Alfred Poor

Whether you're buying your first HDTV or replacing an older model, you'll find all sorts of new specifications and features to consider when shopping. Some of these apply to both LCD and plasma sets, while others are significant for LCDs in particular. Here's a quick overview of the different choices and what they may mean for you.

Important Specifications for LCD and Plasma HDTVs

Resolution: Almost all sets 40 inches or larger have 1080p resolution, which is 1920 by 1080 pixels. The 1080p resolution will give you the maximum detail available for almost all HD content. For some smaller HDTV sizes, 1366 by 768 pixels is often a lower-cost choice, but a 720p set has to scale 1080p images down to match its native resolution. This interpolation may introduce imaging artifacts, and the image may not appear quite as sharp or have the depth of the picture on a 1080p set.

High-definition television is truly different from the standard-definition television that it replaces. The screen is wider, and since many more pixels make up the image, you get greater detail. And these days, many television shows and sports broadcasts, as well as Blu-ray Disc movies, can deliver this more-detailed image.

So you want to buy a new big-screen HDTV for your home. Where do you start? You have so many options, features, and specifications to choose from that it can be confusing. And since you're likely to keep this set for at least the next five years, you want to make a smart choice that you can live with for a long time.

If you're hunting for a new flat-screen, high-definition TV set, you need to examine the pros and cons of the two HDTV technologies, as well as to study the various features and specifications that HDTV sets may offer. When you're ready to look at some specific models, keep the following shopping tips in mind.

Select the right size: Be sure to choose an HDTV that is big enough for your needs. If it's too small, you may find yourself shopping again in a year or two, and moving this set to some other room where you can sit closer to it.

Hollywood has noticed the runaway success of 3D movies at the box office; the 3D versions often account for as much as two-thirds of the ticket sales, even though the 2D versions appear on far more screens. About 15 major feature films will be released in 3D in 2009, with twice that number scheduled for 2010.

That means for the first time, we'll have Hollywood entertainment content ready to be piped into home theaters. A Consumer Electronics Association survey noted that 50 percent of consumers are willing to pay extra to get 3D functionality on their TVs. So it should come as no surprise that HDTV manufacturers are scrambling to support 3DTV.

When you stroll into your local store to shop for a new TV, dozens of big, glossy screens will greet you, each one trying to draw you in with its bright, colorful pictures. And a bewildering bevy of new features promise a multitude of benefits. Which ones will make a difference in what you watch and in how it looks on the screen? We'll help you sort out what's important. (If you haven't bought an HDTV before, see our previous article package on setting up an HDTV.)

The Changing World of Television

It's official: The (television) world is flat. The market has just about completed the transition from the large, heavy, cube-shaped, standard-definition CRT (picture-tube) television set to the sleek, thin, light, high-definition flat-panel set. According to market research firm DisplaySearch, worldwide shipments of flat-panel televisions shifted from about 5 percent of all sets in early 2004 to nearly 75 percent of the total last spring. In terms of revenue, flat panels now account for more than 90 percent of the worldwide television market. The Consumer Electronics Association says that 52 percent of U.S. households have an HDTV today. And now that the digital transition is complete, HDTV adoption continues apace.

Whether you’re General Motors or the corner convenience store, you probably could use a little more business. The question is how to get the word out about your products or services to the people who need them. One hot technique these days is to use short videos.

Any business of any size runs on information, whether it’s keeping track of accounting data or managing the flow of proposals and orders. Over the past 25 years, computers have transformed the way that small businesses operate, making it possible to organize and manage information in ways that simply was not possible in the days of paper ledgers and index cards.

When you get into a car to drive it for the first time, you adjust the seat, the mirrors, and maybe even the steering wheel's position. You want to make sure that it's a comfortable fit before you set off down the road. Yet many people fire up their computer without reviewing any of the default settings that the hardware manufacturer and software vendors may have chosen. When it comes to working with complex Excel spreadsheets, this is a mistake, because one size definitely doesn't fit all. You'll work more efficiently and with less frustration if you make a few adjustments.

Some programs are easier to customize than others, however. Microsoft's Excel 2007 has some obscure attributes that can be extremely helpful for tweaking the program's settings, but many people don't know about them. So let's take your copy of Excel out for a tune-up ride and get familiar with them.

Microsoft Word has endured many changes over the years. Depending upon whom you ask, some of the changes have been for the better; others, not so much. Throughout all the variations, however, one factor has remained constant: Microsoft has not always made the best choices in choosing some of the default settings.

For example, you might not agree with Microsoft's decision to put your files in My Documents automatically. As a result, just about everyone can benefit from making some easy tweaks to their copies of Word 2007 (the version that is the focus of this article). By changing the program to work the way you want it to, you'll get more work done with less aggravation.

Admit it: You've lusted after the giant 30-inch desktop monitors you've seen in stores. Imagine what you could do with all that screen real estate, and all those pixels! But hold on a minute--those giant displays aren't necessarily all they're cracked up to be.

A typical 30-inch display like the NEC MultiSync LCD3090WQXi will set you back more than $2000.First, they're expensive. You'll spend about $1300 to $2500 for a single 30-inch monitor. (For instance, the NEC MultiSync LCD3090WQXi pictured here sells for more than $2000.)