Things to consider when buying a TV

by Russells 12 July 2023

Televisions have come a long way, from the black and white boxes we used to watch the classics on, to the still bulky color televisions that took over, and now the slim and ever so versatile plasma TV's on the market. With such a variety of these to choose from, the jargon can get quite overwhelming. While you don't need to have a Ph.D. in television, you do need to know the basics and most important aspects of this device. We've broken them down into three things you might want to consider when making a purchase and have shared some of our recommendations.

Size does matter when buying a TV, especially in relation to the living room space. You need to be able to clearly make out the images and subtitles on your favorite shows. Size is also a determining factor in the price of the television, a 55-inch TV, for instance, will more expensive than a 32-inch TV, across all brands.

Next, let's get into the meanings of the different acronyms and how they affect the quality. HD means high definition display resolution. Resolution explains how many pixels a display has in length x width format. More is always better when choosing a TV. HD displays have a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels. A display with a 1920 x 1080 resolution can also be called HD. However, a 1920 x 1080 resolution is more officially referred to as Full HD (FHD). 4k or Ultra HD refers to a TV resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels. That’s four times as many pixels than in a full HD TV. LED stands for light-emitting diode. These are little solid-state devices that make light via the movement of electrons through a semiconductor. When you see a TV written SLED, don't let that throw you off, it still stands for a standard LED TV. With regards to quality, the more acronyms there are on the TV description, the better the quality.

An extra to be mindful of when shopping for a TV is hardware support. Check if the TV supports sources from devices like a USB flash drive, you can even go further if you're planning on watching things from your computer and find out whether it supports HDMI or VGA cables to ensure compatibility.