Help, I Need a New HDTV! (Part 5 of 5)

Feeling overwhelmed in selecting a new TV? With all the choices these days, you may feel like, “Where do I start?!”

In the final part of our 5 part article, we the discuss tv recommendations by room.

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Bedrooms and kids rooms. You will typically see the size range from 20” to 40” due to the size of the room. If you desire to mount the TV on the wall, LCD makes a good choice. If your kids have a computer in their room, you may want utilize it for the TV as well. Since LCD has takes less space, and has no burn in problems they make a good choice for any bedroom.

Kitchens and bathrooms. For similar reasons to the bedrooms, LCD’s also do well in these areas. In these applications the typical viewing distance is even closer as you may be several feet from the screen. Mount your LCD directly to the wall to avoid sacrificing counter space. In this application you are likely choosing screen sizes from 9” to 25”, most commonly 15” and 17” due to good size vs. price ratio.

Family rooms, living rooms, and other multiple use rooms. Because of the nature of these rooms, the TV will place a multi tasking role. You may want to watch a football game, play video games (ruling plasma out), or sit and watch a movie. A good rear projection DLP will fare best in these rooms. This technology surpasses the quality of your traditional CRT rear projection in image quality and viewing angles. Often, these rooms have an entertainment center or cabinetry around the TV for storage of video games, DVD’s, and video tapes; so have a shallow depth TV is less of a concern—making plasma’s ultra-thin advantage a waste of money.

Home Theaters. Having a dedicated home theater where you enjoy movies and TV with family and friends is where you want to spend the money on the best TV source that fits in your budget. Plasmas will be a great choice as they offer the ultimate in color and moving pictures. Another alternative is a projection system. We recommend DLP projection seems to be the current leading technology because of quality to price ratio. However, do remember projectors require a room where you can block as much outside light as possible so the picture doesn’t wash out.

©2005 Architechtronics, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Jennifer Shatos holds a degree in Visual Communications from the Art Institute of Seattle. Jennifer frequently attends educational seminars to keep on the cutting-edge of business, along with trade shows and other events in the home automation and security industry.