Tips on selecting the right LCD TV for your home

Nitida Asawanipont

The Nation

When buying one, consider four points: budget, a size that fits your home, fitting it with one's individual lifestyle and securing a model that meets your expectations.

The most popular size is the 32-inch screen, as many brands are offering competitive prices to compete in this segment. Prices range from Bt20,000 to Bt30,000.

The price tags have significantly fallen since LCD TV was introduced here a few years ago.

Some product experts do not believe prices can drop much more from current levels.

Those with smaller screens are, of course, cheaper. A 22-inch screen is much more affordable to the working classes.

But for shoppers with substantially deeper pockets, bigger may be better. Apart from the 32-inch, there are three other sizes. The 37-inch model will cost between Bt30,000 and Bt38,000. A 42-inch goes for Bt38,000 to Bt60,000. The 47-inch sells from Bt60,000 up to Bt100,000 or more.

When considering where to best place your TV, Yutaka Nakajima, a visual department worker at the marketing division of Sony Thai, suggested that buyers of 40-inch models place them in living rooms.

Those buying a 26-inch or smaller model should place them in bedrooms or places that allow for more personal use.

The rooms should also be big enough for the TVs to be fitted with other gadgets in case the owners want to hook up with game consoles or personal computers.

When it comes to design, the LCD TV is not only a tool for watching news and entertainment shows, but also a furniture piece.

It is sometimes viewed by some as a status symbol, showing that its owner is probably wealthy.

Many manufacturers offer fancy designs, such as Samsung, which recently launched new models focusing on crystal designs. Sony is offering white models.

On the technology front, LCD models include hard and soft panels, with high definition (HD) to improve contrast and brightness.

Veerakiat Chiratcaroon, product specialist for LG Electronics (Thailand), said hard panels were more durable than soft ones because the latter were easily scratched or damaged.

Most LCD TVs from 32-inch to 42-inch have only HD Ready technology. Those larger than 42 inches have "full HD" technology.

Full HD gives out 6.2 million megapixels while HD Ready only gives out 2.1 million, said Somchai Tawonrungroaj, general manager of consumer products at Philips Electronics (Thailand).

Demand for full HD is still small, but its market is growing. The average life of such TVs is 60,000 hours, which is about 10 years. There are also more movies and TV shows made for full HD.

The image quality obtained by HD Ready TV will not be as good.

Because of its advantages, LG predicts full HD will dominate half the market in the future.

LCD TV that can use Blu-Ray disc players is also becoming popular.

For contrast ratio, which is the ratio of picture sharpness, the basic ratio for LCD TV is 5,000:1 up to 50,000:1 for premium models.

The higher the contrast ratio, the sharper the images will appear.

In brightness, many LCD TVs can automatically be adjusted to obtain the desired level.