Tips For Buying Smart TV

ByIvan Reading Time: 2 minutes

When going TV shopping there will be a lot of products on display and you’ll be bombarded with information about the features of the individual TV’s.

Some tips to help you get a clear idea of when shopping for a HDTV:

Resolution

Current available resolutions in HD: 720p and 1080p, 4K

720p is not really an option anymore as it is better suited to a smaller sized TV, and unless you are shopping for a PC monitor or something to hook up to your game console rather pass this by.

1080p is the current preferred native resolution for most manufacturers and broadcasters, and will be well suited to the average application.

Resolution is useless if you don’t have the content so buying a 4K is not worth it at this stage as content is not yet freely available, so unless you have some spare cash, rather stick to 1080p.

Size

Generally speaking, bigger is better, but it really depends on how far away you are from the screen. A 720p would not look great on a 50” from 5 feet away but would work fantastic on a 22″ at the same distance. Here is a recommendation from THX:

  • 35 inch class TV = 3.5-5 feet away
  • 40″ class TV = 4-6 feet away
  • 50 inch class TV = 5-7.5 feet away
  • 60″ class TV = 6-9 feet way

Sound

Most HDTV’s are able to output 5.1 Dolby True HD however the speakers on the unit will not be able to make the most of this quality as well as give you the surround sound, so if you are looking for the best audio experience you will need a great sound system.

Smart TV

This basically means that your HDTV will be connected to the internet. If you already have or plan to have a set-top box that is connected to Internet to stream content on HDTV then you don’t need the extra feature. Again you will need to keep the quality of the content in mind of what you are streaming and the size of the link you have that will connect to the HDTV, however you can always upgrade the link when you have a TV that is capable of viewing the content in the larger resolution.

Remember to look out when going to the store to browse the TV products on display, the promo content is made specifically for that resolution and will always look good on the resolution of the HDTV but keep in mind the content that you will actually watch will depend on the broadcaster.