The 2010 FIFA Word Cup South Africa is just around the corner, well six months away (that’s quite soon right?) so it’s high time you upgrade your old CRT television to LCD, Plasma, or, if you have deep pockets, LED. This way the boys will be more encouraged to watch the game(s) at your pad for a change on weekends and during the big matches… or, okay, every night why not?

The best part about this upcoming World Cup being hosted in South Africa is the time zone. Gauging at the probable match timing and time difference, I’m guessing the live broadcasts will be around 8pm-ish to 10pm-ish Malaysian time? Isn’t that’s just perfect?

You have 6 months to save some ringgos and before you head for your nearest electrical store, here is a guide to the three video display technologies.

LCD

LCD TVs are the mainstay of flat-panel TVs and available from 19” to 56”. In terms of price, the LCDs, especially the 32-inchers becoming more affordable (as low as RM1,400 and lower). No burn-in risk as far as LCD technology is concerned, making them ideal for PC graphics and games. Also, these panels are usually has better power-efficiency than plasmas.

On the downside, LCD’s picture quality has been known to lack in black and color saturation. This is because there’s always some light leaking through the pixels. Viewing angle is also narrower so brightness and color shifts occur when viewing the screen from an angle. There’s also some motion blur but the latest models seems to have resolved this problem and to boost image fluidity, most brands has introduced 100Hz and 200Hz refresh rates.

Plasma

With the price of a 42” starting as low as RM2,700, plasma TVs packs the most value for moolah  in terms of ringgit per inch. In terms of image appearance, it may greatly vary with different brands but plasmas generally offer superior picture quality than LCDs as most models can produce wide viewing angles, blur-free motion (i.e. to capture fast moving ball) and near-CRT-like blacks. Besides being slimmer (but heavier) than LCDs, another plus point is almost all plasmas have an extended 100,000-hour panel life before the display fades to half brightness. That means more than 17 years based on average daily usage.

Plasmas used to have of a problem of burn-ins (this transpires when an image such as a channel logo get etched permanently onto the screen) but the latest ones are equipped with burn-in-reduction features. Also, do take note that

Plasmas are susceptible to "large area flicker” (raster display due to low frame rate) and reflection glare in bright rooms. It also does not work as well at high altitudes.

LED

LED-backlit TVs are somewhat a bridge between plasmas and LCDs as they offer richer blacks with less the shortfall of burn-in plus improved power efficiency over the two other display technologies. The recent edgelit ones have sexy ultra-slim bezel with fully integrated tuner and electronics minus the external media receiver.

There’s only one drawback for LEDs and that is the hefty price, the cheapest being around RM7500 (and having them made available in nothing smaller than 40” doesn’t help at all), though there are some no-frills models recently.

Lowest Prices for 32” LCD TVs from Leading Brands*

Taken from www.hslene.com.my

*Available at HSL Electrical & Electronics outlets across Peninsular Malaysia

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