The quest for an HDTV this holiday season

Keeping up with the latest in HD can make you forget how difficult it can be for the above average consumer to find the right HDTV. Sure the average Joe would just go in the store an buy what is on sale or what the salesman sells him, but the above average consumer has his work cut out for him. He isn't an HD nut like us, he doesn't live and breath HD news by reading Engadget HD every day, but he knows enough to want to make the right decision. This is what Paul Boutin from Slate Magazine found out on his quest for an HDTV this holiday season. He learned a lot along the way, but missed the main point because he didn't end up buying a HDTV. He did realize that all TVs have problems, but he missed the point that having any HDTV is better than not having one at all and you just need to pick the one that has problems you can live with. He also learned something that surprised us, clerks in the store actually tried to talk him out of 1080p, yeah that's right. We don't get it either, sure 1080p isn't for everyone, but if someone wants the best despite the fact they might not actually notice the difference, why try to talk him out of it?

[Paul @ Dec 16th 2006 6:03PM]

From an article I saw . . . Imaging Science Foundation (ISF), a group that consults for home-theater manufacturers and trains professional video calibrators, when it says that the most important aspect of picture quality is contrast ratio, the second-most important is color saturation, and the third is color accuracy. Though resolution may be the most talked-about spec these days, it comes in fourth on the ISF list, and after you sit watching five TVs lined up side by side, you understand why.

[brian @ Dec 18th 2006 4:30PM]

For all of his supposed research into HDTVs, Mr. Boutin seems not really to have done a very thorough job.

For instance (and this is just one obvious set of errors among many), when he riffs on DLP TVs, he talks about how "bulky" they are, and how he doesn't want a "200-lb God Box" in his living room. Well, sorry to disappoint, but DLP is neither as bulky nor as heavy as he purports. Samsung for instance (and I'm not flacking for them, it's just true) has a "slim" DLP TV that's less than 11" deep and weighs just over 50 lbs. That's hardly the bulky, 200-lb demon of Mr. Boutin's nightmares.

I think the truth is that Mr. Boutin hasn't owned a TV in 15 years, and he was looking for a reason not to buy into the HDTV "revolution".

[Jamie Cox @ Dec 19th 2006 6:20AM]

I've been shopping for a smaller TV/DVD combo for the kitchen. It's surprisingly hard to find a small TV with an ATSC tuner. I use antennas for reception, and I know that the clock is counting down toward the end of analog broadcasting. So, where are all the digital tuners? There's a lot of deceptive wording in the ads, but when you finally get to the specifications, no digital tuner. This is going to be an unpleasant surprise for a lot of folks.