Are you buying a new TV? If so you are set to be confronted with a lot of issues let alone Plasma Vs LCD Vs LED.
If I was buying a TV right now I would be looking at what is about to happen as well as the display technology. I would be looking for a TV with Internet connectivity, an SD slot and from a vendor who has the capacity to deliver content and has already got a content widgets browser on their screen.
Or alternatively you can buy a new Topfield media centre that has a 500GB hard drive and a good content menu spanning an IceTV program guide for local free to air content as well as IP content from the likes of the Google owned YouTube.
Last month the owner of Channel Seven Kerry Stokes made a bid to buy shares in a Packer controlled Company who are also a major share holder in Foxtel. The reason is that Australia is set to enter a new era where free to air TV stations are just part of the content offering.
By the end of this year several vendors will be selling IP enabled TV’s that allow content to be delivered over a broadband network. And before you listen to the broadband sceptics who say broadband is slow in Australia I suggest that you take the following test.
Using a PC go to the ABC web site, go to the TV section and download their iView browser. Then go and choose a TV program to watch. If you have a slow broadband connection I suggest that you wait a few minutes for the program to buffer before you start viewing the program. The fact is that at 12mbs the viewing experience is good.
In 6 years time, as the new National Broadband Network starts coming online and we have 100mbs broadband speeds there is nothing stopping Google from bidding for the Soccer World Cup, Wimbledon, or major TV shows and then delivering the content globally via their YouTube network.
Consumer will be able to access the content on a TV, PC or portable device such as a tablet or mobile phone with a large screen.
Google will be able to sell advertising in every Country, build out web sites for the content, as well as place messages inside the content as it goes to air similar to what a TV station does today. Gone will be transmission over a TV aerial.
Another big benefit is that the content can be buffered so that you can watch it when you want not when the Free to air TV station dictates.
Right now a battle is going on over LED Vs LCD, Vs plasma display technology and 600Hz, verses 200 Hz.
However a key report issues last month following an extensive TV bench test by a leading display technology research Company revealed that likes of Sony with their Bravia LCD TV’s, Sharp with their Aquos, and a lot of bottom end cheap TV’s are inferior when compared with a plasma TV display panel.
Working with bench test Company Displaymate, Insight Media has run extensive testing of both plasma and LCD TV panels in side by side tests.
Displaymate found that when viewing LCDs at a 45-degree angle, vision of the screen was reduced by far greater than 50%.
They said that the angle reduced the contrast ratio and black luminance by more than 50 percent. In comparison, plasma viewing was only reduced by 10 percent.
There conclusion was that LCD has a smaller viewing angle than plasma and that plasma was a superior flat screen TV technology.
According to the study, the dynamic picture-processing technologies that LG, Panasonic, Samsung, Sharp and Sony (the brands tested) hype “all reduce picture quality and accuracy and introduce ugly image artifacts.”
This included the dynamic LED backlighting from the Samsung LED TV.
They also said that 15,000:1 or 30,000:1 contrast ratios promoted by several Companies was in essence stretching the truth.
Displaymate found that the Panasonic professional plasma (the TH-50PF10UK) was best at a dynamic contrast ratio with 3,842:1, with the Samsung measuring 50 percent lower and Sharp and Sony Bravia LCD TV’s sets running closer to 1,350:1 than the 100,000:1 currently being promoted with their new 40″ Bravia LCD TV.
At the end of the day look at your budget and then pick which technology you want as part of your lifestyle. IP TV is going to be big from the funny YouTube video to the blockbuster movie and I strongly recommend that you work out online what you want to buy before a retailer try’s to sell you a product that best suits them and not you.
