The VIZIO P50 HDTV Widescreen 50-inch Plasma TV offers a HDTV display capability at 720P and 1080i allowing you to enjoy High Definition content in either format. This product offers a high 1,000 cd/m2 Brightness at a 1366 x 768 native resolution, and an unprecedented 10,000:1 Contrast Ratio. Using VCV (VIZIO Color Vision), this Plasma TV can display 6,144 shades of gray in 231 Billion colors for a brilliant, colorful picture
Philips 32PFL5403D/27 32-Inch 720p LCD HDTV
Reviewed by: Alex Jennings
Reviewed on: 29 July 2009
As part of Philips' flagship 9000 series, we'd expect the £1,000 32PFL9604H to be fully loaded with features and technology. But this 32-inch LCD TV actually surpasses expectations, thanks to Philips' ground-breaking decision to let you access the whole Internet, rather than just a customised section of it, as happens with rival 'online' TVs.
Beautifully builtBefore we get onto the 32PFL9604H's key 'Net TV' functions, there's a trio of more immediate attractions to cover. Firstly, this set is beautifully built, sporting a strikingly slender brushed-aluminium bezel, offset by charcoal grey highlights. Secondly, this being a Philips TV, the 32PFL9604H boasts Ambilight technology, whereby pools of coloured light, similar in tone to the content of the image, spill from the set's left and right sides. Thirdly, the TV's connectivity is outstanding. Among the highlights are five HDMI sockets, a USB port (able to play back all kinds of photo, movie, slideshow and music files), and the all-important Ethernet jack for accessing the Internet.
The Ethernet port can also be used for streaming files from a DLNA-certified PC. If this dual use of the Ethernet port sounds potentially troublesome, fear not -- the 32PFL9604H also carries built-in 802.11g Wi-Fi. Cool.
Online opulenceThe 32PFL9604H's online functionality comes in two 'layers'. The first layer is a lobby providing access to preferred content providers, with services specially adapted to work conveniently with the TV's swanky remote control. These services comprise YouTube, , a weather forecast site, and last, but certainly not least, the really rather nifty Tunin.fm online radio service. This is already a level above what's on offer with most rival online systems, but a link on the lobby page takes you through to the cherry on top: a full Internet browser.
The 32PFL9604H not only looks great, it offers full Web access and fantastic picture quality
Browsing the Internet via your TV remote isn't ideal. It's harder to navigate around pages and access links without a mouse, and inputting hyperlink text without a proper keyboard is always going to be a chore. But, thanks to a neat on-screen virtual keyboard and the possibility of inputting often-used Internet phrases like 'www' and '.co.uk' with the press of just one button, surfing the Web on the 32PFL9604H isn't nearly as frustrating an experience as expected.
This, together with the freedom of having the whole Internet at your disposal, means that the 32PFL9604H's online access is something you'll probably use regularly, rather than being a mere sideshow, as it is with most TVs.
Pristine picturesThe 32PFL9604H's Internet access and striking design are far from the only thing it's got going for it. It also boasts the latest version of Philips' Perfect Pixel HD video-processing engine. Capable of handling a gob-smacking 500m pixels a second, Perfect Pixel HD takes on a wide range of picture-improvement processes, targeted at everything from contrast and colour to noise reduction, motion reproduction and extra detail interpolation. And the system really does work.
For the vast majority of the time, the 32PFL9604H's pictures are simply outstanding. One of the reasons for this is that the TV enjoys a seriously impressive contrast range -- some of the richest blacks we've seen on a 32-inch TV sit side by side with bright, rich colours and whites.
Pictures are breathtakingly sharp, too. The set's 1080p resolution perfectly presents every pixel from high-definition sources, while the Perfect Pixel HD processing does an unprecedentedly excellent job of sharpening up standard-definition images by adding extra detail and applying sophisticated new noise-suppression techniques. The sharpness scarcely drops off at all when the set is showing motion, either, as the TV's motion processing and 100Hz engine pretty much eliminate LCD's common judder and smearing issues.
