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Considerations for Picture and Audio Quality

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There are several things to keep in mind when you are choosing the screen for your television. The picture quality you will get depends largely on four things. The first of these is the darkness of the picture tube or screen surface. With the television turned off, check the darkness of the picture tube and screen. TVs with a greenish looking screen produce low-contrast. Second, consider the flatness of the screen. If you are purchasing a plasma or LCD screen TV, then the screen is already flat. For all other models, keep in mind that the flatter the screen, the less glare you will get from windows and lamps, and the less distorted the images will be. Third, look for the presence of a comb filter in the TV. If a TV does not have a comb filter, it will display "dot crawl" along edges of objects in the picture. This is not very noticeable in small screen TVs, however, so its not a crucial factor when purchasing an under the cabinet TV. A comb filter's job is to fine-tune the picture signal so that the colors and lines are displayed more accurately on the screen. There are several different types of comb filters: glass, digital, and 3DY, but they all pretty much do the same thing. The last thing to consider with regard to picture quality is progressive scan. Since the advent of Digital and HDTV, the ability of a TV to display progressive scan is another important consideration. This feature is part of Digital TV broadcasting and has a more film-like look to it than normal video.

Quality sound is just important as a quality picture, so make sure your television is capable of being hooked up to an audio system. Even if you aren't planning on doing it now, you'll be glad you have the flexibility later. The TV should have at least one set of audio/video inputs and one set of audio outputs. If your TV is going to be used for HDTV application, check for HD Component, Firewire, DVI-HDCP, or HDMI inputs for future attachment of HDTV set-top boxes, HD-DVHS VCRs, or HD recorders/players (Blu-ray/HD-DVD).

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