TV Shopping

CNet’s TV Buying Guide offers a comprehensive, one-size-fits-all site that takes you through many of the questions you’ll face when deciding the feature set. One advantage is their willingness to name brands and models while educating you, making CNet more pragmatic while seeming more commercial.

The HowStuffWorks TV Buying Guide has excellent, extensive coverage of the technologies and issues involved in choosing what you want in a TV. On the other hand, you may not need to know just how a remote works, but you can skip that section if you choose.

The tvs2go Jargon Buster has clear and relatively concise definitions of all the terms you’re likely to encounter when reading up on features or hook-up information. The fact that this is a British site doesn’t change the technical nomenclature. Of course, “colour” = “color."

Home Theater ’s Web site is the place to go if you want to be on the bleeding edge. From 52-inch plasma monitors to front or rear projection sets and ultra-high-end audio systems, the products and advice offered here will give you spectacular results. Just add popcorn and stadium seating.

Crutchfield Advisor’s TV Connections provides an excellent overview to all the different types of connectors you’re likely to need in order to hook up to your set. By no small coincidence, you will find links to buy their brand of connectors.

GameSpy ’s article “What’s the Right TV Set for Gaming?” is dated in terms of specific models mentioned, but it will give you a good sense of the type of display you want if you’re going to get white-knuckled in front of your tube.

PriceGrabber.com does an excellent job of naming prices from different vendors, and it allows you to sort by price and overall rating. You can compare specific models against each other and then get a link to the manufacturer or a vendor.

The Consumer Reports Web Site has top-notch information and some reasonable advice about features, but it saves the most detailed information and model ratings for paid members to the site itself. Still, it’s worth a look.

Google Shopping is a good place to go after you have an idea what you’re looking for. It doesn’t offer a large range of vendors, but it does a great job of summarizing user reviews and assigning each model a “metascore,” with links to the original citations.

BizRate has a wider range of vendors and prices than Google Shopping, but a smaller range of reviews and no “metascore.”

TigerDirect.com ’s Television Guidester has a simple-to-use interactive guide that helps you select models based on feature sets and pricing.

Amazon.com offers a wide selection and excellent customer service, but make sure an item is listed as “In Stock” when purchasing, and be sure to check who the vendor is. Amazon often fronts for other companies, and while they're usually good, like J&R, you need to know who you’re actually buying from and what their support and return policies are.

Best Buy has a good selection of name brands as well their own decent-quality house brand at a discount price. In-store pick-up and good return policies help a lot.

HDMI refers to the High-Definition Multimedia Interface standard that you’re going to use if you want to see what all the HDTV fuss is about. And of course, you'll need a cable to connect your HDMI box to your TV. How much will it cost? If you shop around, you will find prices from $20 to $160 for a 6-foot cable. What’s the difference between the two? Exactly $140—and nothing else. For short runs, an inexpensive cable will provide the same quality as an expensive one, according to a spokesperson at HDMI.