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If a doctor were to inspect the world of televisions right now, she’d give it a nice big lollipop and a perfect bill of health. We can’t remember the last flat-screen TV that we’d actively discourage people from buying — they’ve all been spiffing. The problem is that every TV these days is HD Ready, affordable, and even likely to have a Freeview tuner to boot.
Of course, this is more of a ‘problem’ for us reviewers than it is for consumers, and in truth there’s been no better time to buy a new TV. It was all so different this time last year — if you were buying a flat-screen TV you had to dodge a minefield of non-HD Ready sets that were double the price they are now. You’d be amazingly lucky if it had an integrated digital tuner, picture quality was hit and miss, and designer flair was practically non-existent.
Of course, there are good TVs and there are great TVs, and recent sparks of genius have come in the form of the brilliant Panasonic Viera TH37PV500 and the Sagem HD-D45H, which tick all the right boxes in design, features and performance. So is there any reason not to go out and buy one of these right this very second? Well, 1080p resolution is on the horizon, and while compatible televisions will be expensive, they’ll offer home cinema junkies the very best picture quality available. We covered a couple of 1080p sets from this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, so if you’re yet to buy an HDTV, they’re the one reason to keep holding off. We’ll have more on 1080p later in the year, but in the meantime keep an eye on our Reviews channel to find out which is the best TV for you.
Have you had a bad experience with a recent TV? High definition more of a high disappointment? We’re sure there are some duff ones out there, so let’s name and shame them by posting feedback on the story below, or email us directly here. -GC