Plasma TVs are ultra thin flat screens that produce blacker blacks and whiter whites and make movies and television shows look amazing. Plasma TVs produce astonishingly deep colors, are bright and have a wide viewing angle.
Plasma TVs are thin, some less than four inches, and are popular in large TVs over 37 inches. In large sizes, they are often less expensive than LCDs and produce a slightly better picture quality. They support HDTV and have a life span of up to 60,000 hours, which is about ten years with an average of over eight hours a day before you lose picture quality.
Because plasma TVs are affordable in large sizes, work best in dimly lit rooms, and produce brilliant color, they are perfect for movies. However, there is some chance of burn-in, so they are not the best type of TV for gamers or sports fans.
In this site, you’ll find articles related to TVs, as well as comprehensive reviews and a side-by-side comparison to help you make an informed decision on which TV is right for you. At TopTenREVIEWS — We do the research so you don’t have to.
During the early sixties, the University of Illinois used regular televisons as computer monitors for their in-house computer network. Donald Bitzer, Gene Slottow, and Robert Willson (the inventors listed on the plasma display patent) researched plasma displays as an alternative to the cathode-ray tube-based televisions sets being used. A cathode-ray display has to constantly refresh, which is okay for video and broadcasts but bad for displaying computer graphics. Donald Bitzer began the project and enlisted the help of Gene Slottow and Robert Willson. By July of 1964, the team had built the first plasma display panel with one single cell. Today's plasma televisions use millions of cells.
After 1964, television broadcast companies considered developing plasma television as an alternative to televisions using cathode ray tubes. However, LCD or liquid crystal displays made possible flat screen television that squelched the further commercial development of plasma display. It took many years for plasma televisons to became successful and they finally did due to the efforts of Larry Weber. University of Illinois author Jamie Hutchinson wrote that Larry Weber's prototype sixty inch plasma display, developed for Matsushita and bearing the Panasonic label, combined the size and resolution necessary for HDTV with the addition of thinness.
Samsung has unveiled what's possibly the world's largest plasma monitor screen - a monster 255cm (102in) high density panel codenamed 'Atlas'.
The resolution is a mere 1920 x 1080, little bigger than most larger PC monitors, but with a contrast ratio of 2000:1 and a 1000 candlepower per square metre brightness rating, the giant screen should leave viewers feeling sufficiently in among the action.
Indeed, the whole thing measures roughly 2.2 x 1.3m, so you need a gargantuan living room to put it in. An equally colossal wallet would come in handy too: Samsung didn't reveal a price, but it's likely to be substantial. Samsung did say it will be ramping production between January and June 2005.
The new screen comes almost a year after Samsung showed off its 200cm (80in) plasma display panel. ®
If you want a super-sized HDTV that won't overwhelm your living room, meet the Maximus from Vizio's Colossal HDTV series. The secret is a strong aluminum frame supporting a screen that's only 4.8 inches deep. In fact, you can remove the base and mount it on a wall with an optional mounting kit. It boasts a tuner that can receive conventional analog channels (NTSC), as well as the new digital channels (ATSC), including over-the-air HDTV broadcasts, where available, and unscrambled digital cable channels. Exceptional contrast ratio and brightness deliver excellent picture quality. Four HDMI inputs and a variety of other connections make it simple to connect DVD players, surround-sound systems, other entertainment gear, and even a computer.
Note: You must have a source of HD programming in order to take full advantage of an HDTV. Otherwise, the picture quality of an HDTV without an HD source may not be much better than that of a standard-definition TV.
Buying a new HDTV is a BIG deal. With prices anywhere from a couple hundred dollars up into the tens of thousands, it’s important to do your research. It’s important to find an unbiased source. Although the electronics salesman at your local store is probably a great guy, you can often find some great HDTV deals online; you just need to know what to look for!
Here are a few things to look at when reading HDTV reviews:
Screen type:
Wide viewing angle?High contrast ratio?
