Best Home Theatre Video Options
The television is the center of the home theatre universe. With recent improvements in technology, consumers are offered the most comprehensive list of choices for a total home theatre experience. There have been major advancements in recent years with digital audio and video. There are not only different generations of TV's but now there are also different categories. For creating a complete home theatre experience we will set our criterion toward screen size, picture quality and value for price paid. Currently on the market there are four categories of TV's, with some formats fitting into multiple categories. The current options are CRT (cathode ray tube), Wall mount Plasma and LCD, RPTV (Rear Projection) and Front Projection projector and screen.
CRT's are the oldest technology on the market. CRT Picture tube TV's are back heavy requiring a large footprint and the largest screen size is 42".
Illustration showing the interior of a cathode-ray...
A close-up on a CRT screen
HDTV Cool!!!Images in a picture tube are formed by an electron beam lighting up the phosphorus face1. The highest resolution of a picture tube TV is 625 lines. The highest resolution of a CRT projection is 700-900 lines (900 lines require much larger guns) . CRT's are used in older RPTV's but have become obsolete due to their size, weight and resolution.
Wall mountable plasma and LCD Matrix (liquid crystal display) are new competitors in the TV video market. These monitors are very thin usually between 3-5 inches in width. The picture qualities of these monitors are among the highest on the market, and they are HDTV ready. For example, the pixel resolution of a plasma TV is never lower than 1280 by 768 max. Unfortunately, the largest plasma TV on the market is 61". When you purchase a large plasma screen be prepared to pay close to $15,000, though...