Three Keys To Great HDTV Picture Quality

Six weeks from now the Final Four teams of the NCAA March Madness tournament will play for the men’s basketball championship in Indianapolis.  Unless you have an HDTV delivered and installed an hour before tip-off you will succumb to the temptation to make that picture just a little bit more perfect than it already is. This temptation usually coincides with misplacing the manual (or for men, not caring where it is).  Before you start fiddling with the remote, commit the following to memory and you’ll have the foundation for getting a solid picture for all occasions. The three keys according the the website How Stuff Works are:

Black Level - Use a letterboxed scene that has light and dark areas. Pause the movie on a frame to use as a test image. Slowly decrease black level until the bars are black and you can still see the details on the screen.  Too much black will will hide black colors in a darker scene.

Contrast – This is basically the opposite of the black level.  Choose a scene that has lots of detail on a white background. Slowly decrease the contrast until the intensity of the white surface doesn’t hurt your eyes but you can still see the details clearly.

Color Saturation – In this area of adjust you use skins tones of a person with a fair complexion. Reduce the saturation until the person appears to have a healthy glow rather than a sunburn with reddish hues.

Black Level, Contrast, & Color

Check the article by Tracy V Wilson How Stuff Works for more ideas

Great Deals on HDTVS

For some people bigger is better, in fact it’s HUGE – For you, take a look at the LG 60″ Plasma from Beach Camera That’s under $2,000 including White Glove delivery

Others looking for less screen size for a smaller room and half the price consider the Samsung 46″ LCD from Beach Camera

This is a 46″ LCD 1080p  Sharp Aquos with good reviews for under $1000 from JR.

Panasonic makes some excellent plasma screens, this 58″ has Neo PDP technology delivers sharp, detailed images, deep blacks and remarkable brightness, with lower power consumption / Up to 2,000,000:1 High Contrast, A big HDTV for under $1,500 at JR

Follow Bigscreendeals on Twitter to get the latest information and price saving values on HDTVs

Star Trek is Not Just on Your TV, it is Your TV

There is a battle going on for your TV and the only clear winner is you. Typical of most technology, consumers use only about half of the capabilities of their television, that is if you bought a TV in the last couple of years.

Buying a television today is exciting. Even modestly priced sets can tap into cable systems, satellites, the internet, game systems, your computer, and even home security systems. Microsoft, Apple, and Nintendo are also competing for your attention in front of the TV. Whether it’s downloading movies from iTunes, killing gamers across the globe on Halo, or surfing the web using your Nintendo Wii device, your television is fast becoming the bridge on the Star Trek Enterprise, which is of course your home, and you are Captain Kirk.

Television is the digital window to more than just TV programming, but a web of interactive information. Just one example, is Samsung’s announced earlier this year its Medi@ on its 8000 and 7000 series LED television was developed in conjunction with Internet@ content service gives access to the web and a large variety of customized type information called widgets. For example a widget is your local weather or the stock symbols you may follow.

If that’s not enough content and interactivity, take a look at what Vizio is doing. Vizio just announced Extreme Vizio Technology (XVT) which includes a remote control QWERTY keyboard. Why do you need this? Well, so you can interact with Facebook, Twitter, and other websites from your command and control communications center. As the battle continues for your eyeballs, more content will be added and accessible from your captain’s chair.

Connections to Look For When Buying a Television

1. USB ports (connection to watching mpeg 1, and 2 video or listening to MP3 audio from your computer or other devices)
2. Audio and video jacks (neat for hooking up digital video cameras)
3. HDMI Input
4. PC monitor display (cool to have. You can use TV for business presentations)
5. SD card slot (show pictures of your vacation if your guests can stand it)
6. Keyboard (for all that microblogging )
7. (Optional) Transporter just in case you need to get somewhere fast.

More details about the differences in these connections can be found at About.com from Matthew Torres

After you install your new television, do take the time to read the manual, even call customer service to understand and try all of the bells and whistles.