There are many dimensions to televisions today. They are:
1) Physical type - The general characteristics of the technology (Hieght, Width, and Depth).
2) Picture engine - The technology that makes the picture
3) Preformance ability - How good of a picture is possible (with any technology and physical type combination)
With that said, lets look at them and how the dimensions relate to one another. There are three types of televisons...
1) Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)
Picture production engine: All CRTs use Tubes to create light and picture.
Preformance ability:
Analog: CRTs that are only capable of 480i resolution (NTSC). They all have a 4:3 (Fullscreen) ratio.
Digital: CRTs that can be standard definition or SDTV (480i) displays or HDTV (1080i) displays. These sets can have either a 16:9 (Widescreen) or a 4:3 ratio.
2) Projection (Rear or Front)
Picture engine: Projection tvs can use CRT, LCD, DLP, or LCos technologies to create their picture.
Preformance ability: These sets are capable of EDTV or HDTV resolution. Since they are Fixed Pixel Displays (FPD) they all have a "Native resolution" that must be converted to before a picture can be displayed so good Video processing is needed. Most have a Widscreen ratio.
3) Flat-Panel (Wall Mountable)
Picture production engine: Flat-Panels use LCD or Plasma technologies to produce their pictures. (In the near future Organic Light-Emitting-Diodes or OLED technology will be used in big screen flat-panel tvs; Toshiba/Cannon are soon to release a TV tech called SED that will fight for the 50+ inch 1080p flat-panel market share).
Preformance ability:
LCD flat-panels can achieve standard def, (480i) enhaced def, (480p) and high def (720p, 1080i, 1080p). Some 13" - 20" LCDs arn't digital and may have a 4:3 ratio screen. Also a FPD.
Plasmas can acheive resolutions of 480i - 720p. They have a 16:9 ratio screen. Also a FPD
Recap:
1) Physical type - The general characteristics of the technology (Hieght, Width, and Depth).
- Tube
1) CRT
2) CRT-SlimFit
- Projection
1) Front
or
2) Rear
- Flat-Panel
1) LCD
2) Plasma
3) OLED (Coming Soon)
- Picture engine - The technology that makes the picture
1) CRT
2) LCD
3) DLP
4) LCos
- Preformance ability - How good of a picture is possible (with any technology and physical type combination)
I know buying a TV these days can be overwelming (I sell 'em :))! If your in the market for a new TV, read this before talking to salesmen:
http://www.dtv.gov/shopgde.html
With this rant, I hope I helped to make your shopping a little easier,
Ced
