LCD TV (Liquid Crystal Display televisions) - Flat panel displays are by far the most popular LCD television because of their thin, lightweight construction, which is convenient for people who want to use their LCD as a TV and computer monitor. LCDs are not susceptible to burn-in. LCDs with slow response times can show a ghosting effect, while other LCDs can have a screen door effect. This is why it is important to see the LCD monitor before buying to see if the screen meets your needs.
Plasma TV - Plasma is the type of television most associated with high end home electronics. They are competitively priced against LCD flat panel televisions, and feature a stunning picture. Plasmas weigh more than LCD's, but nothing additional supports couldn't handle. They are susceptible to burn-in, but despite rumors to the contrary, the gases that power the picture can not be refilled. While they are too young to accurately meaasure, plasma televisions should last anywhere from 10-20 years.
CRT TV (Cathode Ray Tube Television) - Also known as direct view, a tube television is the closest thing to the one baby boomers watched when they were kids. The picture device is a cathode ray tube, which is a specialized vacuum tube. CRTs come in all shapes and sizes up to about 40-inches. They feature a good picture from all angles, the best black level, and are significantly lower in price than other TVs. Despite their bulky and heavy build, tube televisions are long-lasting and acclaimed for retaining a good picture throughout its lifespan, which can be decades.
DLP (Digital Light Processing) - DLPs are the most promising new replacement for the CRT-based rear-projection television in use today is the DLP rear-projection television. Like LCD, the actual image is displayed on a chip; however, the chip used in a DLP projection television is different. The chip in a DLP projection television is referred to as a DMD (Digital Micro mirror Device). In essence, every pixel on a DMD chip is a reflective mirror.
Rear Projection TV - The actual term "rear-projection" comes from the fact that the image is projected and reflected onto the screen from behind the screen, unlike traditional video and film projection in which the projector itself is placed in front of the screen, such as in a movie theater. These TV's may be bulkier than the sleek flat panel LCD and plasma TVs, but they are more affordable and have a great picture quality.
Contrast Ratio - Contrast ratio refers to the high contrast ratios of whites and blacks. A rear-projection television may have a great Lumens and Foot Lamberts rating, but if the contrast ratio is low, your image will look washed out. A Contrast ratio of at least 1,000:1 or higher is considered excellent.
Aspect ratio - Screen Aspect Ratio is a measure of the horizontal length of a television screen in relation to its vertical height. A traditional television has a Screen Aspect Ratio of 4x3. This means that a traditional television has a screen that is four units long for every three units in height. Converting these units into inches would result in measurements of 4-inches by 3-inches or 8-inches by 6-inches, and on-and-on. By the same token, on widescreen television (such as today's HDTVs), the Screen Aspect Ratio is 16 units long for every 9 units in height, or 16-inches by 9-inches, 32-inches by 18-inches, etc... A 16x9 screen aspect ratio thus results in a wider image display that a 4x3 aspect ratio. This wider image display allows both movies originally filmed in widescreen and new, widescreen television programming, to be displayed more accurately.
Dolby Digital - Dolby Digital is a digital encoding system for audio signals that can be decoded by a receiver or preamplifier with a Dolby Digital decoder.
Dolby Digital is often referred to as a 5.1 channel surround system. However, it must be noted that term "Dolby Digital" refers to the digital encoding of the audio signal, not how many channels it has. In other words, Dolby Digital can be Monophonic, 2-channel, 4-channel, 5.1 channels, or 6.1 channels. However, in its most common applications, Dolby Digital 5.1 and 6.1 are often referred to as just Dolby Digital.
Surround sound - Surround sound is a term applied to several types of processes that enable the listener to experience sound coming from all directions, depending on the source material.
Resolution (progressive scan / interlaced scan) - A television or recorded video image is basically made up of scan lines. Video images are composed of rapidly scanning lines across a screen starting at the top of the screen and moving to bottom. These lines can be displayed in two ways. The first way is to split the lines into two fields in which all of the odd numbered lines are displayed first and then all of the even numbered lines are displayed next, in essence, producing a complete frame. This process is called interlacing or interlaced scan. This is what it means when you see the resolution referred to as 1080i (1080 scan lines, interlaced).
The second method, used in digital video recording, digital TVs, and computer monitors, is referred to as progressive scan. Instead of displaying the lines in two alternate fields, progressive scan allows the lines to display sequentially. This means that both the odd and even numbered lines are displayed in numerical sequence. This is what it refers to when you see the resolution referred to as 1080P or 720P (1080 or 720 scan lines, progressive).
HDTV (High Definition Television) - HDTV images are more than twice as detailed as standard analog TV, delivering very high quality images, as well as multichannel, movie-theater-quality surround sound.
SDTV (Standard Definition Television - SD, or analog television is what we've been watching for more than 60 years. SD has a resolution that's equivalent to about 640x480 pixels.
EDTV (Enhanced Definition Television) - EDTVs typically have a native resolution of 852x480 (480p). This is higher resolution than a standard non-high definition analog TV, but is not HDTV resolution. Many inexpensive Plasma Televisions are EDTVs. For a TV to be classified as an HDTV it needs have a native resolution of 1280x720 (720p) or higher.
Letterboxing - Letterboxing is the practice of transferring widescreen films to video formats while preserving the original aspect ratio. Since the video display is most often a more square aspect ratio than the original film, the resulting video must include masked-off areas above and below the picture area (often referred to as "black bars,").
HDMI (High Definition Multi-media Interface) - To transfer the digital video signal from a source to a TV, the source must convert the signal from digital to analog, this results in some information loss.
However, an HDMI output, can transfer a digital video source signal (such as from a DVD player) digitally, without conversion to analog. This results in a pure transfer of all of video information from the digital video source to a HDMI or DVI (via a connection adapter) equipped TV. In addition, HDMI can transfer both video and audio signals.
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