Hdtvtest
As more and more people purchase on the web, most people thinking about getting a high definition TV would rather visit a high street retailer than purchase it through an online retailer. This is very understandable, as you have the luxury of seeing the high definition television with your own two eyes, or getting help from a salesperson before parting with your money.
But be wary, here I’ll tell you why your judgment of a HD TV in store may be inaccurate.
First of all, most high definition TVs on display are configured in what is known in the industry as “dynamic mode”. By this I mean that contrast is falsely enhanced and the colors are intentionally oversaturated on the HD TV, as these tinkering have been shown to generate sales.
A HD TV that’s displaying in “dynamic mode” gives an impression of “brightness” and “colorfulness”, wrongly perceived as the telltale signs of a good TV although the picture is — in fact — wildly inaccurate. Usually it is only when you transport the TV back home that you realize that every object looks overly blue and the skin tone is not convincing at all.
In addition, in an average shop with many HD TVs on show, the signal is shared among all these televisions. As a consequence each HD TV gets a weaker signal, contributing to a lot of picture artifacts like lines and sparkles, and perhaps blurriness and loss of fine detail.
To compound the problem, most showrooms will very likely use low quality connecting cables (as these are less expensive, and the showrooms probably have more than their fair share accumulated over the years) to distribute the signal. Ideally one should use a VGA, DVI, component or HDMI connection as these give the best quality, and can unleash all the promise of the HD TV for you to make an accurate judgment… yet we rarely see these employed in demos unless you specifically request them.
Another issue with the normal high street store is too much ambient lighting, not only from internal fluorescent lamps and possibly the sun, but also from other HDTV unitson show. This will lead to glare (especially on glass screen televisions) and impair the picture contrast on the high definition TV you’re viewing, causing a dull image. Most HDTVs perform better at home where there’s better ambient lighting control.
All that I’m saying is there are some shortfalls when judging high definition televisions in a shop — you’re viewing uncalibrated display sets with less than pristine signals in an environment that’s too bright. For correct assessment of a HDTV’s capabilities, you can either visit a specialist shop with the proper setup designed to eliminate these issues, read the views of existing owners on public forums, or read reviews that are carried out professionally under strict conditions.
Vince Teoh writes for HDTVTest, an online magazine which carries out comprehensive HDTV review
For more info please visit his page on HD TV demo room pitfalls
HDTV test- HD 720p