Best Bets for High-Def Sets
The 30-inch widescreen Toshiba 30HFX85 ($900) delivers striking high-definition color and clarity when connected to your cable or satellite set-top box, in a size that’s perfect for an apartment or den.
Want to buy a big-screen 50-inch display and still have money left over for gourmet popcorn on movie night? The Samsung HL-S5088W boasts full 1080p resolution in a beautiful slim cabinet design, yet you’ll find it selling for under $3,000.
There's lots of good news to report on the HDTV front. First and foremost, there's more to watch than ever before. The networks now broadcast nearly all their non-news primetime programs in HD, along with all the key sporting events, while cable and satellite dish up a rich stream of high-definition movies and sports 24/7.
High-definition movies on next generation DVDs have also hit the market and while choosing between the Blu-ray and HD DVD formats makes shopping for high-def player more complicated, on thing is crystal clear – the picture quality delivered by these discs is extraordinary.
The final piece of good news is especially welcome--HDTV prices have dropped dramatically during the course of the year, as new factories opened and competition heated up. With technology that's already been through several generations of improvements and prices much lower than the same time last year, there's truly never been a better time to buy. Here are our best bets for HDTV sets.
Direct View
If you're shopping for a small to medium-size set, good old picture-tube technology delivers a striking high-definition picture at an attractive price. Flat-screen and rear-projection TV technologies are great for achieving giant display sizes, but they can't match the pitch black background on a picture tube, which provides exemplary contrast, brightness and color reproduction.
Rear Projection
For huge screen sizes at budget-friendly prices, rear-projection sets are the way to go. Inside these TVs, a small high-definition image is created using one of several technologies (generally DLP or LCD), which is then projected from behind onto a large front screen.
Rear projection sets can support the highest HD resolutions available and, while they were once so bulky they hogged valuable floor space, manufacturers have slimmed cabinet depths down dramatically.
The downside to rear-projection sets is off-angle viewing-–stand off to the side or above one of these TVs and the colors shift while brightness fades sharply. You also want to avoid using a rear-projection set in a brightly sunlit room. In most home viewing environments, though, you enjoy an excellent viewing experience at sizes you could measure in feet instead of inches.
Flat Screen
These past few months have seen the differences between the two flat-screen TV technologies, plasma and LCD, continue to narrow. It used to be that LCD was the choice for smaller sets-–say 37 inches and below-–while plasma ruled above that. But LCD manufacturers have inched up to the point where they're competitive in price and performance up to the popular 40- and 42-inch sizes (larger than that and plasma sets are still the logical choice).
Plasma still claims an advantage when it comes to reproducing fast motion, and it has slightly better off-angle viewing, though LCD screens are somewhat brighter than plasma and use less electricity. Basically, at this point, if the screen size you're after is available in both LCD and plasma at roughly similar prices, your choice should be based on how a particular set performs rather than the technology driving it.