Tech Tools & Toys: August
LCDs are flat panel monitors with similar benefits to plasma. LCDs offer wide-angle viewing clarity, plus smooth, colorful images. They provide high contrast and brightness for viewing under normal lighting; you don’t have to dim or turn off the room lights to enjoy great viewing or kill the glare, which may be the case with DLP.
Smaller dot pitch is better (less than .28mm is recommended). The smaller the number, the closer together the pixels, which improves the image quality.
LCDs are also computer monitors. Check for a variety of inputs before you buy. Also, buy name brand. The light source in your LCD is the critical component, and it may have a shorter warranty than the rest of the box. When it goes, so does your TV.
Plasma: Plasma TVs are fluorescent tubes on steroids, stuffed into tiny pixels, just like LCDs. These TVs are flat-panel devices that compete with LCD for market dominance. Plasmas lead in areas of contrast (3,000:1) for outstanding brightness and viewing under normal light, plus rich blackness through software innovation. In terms of visual quality, most viewers still prefer plasma technology over LCD.
Wide Screen: Wide screen is defined as a 16 wide by 9 high ratio of pixels (16:9). It’s the norm for HDTV and DVD and the recommended choice for any new TV. Traditional viewing (satellite and cable TV, VCR) is 4 high by 3 wide (4:3). When viewing traditional video on a wide screen TV, the TV does its best to display it correctly by trimming each side with black or stretching the image at the edge; you can usually decide which method to use.
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