| When you come to buy a new 32 inch widescreen | | | | - High Frame Rate - Related to the previous point. An |
| TV, new terms are thrown around like they are going | | | | image is usually only updated 50 times a second (or |
| out of fashion! Discovering what they all mean could | | | | 50Hz) on your screen. For fast-moving action, this |
| save you from making an expensive purchasing | | | | might mean that a Ball (for example) has moved many |
| mistake. | | | | pixels in the time in between - giving a jerky feel to the |
| So here, for your viewing delight (maybe!) is a list of | | | | flow. TV's offering a high frame rate try to cheat this |
| features commonly called out by manufacturers of | | | | limitation of the signal. They slide extra frames in |
| modern TV's. | | | | between the normal 50 a second and cleverly |
| - HD - High Definition. Bigger, faster, better than | | | | calculate where the ball will have gone half-way |
| old-style telly, right? | | | | between the normal frames. |
| - HD Ready - An indicator that the tv is capable of the | | | | - Freeview - Free to air broadcast of channels. This |
| lowest high resolution standard. This is also commonly | | | | will replace the normal aerial-based channels - but still |
| referred to as 720p, see below for what this means in | | | | provides all the channels most people are used to, |
| itself. | | | | while expanding the choice. |
| - Full HD - A higher resolution standard than 720p, | | | | - FreeSat - Similar to Freeview. FreeSat delivers its |
| supported by many of the newer 32 inch widescreen | | | | signal through a satellite dish and this is an extra cost in |
| tvs. This can be either 1080i or 1080p, again see below | | | | setting up this kind of TV. True High Definition channels |
| for these definitions. | | | | are already being sent through this method. |
| - HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) - A | | | | - Optical Audio Output - A way to get the audio signal |
| connection standard. This is one of the ways to get a | | | | from your TV to a larger home-entertainment system. |
| signal into your tv from other sources, like DVD's, | | | | Audio purists will use this method to get a very clean |
| set-top boxes and Blu-ray players. This connection | | | | signal. |
| standard defines what cables you will need and | | | | - 720p - The lowest HD standard. Provides a screen |
| provides a better quality, digital connection than earlier | | | | picture which is 1280x720 pixels (that is, the height of |
| cable types like SCART. Some TV manufacturers are | | | | the image is 720 pixels). The "P" stands for |
| using this connectivity to all home devices to be | | | | "Progressive". This means that the image is built in one |
| controlled by one handset - so the more you have, the | | | | continuous flow of pixels from top to bottom one line |
| less likely you are to be caught out! | | | | at a time with no gaps between |
| - Dynamic Contrast - An LCD TV can show a range | | | | - 1080p - Regarded as Full HD. In this case, the image |
| of brightnesses from light to dark, but the maximum | | | | is 1920x1080 pixels. The "P" version is the same as |
| available in most devices is a range of 1:1000 (the | | | | that for 720p. If you see 1080i, this means "interlaced". |
| brightest is 1000 times brighter than the darkest). | | | | This works the same way as an old style TV, where |
| Unfortunately, the human eye can cope with a much | | | | every other line is sent to the screen then the others |
| bigger range (something like 1:20,000) and so TV | | | | are sent, interleaving with the first ones. Your eyes see |
| images don't look as rich as the real thing. | | | | this as a solid picture, but many regard it as an inferior |
| Manufacturers try to get round this by working out if | | | | picture standard to 1080p |
| the picture is mainly light (or mainly dark) and moving | | | | - LED TV - These newer models are actually still LCD |
| their 1:1000 "window" of brightnesses up or down that | | | | televisions but they use white LED light to shine |
| bigger scale. This helps to give better results for the | | | | through the LCD to provide the brightness. They bring |
| human eye. | | | | significant power savings and better localised contrast |
| - High Refresh Rate - An LCD screen needs to have | | | | to the screens. They are also thinner than normal 32 |
| the picture sent to it many times a second to get the | | | | inch widescreen TVs. |
| appearance of a moving image. The problem comes | | | | - OLED TV - Very rare so far. These are true LED |
| when the "pixels" that make up the picture fade away | | | | based televisions, where every pixel is actually an LED |
| very slowly compared to how the image is changing. | | | | that can turn on or off for itself. They provide |
| This produces a kind of blurring. Screens with high | | | | extremely high contrast levels and even more power |
| refresh rates have pixels that turn on and off very | | | | savings. |
| quickly, helping to eliminate that problem. | | | | |