By Ben Anton

Small condominiums and full-scale home theater owners are all looking to mount their flat panel televisions to create more space and a better eye-catching design.  Mounting a television onto the wall does not have to be difficult but it does take some care and research in order to do it safely and correctly.

The following are some helpful steps and advice for mount your LCD flat panel television to your home theater or condominium wall.

1. Choose A Wall

Look around your home theater or living room and decide where the ideal location for your TV would be. Look for a wall that is roughly twice the width of your television.  Also, look for a wall that gives you enough height for the size of your TV. Remember you may be watching the screen from a sitting position or standing.  The rule of thumb is that you will want your flat screen television located where the bottom edge is at eye level when you are seated and the top is at eye level when you stand up.

Also consider your wiring when choosing a wall. You will need to be able to either drill into the wall to thread the wiring or be able to hide the wiring in some way. You will also want to choose a wall with access to your cable our satellite outlet.

2.  Practice with Art

Before drilling into any wall, hang a framed picture the approximate size of your TV or cut out piece of paper where you think you want your television to go.  Leave it for a while and see if it feels like the right location.  Look to see whether sunlight or lamp glare is reflected off the surface. If it reflects on the paper it will reflect off your screen. Move the paper to a different location if it doesn’t seem right.

3. Choose The Wall Mounts

Flat panel TV mounting brackets come in various shapes, sizes and functions. A home theater equipment retailer can point you to the right size for your particular brand of flat panel.  Fixed brackets can be difficult to put in place because they require small hands and patience in order to line them up with the television mounts. Mounts that swivel are ideal for rooms where seating is located in several areas of the room.  They also tend to be easier to mount.

4. Measure Before Drilling

Once you know where your television will go and what mount to use, find the wall stud and mark where the mounts should be placed with a pencil.  Ensure the mounting bracket locations are level and that the height is appropriate.  Once you are sure that the appropriate marks have been made, drill or screw in the mounting brackets. At this time, it is also appropriate to drill any holes for threading wiring if applicable. Just remember, measure two or three times before drilling into any wall.

5. Have a Buddy

It is imperative that you have help when hanging the television for your home theater.  Many factory warranties do not cover damage that occurs as a result of trying to hang your flat panel television, so it is important to do things right and to be sure that you have help for the lifting and hanging.  A helper can also give you advice on the location and height of the screen.

Consult with a home theater installer if you need any advice, or, if this seems like more than your time is worth, hire a professional to install it for you.  That way you are sure it will be done in the best way possible.

~Ben Anton, 2008

Ben Anton lives in the Northwest.

Ben invites you to check out the latest home theater speakers, [http://www.ronnysaudiovision.com/home-theater-news/how-to-properly-mount-a-flat-panel-television-to-a-wall-2008-03-12/]flat panel displays and speaker cables available through Ronny’s [http://www.ronnysaudiovision.com]custom home theater design and component store located in Eugene and online.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?Mounting-Your-Home-Theater-TV-To-the-Wall&id=1070619

Sharp are introducing a new range of ‘budget’ high definition TV’s to their range. The new Aquos LCD TV’s will start from £499 for the 26″ model (the LC-26D44E) and £599 for a 32″ one (the LC-32D44E). They are also releasing a 37″ later in the year (the LC-37D44E).

All screens with have a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels meaning they are not full 1080p displays, but wit the quality of sharp’s LCD pannels and cheap price that can be forgiven.

Features of the range include:

* 176 degree viewing angle
* 6 m/s response time
* Enhanced programme overview with image-split and image-in-text functions
* Freeze-frame function to keep a favourite scene on screen
* Built-in DVB-T and analogue tuner for all-round TV reception
* 2 Scart sockets and the HDMI inputs with HDCP support
* YUV, AV/S Video IN, VGA IN and Audio OUT sockets

By Jack A Smith

Until not to long ago, ambient light was the main argument you had in choosing LCD over plasma. With today’s models, though it remains a factor that helps you decide which technology to choose, it is not as decisive as it was before. The light can affect the picture quality in two ways.

