LCD TVs.(Home Entertainment: Digital Dominates)(Buyers guide)

Once available only with small screens, LCD (liquid-crystal display) TVs now come with bigger screens suitable for a household's primary set.

The introduction of 37- to 50-inch sets has positioned LCD TVs as strong competition for flat-panel plasma sets. In fact, Sony has stopped offering plasma TVs for the consumer market, instead focusing its flat-panel effort on LCD sets. That illustrates the growing importance of this category.

LCD TVs cost more than comparably sized plasma sets, but the gap is gradually narrowing. Differences in picture quality are narrowing as well. Recent improvements in LCDs address earlier weaknesses at displaying deep black levels, accurate colors, and fast motion. The introduction of some LCD sets with 1080p resolution--the highest currently available--has also raised the bar for picture quality.

Regardless of screen size, LCD TVs are only a few inches thick, giving them a small footprint. They're also relatively lightweight--30 pounds or less for mid-sized models, 60 pounds or so for big-screen sets--so they're easily moved or wall-mounted. But LCD technology, like plasma technology, is fairly new, so long-term reliability of these TVs is still a question. However, preliminary data are encouraging.

WHAT'S AVAILABLE

Top-selling brands include Sony, Sharp, Samsung, Panasonic, Magnavox, and Westinghouse. Prices have been dropping steadily, thanks in part to the arrival of low-priced brands from computer makers such as Dell and store brands from major retailers such as Best Buy, Circuit City, Wal-Mart, and Target.

Most LCD TVs with screens larger than 20 inches or so are high-definition (HD) models. HDTVs can display the sharpest, most detailed images. On most high-def sets, the resolution is 1024x768 or 1366x768. Recently, some 1080p HDTVs have been introduced. With a native resolution of 1920x1080 pixels, the highest so far, 1080p TVs are the first with the potential to display all 1,080 lines in the most common high-definition format, called 1080i. The improvement is most noticeable on large screens, say, 50 inches and up.