Sanyo DP42848

With wide-screen television sets showing DVD, Blu-ray or HDTV, you can sit as close as 1.5 times the screen's diagonal measurement and still not notice much of a loss in quality, while sitting farther away than three times the screen size means you're likely to miss out on the immersive feel. Here's a rundown of minimum and maximum recommended viewing distances for wide-screen television sets.

Size and your room

Generally, 32-inch and smaller sets are great for bedrooms or guest rooms but too small for the main living room. Television sets with bigger screens are large enough for the whole family to enjoy and will probably be too much for most small bedrooms.

If you're mounting the set inside an entertainment center, be sure it fits in every dimension; also, leave an inch or two on all sides so that the TV has enough ventilation. If you're getting a bigger set, you may want to consider a dedicated stand; many TV makers sell matching stands that increase the aesthetic appeal of their hefty boxes.

For additional information on screen sizes, please see CNET's Ultimate Buying Guide

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There are two main HD resolutions in use today by HD broadcasters and other sources: 1080i and 720p. One is not necessarily better than the other; 1080i has more lines and pixels, but 720p is a progressive-scan format that should deliver a smoother image that stays sharper during motion. Another format is also becoming better known: 1080p, which combines the superior resolution of 1080i with the progressive-scan smoothness of 720p. True 1080p content is extremely scarce, however, and none of the major networks have announced 1080p broadcasts. The term 1080p today appears mostly in reference to the displays' native resolution, not the source.

Despite the obvious difference in pixel count, 720p and 1080i both look great. In fact, unless you have a very large television and excellent source material, you'll have a hard time telling the difference between any of the HDTV resolutions. It's especially difficult to tell the difference between 1080i and 1080p sources. The difference between DVD and HDTV should be visible on most HDTVs, but especially on smaller sets, it's not nearly as drastic as the difference between standard TV and HDTV.

For more information on resolution, please read HDTV Resolution Explained

In the last couple of years, there has been a big influx of HDTVs with 1080p native resolution, which typically cost a good deal more than their lower-resolution counterparts. But as we've been saying all along, once you get to high-def, the difference between resolutions becomes much more difficult to appreciate. We've done side-by-side tests between two 50-inch HDTVs, one with 1366x768 resolution (a.k.a. 720p) and the other with 1080p resolution, using the same 1080i and 1080p source material, and it was extremely difficult for us to see any difference. It becomes even more difficult at smaller screen sizes or farther seating distances--say, more than 1.5 times the diagonal measurement of the screen.

We're not telling you to ignore 1080p HDTVs. They technically do deliver more detail, which can enhance the viewing experience for more eagle-eyed viewers. Also, many manufacturers build other picture-quality benefits, such as better contrast and/or color, into their 1080p HDTVs simply because those sets are the high-end models. And given the continuing march of technology, we expect more and more 1080p models to become available at lower and lower prices. Today, however, the premium for 1080p is still pretty steep, and unless you're getting a very large set, say 55 inches or more, we don't recommend basing a buying decision on whether or not the television has 1080p native resolution.

For more information on resolution, please read HDTV Resolution Explained

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HDMI stands for High-Definition Multimedia Interface, and that's a pretty good description of what it is. In layman's terms, HDMI is a type of digital connection that's capable of transmitting high-definition video and high-resolution audio over a single cable. To do the same thing with analog cables, you'd need to connect three component-video cables plus six analog audio cables--that's a whole lot of cable clutter.

HDMI can deliver the best image quality of any of the cable types available today. It can handle high-definition video of up to 1080p resolution at 60 frames per second, which is the most bandwidth-intensive video format currently available. The older PC-based DVI connection offers equivalent quality, but it is rarely available on HDTVs or video components these days. Component video is found on nearly all electronics that output high-def video, and its image quality is slightly lower than HDMI, but it's really difficult for most people to tell the difference. Many viewers are probably familiar with the quality associated with the various standard-definition video cables--namely S-Video, composite (the yellow video cable), and RF--and HDMI provides a potentially huge improvement over all of them. As always, however, the biggest factor in video quality is the source; a low-quality source delivered over HDMI will still look worse than a high-quality source over S-Video.

For audio, HDMI is the reigning king of quality as well. It supports the ability to carry eight channels of 24-bit audio at 192kHz--enough to handle even the highest resolution audio soundtracks such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. The only other connection type that can deliver the same quality are multichannel analog audio cables, but you'd need to run as many as eight separate cables to get the same quality. Digital audio cables--both optical and coaxial--can deliver multichannel audio, but are limited to lower-resolution audio signals.

For more information on HDMI, please read HDMI Quick Guide

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Stream movies, TV shows and videos with Netflix, YouTube, Vudu and get up to the minute news, stock information and weather updates directly to your TV without a computer. Simply connect a broadband source through the built-in Ethernet port and grab your remote.* *Internet connection and Netflix subscription required and sold separately.

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