First of all, if the screen material is highly reflective a lot of light will bounce from it. In a real life scenario this happens in a sunny day when a lot of sunlight enters the window and hits the screen from an angle that makes it reflect directly into your eyes. In this situation the screen acts as a mirror and instead of seeing what it is displayed on the screen you see that annoying light that reflects from it. This happens because the amount of sunlight that hits the screen and bounces from it is much higher than the amount of light the screen produces. Depending on how reflective the screen is and the angle from which the sunlight comes, this effect can be more or less disturbing. Same effect appears from other powerful light sources - like your light bulbs - but it is less disturbing. In most cases the light from light bulbs is very weak compared to sunlight so this effect is either invisible or almost unnoticeable.

The second way in which light affects the picture quality has to do with your eyes not the TV. Your eyes are built in such way that they adapt to the amount of light around. When you watch TV in a dark room, most if not all light that enters your eyes is coming from the TV. In a well lit room a lot of the light that your eyes capture is ambient light coming from the window, light bulbs or reflected by the walls and objects in the room. In this situation your eyes get more light from the environment and less from the TV itself. So when you watch TV in darkness the picture quality looks better because your eyes capture all the light from the TV and you perceive a better contrast, luminosity and saturation - which are the most important factors that affect picture quality. When you watch TV in a well lit room the ambient light will overlap with the TV light and it will make it look more washed and the colors will be less intense.

Generally Plasma TV screens are more reflective than LCD screens. At the same time, a plasma TV tends to offer better picture quality than LCD TVs in an environment with controlled lighting (a dark room). Because of these characteristics of plasma and LCD TV, they are recommended generally for different situations - plasma TVs for people who watch TV with lights turned off or dimmed and LCD TV for people who watch TV during daytime and have a lot of light in the room. If you have an averagely lit room then both TVs perform similarly.

There are exceptions however. Technology is evolving and plasma TVs now have an ace in their sleeve. To find out what is the plasma TV feature that makes them perform in a well lit room at a level comparable with LCD, follow the link titled Plasma vs LCD TV at the bottom of this page. The guide you will reach through that link has much more useful information about plasma vs LCD TV subject and can be a very useful resource if you want to understand which is the best HDTV for your particular needs.

If you want to read more about the practical differences between the two types of displays, the complete Plasma vs LCD TV guide will certainly help you understand this topic well. Also if you are looking to buy a plasma TV do not settle for any model. Instead see which are the best plasma TV models and get the best thing out there. On our site you will find a [http://www.thebestplasmatv.com/ title=best plasma TV top]best plasma TV top with models grouped in such way that no matter what your exigences, size requirements or budget are, one of the models in our top will satisfy your needs.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jack_A_Smith http://EzineArticles.com/?Plasma-vs-LCD-TV-and-Ambient-Light&id=1065907

According to tech.co.uk Microsoft and Sony are now in communications regarding providing Blu-ray support for the Xbox 360. The device will probably be similar to the current HD DVD drive available, but obviously support the prefered Blu-ray disk format.

Microsoft have recently been pushing their downloadable HD content for the Xbox 360, allowing for users to download and watch full HD films on their Xbox’s on a ‘rental’ basis. This is not however ideal for everyone so the addition of an external Blu-ray drive would be a good move by Microsoft, not only would it put them in a better stead against the PS3 but I suspect it would also go down well with current Xbox 360 owners.

However a statement by Microsoft in the Financial Times states: “We have made no such announcement. Games are what are driving consumers to purchase game consoles and we remain focused on providing the largest library of blockbuster games available.”

We will keep a keen eye on this story as it unfolds……

By Andy Bolton

With Blu-Ray technology winning the battle as the preferred supplier of HD DVD’s we can now enter a stable area of technology for a while and consider moving our whole viewing experience to HD across the board. HD TV means for us a better picture with incredible detail and very vivid true to life colors. There are always new things to get used to like understanding 1080i and 1080p, the difference is 1080i has five times the amount of pixels as a standard definition TV. The 1080p is however the best picture you can currently get - the picture detail is updated twice as fast as a 1080i.

