop up. Making the best call about a TV should happen before the wrong one ends up weighing down your wall studs.
Big or supersize?
“Generally, people want to have the biggest TV they can afford -- at least for their predominant set, the one that they watch the most,” says Crane. “I’d say the most common issue our customers deal with after buying one is then deciding that they want to upsize. Rarely does it work the other way.”
The 42-inch sets, once the benchmark flat-panel size, have lately been losing status to 52s and now 63s. Are there downsides on the need to upsize?
L.A.-based designer Brad Haan says any screen larger than 52 inches “can start to feel like you’re on the flight deck of the Enterprise. If you have a separate media room, that’s one thing. But bigger is not always better at all -- even though it may look that way in the showroom.”
The expense of adding a huge screen can turn a great plasma deal into less of a bargain when factoring in the cost of remedial design solutions -- but ignore them at your living room’s peril.
“The error that people make when shopping for a big television is thinking only about the cost of the TV itself without also considering the kind of architectural treatment or custom build-out necessary to make it a positive addition to a room -- whether it’s custom cabinetry, a wall of Shoji screens, or something else to provide some balance,” says L.A.-based interior designer, Deborah J. Davis.
“Otherwise, if you just place this huge TV set in front of a painted wall, it’s going to stick out,” she says.
LCD or plasma?
Most non-videophiles will have a tough time distinguishing between these two dominant sandwich-thin technologies. A closer look reveals some differences worth knowing.
Images on plasma sets are created by thousands of tiny inert gas-filled pixel cells between two panes of glass. Plasma screen sizes generally begin at around 42 inches (measured diagonally) and get as large as 103 inches.
In contrast, LCDs (liquid crystal display) images are created by thousands of liquid crystals sandwiched between thin panes of glass (think laptop). LCDs have traditionally dominated the smaller flat-panel market but are now forging deeper into plasma territory. The 52-inch LCDs and larger models are now common enough, though typically more expensive than plasmas in this upper size range.
Both LCDs and plasmas flaunt the latest HDTV advancements -- notably 1080p resolution (see story above). But one can’t judge a state-of-the-art television by pixel count alone.
“Plasma produces a lot of heat and infrared emission and LCDs don’t,” says Alberto Fabiano, chief technology officer at DSI Entertainment, an L.A.-based home theater system company.
“Plasmas also tend to be up to 30% heavier, use more energy, and remain the only display device on the market that still has a potential problem with burn-in when displaying static images -- like video games -- for long periods of time.”
There’s also the glare issue. Plasma glass screens allow more ambient light reflection. LCDs tend to do better in rooms with a lot of windows or natural light.
Self- or full-serve?
As a rule, the more sophisticated the system, the more help you may need.
Only you’ll know how much hand-holding you require. “At least let someone else hang it for you,” urges Fabiano. “You don’t want something that weighs 120 pounds and costs several thousand dollars crashing on the floor -- or on you. That thing falls on your watch, it’s your fault.”
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Do your Web homework
IF you want to bone up on the latest on high def, try these sources:
www.consumerreports.org: An HDTV overview is free, along with a video TV-buying primer. Access to CR’s product ratings requires an online membership: $5.95 for a month or $26 for a year’s subscription.
www.myceknowhow.com: The Consumer Electronics Assn.’s guide covers the basics: connection tips, an antenna selector, an installer locator, and a menu of interactive buying guides.
www.hdtvprofessor.com: Independent info vendor for all things HDTV provides some free advice, an almanac of topics for sale, and a subscribers-only “Weekly Intelligence Report” to spot the best deals.
-- Jordan Rane
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How to pick your pixels
THE latest buzzword in HDTV land is 1080p, the highest resolution now available for flat-panel televisions. It beats out its high-def precursors 720p and 1080i by about a million pixels. But what does 1080p mean to most casual viewers?
Not much, a Ken Crane’s salesman in the South Bay says, unless you’re a serious movie buff or a gamer.
Only Blu-ray (high density optical disc format), the newer generation HD DVDs, and Sony PlayStation 3 actually produce high-definition content at the 1080p level. No over-the-air broadcast does, nor will any time soon.
So if you’re just watching TV, even with a 1080p set, you’re more or less watching it in 720p or 1080i mode at best.
-- Jordan Rane