A Few Things to Look at Before You Start Shopping for that New Big Screen TV

You're ready to take the plunge and buy a Big Screen TV, but when you last looked at them a few years ago you thought they were to bulky. True the rear projection units can take up a lot of living space and make it hard to arrange the living room around it.

There is however, a new generation of Big Screen TV's that might surprise you in their size and picture quality not to mention the home theater experience itself. You can buy flat panel TV's with plasma or LCD screens or any number of rear projection TV's each with they're own unique Features to consider.

Here are a few questions you will want to consider when looking for the right Big Screen TV for you.

Is price more important than picture quality?

Do you want a Full Screen or a Wide Screen format?

Do you want a Flat Panel or a Rear Projection?

How much Floor Space do you have for your TV?

What kind of Technology do You want in your TV?

CRT- The Cathode Ray Tube is a rear Projection Screen TV that is the most affordable of the Big Screens. Though a bit of a limitation is that you will get the best visual quality by watching this straight in front of the unit. If you set at an angle from the screen you will get a diminished picture quality.

DLP- Digital Light Processing. The DLP is also a rear Projection Screen TV. The DLP uses micro-mirrors reflecting light from a rotating color wheel. The DLP Chip contains more than a million microscopic mirrors. Each one makes up a small part of the picture called a pixel. As the micro mirror chip moves it reflexes different colors up onto the screen.

LCD-Liquid Crystal Display. The LCD produces a high quality picture with no distortion by passing electricity through its Liquid Crystal. The LCD is a Flat Panel TV and is not as expensive as the Plasma Screen TV. The LCD uses less power than the CRT allowing the screen to last longer than the CRT TV does. LCD TVs come in either standard or widescreen formats. They are HDTV compatible and can work with progressive scanning DVD players.

Plasma- The Plasma is a flat panel TV. While the most expensive of all the Big Screen TV's it offers an exceptional quality picture in fact it is the best quality picture available on the market. Basically the Plasma works by Electricity passing trough the plasma and thus creating a high quality picture. Some plasma TVs can have over 1,000,000 pixels. This give you an incredibly clear, bright, high-resolution picture. This allows you to watch TV from anywhere in the room without distortion or problems with glare. The Flat Panels are thin enough you could hang the TV on the Wall. Most of the Plasma TVs can handle HDTV, DTV, DVD and VCR player inputs. Some can even be hooked up to your Computer and serve as its monitor.

Be aware that some Plasma Screens are not TVs but are monitors that do not have any built in tuner. If you get a Plasma monitor you will need to connect it to a device that will output to the monitor. It would be a good idea to check with the sales person about its features.

Though this is just a primer I hope it has helped you in a small way to understand what is out there. As technology is rapidly changing there may be newer and better products for you to choose from. You can be sure as the technology gets better you will be able to enjoy theater quality viewing in the comfort of your own living room at a more reasonable price. Once you have had a Big Screen TV for a short time you will wonder how you will ever be able to go back to a smallscreen again. But then again why would you want to?