In this final installment of The Geek Beat’s series on Everything HD, we learn that while size matters when picking the best HD display, more often than not, he who lives with the most pixels wins.

So, you’ve got your HD disc player, your high definition cable or satellite service or your ATSC antenna ready to go. Now comes the fun part: picking a screen to see it all on.

For most consumers, the automatic assumption is bigger is always better. And, in a general sense, that’s true: A 30-inch TV is going to look way better than a 13-inch one under most conditions. However, when you start comparing large-format screens (for our purposes, anything 32 inches or bigger falls into this category), bigger is not necessarily better. Sitting five feet away from that 100-inch behemoth isn’t going to deliver an ideal viewing experience, no matter how nice the screen itself is.

Minding Your “p” and “i”

The first thing you need to figure out is what resolution screen you want. Resolution is a measurement of the total number of pixels a screen can display. In general, the higher the resolution, the more pixels a screen has, and, therefore, the sharper an image it can display.

Most HD content is available at 1920 x 1080-pixel resolution – which The Geek Beat refers to as “True HD” because it’s the current maximum resolution for HD content. Unfortunately, most displays offer resolutions considerably lower than 1920 x 1080 pixels. It’s not uncommon for HDTVs to only offer resolutions of 1366 x 768 pixels or lower.

This is changing rapidly as companies like Sharp and Sony (see our review of the Sony KDL-40V2500) introduce entire lines of True HD displays and are rapidly phasing out their lower resolution models. If getting the sharpest image possible matters to you, be careful to check the resolution of a display before you buy one. Most HDTVs are measured by their vertical resolution, because most broadcast resolutions are described in lines, versus pixels, which are square. That’s why you’ll more often see a screen’s maximum resolution expressed as 480p, 720p, or 1080p, where “p” stands for “progressive-scan” or “non-interlaced” lines of resolution.

You’ll also see screen resolution expressed as 1080i. The “i” stands for “interlaced” fields of resolution. Without getting into a lengthy technical explanation, an interlaced image must be “deinterlaced” – a process that converts the interlaced fields into frames, sometimes referred to as line doubling because each field only contains half the total image for that frame – before it can be displayed on most HD displays. The process does cause some degradation of the image, but for non-True HD displays, this may be the only way to approximate a 1080p image.

In short, a 1080p display will deliver the densest, clearest image that will stand up best under close examination. If you’re planning to put a large display in small room, you’ll get the best results from a True HD television.

Screen (size) Test

Of course, buying a True HD television is going to cost more than a lower-resolution display, and in some viewing situations the difference won’t be that noticeable.

In a large room where you will be sitting far away from the screen, screen size may matter more than resolution, especially if you only plan to watch video on your TV and not hook it up to a computer or video game console. In this case, all you need to do is determine how far from the TV you’ll be sitting to determine how big a screen you really need.

For example, if your couch is four feet or fewer from your TV stand, a 30- or 32-inch display will suffice. Sitting four to six feet away? A 37- to 42-inch TV will do the trick. And if you’re home theater puts you six to ten feet from the screen, a display up to 56 inches will likely satisfy.

If you want to go for one of those monster screens in the 60- to 70-inch and above sizes, prepare to sit at least eight feet if not more from the screen for an ideal viewing experience. Remember, if you have a True HD display, you can generally knock a foot or more off our estimates.

Also remember, these are approximations based on our experience. You’re the best judge of what’s right for you. Go to the store and pace off the feet from the screen base to approximately where you’re going to sit, and see what you think. Just keep in mind that once you’ve lived with a screen for a while, things that didn’t bother you much in the store may become major irritants at home. And, if you can’t decide between two screen sizes, opt for the bigger one. As more and more broadcast content goes HD, your overall viewing experience will only get better on a larger display.

Which Technology is Best?

Once you know what size screen you want, all that’s left to decide is which screen technology best fits your needs.

While there are a dozen different techniques for displaying HD content on a screen, all but three approaches have fallen out of favor: LCD (liquid crystal display), DLP (digital light processing) and plasma. Which you choose will depend on your situation and usage, as each technology has its advantages:

LCD (Advantages: Clarity, sharpness.) If you’re planning to hook up a computer or video game, an LCD will generally deliver the best results. An LCD offers the greatest image clarity and sharpness of the three technologies, and with some high-end models like Sony’s Bravia series, can even approach the color saturation and brightness of a plasma display. LCDs are light and flat making them easy to hang on a wall. On a cost-per-inch basis, LCDs range from being as cheap or cheaper than plasma displays in sizes under 40 inches to considerably more expensive when exceeding 50 inches. That price delta is always moving – usually in favor of LCD – so be sure to compare prices once you’ve determined what size screen you need.

In sizes under 50 inches, LCDs deliver the best balance of price, image quality and flexibility.

DLP (Advantage: Cost-per-inch, especially for larger displays.) A DLP display uses an array of microscopic mirrors to reflect light on to the reverse side of the screen, just like a projection TV. Each mirror equates to a pixel, and by repositioning the mirror, light either hits the screen or a light dump causing that pixel to either illuminate or stay dark on the display.

In single-chip (one mirror array) DLP screens, color is added by the use of a spinning color wheel. In a three-chip model there are three arrays, one for each of the primary colors. Single-chip DLP screens tend to be cheaper, but also have slower refresh rates and a muddier image than a three-chip DLP model.

DLP technology has progressed tremendously in the last year or two, and even single-chip models deliver remarkably good quality images. Three-chip models can be downright spectacular, approaching the clarity of an LCD and color saturation of a plasma display, but for much less money. If you’re on a budget and looking for a big TV set, DLP is a good the way to go.

The biggest disadvantage of a DLP display? The depth of the chassis. While not as deep as a CRT-based television, a DLP screen with still be a foot or more in depth, making it impossible to fit in cramped quarters or to hang on a wall.

Plasma (Advantage: Color saturation, brightness.) A plasma display uses a high-energy plasma discharge to excite phosphors trapped between two layers of glass, causing them to glow. Plasma screens are the granddaddies of flat-panel displays, having achieved large screen sizes and high quality images well before any other technology. It’s taken years for LCD to catch up, and, in most cases, plasma still has the advantage when it comes to color and brightness.

Early plasma screens got a pretty bad rap – justifiably so – because of glitches in the technology that led to short phosphor life, burn-in and broken screens (the glass was very delicate and subject to cracking.) Today’s technology has advanced considerably, and while owners still report these problems, it’s with considerably less frequency. Plasma screens are still power hogs and generate a lot of heat; but those are disadvantages inherent in the technology itself.

This concludes our four-part guide to Everything HD.

Previous installments:
Everything HD Intro: HD Ready?
Everything HD Part I: HD Sources
Everything HD Part II: HD in a Can

We will be updating this guide from time-to-time, so check back for the latest on HD technology.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 27th, 2006 at 9:17 pm and is filed under HOME, TECH, HDTV, GEEK 101, HOME THEATER, KGO RADIO, GIFT GUIDE 2006. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.