Just whipped this up in my lunch break. Please help out with any corrections/clarifications as you guys see fit.
Recently, there have been a large number of threads regarding which HDTV to buy. I thought I'd put a small guide up, with indicative prices and model numbers. As always, prices will vary from city to city, deal-to-deal.
Anyway:
What is HDTV? If you expand this acronym, it becomes:
High Definition TeleVision.
What is so Hi-Def about it?
Well, a moving picture's resolution, where the moving image is actually formed would typically be given in pixels per inch (digital) or number of lines measured horizontally, per picture height (analog)).
On the other hand, the resolution of the display panel simply refers to the physical number of columns and rows making up the display, eg. 1280*1024.
Older analogue SDTV broadcasts, i.e. DD and Tata Sky today, are of 576 lines vertical resolution (PAL), and 480 lines (NTSC). There is something called the Kell Factor, whereby if a picture is intended for interlaced displays, the picture must be vertically filtered to remove the flicker, by reducing the vertical resolution. Therefore, this reduction is to about 85% (via. the Kell Factor), so you will see ~480 vertical lines on a PAL broadcast, and ~410 on an NTSC.
Quite lo-def, no?
Now, higher the resolution, higher the ability of the human eye to resolve detail, all other factors, eg. mastering quality remaining unchanged. Computers have always had a higher display resolution.. remember those state-of-the-art 1024*768 VGA 15" CRTs circa. 1995?
The challenge before the content providers therefore, was to increase the content resolution for home use. First step toward this was the:
SD-DVD. Commercially launched in 1997, it supports 720*480 (NTSC) and 720*576 (PAL) resolutions. Normal TVs at that time supported resolutions of ~640*480, so DVD was a perfect fit for them. Also, PCs automagically upscale DVD content anyway, to fit the native monitor resolution.
An important point: The eye's perception of display resolution is affected by, among others, the aspect ratio of the display as well as that as of the pixels.An array of 1280*720 on a 16:9 screen has square pixels. An array of 1024*768 on a 16: 9 screen has rectangular pixels.
Post-DVD, commercial broadcasting systems and TVs began to be sufficiently powerful for HDTV broadcasts to take place. The minimum resolution for HDTV was defined as 1280*720, going up to 1920*1080 currently.
Sources for HDTV/HD content are:
1) OTAHD - Over The Air, with an antenna
2) STB - Set Top Box/Cablecard
3) Satellite
4) XBOX/PS3/Wii
5) Computers with DVI connections
6) Blu-Ray / HD-DVD ( now defunct).
In India currently, only 4-6 are applicable, however, with recent news from DishTV coming in, we're hopeful that HD STB broadcasts will begin soon.
Therefore, if someone buys an HDTV to watch only SDTV today, it is going to be a waste, plain and simple. The image has to be scaled to match the native resolution of the HDTV, so a standard TV broadcast looks (TBH!) pretty crappy.
However, if you're hooking up your TV to a PS3, XBOX360, computer or a BR player, you're going to need a good HDTV for the full HD experience.
There are 2 types of HDTV displays on the market today, discounting the old HD CRTs, which aren't too easily available in India today.
1) Plasma - as the name implies, it is xenon/neon gas is in many thousands of cells, sandwiched between 2 glass panels. Combined with address and (transparent) display electrodes between the panels, photons are emitted, which hit the phosphor coating on the back of the cells, and excite it to create coloured light. Each cell subpixel is R,G and B, so combined, they can create all the colours as required.
2) LCD - Liquid Crystal Display.
A liquid crystal display (LCD) is a thin, flat display device made up of any number of color or monochrome pixels arrayed in front of a light source or reflector. It is often utilized in battery-powered electronic devices because it uses very small amounts of electric power. (quoted from Wikipedia).
Many types of LCDs exist - Twisted Nematic (TN), IPS (In Plane Switching) and VA (Vertical Alignment). Although people may argue over this, it is generally agreed that IPS panels deliver the best combination of colour clarity and viewing angles.
Plasma v. LCD
I'll keep this short, as many diverse viewpoints exist on this.
1) Plasma - higher contrast ratio as per the ANSI standard.(difference between whitest white and blackest black). Measured as static and dynamic CR, dynamic contrast is a relatively new phenomenon, and applied mostly to LCDs. It refers to the process by which, when a dark area needs to be exposed, the LCD will underpower the backlight lamp, but proportionately amplify the transmission through the panel. This will allow the LCD to display it's static CR in dark scenes, but leave small, bright areas overexposed.
