How To Choose The Best Television For You

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How to Choose the Ideal Television for You

How do you choose a television? What size do you need to get a full Home Cinema effect? LCD or Plasma? Projector or flat-panel. I have covered all of these subjects in the article below.

Please also see the full review of an excellent, relatively inexpensive "Full HD" (i.e. 1080P resolution) 37" television (Panasonic TX 37 lzd 80) below.

I use this TV with my Panasonic DMP-BD35EB-K Blu-Ray Player, reviewed here

Projector or Flat-panel Television for Home Cinema 

For the last five years I have been using home-cinema projectors and a 72" fold-away screen, rather than having a big ugly TV in the lounge. My latest Panasonic projector died after just over a year, so I needed a replacement. I intended to buy a 1080p projector, but I couldn't find anything suitable for my large lounge (most have a very narrow range of zoom lens, so you are restricted about where they can be located), so I reluctantly looked at smaller normal televisions instead, with the intention of having it far closer to the sofas than the big screen.

Theoretically a plasma or LCD TV should be better than a projector in terms of most measurable criteria: contrast ratio (in normal lighting conditions); sharpness; noise; reliability; running costs etc. but to get the home-cinema effect it is difficult to beat a projector, but we were going to have to compromise.

Plasma vesus LCD? 

The next decision was whether to buy a plasma or LCD TV? When the technologies were quite new the viewing angles for plasma used to be better and LCD were more reliable and used less power, but had a tendency to leave a blur behind fast moving pictures. There is little distinction between them now, but the big deciding factor for me was that there are very few (if any?) 37" plasmas available with 1080p (Full High-definition resolution) After staring at many TVs from various angles in High-Street shops, several conversations with ignorant sales staff and much research on the internet I decided it had to be a Panasonic (despite my pledge) and the basic model is the TX-37LZD80. This has all the features I need without the extra cost of extras like Freesat receiver or a 100Hz screen (which reduces flicker on very large screens) and works very well with my existing surround system.

Summary of Difference Between LCD and Plasma:

Advantages of Plasma:

  • Bigger screens: Screen Size from 30" to 65" or more (although LCD is catching up)

  • Screen Speed: Refresh rates are faster, so better for fast moving images (although the latest LCD screens are almost as fast)

  • Contrast Ratios: Slightly better, but again LCD has caught up

  • Cheaper for big screens

  • Colour Saturation is better

    LCD Advantages:

  • No "Burn-in" (prolonged viewing of a static image can leave a permanent image on Plasma screens)

  • Thinner screen than Plasma

  • Viewing angle better than plasma (used to be much worse in early versions)

  • Power consumption lower than plasma (typically about half)

  • Work at high altitude (Plasmas do not)

  • Easier to transport (Plasmas are more fragile)

  • Weight: LCD are lighter and easier to mount on the wall

  • Longer life: Plasma TV have a shorter life (approximately half)

  • Higher resolution: The maximum resolution for a small screen is restricted by the minimum pixel size. Plasma TVs have small gas filled tubes, LCD can have tiny pixels

    • What Size Television Screen Do I Need? 

    Have you ever wanted to know how to calculate what size TV you need? There are various theories about the optimum size, but it really depends on you, so the best thing to do is try viewing different size TVs at a similar viewing distance, in the shop, but I have also included the way I calculated what size to get (skip this section if you don't like maths)

    The way I calculated the optimum size TV, was by considering the diffraction pattern caused by the light from each pixel on the screen, passing through the pupil of your eye. I assumed that you can resolve two pixels as independent light-sources when the peak intensity (i.e. centre) of the diffraction-pattern resulting from one pixel is coincident with the first zero (or minimum intensity) of the next one. The resulting combined intensity distribution has two peaks with a significantly reduced intensity in between - i.e. probably resolvable. It's very approximate, which is great because you can fiddle the figures to get the result you want (i.e. if you want to convince your spouse that you need a bigger TV blind them with science)

    The equation that can be used to model the above assumptions is:

    sin(angle of resolution) = 1.22 x (Wavelength)/(lens aperture)

    Wavelength = 622 to 780 nm
    lens aperture (i.e. pupil size) depends on darkness of the room, but could be anything from less than 1mm to 5mm or more

    sin(angle of resolution) = 1.22 x (0.000000780)/(0.003) = 0.32mm pixel separation resolvable at a distance of 1m

    so for 720p at 1m a screen 23cm high would have visible separately resolvable pixels... i.e. a 18" screen (diagonal)

    or 27" for a 1080p TV at 1m

    The just multiply that screen size by the viewing distance in metres

    although if you watch a blue movie (or at least a violet one with wavelength of 622) in a darker room this drops to about half the size

