Television Sets
Jargon Buster
Everything you need to know about TV
We can supply all TV’s from the small 20 inch ones for bedrooms to massive 70″ and beyond for your living room. We can install televisions on the wall, conceal cables in the wall or hide cables in plastic trunking.
Whatever your requirements and budget we have the solution for you!
What Do I Actually Need
Televisions come with all sorts of features today. Below we are going to walk you through all the different options and explain them in simple to understand terms.
HD Ready & Full HD
HD Ready relates to the screen resolution. HD Ready has a resolution of 1280 pixels by 720 pixels. This is far more than standard definition TV. Then came along Full HD. Full HD has a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels. The more pixels the sharper the image. Also you will notice things like (i) or (p) at the end of the numbers. (i) is for interlaced, which means that each frame of video displays half the picture, so to take the full image requires 2 frames. With (p) the image is progressive, which means that the picture is displayed in one frame. This means that to the average person a interlaced picture would appear to judder more compared to a progressive picture. Mostly fast action sports fans would notice this the most.
Most TV sets are Full HD these days. But if you are buying a large screen TV its worth double checking. On TV’s smaller than 30″ you will not really see a big difference between HD Ready and Full HD.
3D Television
3D television has not been as popular as they hoped when it was first launched. It is great for the odd film or football game. We have found it best on a very large screen such as a projector. When you view 3D films on a large screen the immersion of the film is truly remarkable, you feel like you are there. However on screens smaller than 42″ its just not as immersive. Many TV manufacturers include 3D on their television sets. If the feature is there, its a nice touch, but we would not recommend spending a lot of extra money to have the feature on smaller screens.
4K Television
4K is the new Ultra High Definition TV. Its 4 times higher resolution compared to Full HD. Although to take advantage of 4K you need to have something that outputs 4K to your television. Only a few broadcasters worldwide are transmitting in 4K. You will start to see movies becoming available in 4K with players that support the new 4K standard.
Widi & Miracast
A lot of new televisions are coming out with Miracast and Widi.
Yes that’s Widi with a d in it! Miracast allows you to share screens from mobile devices running android, a bit like Apples AirPlay.
Simply load your pictures or video on your smartphone and send them wirelessly to your big screen TV using Miracast. Intel released Widi.
A lot of laptops can now send their HD screen to their big screen TV wirelessly using Widi on a compatible TV set. No more hdmi cables running across the floor!
Hertz (Hz)
Hertz or more commonly referenced as Hz is to do with image stability. The higher this number the smoother the image. Typically all European television broadcasts are in 50 Hz. Televisions can then increase the smoothness of fast moving scenes with a higher number.
100 Hz is very common these days and numbers can go up to 2400 Hz! Also if you are a movie fan, many films are recorded in 24 Hz.
A lot of televisions support true 24 Hz mode which will be ideal for watching films without a slight juddering that you can get on television sets that do not have this feature. Now you may say that’s contradictory, which it is slightly. However If you try to increase smoothness on 24 Hz it will not work as the hertz is increased in increments of 50 Hz. (50 Hz, 100 Hz, 200 Hz, 400 Hz, 800 Hz, etc) So no matter what you increase, you would still have a slight juddering.
Most 40″ television sets and bigger have a 24 Hz mode. It is worth checking for if you watch a lot of movies! And its worth getting a television which has at least 100 Hz.
Apps & Smart TV
Smart TV’s are becoming more popular. However they are not quite as useful in Spain as many of our customers expect.
Many of our customers ask us if they should get a Smart TV and for the majority of the time we do not recommend that they spend extra money on the Smart functions.
Let me explain in some more detail. The reason to get a Smart TV is normally to use apps. In the UK you can get apps like BBC iplayer, Netflix etc. But if you purchase a Smart TV here in Spain, you will not get the UK apps just a limited selection of Spanish apps.
Sometimes you can forcefully change the software of the Smart TV, but this includes its fair share of risk, like voiding the manufacturer’s guarantee. Then you get functions like browsing the web and various other things like Skyping.
These things seem great in theory, however Smart TV’s are generally underpowered and you can wait a long time for apps to open, update and do their thing. Which mostly causes frustration. Basically if you want to browse the web, stick to your iPad or computer.
Smart TV’s are not as useful as they make out. However saying that most TV manufacturers are supplying more and more of their televisions with Smart functions for no extra cost, in which case its a nice addition.
Curved TV
They improve immersion
By curving the image slightly forward, the world you’re watching seems to wrap around you more, entering slightly more into your peripheral vision and thus drawing you deeper into the world you’re watching.
Depth is enhanced
Watching a curved screen can make the experience feel like 3D rather than the 2D source. This is due to curving the edges of the TV in towards the viewer. This enhances the visual perception of depth. Which creates a feeling of the 3D effect. Samsung also enhances the depth with special processing which enhances certain areas of the image to enhance this feeling more
Wider field of view
You get a slightly wider view compared to a non-curved screen
Contrast is better than non-curved screens
The argument goes that curved screens focus the light coming from the screen better at your eyes. Very similar to how a satellite dish strengthens signals by focussing them onto an LNB.
LED Televisions
LED televisions are the most common televisions that you will see today. They use LED back-lighting and they are much brighter and energy efficient compared to older LCD or plasma televisions. Screen sizes are available from small monitor sizes of 15 inches and up to the 80 inches or even bigger for your living room!
LED back-lighting gives a very vibrant colour and the overall picture quality is very good. If you have a high hertz rate to go with it the experience is great!
Also the depth of the screens are very slim. Not as slim as true LED screens as you will find out in the OLED TV section below.
OLED Televisions
OLED TV is the newest range of televisions. They are true LED which means you do not have back-lighting. The light emitting diodes (LED) are lighting up the pixels you see on the screen.
The picture quality is extremely high. You really have to see them in real life to believe how detailed and amazing the picture looks. As these are high end screens, you normally only see 4K resolutions in the spec.
The actual thickness of the screen is just a few mm. At the center where the stand and connections need to be mounted it is a bit thicker, but truly exciting range of televisions that we will start watching, installing and enjoying later this year and into the future!
Older Televisions
Plasma televisions are still be produced, although due to their higher power consumption and limited lifespan they are slowly being replaced. High end plasmas still offer a good picture. The black levels are still competing with many LCD and LED televisions today. But the technology, weight and other factors means they will be leaving us in the not to distant future.
LCD televisions have widely been replaced by standard LED televisions, due to the manufacturing process. Many brands have simply stopped making LCD TV. Some still exist, but in general with the LED prices becoming much more affordable, its just not worth thinking about buying an LCD or a plasma TV.