Television

[Seil]

Now, I'm not big with technology. I consider myself semi-computer literate, so I don't know the difference between LCD/HD/Flatscreen/whatever. What's the best TV to buy, and why?

[I_Like_Swordchucks]

Well, you can easily have a television that is an LCD, HD, and a Flatscreen as they aren't opposites.

Flatscreen is exactly that, a flat screen as opposed to the generic tube TVs we all remember as kids.

Widescreen is in a 16:9 ratio than a 4:3 ratio of the standard tube TV.

LCD is a type of flatscreen standing for Liquid Crystal Display. Its counterpart is a plasma TV. People say plasma generally gives a slightly better picture, but I've heard LCDs are more durable and avoid screen burn-in problems as plasma TVs can get rather hot.

HD means high definition, which is basically that the TV can display higher resolutions that more closely mirror real life. 1080p is currently the standard for high definition and supports Blu-ray and that stuff and is currently getting cheaper. You can also get 720p or 1080i which isn't as good as 1080p due to the lower res, but isn't entirely horrible.

In terms of computer resolutions, 1080p is similar to 1920x1024 and 720p is similar to 1280x768. Not exactly, of course, but approximately.

So I would consider the best TV is a large size (greater than 42") 1080p LCD/plasma. I'd prefer LCD myself, but thats just me...

[Smarty McBarrelpants]

Plasmas look a bit better but they have problems with burn in. This comes as a problem particularly if you have a channel logo showing constantly somewhere or if you're playing games which have a healthbar or something. Not sure if this is a problem for you or not. If not it should be fine. It needs to be on for quite a while before burn in sets in.
And I prefer LCDs because I built some once! Teeheee!
As for HD tv, I haven't really watched much so I don't know the difference. I guess if you can afford it it probably a good investment for future but there's not a whole lot of use right now unless you have a lot of bluray discs.