HDTV 1080p generates the best smoothest image and flicker free image. This is definitely one of the items to look for when buying an HDTV system especially if you are expecting to go and get a TV larger than 40 inches. Here a few things to look for when considering what to buy for HDTV systems.

(1) Make sure the system is HD ready look for the “HD Ready” symbol it should be located on the product somewhere if in doubt always ask. The HD Ready symbol will mean that all your HD equipment will instantly work with this item. This always makes me feel better as I hate to find out that something does not communicate without and additional item.

(2) Is it 1080p standard this is as I have previously said is the best standard and well worth paying the extra to make sure that you have your equipment to work with the best quality broadcasts at present as these will make the equipment last longer in terms of your investment.

(3) Check the connections on the product carefully you should be looking for HDMI in an uncompressed form of input socket. The more HDMI points the better but you should be looking for at least two on your HDTV and a component input.

(4) You need to choose between LCD and Plasma TV’s the rule of thumb is this LCD screens are cheaper than the plasma screens but the plasma screens offer a better picture quality for people with sharper vision.

(5) Lastly go and see one spend a lot of time in shops looking at what your are going to buy mainly consider that this will be one of your main sources of entertainment for many years so consider the benefits of getting the best available picture. Ask lots of questions and make sure that it measures up to your standards that are laid out.

(6) This is the important feature try to consider how this will be used in its maximum state i.e. consider the all the devices that may be connected to your HDTV and will it be able to cope with all the input devices. These include sling box technology, Gaming device, HD Recorders, DVD players and sound systems. Make sure that what you get will be able to encompass all the devices that you may use now or in the future.

Buying major equipment can always be a bit of a problem you don’t know if the technology is stable or what will change at the moment the 1080p HDTV technology is currently the best and having just got one installed it’s not bad for watching football on at all.

© 2008 Andy Bolton 40 Liverpool hot Air Balloons
Legally-confused.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Andy_Bolton http://EzineArticles.com/?Moving-Up-To-HD-Technology&id=1068661

We here at HD-Zone thought it was be a good idea to link to some HD content so that everyone can see what it’s all about and how much of a difference HD is over SD (Standard Definition) - below we have included some links to sites (such as Microsoft’s HD WMV samples page) where you can download (or stream depending on your Internet speed) these videos and get a true feeling of what watching HD video is all about.

Happy viewing!

Adrenaline Rush Total Run Time 1:54 min 720p (127 MB)	Fighter Pilot Run Time 2:25 min 720p (165 MB) Get the DVD	Mystery of the Nile Run Time 1:26 min 720p (105 MB) Get the DVD
Super Speedway Total Run Time 2:00 min 720p (135 MB)	Coral Reef Adventure (IMAX) Run Time 1:45 min 720p (84 MB) 1080p (105 MB) Get the DVD	Lewis and Clark Run Time 3:33 min 720p (212 MB) Get the DVD
Search for Kennedy’s PT109 Run Time 3:32 min 720p (216 MB) Get the DVD	Ray Run Time 2:44 min 720p (153 MB) * Uses DRM	Friday Night Lights Run Time 2:22 min 720p (138 MB) * Uses DRM
Robotica Run Time 0:21 min 720p (16 MB) 1080p (20 MB)	Amazon (IMAX) Run Time 1:42 min 720p (81 MB) 1080p (107 MB) Get the DVD	The Discoverers (IMAX) Run Time 2:31 min 720p (113 MB) 1080p (149 MB) Get the DVD
Dolphins (IMAX) Run Time 1:46 min 720p (85 MB) 1080p (107 MB) Get the DVD	Journey Into Amazing Caves (IMAX) Run Time 1:25 min 720p (68 MB) 1080p (87 MB) Get the DVD	The Living Sea (IMAX) Run Time 2:48 min 720p (117 MB) 1080p (153 MB) Get the DVD
The Magic of Flight (IMAX) Run Time 2:02 min 720p (98 MB) 1080p (126 MB) Get the DVD	Speed (IMAX) Run Time 2:07 min 720p (99 MB) 1080p (132 MB) Get the DVD	Stormchasers (IMAX) Run Time 1:31 min 720p (71 MB) 1080p (93 MB) Get the DVD
To the Limit (IMAX) Run Time 2:10 min 720p (101 MB) 1080p (134 MB) Get the DVD	Step Into Liquid Run Time 1:56 min 720p (94 MB) 1080p (114 MB) Get the DVD	Taxi 3 (in French) Run Time 2:42 min 1080p (162 MB)
Godsend Run Time 2:31 min 720p (144 MB)	Dust to Glory Run Time 3:19 min 720p (240 MB)	True Crime Run Time 3:08 min 720p (145 MB)

