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The world is flat screen
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Switching channels, gaming and surfing on a single flat screen in a small room is fun or fad? SERISH NANISETTI finds out
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PHOTO: N. SRIDHARAN
LIVING LOUNGE The no clutter visual delight has families asking for more
The Numaish is no Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show, nor is it Macworld Expo where a certain Steve Jobs comes and shows some gizmo and world drowns in the collective drool. No. The Numaish isn't exactly that. But logon to the Numaish and you get the feel of the times. From a time when visitors used to come here from Rajura, Sangli and Satara to a time when electronic goods meant a Keltron, a Meltron, a Salora or a Dyanora to a time when there would be one or two LCD or Plasma screens, times have changed. This year, the world is flat or curvy and it is getting flatter by the hour as the prices of LCD and plasma screens dip, middle class incomes rise and the flat screen becomes a living room style statement more than a requirement for a small room.
A few kilometres but certainly a world away is the mall street. Walk on the third floor of one of them and the banks of flat screens make the people sit down on the settee and do mental arithmetic about zeroes and feet. If a young couple postpone their decision for another day after a toss up between Plasma and LCD screens, another family debates the need for a bigger screen. "These huge screens are good and look good only if you play a DVD. Try connecting them to the poor quality cable feed in Kukatpally and I am sure you will get pixelated images that will leave everyone disappointed," says Subhash Chaudhary, a techie. Indeed, apart from the appeal of LCD and Plasma for connecting to the cable and watching TV, the flat screens have morphed into multi-utility things where users are seeing them doubling up as a screen for gaming or even as a screen for the computer. This coupled with the spread of digital reception in CAS and DTH format means that the flat panels will only grow in popularity.
The spread of LCDs doesn't mean that good ol' colour TVs are going out of fashion soon. V. Rajesh Rao's New Year gift for his family at Tarnaka included a Samsung 29" colour TV. "I didn't want to go for a loan for purchasing a TV. Though there are lot of advertisements for LCD and Plasma screens, I am confident about colour TVs after my earlier TV worked for nearly 12 years," he says.
So, as the LCD and Plasma screen sale figures reach stratospheric levels is it finis for the colour TVs as we know them? In one word: no. The flat panel TVs prices have crashed in a big way, but Rs. 30,000 for a TV is a huge sum of money for most families. Unless the price breaches the Rs. 20,000 level, the flat panels will be the playthings of the double income groups.
Before you give the dough
Don't get conned. A flat picture tube is not flat panel.
The screens should be HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) so that you are future ready.
HDTV is the next big wave. You will get beached if your flat panel is not HDTV ready.
Big is better. But don't get a screen that will leave you with the I-Max effect.
See if the display ratio will also work at 16:9 as well as the standard 4:3
Currently, both Plasma and LCDs are seventh generation pieces, don't go for older pieces.
Before you give the dough
Don't get conned. A ?at picture tube is not ?at panel.
The screens should be HDMI (High De?nition Multimedia Interface) so that you are future ready.
HDTV is the next big wave. You will get beached if your ?at panel is not HDTV ready.
Big is better. But don't get a screen that will leave you with the I-Max effect.
See if the display ratio will also work at 16:9 as well as the standard 4:3 Currently, both Plasma and LCDs are seventh generation pieces, don't go for older pieces.
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