I meant to write this post about a year ago when I got my HDTV, but most of the information still applies, so here goes.

First off, the main TV I ended up purchasing was the Panasonic TH-50PX80U, which is a very nice bug affordable 50″ plasma TV. It only has 720p resolution, but it is really hard to notice a difference between 1080p and 720p unless you have a TV bigger than 50″. Last year, I saved about $800 by choosing 720p, but now it only amounts to a $200 price difference, although I don’t know if the affordable 1080p is missing any features.

The second TV was a 26″ Vizio (don’t remember which model) for the bedroom, and its affordability came with several drawbacks. Changing channels was exceptionally slow, although this is with the built-in tuner. If we used a cable box, this problem might go away. The TV is also a lot deeper than I would have expected. It’s about as deep as our 50″ TV, but it is much more noticeable. The proper viewing angle is pretty narrow, so the colors look really dark if I am laying down on the bed, since it is mounted rather high on the wall. This could be fixed by a tilting mount, but that was deemed aesthetically pleasing enough.

Plasma versus LCD:
Plasma TVs have historically been much larger than LCDs, but you can now get competitively priced ones as large as 55″.

• Plasma drawbacks:
  • Glare. If you have windows behind your couch, you will want curtains or blinds to prevent glare. Skylights haven’t caused us any problems, and windows on the sides of the room are only a problem if you are watching TV from the opposite side. You will also want to turn off any lamps near the couch.
• LCD drawbacks:
  • Limited viewing angle. As described above, the colors will be too dark outside the proper viewing angle. This can be overcome pretty well by increasing the brightness, but then the colors will look washed out when you move back into the intended viewing angle.
  • Possibly, slow response times that cause action scenes to be blurry. Newer high-end LCDs have overcome this problem, but you should check the response times before you buy.
  • Possibly, blacks that aren’t as dark as a plasma, but this would only be noticeable in a room as dark as a theater.

Service Providers:

Satellite providers, DirecTV and Dish Network, and fiber optic providers like Verizon FIOS and AT&T U-Verse have the most channels in HD. Cable providers don’t have enough bandwidth, and as I will discuss later, this causes problems with using a Tivo. If you use a satellite provider, you will need to check whether they have your local channels, and whether they are in HD. For example, in my area the Dish Network only had standard definition NBC. If you have some TVs that you don’t need HD on, the cable service providers transmit both digital (HD & SD) and analog signals, so you can use the TV’s built-in tuner instead of a cable box for the first hundred channels.

PVRs:

Depending on your provider, using a Tivo or your own computer as a PVR will be difficult or nearly impossible. It is much easier to use the PVR that your provider can lease to you, but the quality of the PVR varies greatly. The worst PVRs, that I know of, are the Scientific Atlantic models that are provided by Comcast, Time Warner, and Grande Communications. They don’t let you search for a program by name. You have to know the time, date, and channel for the show, or you have to scroll through an immense alphabetical lists of all the shows.

There are two options for tuning HD channels with a Tivo. You can install up to two CableCards for decrypting the HD channels, but this is only available from cable providers, hence the name, and you still have the risk of your provider using the nightmare that is Switched Digital Video. If the Tivo can’t read the information directly from the line, you can have it change channels using your cable/satellite box by sending IR signals like a remote control or by connecting it to the cable box’s serial port, if it is supported. Of course, this means you need a separate box for each channel you want to record, and you would need yet another if you want to watch a channel that is not being recorded.

Wall mounts:

There are three types of wall mounts:

• Fixed mounts. These are the thinnest and cheapest, but you can’t adjust the viewing angle at all.
• Tilting mounts. These are only a little more expensive and thicker than fixed mounts, and it is helpful when the TV is mounted higher than your couch.
• Articulating mounts. These have an arm that swings that allows you to rotate the TV to the left and right in addition to up and down. This is very handy if you want to watch TV from your kitchen table. Unfortunately, these normally cost upwards of $400. This mount also makes the TV stick out more, even when the arm is retracted.

For my 26″ TV, I got the awesomely thin fixed mount from Peerless. There is another model for larger TVs. The mount that I got for my larger TV was just a basic tilt mount. Since it is a plasma TV, I don’t really have to tilt at all to make the picture look good. I really wanted another mount that was backordered, and I had an upcoming TV party that prevented me from waiting. It was the ultra-cool Peerless in-wall mounts, which have all the benefits of an articulating mount, but without the drawback of not being able to position the TV very close to the wall. They are extremely expensive on Peerless’ website, but they are priced comparably with other articulating mounts at other stores.

Cables:

Even though you can get the best deals on the TV by buying locally since you avoid shipping charges, you should be forwarned that all brick-and-mortar stores try to rip you off on HDMI cables. Even Walmart charges an obscene $45 for a 6 meter cable. Monoprice.com has the best selection of cables at the best prices. If you need a fiber optic audio cable to hook up your TV to your sound system, be sure to look for the TOSLINK cables in the home theater section, otherwise you may end up looking at networking fiber optic cables that have completely different connectors. If you need composite cables for one of your devices, you should also get them from Monoprice, although the brick-and-mortar stores don’t mark those up quite so much.

Power and Surge Protection:

Although BestBuy and other stores will mount your TV and run cables in the wall to your devices for around $350. They will not move your power outlet, since the installers are not licensed electricians. You can risk burning down your house if you run a normal power code inside the wall. However, it is fairly simple to use romex to install a power outlet high on the wall behind your TV by using the PowerBridge. It will run you about $80 (at some stores), which is still much less than most electrician’s minimum service charge.

I looked at getting a power conditioner or a UPS, but the cost was pretty close to the deductible on my home owner’s policy, although you may need one if you have dirty utility power causing distortion in your audio or video. I opted to just use surge protectors, which I needed anyways to provide me with 50 bazillion outlets. One nice product that minimized some of the cabling headaches was the Belkin PureAV PF30, which fits nicely under a DVD player or PVR, and that keeps it from falling off the shelf. Since it is only 2-1/8″ high, you will have troubles plugging wall warts directly into it. Also, you know it’s a good product since it gets good reviews on Amazon. Oh wait, that’s not true.