Source:
Microsoft.com - Sample HD WMV Video’s

Also see:
NASA.com - High Definition Space Video’s
Apple.com - Quicktime HD Gallery (requires QuickTime 7)

By John Dulaney

Super Hi-vision (Ultrahigh-Definition Wide-Screen System with 4000 Scanning Lines) is the new standard in video viewing.

NHK Science & Technical Research Laboratories has created a new piece of engineering genius in its 8K Television System “Super Hi-vision”. This newest imaging technology upon us already in Japan and destined to give screen coverage of the 2012 Olympics on big screens in city centers across Britain. The BBC plans to use the technology, named Super Hi-Vision, just 4 years from now in 2012 but it was developed in Japan in 2005.

Does this incredible new resolution show us that man-machine interfaces with even higher resolutions are possible, and soon? What of true 3D with no glasses, 4D and better and what of BLU-RAY, Violet Ray and Ultra-Violet Ray?

NHK’s new image creation uses a video format with 7680 x 4320 pixels (16 times higher than standard Hi-vision, NHK’s HDTV system). 4000 scanning lines deliver ultra-clear, realistic three-dimensional images that can be achieved only by ultrahigh-definition technology.

Scanning lines are not visible even when relatively close to the screen. And a wider viewing angle provides a stronger sense of a reality.

The 3-D audio system has 24 speakers dramatically enhancing live presence.
Around the world electronics consumers have been buying the newest high definition TVs and BLU-RAY players to go with them but with this newest high-definition TV Japanese broadcasters and the BBC have finalized a system 33 times more detailed than the best sets currently for sale.

By 2015 NHK hopes to begin test broadcasts of its Super Hi-Vision system, with full-time public broadcasts scheduled for 2025.

Nobuyuki Hiruma, associate director at NHK’s laboratories in Tokyo, says that “Super Hi-Vision TV approaches the realism of human vision.” I fact it was based on research into human vision.

Super Hi-Vision exists only at NHK’s Broadcasting Center in Tokyo, where it is projected on to a 10 meter (yard) by 5.5 meter (yard) screen, with sound coming from 22 multi-layered speakers capable of replicating the sound of a concert hall. 24 discrete channel speakers are the actual technical goal.

Only 20 minutes of Ultrahigh-Definition can be recorded at a time and it must be edited frame by frame. Making a back-up takes engineers an whole night, and after a week they have only enough material for one hour of Super Hi-Vision TV.

Sitting just three meters (yards) from a 450-inch screen, viewers says “sometimes we suffer motion sickness,” says Masaru Kanazawa, research engineer on the SHV project.
While such a huge screens would not fit into most living rooms, Kanazawa thinks they soon might anyway.

Hiroyuki Ohira, GM of Pioneer’s plasma development center in Yamanashi, is in charge of the same team that, in the 1990s, invented the first high-definition plasma screens. “We are trying to develop a Super Hi-Vision panel to help NHK realize its broadcast plans,” he said.

The BBC and NHK often collaborate on program production, most recently on the David Attenborough-narrated documentary Planet Earth which was filmed in high definition and produced a number of new techniques.

November of 2007 NHK strapped its high definition television cameras to a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency lunar probe to film an “Earth rise” over the moon in Ultrahigh-Definition detail.

To overcome the problem of how to transmit huge amounts of data remains NHK is uses Dirac video compression technology for its Super Hi-Vision testing, this is a BBC technology.

