7 Design Features To Look For Before You Buy LED TV
1) Screen Size
This is one of the most important factors to decide before you buy or finalize your LED TV. Many people get confused when it comes to picking up the size of the TV that will be best suited for their TV.
To make things easier what you can do read the table on this Wikipedia page “Optimum HDTV Viewing Distance” that explains the recommended TV viewing distance for the size of TV you want to buy. By comparing these distances to your living room size you’ll get a fair idea of which sized TV will be perfect for you.
2) TV Resolution
This is another very important factor that decides how sharp the picture will look on your TV. Many people buy a TV for multiple purposes like HDTV watching, Internet browsing, playing games and also as a computer monitor. For all these activities to run smoothly it’s necessary that you get enough clarity and the right display settings.
One very important thing to not that apart from watching the TV channels all other activities mentioned above requires that you sit very close to TV, in that case the resolution plays a very important role.
3) Inputs and Outputs
Many people when buy TV want to stream content from external media players like game consoles, blu-ray players, DVD players, Internet streaming devices, laptops, PC’s, mobile phones, USB flash drives and many more. This makes it necessary that you TV have sufficient number of inputs to receive digital data. Outputs are also necessary for sound bars in case a person wants to set up a home theater. Many people also love to watch movies by connecting a USB media player like an external hard sic or a USB flash drive. You must do some research whether the model you have selected can do this or not. While buying your TV make sure you study the number of inputs and outputs carefully for your chosen TV set.
4) Internet Ready
This is the age of “Smart” TV’s and streaming online content on your TV has become a necessity. You’ll find two types of smart TV’s in the market today
- Built-in Wifi – As the name suggests these types of TV’s have a built-in wifi adapter that can get connected to your home wifi network to stream online content.
- Wifi Ready – These types of TV’s support wifi connectivity but do not have a built-in adapter. IN that case sometimes the manufacturer supplies a USB wifi dongle that you must connect to the USB port of the TV to get connected to your home wifi network. Sometimes you’ll need to buy a separate USB wifi dongle that can cost anywhere in between $50 to $100
Almost every TV that is a “Smart” TV will have an Ethernet port that you can use to get wired Internet access, if wifi signal is not available.
Most TV manufactures allows firmware updates that will update the TV software using the Internet connection. You’ll be able to browse online content channels like Netflix, Pandora Internet radio, YouTube, Amazon Instant Videos and many more using built-in application in the TV software. Make sure you read the availability of these applications in your TV software before you buy.
5) 3D or NOT – 3D technology has evolved to a level where it has reached from cinemas to LED TV’s. Many TV manufactures provide 2 to 8 pairs of 3D glasses when you purchase a 3d TV. However to watch 3D movies you’ll require a 3D blu-ray player and a 3D movie disc to watch 3D movies on this TV.
6) Wall Mount facility – Almost every TV now has a wall mount facility. What you must look for is the hole pattern and the size of the screws required to fix the TV set on wall.
7) Customer Reviews and Ratings – No matter how popular a TV model is make sure to read real customer reviews and rating that people have posted already on online marketplaces like Amazon.com. Real reviews written by customers will help you a lot for making a final decision of buying. Many times real reviews reveal a major flaw in a particular model that the manufacturer will never advertise on their website or at the online marketplaces. This will save your money and time from buying a defective TV set in the first place.