How to choose a television?

Zabilo buyers guide for television

Buying a new TV There are hundreds of televisions available to buy - from cheap TVs for a bedroom or study, to large-screen sets that give you a cinema-like experience at home. While it's great to have such choice available, knowing what you want helps make the decision much simpler. 

With the TV market continually shifting towards larger screens, it's now hard to get a top quality set smaller than 40-inches in size. However, bear in mind that with TV bezels (the frame around the screen) shrinking, larger sets might not be as big as you think. 

Screen Size

Perhaps the most important choice you’re going to make with a new TV is the size of the screen. TV screens are measured diagonally, and they range in size from fewer than 20 inches to more than 80 inches. However, not many people shop at the extremes. Televisions going into kitchens or small bedrooms might measure just 24 to 32 inches, but if you’re shopping for your primary TV, we recommend going bigger, say a set with a 50- to 60-inch screen. You could consider an even bigger set for spacious family rooms, or if you'll be sitting very far from the TV.

While there are no hard-and-fast rules for determining the right size TV—personal preference, the field of view, and even visual acuity come into play—there are some general guidelines you can use. You can try one of the many online calculators that are available for free, or apply the following, easy-to-use, equation.

You can simply reverse the arithmetic if you want to start out with the viewing distance. Measure the distance from your couch to the TV in feet, divide that number by 1.6, and then multiply the result by 12 to get the screen measurement in inches. If you'll be sitting 8 feet from where you want to put the TV, you'll end up shopping for a 60-inch television. (You can make the math even simpler if you just measure everything in inches.)

With a UHD TV, which has a higher-resolution screen with more densely packed pixels, you can go larger, and your seating distance can be as close as the screen diagonal itself. So, for example, with a 65-inch UHD TV, you could sit as close as 5-1/2 feet from the set. Just remember that the goal is to create a comfortable,immersive viewing experience.

Choose Between HD and Ultra HD

These terms refer to the TV’s native resolution.

• A regular high-definition (HD) set is also a called a 1080p model, as its screen resolution is 1920 x 1080. That means it has 1,920 pixels horizontally, and 1,080 pixels vertically, so it contains roughly 2 million pixels in all. Think of pixels, short for "picture elements," as the tiny individual dots that make up the TV's picture.

• Ultra High-Definition (UHD) TVs, also called 4K TVs, have screen resolutions of 3840 x 2160, which contain 8 million pixels, or four times the number of individual pixels as an HD set. The more densely packed array of pixels in UHD sets make them capable of greater picture detail. The benefits of a UHD TV are more apparent in larger screen sizes, say 65 inches and above, or when you'd like to sit closer to the TV than you could with a 1080p set.

Make the Right Connections

Don't forget to consider a TV's connections before you buy. You'll want to ensure that it has the right type of inputs and outputs to support all of your A/V gear.

Nearly all TVs now have side input connections, as well as rear inputs, which provide some flexibility for connecting source components to your TV.  Inputs located on the side or bottom of the TV work best if you'll be mounting a TV flat against a wall. If you are wall-mounting a TV, a short HDMI extender can be used to make connections a bit easier to use.