Using large outdoor screens and with the aid of Participate, an EU-funded project promoting public interaction with new technology, BBC engineers are involved in Super Hi-Vision events. “Super Hi-Vision feeds nicely into that and it’s definitely a long-term ambition,” said Andy Bower, interim controller of the BBC Research and Innovation Centre.

As you how to overcome data storage three dimensional holographic images enable more information to be stored in a much smaller space, preventing information overflow. This technology comes from Michael E. Thomas owner of Colossal Storage Corporation of Fremont California.

Also called Volume Holographic Optical Storage Nanotechnology the Volume (3 D) Holographic Optical Drive technology plans to push future storage densities of optical mass storage over 40,000 Terabits/cu.cm. To compare with magnetic hard drives of today which are around at 60 gigabits one can understand that Mr. Thomas’ optically assisted drives at 45 gigabits/sq. in. and contact recording AFM, STM, SPM or SFM, i.e. atomic force microscope and their derivatives, at about 300 gigabits/sq.in mean a storage capacity far beyond what current available methods provide.

A BLU-RAY player of the future might use tiny 3.5″ discs based on 3 D Volume Holographic Mass Data Storage using the Einstein/Planck Theory of Energy Quantum Electrons to control molecular properties by an atom’s electron movement/displacement.

Using Ultraviolet/Blue laser diodes with Voltage transducer to write, new definitions of term include photon/laser induced electrical field poling and UV/Blue laser diode and Nanooptical transistors or Nanofloating gates Mos Fet to read.

To be created for this device are ferroelectric perovskite’s dipole dielectrics giving properties allowing write, erase and storage states in nanocrystal memories. A Semiconductor Integrated Optical Read / Write Head will play back the data.

Having an almost infinite storage persistence of data fast read/write control of ferroelectric molecules will allow increasing areal densities and data transfer rates of data between the random mass storage device to system requirements and this will increase mass storage bandwidth needs.

For the new BLU-RAY ULTRA-VIOLET RAY players of tomorrow a transmission speed of extraordinary magnitude will be needed to send movies over the internet.

Super Hi-Vision live relay over IP

On December 31, 2006 a global first happened when a Super Hi-Vision feed of the 57th Kohaku Uta Gassen (NHK’s annual “Red & White Song Battle” which is the most-watched TV event of the year in Japan) was relayed long-distance over an IP network from the Tokyo venue and displayed on a giant 450-inch screen in an Osaka studio. There, members of the public enjoyed ultra-realistic picture and sound reproduction equivalent to a VIP seat at the actual live event.

Using a codec developed by NHK for efficient transmission and broadcast of Super Hi-Vision signals the encoder compresses the video signal from approximately 24Gbps down to 180-600Mbps and the audio from 28Mbps to 7-28Mbps. The reduced bit rate makes it possible to transmit the signal and to record even an event of long duration like Kohaku Uta Gassen.

A live viewing at the 2005 World Exposition, Aichi, Japan (Expo 2005 Aichi) was held from March to September 2005 on the theme “Wisdom of Nature”. At NHK booth, Super Hi-vision images were displayed on a 600-inch screen. With about 8,000 visitors each day, for six months some 1,560,000 people have seen these images and enjoyed crystal-clear ultrahigh-definition wide-screen system on the big screen.

For the first time in history a live-relay optical transmission of Super Hi-Vision succeeded in 2 November, 2007. The transmission was between Kamogawa of Chiba prefecture and NHK Science & Technical Research Laboratories. Kamogawa is famous for Kamogawa Sea World aquarium and about 260 km away from NHK Labs.

The long-haul optical transmission of uncompressed video and audio signals by using DWDM (Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing) technique was a groundbreaking moment.

And so your BLU-RAY player of the future might be in Ultra-Violet or it could come strictly as a download from a new Super-Pipe Internet IV right into your mind.

Stand back, the Future is already Old.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Dulaney http://EzineArticles.com/?BLU-RAY-and-the-Ultrahigh-Definition-TV-of-2012&id=1063039

By Steve Barrington

You may have an expensive flat screen TV but unless you use the best connections for flat screen TV you can get, you will end up with nothing but a fair A/V (audio + visual) experience!

