Plasma TV Features: The Useful, the Cool, and the Utterly Useless
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When you think about it, Plasma TVs are a luxury. You can live without them, but life is definitely sweeter and more enjoyable with them. The same goes for a lot of features bundled with various plasma TV models in the market. The basic plasma TV is okay without 'em, but we'd still like to get our hands on them nonetheless!
Plasma TV manufacturers are like carmakers, always besting the other makers' designs by coming up with great features that are sometimes uber-helpful and sometimes nothing more than money-wasters. In this light, we've compiled a shortlist of features found in the plasma TV scene today and categorized them according to their worth. It goes without saying that the classification is highly subjective!
Take note: the features discussed here are different from plasma TV accessories and furniture, which are bought separately from the TV.
Must-Have
Anti-Burn-In
Burn-in is often cited as one of the main drawbacks of plasma TVs. Basically, burn-in happens when static images damage the plasma display's pixels. Many plasma TVs have some sort of burn-in protection features, but these just revolve around the TV's settings. These are still absolutely useful, though Philips' anti-ageing circuit in some of its models sounds a step forward.
Why is anti-burn-in a must-have? Well, you don't want to have your favorite TV network's logo forever imprinted on your screen, right? Unless you're a fanboy for that station, that is.
Anti-Glare
Also known as anti-reflective coating, anti-glare improves a plasma TV's video fidelity by minimizing the effect of ambient light.
Why is this a must-have? Because Plasma TVs have displays that are more reflective than LCDs or DLPs, which means the light in a bright room will dilute the light produced by the plasma TV, lowering the quality. You didn't buy a plasma just to have washed-out colors, right?
Samsung is a popular brand for anti-glare models with its FilterBright technology (now into FilterBright 2 and FilterBright 2 Plus). Other good brands include Sony, Fujitsu, Hitachi, LG, Philips, and HP.
Freeze
Many plasma models have Freeze, which freezes a moving picture (captures the onscreen image and holds it) until the feature button is pressed a second time, or for up to a certain amount of time (e.g. five minutes in some sets). Usually, normal sound will still be heard in the background while an image is "frozen".
Why is this a must-have? Because Freeze is the answer to stupid TV shows that flash pertinent information (e.g. contact numbers, raffle details) onscreen for only a second or two…plus a lot other scenarios where you just need to stare at that image and not let the moment pass.
A lot of well-known plasma TV brands have models sporting the Freeze feature, such as the Panasonic, Samsung, Hitachi, Daewoo, and Sharp, among others.
Useful
These are some features that plasma TVs may already have out of the box but can also be integrated with other components. Sometimes, TVs with these features are cheaper as a package, but sometimes you'll just be buying these TVs because you feel they're a "good deal"…when in fact you don't really need the features at all.
- Electronic program guide. These onscreen e-versions of the traditional paper TV guides -- guides that list current and scheduled programs on each channel -- are a good, but not imperative, convenience. Fortunately, EPGs are almost a staple feature in new plasma TV models.
- Integrated DVR. DVR stands for Digital Video Recording, which allows you to pause and rewind live TV, fast-forward through the lousy commercials, and automatically record shows, among others. It's no wonder TVs with DVR are called "time machine TVs".
- Wi-Fi. If aside from being a plasma TV owner you're also a computer junkie, a Wi-Fi enabled TV means you can stream content like videos from your PC. This works well in conjunction with the...
- Hard drive. Hard drives are storage workhorses that will happily receive the content streamed from your computer. DVR TVs also come with hard drives, with newer sets ranging from 150GB to 300 GB drives.
- All-in-one. This isn't a feature, but an amalgamation of features. Think of an all-in-one plasma TV as a multimedia center that incorporates a DVR, Wi-Fi, and hard drive into the set.
Just 'Cool'
Nice to have, but are they actually useful? These are some "cool" features already found in a plasma TV you might buy from the appliance store, though spending serious bucks on them might not be a wise choice. Spend if you have the dough, though!
- Ambilight, Ambisound, AMBX. Ambilight is an exclusive technology by Philips that intelligently illuminates the sides of the television to further enhance the picture that is currently on. While the company, along with its loyal customers, claims that watching with Ambilight is easier on the eyes, others believe it only distorts one's perception. You decide. Still, if you're a fan of Ambilight, check out their Ambisound, its audio counterpart, and their total home entertainment immersion effort: amBX.
- Wood finish. Wooden plasma TVs are one of the sleekest (and rarest) models around. It exudes class alright, though you should be prepared to answer any nature-loving friends and relatives that you might have.
The Money Wasters
These are out-of-this-world features you don't find in an ordinary set that make the TV even more expensive than a car. Some of these aren't even for sale, but you might just be interested to know these silly things exist!
- Swarovski crystals. Need we say more? Swarovski is a synonym for "luxury of luxuries". Check out this TV surrounded with Swarovski crystals here. (We're bending the rules a bit here -- this one's an LCD.)
- Diamonds. Diamonds are a woman's best friend…what more a plasma TV encrusted with over 2,000 diamonds? Fortunately it's not for sale!
- Gold. Getting the hang of it? Here's another overly extravagant TV -- a gold-plated LG plasma TV. Want a more pimped-up flat screen TV? Then this LCD TV with diamonds and white gold trim is the thing for you.
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