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Why You Shouldn't Base Your HD TV Purchase On Showroom Demonstrations

Tags: hdtv , high definition , plasma , lcd , flat panel , flat screen , , ,

While business on the web continue to prosper, many people who are contemplating buying a HDTV would rather visit a high street shop than purchase it through an online retailer. This is very understandable, as you have the luxury of seeing the high definition TV yourself, or getting help from a customer representative before paying.

But things may not be what they seem... here I'm going to tell you why your assessment of a high definition TV in shops might be inaccurate.

First of all, most high definition TVs that are sent directly from factories to stores are configured in what is termed in the industry as "dynamic mode". This means that contrast is artificially boosted and the colors are intentionally oversaturated on the high definition television, as these has been shown in surveys to increase sales.

A high definition TV that 's outputting in "dynamic mode" gives an impression of "brightness" and "vividness", usually mistaken as the telltale signs of a good TV even though the image is — in actual fact — inaccurate. Unfortunately it 's only when you transport the TV back home that you realize the image looks wrong. Every object depicted on the screen will look excessively blue (known as "high color temperature"), and to counter this manufacturers have to oversaturate the color of red so that skin tone will look realistic again, amounting to a color decoder error called "red push" which means that the color red will stand out like a sore thumb.

In addition, in a usual shop with many HDTVs on show, the video signal is divided among all these televisions. As a result each high definition television gets a weaker video signal, which will contribute to a lot of picture artifacts like sparkles and scanning lines, and perhaps blurring and loss of fine detail.

To make matters worse, most stores will very likely use low quality connection cables (as these are much cheaper, and the stores likely have more than their fair share accumulated over time) to distribute the video signal. In an ideal situation one should use a VGA, component, DVI or HDMI connection as these suffer from the least signal loss, and can fulfill all the promise of the high definition television for you to make an accurate judgment... yet you rarely see these used in normal demos unless you specifically request them.

Another issue with the usual high street showroom is too much surrounding lighting, not only from in-store fluorescent lamps and probably the sun, but also from other high definition television unitson show. This will lead to glare (especially on plasma televisions) and drastically reduce the image contrast on the HD TV you're looking at, resulting in a dull picture. Most HD TVs fare better in the home environment where there 's better ambient light control.

All I'm saying is there are certain shortfalls when judging high definition TV in a shop — you're looking at uncalibrated display units with less than pristine feeds in an overly bright environment. To assess the full potential of a high definition television, you can either visit a dedicated shop with the proper setup designed to eliminate these problems, read the experience of existing owners on public forums, or read reviews that are conducted properly under strict conditions.

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<h1>Why You Shouldn't Base Your HD TV Purchase On Showroom Demonstrations</h1><br />by typing00<br /><p>While business on the web continue to prosper, many people who are contemplating buying a HDTV would rather visit a high street shop than purchase it through an online retailer. This is very understandable, as you have the luxury of seeing the high definition TV yourself, or getting help from a customer representative before paying.</p> <p>But things may not be what they seem... here I'm going to tell you why your assessment of a high definition TV in shops might be inaccurate.</p> <p>First of all, most high definition TVs that are sent directly from factories to stores are configured in what is termed in the industry as "dynamic mode". This means that contrast is artificially boosted and the colors are intentionally oversaturated on the high definition television, as these has been shown in surveys to increase sales.</p> <p>A high definition TV that 's outputting in "dynamic mode" gives an impression of "brightness" and "vividness", usually mistaken as the telltale signs of a good TV even though the image is — in actual fact — inaccurate. Unfortunately it 's only when you transport the TV back home that you realize the image looks wrong. Every object depicted on the screen will look excessively blue (known as "high color temperature"), and to counter this manufacturers have to oversaturate the color of red so that skin tone will look realistic again, amounting to a color decoder error called "red push" which means that the color red will stand out like a sore thumb.</p> <p>In addition, in a usual shop with many HDTVs on show, the video signal is divided among all these televisions. As a result each high definition television gets a weaker video signal, which will contribute to a lot of picture artifacts like sparkles and scanning lines, and perhaps blurring and loss of fine detail.</p> <p>To make matters worse, most stores will very likely use low quality connection cables (as these are much cheaper, and the stores likely have more than their fair share accumulated over time) to distribute the video signal. In an ideal situation one should use a VGA, component, DVI or HDMI connection as these suffer from the least signal loss, and can fulfill all the promise of the high definition television for you to make an accurate judgment... yet you rarely see these used in normal demos unless you specifically request them.</p> <p>Another issue with the usual high street showroom is too much surrounding lighting, not only from in-store fluorescent lamps and probably the sun, but also from other high definition television unitson show. This will lead to glare (especially on plasma televisions) and drastically reduce the image contrast on the HD TV you're looking at, resulting in a dull picture. Most HD TVs fare better in the home environment where there 's better ambient light control.</p> <p>All I'm saying is there are certain shortfalls when judging high definition TV in a shop — you're looking at uncalibrated display units with less than pristine feeds in an overly bright environment. To assess the full potential of a high definition television, you can either visit a dedicated shop with the proper setup designed to eliminate these problems, read the experience of existing owners on public forums, or read reviews that are conducted properly under strict conditions.</p> <br /><h2>About the Author</h2><p>Vincent Teoh writes for HDTVTest, which publishes <a href="http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk">comprehensive HDTV test</a>. For more info you can visit his web page on <a href="http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/Article/HDTV-Showroom-Pitfalls.php">high definition television in-store demonstration shortcomings.</a></p> <br /><h3><a href="http://www.content4reprint.com/technology/electronics/why-you-shouldnt-base-your-hd-tv-purchase-on-showroom-demonstrations.htm" title="Why You Shouldn't Base Your HD TV Purchase On Showroom Demonstrations">Article Source:</a> <a href="http://www.content4reprint.com" title="Free high quality articles">Content for Reprint</a></h3>