    This calculation gives the size, above which the pixels would be individually visible.

    e.g. at a viewing distance of 13 feet (4m) in a dark room you might just be able to resolve some pixels on a 36" TV and definitely on a 72" TV - If you upgraded to a 1080p TV this give a big improvement for the 72" TV but not much improvement for 40" or less (This is all very approximate and the best thing to do is have a look at some TVs in the shop at an appropriate distance)

    Panasonic TVs at Amazon 

    DigiTV Plasma and LCD TV Tilting Wall Mount. Universal Design for 22

    DigiTV Plasma and LCD TV Tilting Wall Mount. Universal Design for 22" to 37" Displays

    Amazon Price: (as of 12/25/2009) Buy Now

    Turn your TV into a Home-Media Centre with a Nettop Computer 

    Add a small quiet inexpensive computer

    Surf the internet from your television with a small 8" x 8" x 1" "nettop" computer or use it as a home media centre: store music, films, recorded television shows, photographs all on a small quiet, low power, inexpensive computer.
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    Televsion Review: Panasonic TX 37 lzd 80 

    The best mid-range Full HD 37" television

    After much procrastination and research, I finally got round to buying a new television. There are many to choose from, and a lot of manufacturers. This lens is the result of the research I did. The TV I chose was a Panasonic TX-37LZD80.

    Here is a full review of this excellent, relatively inexpensive "Full HD" (i.e. 1080P resolution) 37" television.

    I use this TV with my Panasonic DMP-BD35EB-K Blu-Ray Player, reviewed here

    Picture Quality: Panasonic TX 37 lzd80 

    The screen resolution is "Full HD", the highest currently available for TV: 1080 lines, progressively scanned, which is twice the amount of data needed for 720p (720 lines progressive) or 1080i (interlaced) screens, five times as much as 480p (DVD) and ten times as much as 480i (old fashioned wide-screen format) It is therefore far better with bigger screens or close-up. In the shops the Panasonic did appear to be better or at least as good as everything else on display, although all Full HD screens seem to give excellent results with a 1080p source (e.g. blu-ray disc) Contrast is very good and the sharpness and resolution seems far better than my 720p ("HD ready") projector. The colours a far more vibrant than the projector and even my old Sony CRT TV although perhaps a little unnaturally so, but of course these can be turned down. There doesn't appear to be any problem with fast moving images, unlike early large LCD displays and I really can't fault the picture quality with a high-quality 1080p source. Unfortunately I frequently watch TV programmes on Freeview rather than blu-ray or any other HD source and this was a little disappointing in comparison. This is of course to be expected because Freeview only outputs 480 lines and the TV has to upscale the input to create all of that missing data. This is actually quite complicated and it does do a good job in many situations, with a good clean source, but with a poor source (e.g. I tested with a DVD of Not The Nine O'clock News recorded for TV about 25 years ago) the generated pixels are quite apparent i.e. "digital artifacts" sometimes appear and some images can look rather artificial and unnatural. The built-in Freeview tuner is slightly better than my Freeview PVR connected by RGB scart cable and both are better than the built-in analogue tuner. All are tolerable, but not a significant improvement over lower-resolution televisions. Good DVDs give a good clear result and cartoons seem to be particularly good as the upscaling algorithms have nice clean sharp lines and flat colours to work on, although still not as good as blu-ray.

    Panasonic televisions 

    Panasonic Viera TC-37LZ85 37-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV

    Panasonic Viera TC-37LZ85 37-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV

    Amazon Price: (as of 12/25/2009) Buy Now

    Panasonic TC-26LX85 26-Inch 720p LCD HDTV

    Panasonic TC-26LX85 26-Inch 720p LCD HDTV

    Amazon Price: (as of 12/25/2009) Buy Now

    Panasonic Viera TH-42PZ85U 42-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV

    Panasonic Viera TH-42PZ85U 42-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV

    Amazon Price: $899.96 (as of 12/25/2009) Buy Now

    Build Quality: Panasonic TX 37 lzd80 

    This TV seems very well built and nicely finished with a smooth shiny almost piano-black finish on the front. It sits on a small low stand with 15 degrees of swivel for fine adjustment; a very simple uncluttered design.

