Many of us are bored with our decade old fat monster type TV set which has taken up valuable space in our living room. Slim TVs look smart and sleek. They lend a modern look to our homes and enhance the TV viewing experience manifold. These TVs are just two thirds deep/thick as conventional TV sets. The picture quality, brightness and color reproduction is as good as LCD or Plasma TVs at a much affordable price.



Slim TVs are thin flat display devices that are thinner and lighter than the conventional CRT TVs. They display numerous colors or monochrome pixels with the help of a light source or reflector that is preceded by an array of the pixels. Slim TVs are made to utilize very less power.

This has been made possible because of extensive research by the various TV manufacturers. It can be called a revolution in the world of physics; the reduction by up to 40% in the picture tube thickness is a great feat in the electronics world. The picture quality is in no way compromised upon in the reduced thickness of the picture tubes and there is a vast price difference between these slim TVs and plasma and LCD TVs. Thus you get the same stylish look at half the price of other TVs.

The cost of slim TVs is just 10% more than the flat TVs available in the market. However flat TVs are not slim TVs. Flat TVs are of the same thickness as the conventional TVs. These slim TVs can be easily mounted on the walls too. The looks are the same as LCD and plasma TVs but the price is a fraction.

Many of us don`t know what to look for while buying a slim TV. We tend to be influenced by smart talking salesmen in the show rooms or tend to go by the opinions formed by our friends and neighbors. It is advisable to make an informed choice and not to get carried away by advertisements and salesmen. After all the TV set that you are going to buy is going to stay for you quite some time so you should be alert and make an informed choice.

When planning to buy a slim TV, consider the following factors:

Resolution of the slim TV: resolution is the vertical and horizontal pixels (example: 1024x768). Native- supported resolution is the reason behind the good display quality of slim TV.

Dot pitch: it is the measure of the distance between two adjacent pixels. For a sharper image, granularity should be low for which dot pitch size should be small. Dot pitch is generally the same both horizontally and vertically. But in certain cases, it may vary.

Viewable size: also called as active display area is the measure of the screen along the diagonal.

Response time: it is also called as rise and fall time. It is the minimum time taken by a pixel to change from one color to other.

Matrix type: it can either be active or passive.

Viewing angle: also referred as viewing direction.

Color support: also called as color gamut. It gives an idea of the types of colors supported.

Brightness: luminance is the other term used. It is the measure of the light emitted from the display.

Contrast ratio: it is the ratio of the intensity of the brightest light on the screen to the darkest light.

Aspect ratio: it is the ratio of the width of the slim TV to the height (example: 4:3, 16:9).

Input ports: for addition of extra electronic devices. Some of the ports that are available today include: VGA (Video Graphic Array), DVI (Digital Video Interface) and HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface).

Thus keep these tips in mind and be assured of a happy TV viewing experience for a long time!