I have bought 3 HD TV’s in the past several years and here is what I have learned:
1.The 80/20 rule applies. You can get 80% of the performance of the very best TV’s for 20% of the price. I have 1 very expensive one and 2 from Wal-Mart. I am ashamed of how much I paid for the one; therefore I must pretend that I can tell the difference.
2. I can’t really tell the difference in 1080p and 1080i, but if I were buying my primary set I would go for the 1080p JIC.
3. Specifications aren’t necessarily standardized, so trust what you can see, not what you read.
4.Contrast is important, but in a brightly lit store what you can see can be confusing. Look at the sets turned off. The ones with the blackest screens will generally have the best contrast.
5. Look at the sets from the distance that you will be viewing them. There are a lot of charts showing the optimum viewing distance for a given size and resolution of TV, but trust what you can see.
6. The true measure of a HD TV is how well it displays non HD programs. Some convert from the older formats to widescreen better than others. The problem is I know of no retail places where one can test this.
7. With modern sets, if anything is going to go wrong, it will probably happen in the first 100 hours. This, coupled with the fact that the average viewer in most viewing situations can’t tell the difference between a very good set and a good set indicates that one should buy the set in their price range with the best picture. However I know that you like to have the best of everything, so you may not be happy with the 80%. I just wish I didn’t have to pretend that the picture on the expensive one is better that the no name Wal-Mart ones.
