I’m in the market for a big screen, high definition television. I’m committed to getting my TV by December 2006, just in time for the NFL playoffs.
Here’s what I’ve been learning. Specs are squat. You can read all the sales literature you want about picture quality, resolution, 720 this or 1080 that. But in the end, it all comes down to the quality of the picture.
You see, I’ve seen lower resolution 720p DLPs look better than high resolution 1080i LCDs. Even better, I’ve seen Samsung DLPs with a lower resolution look better than Toshiba DLPs at a higher resolution.
The moral of the story is that you should only use TV specs to narrow down the field. There are a few rules that you can follow. Choose DLP if the quality of picture and price of TV matter. Choose LCD or Plasma if you want lightweight, thin screen.
But don’t make your decision based on specs alone. I’m at a point where I’ve narrowed the field down to DLP. However, as I noticed, many DLPs with great specs don’t have a great picure. And in the end, it all comes down to how the TV will look in your living room. When you are watching the Super Bowl, the specs don’t matter anymore…you want the best looking HDTV picture you can get.
So do yourself a favor and don’t buy a TV off the internet without having seen the actual picture quality…because as I’ve discovered, the specs can be deceiving.