Here I shall explain the most commonly used and best connections for flat screen TV also when to use them!

Line Input / Line Level
Line level is the signal level outputted by virtually all domestic audio equipment. Usually A/V equipment can be connected using RCA phono connections with white and red (White for left, Red for right) connectors for a stereo signal. Any equipment you see with these connections is usually outputting or inputting a line level signal.

RF
The RF (Radio frequency) or (F connectors) also called (input and output) connections (as known outside Europe) are DRM (Digital rights management) free you find them on most A/V equipment. The first transmission of TV Pictures using RF was in 1938!

Composite
Composite video is for the picture only and is used usually as a cable with an RF type connector for A/V appliances. This connector is usually yellow.

The question: Which are the best connections for flat screen TV?

Around 2005 HDMI was brought to us as the new standard connections for flat screen TV. High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) was placed in a lot of new HDMI A/V devices and is now taking over as standard practice.

Your TV will still work with any pre 2005 connections (as you know!) But it won’t have High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP). In other words you can duplicate your A/V media much to artists dismay!

HDMI is the currently “so called” best connection, the difference between HDMI and the SCART connection is simple, one is digital - (HDMI) and the other analogue - (SCART) the difference in quality of A/V is so minimal to human senses it is practically unnoticeable to both naked eye and ear!

HDMI
Both HDMI and SCART use single connections for flat screen TV and other A/V equipment, both produce the best performances HDMI (digitally) SCART (analogicly). Some manufacturers have made their A/V equipment not function fully unless both devices contain the HDCP code.

Pre-2005 HDMI and DVI formats already displayed HD resolutions but without any digital protection (HDCP). The HDCP code is a signal sent from one HDCP enabled device and answered by the other HDCP enabled device. (Not all A/V devices use HDCP) yet!

In the UK I recently upgraded my Sky package to HD and the engineer who installed it insisted that I used a HDMI connection? A bit annoying as most of my A/V connections were by SCART, was I expected to change them all?

Well luckily for us, using Sky’s directions on their website, there is no need! So I just use both!

SCART
From the French (Syndicat des Constructeurs d’Appareils Radiorécepteurs et Téléviseurs) the SCART or (Euroconnector) as its sometimes called, has been the standard connector used in Europe since it was designed in the 1970s. The SCART can connect all A/V devices that are SCART compliant with one lead to another (very tidy!), it does not have the HDCP as it came way before the idea of HDCP.

Optical Digital
Optical Digital connection is for passing digital audio from one component to another. The digital information is converted in to light and the transmitted along a fibre optic cable. Optical digital can carry Dolby Digital, PCM and DTS Audio formats amongst others. On most home equipment a “Toslink” interface is used as pictured above, but some, such as portable devices also use a 3.5mm jack

Component Video
A high quality video connection found on video sources like DVD & Blu-Ray Disc and for switching between them on amplifiers/receivers and of course on display devices like plasma, projection etc… Component Video can also be used for carrying the signal when DVD players have Progressive Scan output Labelled as “Y” “Pr” and “Pb.”

“Y” is luminance, luma, or “Brightness” This describes the level of white (or black).

“Pr” is the level of Red

“Pb” is the Level of Blue

The green section of the final colour output is derived from the levels of red, blue and white level, whatever the difference present in the the white level after subtracting blue and red must be green

On most home equipment a “Toslink” interface is used as pictured above, but some, such as portable devices also use a 3.5mm jack.

Copyright (c) 2007 S. Barrington

Steve is a former Electronics Engineer of over 25 years. Now he writes reviews for http://www.flat-screen-tv-guide.com which offers reviews on flat screen TV technology. Above guide with pictures

Article Source

I was asked by the company I work for to find a HDTV/Monitor that was 32″ in size and was LCD and wall mountable - easy I thought, I link to a large number of products and that’ll be a piece of cake! Off I went looking through the products in my little database, first I ran a filter on 32″ LCD and then filtered out the word TV Tuner - 156 results. So next exported this data to a spreadsheet and arranged it by price - here we go, an LG 32″ LCD monitor for £399 that doesn’t have a tv tuner - perfect!

