Flat panel televisions let you make maximum use of your space without compromising on picture quality. Our flat panel TV buying guide will help you choose the flat panel television that will best suit your needs. If you are trying to decide between Plasma/LCD/LED TVs, you should consider flat panel TV features like screen size, brightness and contrast, HD performance, aspect ratio, pixels & burn-in, flat panel resolution, and more.

TV Buying Tips

For those of you who are planning to buy small-screen flat panel TVs, LCDs are your best bet, seeing how plasma TVs start at 30 inches and LED TVs so far mostly available in larger sizes (40+ inches). You should always choose a flat panel television that supports 720p or 1080i/p HD-resolution for better HD performance. If you want to get the most out of your HD content, LCDs are better because they support higher resolutions than most plasma TVs.

While LCDs score higher in brightness, plasma TVs have the upper hand when it comes to contrast and picture quality. For the best picture quality, look for a plasma TV with at least a 10,000:1 contrast ratio. If you watch a lot of movies on DVDs, then you should opt for a flat panel TV that features an aspect ratio of 16:9, else 4:3 televisions should do just fine.

One major disadvantage of plasma TVs is the burn-in effect produced by static images. If you are worried about this, then its better to go with LCDs. The risk of burn-in also makes LCDs a better choice for gaming than plasma TVs.

High altitudes of 6,500 feet and more can affect the performance of plasma TVs because the gas inside the TVs pixels becomes stressed. Even though a few manufacturers have come out with plasmas that are specifically designed for high altitudes, you may have to dish out extra money for them. Unlike plasma TVs, LCDs are not affected by the altitude. So if you live at a higher altitude, then LCDs are better value for money.

If however you are interested in the newest technology available, you might want to check out LED TVs. These Televisions are the “latest and greatest” to hit the market (also making them more expensive at this time). LED TVs are billed as the sucessor to the LCD TV offering lower power consumption, slimmer sizes, longer lives, deeper & richer colors, as well as a host of next generation features such as UBS ports & Intenet connectivity. You can read all about them in one of our previous posts, LED TVs – They are Here to Stay.