23 Tips For Buying the Best HDTV [Gizmodo]
In the market for a new high def television? Gizmodo has some HDTV evaluation tips from Dr. Raymod Soneira, president of a company that manufactures video calibration and diagnostic products. Next time you're off to the store to compare a wall full of flat screen LCDs and plasmas, you might take a copy of Dr. Soneira's checklist with you to help you distinguish subtle differences in picture quality.
Many of these tips revolve around the idea of taking your own evaluation material to watch on a retailer's HDTV display models. Frequently retailers have a loop of the same video playing on all their display models. Dr. Soneira recommends creating a DVD or USB drive of still images that test color accuracy - especially dark colors and black. If that's not an option, there are movies with interior and darkened scenes that can test color reproduction.
On LCD sets, Dr. Soneira recommends testing the viewing angles by shifting viewing positions around a set displaying a still photo. And if a salesperson will let you, test changes in the the color settings. It will help you determine whether a better picture is possible.
I would not trust any picture you see in the store. Look at write-ups from folks who have the models and have them calibrated. If more folks bought on that rather than price (and investment banks had not brought down the world economy), we may have gotten a Pioneer Kuro 10g, bettering the best monitors to date.
Posted by: Donald | Saturday, July 10, 2010 at 12:02 AM