I found a couple more but I know Lg are normally pretty good displays and just added another 2 displays to pad out the e-mail and give a couple of options to my boss; knowing he would go for the cheaper one. And so after sending the e-mail I though I’d read up a bit more about the display; it’s available from Dixons and they have a nice bit of info relating to this product - 2 x HDMI inputs, 2 x SCART inputs, 1 x Composite, 1 x VGA, 1 x digital tuner…… crap! It seems the details on this product I keep in my database only covered some of the information and I had taken that as gospel and figured that since it didn’t list a tv tuner than it didn’t come with one.

I checked the other 2 displays I had included in the e-mail, investigated a bit further and indeed both included a digital tuner, in fact it took another 30 minutes of hunting before I found one that didn’t.

This was all a bit of a surprise to me, having worked in a company just a year ago who purchased a number of LCD and Plasma monitors up-to 50″ in size, none of which came with a tuner I just assumed that the large displays of today didn’t either.

Now having all these TV’s with built in tuners is good for home buyers but for businesses it does cause a bit of a problem: many companies don’t have TV’s at there premises and as such have no need to pay for a TV license, and as many companies have a large number of employees if they did have a TV the license would be fairly expensive because I believe it comes under a public broadcast license. So having a 32″ monitor with a built in TV tuner means by law you have to have a TV license…… but finding a large screen without a TV tuner is quite a mission.

As such I’ve included a couple of links to models that don’t have TV tuners, on the off-chance that anyone here ever needs to buy one for their company. :o)

32″ LCD displays WITHOUT TV tuners:
SAMSUNG LE32R83BX LCD
Hannspree 32 Inch LCD HD TV
Matsui 32LW507 32″ HD Ready LCD TV

Samsung TV LE40R88 40″ LCD TV

Now £699.00 Save £150,Was 849.99 from Currys

Review:

Samsung’s hard-won but well-earned reputation for quality televisions at attractive prices is ably illustrated by this, the LE40R88. For starters, it’s a helluva lot of screen for the cash – 40in, HD-ready and equipped with a Freeview digital tuner, and all for £800 (or less if you shop online).

And then there’s the sheer quality of the thing: it’s professionally finished, attractively styled and a whole light year on in living-room appeal from the supermarket-special tat jostling for your attention at this price.

Not the most dramatic spec, but good enough
The Samsung’s feature set is largely on the money, too. You get a PC in, three HDMI sockets, a dedicated ‘Game’ mode, and support for the HDMI-CEC protocol (so you can get one-button operation of TV and, say, DVD player, proving it also conforms to the system).

Resolution? Well, it’s not a Full HD panel – that would be a bit too much to expect at this money – but its 1366 x 768 resolution is still ample for most needs, meaning the set is perfectly able to display 720p and 1080i HD content.

However, the LE40R88 won’t handle 1080p video (never mind 24fps), so it’s not necessarily ideal for Blu-ray or HD DVD users. That’s partially because the set’s three HDMI inputs are ‘only’ to 1.2 specification, rather than the latest 1.3a spec as found in Samsung’s newer TVs, but it’s also a reflection of this set’s target market: it’s a ‘middle-market’ design, rather than something pitched at the spec-chasing enthusiast, but there’s no shame in that…

Quality performance for the price
Wired and fired, the Samsung’s image quality is very impressive for the money. The digital tuner performs well, with negligible digital blocking in backgrounds and impressive stability. It can be afflicted by some smearing – you’ll notice a slight ‘trail’ behind players on fast-moving football, for example – but overall, this is a very impressive television image indeed.

Switching to DVD and HD content looks better still, of course. Colours have admirable snap and solidity, lending considerable three-dimensionality to action movies, and almost all evidence of picture noise is ruthlessly expunged. You’re left with a picture that’s sharp, natural and very involving.

Weaknesses? Only two: it won’t handle 1080p/24, as we’ve already said, and it also lacks the black depth of the best price rivals (such as Panasonic’s TH-42PX70 plasma). But overall, this is a cracking TV, and an ultra-competitive one at that.

Review thanks to Stuff.tv