2) LCD - lower power consumption
3) LCDs - (mostly) higher resolution. This, combined with higher DPI make LCDs the preferred choice of computer users hooking up their PCs to their HDTV.
4) LCDs go down to smaller sizes, eg. 32" and 37".
5) Plasmas - better viewing angles, but the latest IPS panel LCDs are challeging Plasma domination here.
Typical usage patterns
1) Bright light/Computer usage - LCDs are better.
2) Dark surroundings - Plasmas (v. simplistic.. this can boil down to personal choice).
Recommendations
1) 19-26" - Panasonic Viera LCDs. TX26LX70C.
VIERA Plasma TV & LCD TV | Digital AV | Panasonic India
1366*768 native
Compare India - Televisions - Panasonic-TX-26LX70C
MRP is 40k, easily available for 25k.
2) 32" - the most competitive segment right now.
a) Sony 32" KLV32W400. ~60k at CI.1920*1080 native, doubtful benefit over 1366*768 at that screen size.
b) Sony 32" KLV32V series. ~45k at CI. 1366*768 native, good set.
c) Panasonic TX-32LX70. ~43k, 1366*768 native.
VIERA TX-32LX70C | LCD TV | Digital AV | Panasonic India
d) Hitachi L32S01. ~43k. IPS panel. Hitachi Consumer India
3) 37"
a) Samsung 37R81 - 63k
b) Samsung LA37A450 - 62k. Both are 1366*768
c) Sony 37S310 - 60k
4) 40-42
Plenty of choice here. My recommendations - Samsung 40A650, Philips 7482 (IPS panel), Hitachi LA42X01 - IPS, Full HD. Samsung have the F-series LED backlit TVs.. best blacks outside of a plasma. Damn expensive - ~1.4 lakhs for the 40".
Also, Panasonic 42PV/PY700 plasmas run ~60k.. good VFM.
5) Splurge
Pioneer 428XD Kuro - 1.35lakh official price. Deepest. Blacks. Yet.
Sony 40X350 - ~1.5L, full HD.
That brings me to the end of this (short) guide. Bouquets/brickbats/suggestions welcome
Recently, there have been a large number of threads regarding which HDTV to buy. I thought I'd put a small guide up, with indicative prices and model numbers. As always, prices will vary from city to city, deal-to-deal.
Anyway:
What is HDTV? If you expand this acronym, it becomes:
High Definition TeleVision.
What is so Hi-Def about it?
Well, a moving picture's resolution, where the moving image is actually formed would typically be given in pixels per inch (digital) or number of lines measured horizontally, per picture height (analog)).
On the other hand, the resolution of the display panel simply refers to the physical number of columns and rows making up the display, eg. 1280*1024.
Older analogue SDTV broadcasts, i.e. DD and Tata Sky today, are of 576 lines vertical resolution (PAL), and 480 lines (NTSC). There is something called the Kell Factor, whereby if a picture is intended for interlaced displays, the picture must be vertically filtered to remove the flicker, by reducing the vertical resolution. Therefore, this reduction is to about 85% (via. the Kell Factor), so you will see ~480 vertical lines on a PAL broadcast, and ~410 on an NTSC.
Quite lo-def, no?
Now, higher the resolution, higher the ability of the human eye to resolve detail, all other factors, eg. mastering quality remaining unchanged. Computers have always had a higher display resolution.. remember those state-of-the-art 1024*768 VGA 15" CRTs circa. 1995?
The challenge before the content providers therefore, was to increase the content resolution for home use. First step toward this was the:
SD-DVD. Commercially launched in 1997, it supports 720*480 (NTSC) and 720*576 (PAL) resolutions. Normal TVs at that time supported resolutions of ~640*480, so DVD was a perfect fit for them. Also, PCs automagically upscale DVD content anyway, to fit the native monitor resolution.
An important point: The eye's perception of display resolution is affected by, among others, the aspect ratio of the display as well as that as of the pixels.An array of 1280*720 on a 16:9 screen has square pixels. An array of 1024*768 on a 16: 9 screen has rectangular pixels.
Post-DVD, commercial broadcasting systems and TVs began to be sufficiently powerful for HDTV broadcasts to take place. The minimum resolution for HDTV was defined as 1280*720, going up to 1920*1080 currently.
