Shopping for a new TV

The first thing to do if you are planning on buying a TV soon is to decide how much you can spend and which type you want. Recommended are sizes of at least 32" for a bedroom and at least 40" for the family room. The width of HDTV screens are generally 1-3 inches less than the actual width of the unit. Keep this in mind when shopping, and be sure to measure wherever you plan on setting up your TV before you leave for the store. Last thing you want is to return home with a HDTV that won't fit in your room.

There are three main types of TV's: plasma, LEDs and LCDs. Plasma uses more energy than the other two, and is higher priced, but looks better. LED and LCD compare well in energy usage. If you're on a budget, then LCDs are the cheapest option, although the side view isn't as good as plasma. Instead of using cold-cathode fluorescent lights as LCD's do, LED TV's use LED light bulbs as the backlight. They can be ultra-thin due to the LED's, but whether it's a feature worth the extra money is up to you.

As far as ports go, make sure it has as many HDMI inputs as possible, because you'll want to connect your cable box, game consoles, or home theater system. The current standard is 1080p, spend the extra money on the most up-to-date technology. Buying a 720p TV is kind of like buying a VCR when you could have a DVD player. Blu-Ray is also the new standard. A refresh rate is the number of times a still image is flashed on the screen, and 240 is as good as it gets to the human eye. However, there are critics who claim you can't tell the difference in even the smaller than 240 refresh rates and it's not worth paying the extra cash for.

There are TV's with internet connectivity as well as different ports for media display and storage, but if you have a game console it probably already does these things. No need to pay for what you already have! Once you have figured out what type and size TV you are looking for, you can start price shopping. Get the Sunday newspaper ads or browse ads online to find the TV that meets your specifications. TVs usually go on sale throughout the year, but more often around the holidays. The perfect distance to place your couch from your TV is a minimum of 1.5 times the diagonal measurement of your TV to a maximum distance of 2 times the measurement. Once you find the HDTV you want, buy it, connect it and enjoy.