FAQ's

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a LCD television? An LCD tv is a flat panel television that utilizes the same basic Liquid Crystal Display technology that has been in use in cell phones, camcorder viewfinders, and computer monitors

What is a Plasma television? Plasma television technology is similar to the technology used in a fluorescent lightbulb. The display itself consists of cells. Within each cell two glass panels are separated by a narrow gap in which neon-xenon gas is injected and sealed in plasma form during the manufacturing process. The gas is electrically charged at specific intervals when the Plasma set is in use. The charged gas then strikes red, green, and blue phosphors, thus creating a television image. Each group of red, green, and blue phosphors is called a pixel

LCD televisions or Plasma televisions? Both types of flat panel televisions have advantages and disadvantages but the final decision is yours.

Plasma television advantages:

For Plasma televisions, the advantages over LCD, are: Better contrast ratio, better ability to render deep blacks, more color depth, better motion tracking (response time), and more availability in very large screen sizes.

Plasma television disadvantages:

Plasma televisions are more susceptible to burn-in (although this is not as much of a factor now, due to technology improvements in the past couple of years), more heat generation, they do not perform as well at higher altitudes, heavier weight, and they have a shorter display life span (although this too is changing due to technology improvements).

LCD television advantages:

LCD television advantages include no burn-in susceptibility, cooler running, less screen glare, more functional at high altitudes, longer display life (although improvements are being made in Plasma screen life), looks better in brightly lit rooms

LCD television disadvantages:

LCD televisions have lower contrast ratio, not as good rendering deep blacks, not as good at tracking motion (although this is improving), and are more expensive than an equivalent-sized Plasma television, although the price gap is closing.

What is 1080p? 1080p refers to the 1920x1080 "progressive scan" HDTV format. Also called "true HDTV" and "ultra HD," 1080p provides the highest resolution in the HDTV standard. On TV sets with screens smaller than 40", it may be difficult to distinguish the difference between 1080p and 720p, the lower of the HDTV resolutions.

What is 720p? 720p refers to the 1280x720 "progressive scan" HDTV format. Although the lowest HDTV standard, on TVs up to 40", 720p delivers excellent quality. At 40", and beyond, the higher 1080p resolution offers optimum viewing, especially for HD DVD and Blu-ray high-definition formats.

Please read before you buy a HDTV:

Bernard Lechner is an award winning television engineer. At RCA he was heavily involved in the development of HDTV. Lechner researched the typical distance between a viewer and their television screen by taking measurements in many American homes. The median distance complied from all his data came out to 9 feet. This measurement is now called the Lechner distance.

Your viewing distance based on Lechner’s analysis is very likely to be 9 feet. There are two standard HD broadcast resolutions 720 lines and 1080 lines. The following are the minimum screen sizes that will let your eyes resolve all the detail at the Lechner distance, one for each HD broadcast resolution.

For a 720p display it’s a 46” screen size.
For 1080i or 1080p display it’s a whopping 69”screen. All screen measurements are diagonal inches.

A smaller display for each given resolution will not allow your eyes to perceive all the detail that appears in HDTV.

For maximum veiwing distance for different screen sizes, click here

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