In short there now is not allot of difference between LCD and Plasma these days, LCD’s now go up to very large sizes and the problem that used to plague them are now small to nonexistence.

I have to say i prefer a LCD over a plasma but this is just my personal preference.

Viewing angle

The Viewing angle is the angle in which you can see the screen in good clarity so example a TV with 180¬ is better than a TV with 90¬.

Hz

Hz is important because they indicate how the television handles fast moving images the higher the Hz the smoother the action of fast moving shot is. Some new televisions now come with up to 200Hz this allows them to process the video quicker producing a smooth shot.

Brand

Brand is it a difficult one to help with due to the fact that this is more personal preference than something that we can help with. Most televisions components are made by the same supplier but the televisions are branded separately so lots of televisions will have the same innards. When it comes to brand I would recommend going with the brand that you are comfortable with also you may look at what other equipment you have like DVD players/recorders surround sound devices etc, the reason being is that if I was to buy a Sony DVD player and a Sony TV the remote control would work with both devices saving you the hassle of having have lots of remotes. When it comes to who I personally think do the best televisions I would say it’s between Sony, Panasonic and Samsung.

HDMI

A HDM I cable/interface is a high-definition version of a scart lead equipment that use these are sky HD and all we can do is in a Playstation 3’s. Much like when you buy a TV of old you would make sure it had lots of Scart sockets you need to make sure your TV has plenty of HDMI sockets on it.

Things to look for with regards to ports other than HDMI (see above) are DVI sockets this is a high-definition compatible interface for computers this allows you to plug your computer into your television. Also one thing we would recommend looking for is a digital audio output from the television for example fibre optic (optical) and SPDIF (coax) this will allow you to send digital audio to your hi-fi or surround sound system.

Contrast ratio / Dynamic Contrast

is a figure defined by a large number: 1 in easy terms contrast ratio is how many steps between black and white on the television and more steps to better the picture, richer and feel and crisper the image. Lots of new televisions now come with a 10,000: one contrast ratio so look for something that has the larger contrast ratio

Most if not all new televisions now come with a free view tuner allowing you to watch free view straight out of the box. The new way of viewing free view television is via a free sat, free sat is free you via a satellite the difference between the two is that free sat as high-definition channel is now and free view is not due to have high definition until the end of 2009 and even then you will need a DVB2 free view box these are currently not available see our review on free view and free sat here.

Once you have decided on what inbuilt technology you want and just make sure your TV has this.

HD Ready / Compatible

Be very careful when you see the these labels. this is due to some manufacturers misleading customers when putting these labels on their devices. HD comes in many flavors 720 I, 720p, 1080i and full HD 1080p. some companies will put a label saying HP compatible and the device will only run at 720i this is not full high-definition. if you want a television that has full HD then you need to make sure it has 1080p. Please bear in mind that not many devices go up to 1080p for example sky's HD box runs at 720p and some PlayStation 3 games only run at 1080i. The reason to go in for a 1080p television is so you will not need to upgrade quite so soon.

Size

Is not a lot to say about size other than when it comes to television is at least bigger is better.

Wall Mountable / Vesa

In my eyes the best way to have your new flat screen LCD or plasma is to have a wall mounted most if not all televisions now come with wall mounting holes. make sure your television has a vesa logo on it. Vesa is a standard of wall mounting televisions so if you buy a vesa compliant TV and a wall bracket with vesa compliance you are assured that they will be compatible.