Best Plasma TV

When you have to pull out of your pocket the amount of money a plasma TV costs, you better make the right decision and buy the best plasma TV for your needs. Fail to do that and not only you will be loosing money, but you might get stuck with a product that instead of getting you excited it will make you remember your less inspired buying decision. The thing is that if you want the best plasma TV you must first of all figure out what "best" means for you and then see the offer and choose the right thing. It’s that easy! Well, at least in theory.

OK, so what is best for you? Answer yourself the following questions:

1. How far away will you be sitting when watching? Buying a large plasma TV and staying close to it will get you disappointed. Especially if it doesn’t have the best resolution. To understand why this happens and what plasma TV size is best for you, read the article on how to choose the best plasma TV size. In a store don’t stare at the plasma TV from a close distance. Make a few steps beck and watch it from the same distance as you would do home.
2. What are your watching habits? Will you have the lights turned off most of the time or you will be watching in a very lit room? Most plasma TVs offer the best viewing experience when used in dim environments. The characteristic that is important here is the plasma TV luminosity (measured in cd/mp). The more light the panel produces the better its image will look in a lit room. But watching a plasma TV with high luminosity in darkness might have a bad impact on the image realism. One important thing you must know is that most stores have about ten times more light than the average home room. So choosing a plasma TV that looks very bright in store might not be the best choice.
3. Full-HD or HD-ready? This is an interesting question. Full-HD or 1080p resolution is the best - or I should say highest - these days. The question is if you actually need it. HD-Ready or 768p resolution might actually look almost the same and even save you some money. Most TV channels broadcast in 768p or less, so a 1080p plasma TV won’t give you much better quality in this case. However if you intend to display your computer image on the plasma then the extra resolution 1080p offers will look much better. Also in the future the TV networks might upgrade to 1080p signal witch is another vote for Full-HD. Thinking purely in terms of absolute quality 1080p are the best plasma TVs, but for your specific needs the HD-Ready might be a better choice. If you have a hard time making up your mind you should go to a plasma TV store and ask them to show you a plasma of each type (1080p and 768p) using same signal. If possible ask them to show you several types of content like sports, movies, news, etc. You should put accent on movies and sports because here you will probably see differences between the models (response times and black levels are emphasized by this type of content).
4. Look at the plasma TV from different angles. Unless you intend watching straight at it when you are home you should make sure the quality remains even when you look at it from an angle. If you are buying online check out the viewing angle specs and look for comments that talk about this.
5. Do you know enough about the plasma TV you intend to buy? If you know the model you want to buy (either because you saw it in store and liked it or because somebody recommended it) make sure you know enough about it. Don’t buy a plasma TV unless you feel you know a lot about it. This is the case especially when you buy from a store. If you like a certain model you see in a store do take the time to read reviews and especially customer comments about it. This way you make sure there are not any weird problems with it and you can also find out a better alternative to it or a great deal online.
6. Ask questions! If in a store ask everything you want to know. If you’re online you can ask too - either on forums or contact directly the online store. Online, you can find most of the answers by searching. Very probably somebody else had the same question before you so you have a great chance of finding an answer.
7. What accessories you need/want? Figure this out from the beginning. Do you need a stand or a wall mount? Maybe cables and connectors? You want to control with a single remote both the plasma TV and other equipment? Make sure you buy compatible accessories and if you buy a stand or wall mount make sure it can support the plasma TV you buy.
8. Can you install it by your own? If you are not confident you can do this by yourself it’s better to ask a pro to do it for you. Plasma TV are fragile devices and require care when installing.
9. Do you have pop-corn? I knew you would forget about that . You’re so excited about your new plasma TV that you forgot to make pop-corn. Don’t forget the pop-corn! The best plasma TV experience can be achieved only while eating pop-corn. OK… maybe i made that up