Buying The Best Plasma Television

The Internet the best place to buy the right plasma TV. There one can shop with confidence at the world's leading plasma television dealers. Whether it's needed for home or business, the Internet carries all the major brand names, the best pictures, and at the best prices with the fastest delivery.

But rushing out to buy a brand-new plasma television there are many questions that must be answered first. Here are just a few of the things that need to be considered.

What makes plasma TVs so much better?

Plasma TV offers an enormous, flat, bright, sharp, flicker-free display that projects rich, life-like color. Most plasma screens are only a few inches deep, so they require far less space than a CRT television of the same screen size. In fact, most plasma TVs can even be wall-mounted. Many people use them to display their digital photos as art!

Unlike many other methods of producing large, thin screens, plasma TVs have a wide viewing angle and suffer little glare. The whole family or the entire boardroom will have a great view from wherever they are sitting. There is no need to worry about whether each seat is centered in front of the television.

A plasma TV is also not prone to electromagnetic interference. This means that electronics that produce powerful electromagnetic fields, such as large speaker, will not mar the picture quality in the slightest by being placed nearby to the screen. Plasma televisions even have lower power consumption compared to a conventional CRT television.

What features should a plasma TV have?

Some plasma TVs require a built-in electric fan for cooling purposes, much the same way as a desktop or laptop computer does. If the model of television being considered is like this, make certain the fan is not noisy enough to detract from the viewing experience. An increasing number of modern plasma TVs are being designed without the need for a fan.

Consider whether or not the television has a TV tuner built-in. Some plasma TVs function solely as monitors, and do not a TV tuner. Such a unit would require an external video signal be supplied, such as from an entertainment system.

The ideal plasma TV has a built-in TV tuner or comes with a separate multimedia box that contains the TV tuner. A plasma TV will need to have an analog TV tuner in order for it to receive and display an analog TV signal like the local broadcast networks. Having a digital tuner allows it to receive digital signals such as digital cable or freeview. The plasma TV would not need to have a digital TV tuner included if a converter box is already owned.

New plasma televisions should have a set of speakers attached on both sides of the screen. A good set of quality speakers is required for listening in stereo without poor sound quality making it hard to enjoy the show.

Generally, it will not be important for the plasma TV to have a built in amplifier for sound. If external speakers, such as a surround sound audio system, are to be used with the television an external multi-speaker home cinema system will yield the best results.

How should a plasma TV's picture quality be evaluated?

There are two easy criteria to determine which plasma TV screen quality is the best. First, simply compare the peak panel brightness with other plasma screens. The higher the peak brightness, the better. Then examine the contrast ratio. Having a 1000:1 ratio is highly respectable and again, larger ratios are better than smaller ones.

How long does a plasma TV screen last?

Average plasma TV screen have a life expectancy of approximately ten years. This should provide more than enough years to justify the outlay of money a plasma TV requires.

William Moore is an author for several Internet magazines, on shopping tips and product advice topics.