 |
...Continued - Page 3 of 3 (
1
2
3
)
Related Showrooms
• Renovation Experts - Put your home in good hands. Get FREE estimates on your project.
• LightingUniverse.com - Lighting for your Home
• Bellacor.com - The Online Leader for Quality Lighting and more.
“Rear projection really only remains relevant in the very largest screen sizes, bigger than 60 to 70 inches,” Willcox says.
Berman says that as a technology, DLP has its strong points. “DLP as a technology is very robust,” he says. “These sets will work for a long, long time.” He says tests show that on average, a DLP set will last 15 to 30 years.
| | | |  | |  | | | | | Smart Shopping: Tips for Getting the Best Deal on an HDTV Think you’ll walk into a big-box store and be able to make an educated decision about what television is best for your home setup? Think again, says Sean Westcott, author of the book Digitally Daunted: The Consumer's Guide to Taking Control of the Technology in Your Life. “Buying an HDTV is a big purchase for most consumers,” he says. “You want to do your homework, read lots of articles and reviews, and understand the different types and brands before you ever go to a store to start looking.”
Once you’ve decided on what you want, here are a few purchasing tips.
Be ready to negotiate. “People tend to assume that the price you see is the price you have to pay,” says Dan de Grandpre, CEO of the bargain hunting Web site DealNews.com. Be willing to negotiate, even if a TV is already on sale. “Virtually every Best Buy and Circuit City store is willing to negotiate.”
Think outside the box. “If you're looking for a very small HDTV, like for a kitchen or kid’s room, consider a TV tuner that turns a standard computer LCD into a TV,” de Grandpre says. “Compared to buying a small LCD TV, you'll save enough to replace your computer's old LCD with a nice new one.”
Know when to buy. “The best time to buy, year in and year out, is around Black Friday for no-name sets and the two weeks before Christmas for high-end sets,” de Grandpre says. But deals can be had year-round, as well. “Prices on old models drop when new models are released. New TVs are usually announced at CES [the Consumer Electronics Show], a big electronics trade show in January. The new TVs are released over the next several months after CES, and older models are discounted. So, March, April and May are good times to find deals on very good TVs that aren't the latest and priciest.”
| | | | | | | | | | | Cons: The most noticeable negative of a rear projection set is simply its size. “Projection, as a rule, is a deeper product than LCD or plasma,” Berman says. “While it’s better than the old tube sets, it’s still going to be 16 inches or greater in depth, as opposed to plasma or LCD, which are usually four inches or less.”
Another negative of rear projection sets are the bulbs used to create the picture. They burn out periodically and can be rather expensive to replace. Rear projections also have narrower viewing angles than LCD or plasma.
Bottom Line: If you’re looking for a really large screen and don’t mind the narrow viewing angle, you might consider rear projection. But if you don’t need a huge set, you’ll probably be happier with a plasma or LCD set.
Front Projection
Pros: The least common of the various types of HDTVs, front projection, may not be starring at a big-box store near you, but for real movie buffs, it’s the only way to go for high-definition viewing.
“Very few people use front projectors as their primary TV device,” Willcox says. “But it’s a great display device for a really large screen.”
Tynan uses a front projector in his house. “We don’t watch much sports or television, but we watch a lot of movies,” he says. “Plus, it has the ‘spouse approval factor’—I can get a 100-inch screen on a wall 10 feet away, but it’s not this huge box that’s always there.”
High-definition front projectors are becoming more affordable than ever, as well. “A few years ago, they were $15,000 to $20,000 each,” Willcox says. “Now you can get good ones for $3,000 to $8,000.”
Cons: Even with the price drop, front projections are still more expensive than other types of HDTVs. Also, it’s really not ideal if you watch live television, sports or play video games on a regular basis. In addition, the projector is not usually the only expense of a front projection setup. You can project the image onto a wall, but many people prefer using a pull-down screen, which is an added expense.
Bottom Line: If you are looking to outfit a deluxe home theater with a high-definition DVD player and super-huge screen, you’ll want to seriously consider front projection. If you’re just looking for an everyday set, however, other choices are probably better fits.
|
Text by Alyson McNutt English
© 2008 BobVila.com
...Continued - Page 3 of 3 (
1
2
3
)
< Previous Page
- Add To:
-
 Del.icio.us
-
 Digg
-
 Google
-
 Y! MyWeb
-
 Reddit
-
 Technorati
|
|
Related Articles
Related Tips
Related Videos
