Size matters, but that’s not all
Dumbfounded by bells and whistles of modern TVS? We’ve got your back
If it seems as though televisions have gotten very complicated very fast, it’s not just you.
Sometimes smart technology can make us feel dumb. You must contend with a number of abbreviations — LCD, OLED, HDR, HDMI and more — and widely varying price points. What does it all mean and why can’t we just go buy a TV? To break it down, we talked to technology experts, a deals guru and an interior design expert — because you shouldn’t need a degree in TV to binge-watch Stranger Things.
LCD VERSUS OLED
Despite the letters swimming before your eyes at the big box stores, there are basically only two options for TVS: liquid crystal display (LCD) and organic light-emitting diode (OLED).
LCDS (sometimes called QLED or LED LCD), which illuminate pixels using a central lamp, are generally the most cost-effective.
Their picture is improving as manufacturers step up the quality with advances such as quantum dots, which add colour and brightness.
OLEDS, which use organic material allowing each pixel to light up individually, will always have the better picture — and a higher price to match.
For someone who wants the ultimate movie or sports experience with brighter brights and darker darks, OLEDS are best. “I have both types of TVS at home,” says Jason Sigritz of Columbus, Ohio, an inhome adviser for Best Buy, “and I catch myself always wanting to watch the OLED.”
SCREEN SIZE
“You can comfortably sit as close as around 100 per cent the diagonal measurement of your 4K TV,” says Will Greenwald, Pcmag’s home entertainment editor and senior electronics analyst for TVS.
“If you’re sitting five feet away, a 55-inch TV is good. Eight feet, maybe 65 inch.”
On a media cabinet or console, go for a TV that is slightly smaller than the unit. “For example, a 65inch TV feels a bit large for a 57-inch console, but looks much more balanced on an 80-inch console,” says Alessandra Wood, vice-president of style at Modsy, an interior home design service in San Francisco. For bedrooms, “43 inches is large enough to see from bed, but small enough to sit on a dresser without taking up too much space,” she says.
SCREEN RESOLUTION
Most TVS sold today that are larger than 40 inches have 4K resolution, which means four times the old standard of 1,080 pixels or 3,840 by 2,160 pixels, Greenwald says. That’s four times the detail of just a few years ago.
That doesn’t mean all the content you want to watch will be available in 4K, but a 4K TV will “significantly improve” picture quality, Sigritz says. “With a 4K TV, whatever you’re watching — Blu-ray, DVD, streaming content or cable/satellite broadcast — will be much sharper, clearer and better than a standard HD TV due to upscaling technology.”
TVS with 8K resolution are just starting to enter the market with a resolution four times the number of pixels of 4K (yes, the math is confusing). “They’re strictly for early adopters,” he warns
HDR
High dynamic range (HDR) means the TV can show a wider range of colour than older models,
“to provide a picture that’s more lifelike,” says Sigritz, who recommends looking for an HDR TV for the best viewing experience. “It’s like we had that eight-pack of crayons and we went up to the 24-pack of crayons.”
Netflix, Amazon Prime and other streaming services are making sure that when they offer 4K content, it’s also in HDR. This is usually called HDR10, which is what movie studios and TV companies have agreed on for the HDR standard. Note, though, that different companies offer enhancements on HDR: Dolby Vision is one (used by Sony, LG and Vizio) and HDR10+ is another (used by Samsung and Panasonic).
REFRESH RATE
The ideal refresh rate — or rate at which the picture refreshes — depends on the type of content you want to watch, Sigritz says. At the standard rate, the picture is refreshed 60 times per second or 60 Hertz (Hz). “We want a TV that has 120 Hz as our minimum,” he says, “so that when a football goes flying across the screen or there’s a car chase in a movie, it’s not blurry and fuzzy.” Some manufacturers are even offering 240 Hz, which is the clearest with motion.
HDMI CONNECTIONS
We used to have four or five spaghetti-like cords that would hook up each device, Sigritz says. Now, with HDMI cords, each device has only one cord, “but we want to make sure that we have enough for all of our devices,” he says. Think about how many devices you want to attach to your TV and then count the HDMI ports. Hookup options include: sound bar, streaming box, game system, Blu-ray device, cable box.
WHEN TO BUY
The best time to buy a new TV is from Black Friday through December, says David Dritsas, an electronics retail expert for U.S. Virgin Islands-based Brad’s Deals. Do your research on the TV you want and the price before looking for sales so you’ll know a good deal when you see it. Another good time is late February and March, he says, because “TV manufacturers start to release new products and discount older models.”
SOUND BARS
TVS come with tiny speakers, causing a well-known phenomenon: we turn up the volume for a quiet scene and then race to find the remote when an explosion blasts. The solution is a sound bar.
Sound bars bring the dialogue forward and many will have a subwoofer to help the viewer experience an exciting scene without having to turn up the volume so high the neighbours complain.
“Consider a sound bar or speaker system to supplement your TV audio if you want an immersive viewing experience,” Greenwald says.
Many manufacturers will offer deals when you buy the TV and sound bar at the same time.
HANGING THE TV
In general, you want to make sure that the midline of the TV is at your eye line when sitting, Wood advises, unless you’re hanging it above a mantel; in that situation, hang it as you would a piece of art with an even border of wall space around it.
For a clean look, make sure there’s an outlet and a cable jack behind the TV.
Sigritz’s tip: Use a television mount larger than necessary in case you buy a larger TV down the road.