    Sound Quality: Panasonic TX 37 lzd80 

    I didn't bother listening to this TV before buying it, nor compare it with the competition because I have a good home cinema surround-sound system and five feet tall electrostatic speakers, but for normal TV I won't usually turn the full system on because the built in stereo speakers are really rather good. They lack bass, but are clear and detailed with more than enough power. For a good home cinema experience you will need more speakers for a proper surround-sound affect because the "Simulated Surround Sound" option from the two built-in speakers is not particularly impressive.

    Second Hand Panasonic TVs 

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    More Home Theater Articles 

    featured lens Home Cinema / Theater

    This is a compilation of articles, reviews and recommendations about home-cinema/home-theatre and HiFi: Reviews of Blu-ray players, LCD televisions, home-cinema-projectors, Nettop and Media PCs and HiFi equipment. The pros and cons of LCD v Plasma t...

    Setup: Panasonic TX 37 lzd80 

    The set up is really easy: Simply plug it into the mains, and a coaxial aerial cable into the back and turn it on and the auto-setup tunes the digital and analogue tuners into all available channels. Then you are ready to watch TV. The remote control is large, but quite simple with all of the usual controls and a navigator button to move around the menus and TV guide both of which can be opened with appropriately named buttons. The guide lists all programmes currently on and in the near futures and is easy to read and navigate. If you can find anything worth watching in the huge number of channels click OK.

    Specification: Panasonic TX 37 lzd80 

    Screen size: 37" 16:9 ratio widescreen
    HDTV: 1080p (1920 x 1080 progressively scanned) frequency 50 Hz
    Nicam Stereo speaks (20 Watts) and analogue stereo outputs sockets and digital audio out
    Tuner: Analogue and digital (i.e. Freeview) built-in
    HDMI inputs: 3
    RGB input
    Scart sockets: 2
    Svideo and composite inputs x 1
    PC input x 1
    1-year guarantee

    Conclusion: Panasonic TX 37 lzd80 

    This is an excellent, well-made Full HD TV. The only picture quality limitations are those inherent in the input formats I am using. To get full benefit from the TV you will need to use a good quality, preferably Full HD source. I paid £599 from Empire Direct (who have subsequently gone out of business) although it was also available from Currys Digital for £729 and is available from various other shops for about £600.

    Add a Blu-Ray Player for High Definition Movies 

    Or buy a projector for the full Home Cinema effect

    featured lens Home Theater Projectors (Home Cinema)

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    Are you a Panasonic fan? 

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    • Reply
      ElizabethJeanAllen ElizabethJeanAllen Dec 10, 2009 @ 6:45 pm
      My husband wants a new TV but as I rarely watch it, I've resisted the idea. He will get his way eventually.
      Great info
      Thanks for sharing
      Lizzy
    • Reply
      julcal julcal Jun 27, 2009 @ 10:27 am
      This is exactly what I needed. I will be single soon and will be buying a new TV. What a great idea, going onto Ebay!!! the only thing I'm afraid of is setting it up myself. Not the actual TV, but getting the DVD AND VCR plugged in correctly - yes I still have VCR tapes that i want to be able to play.

      Thanks for this lens!
    • Reply
      AndyPo AndyPo May 4, 2009 @ 1:47 pm
      Thanks very much.

      I seem to still have all of the remote controls for VHS, CD and DVD players that I threw out years ago. Most of the time I just use one remote control that does almost everything, but occasionally I need to use the one for the blu-ray player if we're watching a film.

      [in reply to poddys]
    • Reply
      poddys poddys May 4, 2009 @ 9:38 am
      Really nice lens Andy. 5***** I was debating which way to go, Plasma or LCD a couple of years ago, because I couldn't stand the blurring on the LCD's, but the refresh rate these days is so fast it doesn't happen any more. 42" and 48" are very common here in the USA now, and often only just over $1,000. The problem of larger LCD's being too expensive for most people, or just not available has really gone away.

      Are those really all your remotes on the table? I assume you don't need those all the time? I used to have 5 at one time, now we make do with 2, or a 3rd if the tv needs the setup changing.
    • Reply
      kiwisoutback kiwisoutback May 1, 2009 @ 11:14 am
      I have a flat screen, but not a flat panel. It was one of the first HDTVs that came out, around 2005 (sony WEGA). It weighs a ton, you 2-3 people to move it. I would gladly exchange it for this LCD! The picture is so-so compared to these models.
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