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I have broken down choosing a new television into three basic categories; Size, Quality and Price. Of these three basic factors there is typically some compromize between them, even in the extreme case of a real movie theater.

TV Choice Part 1 : Size
TV Choice Part 2 : Quality
TV Choice Part 3 : Price

Quality is the most complicated of the aforementioned Triforce of Home Theater and is accordingly the most overlooked. If you glean nothing else from this from this entry, understand that the best judge of quality is you. Within the category of Quality is: Display Technology, Video Processing, Display Resolution and Display Connectivty.

Quality and Display Technology : As of 2006 the display technologies competing in the consumer market are LCoS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon; aka DiLA or SXRD), LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), DLP (Digital Light Processing), Plasma/PDP (Plasma Display Panel) and of course the CRT (Cathode Ray Tube).

Quality and Video Processing : Video Processing is the most overlooked aspect of quality. In fact, according to Home Theater Magazine about 80% of 2006 HDTV could not execute a 3:2 pulldown and 54% could not deinterlace properly. Processors like the Trimension DNM from Philips and Loewe is valued for it’s motion compensation features. Many manufacturers develop thier own processors but some opt for consumerized solutions like the Reon-VX. The Reon is a cheaper version of the full blown Realta Teranex chip developed in the mid-eighties by Lockheed Martin for military application. Processors like the Realta are generally sold as part of very high end gear for broadcasting companies or prosumer quality external video processors for home theater. Video Processing exist in source devices like DVD players and game consoles, home theater recievers, televisions and even HTPC (Home Theater Personal Computers). In fact the best film playback south of $2,000 DVD players is a computer with an NVidia video card.

Quality and Display Resolution : 720p is better than 1080i because of the difference in temporal resolution. Most 2006 displays accept 1080p input which is good future proofing.

Quality and Display Connectivity : HDMI dominates HDTV connectivity. However with HDCP (HD Copy Protection) and different versions like 1.2 and 1.3 some look for DVI-D or SDI. SDI is generally better than HDMI. The value of HDMI 1.3 is questionable with the main advantages being 30bit color depth and support for things like 120hz LCD. Of course the source devices are a large part of the equation. For instance the Xbox 360 only does component video out whereas the PS3 does HDMI 1.3.