Flat Panel Televisions
You step into a shop for your brand new flat TV. Not only are you surrounded by a deluge of choices but an even bigger set of jargon that you have never heard of. Read on to demystify the tech-slang related to the big TVs. As you read on, you would be able to know the meaning of these words and how do they affect your viewing experience.Aspect Ratio: The ratio of width with the height of a television screen. The older TVs that were comparatively squarer in shape had the aspect ratio of 4:3, but all consumer flat panels 26-inches and over have an aspect ratio of 16:9.

• Blu-Ray: Blu-Ray Disc (BD) is to DVD as DVD is to VCD. It is the next generation disc format for storing high-definition video. A BD can store up to 50 GB of data that is more than 10 times a normal DVD.
• Component Video: Simply put, it is the best type of analog connectivity between your flat-screen and a source like a DVD player, much better than the usual composite video cable (with the yellow, red and white connectors). It has three cables Y, Pr and Pb or Y, Cr and Cb. Both the notations are correct and interchangeable in consumer products. The three cables are generally encased in a sheath or glued together with a triple tail at both ends. These tails include three co-axial plugs that carry the color and image data for the video stream of up to 1080p resolution. You would need to use audio cables separately while using component video.
• Composite Video: One of the oldest video standards, is good enough for video up to the resolution 480i or VCD quality. Playing anything over that resolution, like a DVD with this cable results in a loss of quality and you would not be able to make the most out of the big flat panel that you plan to buy.
  This cable generally has a yellow connector and is coupled with two sound cables, one each for the left and right channel. It is recommended to use the Component video or HDMI for the best possible connectivity between your source and TV.
• Contrast Ratio: This is perhaps the most used and abused term in flat-panel televisions. It is the measure between the brightest white and darkest black that a display panel can produce. More that contrast ratio, better the display as it is about to show better depth in the picture.
  For bigger TVs Plasma Display Panels (PDPs) enjoy a better contrast ratio over the LCDs because of the difference in underlying technologies.
• DTH: An abbreviation for Direct-To-Home is a platform used to deliver television programs without the intermediate cable carriers. It usually involves installing a small dish to communicate with the satellite and a set-top-box. The same dish can be used to connect one more TVs but all the televisions need their individual set-top-box to decode the signals.
• Full HD: It refers to a video that is rendered in 1920 vertical pixels and 1080 horizontal pixels or 1920x1080 pixels. Simply put, a full HD TV would give you better picture quality that a standard definition or HD ready TV.
  But, it is important that you have the original source in the same resolution. In this case, it has to be a Blu-ray disc or a gaming console like Play Station 3.
• HD Ready: A misguiding term at times, it simply means that though the TV itself may not be native 1920x1080 pixel resolution, it can display HD video. When compared to a Full HD TV you would see a considerable drop in quality while running a full HD signal.
• HDMI: The abbreviation stands for High Definition Multimedia Interface. It is the most widely used digital standard for transmitting sound and digital video from any source (PC, notebook, DVD/ Blu-ray players) to a television.
• HDTV: High Definition Television is display panel that can natively display video of 1920x1080 resolution.
• Interlaced Scanning: It is the process of transmitting video signals to the screen in which alternating lines are transmitted in successive field/frames. If the first frame transmits the even lines the second frame will transmit the odd lines. This reduces the bandwidth of transmitting the signals from the source to the screen. For e.g., a 1080i signal transmits 540 horizontal lines and a 480i signal transmits 240 lines.
• IPTV: Internet Protocol Television is a system where television is delivered through the Internet. It is a better technology over other platforms for video on demand as it can cater to the needs of individual subscribers. In India there are two major IPTV vendors, Airtel and BSNL/MTNL.
• LCD: Liquid Crystal Displays are the most widely available flat panel displays. In simple terms they are a collection of pixels containing crystals in front of backlight – generally a CFL. The varying amount of current passed through these crystals displays different colors on the screen.
• LED: Light Emitting Diodes are small semi-conductor devices that produce a bright broad spectrum light when current is applied to them. Some of the newer flat panels use them as a backlight instead of the usual CFLs for thinner form factor and less energy usage.
• NTSC: National Television System Committee is an analog system of transmission mainly used in the United States, Canada, Japan and some other countries. This system displays 29.97 frames per second.
• PAL: Phase Alternating Line is another form of television broadcast standard used in India, Singapore, Australia and other large parts of the world. It has various variants and most of them are transmitted at 25 frames per second.
• Pixel: It is the smallest element of an image or screen in the case of flat panel televisions. It is generally represented by a square or rectangle. More number of pixels in a said area ensure better picture quality.
• Plasma Display Panel (PDP): A flat panel display technology that uses tiny cells of noble gases that change characteristics to emit light. Since these cells are a light source in themselves and do not depend on backlight like LCDs, they have better contrast ratios.
• Ports: A means of connecting various sources of video and audio to a flat panel TV. Some of these include Component, Composite, S-Video, VGA, RF, HDMI etc.
• Progressive Scan: Unlike an interlaced scan, a progressive scan shows all the lines in one go thus using more bandwidth but provides better picture quality.
• Resolution: In common terms it means the detail that an image or video can display. Higher the resolution means clearer the display. In case of video, it is important that the source of the video resolution is correctly matched with the display panel. A very low resolution video can look jagged on a high resolution TV and a very high resolution video on a low resolution display will lose its detail.
• Response Time: It is the time taken by a display to change from one state to another. It is usually measured in milliseconds(ms). A flat panel will generally have 8-16 ms of response time but you may require a panel with up to 4 ms of response time if you want to play games on it.
• SDTV: Standard definition TV refers to analog transmission with a resolution of up to 640x480 pixels.
• STB: Set-top-box is a device used to decode signals from a DTH operator, IPTV or digital cable network. Usually one set-top-box is used with one TV
• VGA connector: A connector generally used by PCs to display information on computer monitors, is also available on some flat panels that helps you to attach your computer to the TV.
• Viewing Angle: Refers to the horizontal angle from which you can clearly view the image on a flat-screen. It should be as close to 180-degrees as possible to allow distortion free viewing from any part of the room.