Sources for HDTV/HD content are:
1) OTAHD - Over The Air, with an antenna
2) STB - Set Top Box/Cablecard
3) Satellite
4) XBOX/PS3/Wii
5) Computers with DVI connections
6) Blu-Ray / HD-DVD ( now defunct).
In India currently, only 4-6 are applicable, however, with recent news from DishTV coming in, we're hopeful that HD STB broadcasts will begin soon.
Therefore, if someone buys an HDTV to watch only SDTV today, it is going to be a waste, plain and simple. The image has to be scaled to match the native resolution of the HDTV, so a standard TV broadcast looks (TBH!) pretty crappy.
However, if you're hooking up your TV to a PS3, XBOX360, computer or a BR player, you're going to need a good HDTV for the full HD experience.
There are 2 types of HDTV displays on the market today, discounting the old HD CRTs, which aren't too easily available in India today.
1) Plasma - as the name implies, it is xenon/neon gas is in many thousands of cells, sandwiched between 2 glass panels. Combined with address and (transparent) display electrodes between the panels, photons are emitted, which hit the phosphor coating on the back of the cells, and excite it to create coloured light. Each cell subpixel is R,G and B, so combined, they can create all the colours as required.
2) LCD - Liquid Crystal Display.
A liquid crystal display (LCD) is a thin, flat display device made up of any number of color or monochrome pixels arrayed in front of a light source or reflector. It is often utilized in battery-powered electronic devices because it uses very small amounts of electric power. (quoted from Wikipedia).
Many types of LCDs exist - Twisted Nematic (TN), IPS (In Plane Switching) and VA (Vertical Alignment). Although people may argue over this, it is generally agreed that IPS panels deliver the best combination of colour clarity and viewing angles.
Plasma v. LCD
I'll keep this short, as many diverse viewpoints exist on this.
1) Plasma - higher contrast ratio as per the ANSI standard.(difference between whitest white and blackest black). Measured as static and dynamic CR, dynamic contrast is a relatively new phenomenon, and applied mostly to LCDs. It refers to the process by which, when a dark area needs to be exposed, the LCD will underpower the backlight lamp, but proportionately amplify the transmission through the panel. This will allow the LCD to display it's static CR in dark scenes, but leave small, bright areas overexposed.
2) LCD - lower power consumption
3) LCDs - (mostly) higher resolution. This, combined with higher DPI make LCDs the preferred choice of computer users hooking up their PCs to their HDTV.
4) LCDs go down to smaller sizes, eg. 32" and 37".
5) Plasmas - better viewing angles, but the latest IPS panel LCDs are challeging Plasma domination here.
Typical usage patterns
1) Bright light/Computer usage - LCDs are better.
2) Dark surroundings - Plasmas (v. simplistic.. this can boil down to personal choice).
Recommendations
1) 19-26" - Panasonic Viera LCDs. TX26LX70C.
VIERA Plasma TV & LCD TV | Digital AV | Panasonic India
1366*768 native
Compare India - Televisions - Panasonic-TX-26LX70C
MRP is 40k, easily available for 25k.
2) 32" - the most competitive segment right now.
a) Sony 32" KLV32W400. ~60k at CI.1920*1080 native, doubtful benefit over 1366*768 at that screen size.
b) Sony 32" KLV32V series. ~45k at CI. 1366*768 native, good set.
c) Panasonic TX-32LX70. ~43k, 1366*768 native.
VIERA TX-32LX70C | LCD TV | Digital AV | Panasonic India
d) Hitachi L32S01. ~43k. IPS panel. Hitachi Consumer India
3) 37"
a) Samsung 37R81 - 63k
b) Samsung LA37A450 - 62k. Both are 1366*768
c) Sony 37S310 - 60k
4) 40-42
Plenty of choice here. My recommendations - Samsung 40A650, Philips 7482 (IPS panel), Hitachi LA42X01 - IPS, Full HD. Samsung have the F-series LED backlit TVs.. best blacks outside of a plasma. Damn expensive - ~1.4 lakhs for the 40".
Also, Panasonic 42PV/PY700 plasmas run ~60k.. good VFM.
5) Splurge
Pioneer 428XD Kuro - 1.35lakh official price. Deepest. Blacks. Yet.
Sony 40X350 - ~1.5L, full HD.
That brings me to the end of this (short) guide. Bouquets/brickbats/suggestions welcome
