Football season is right around the corner, and that means it’s a good time to assess your living quarters, entertainment center or man cave and decide if it’s ready for Game Day. When it comes to watching Football, you want to craft a viewing experience that gets you as close as you can to the action without leaving the comfort of your living room. With so many acronyms and marketing buzzwords in the TV world today, you may be wondering “what kind of TV should I get” to make the most of Game Day. Here’s a brief guide on what the market has to offer.
LED TVs
LED TVs are so named because of the underlying technology that gives them their crystal clear displays—light emitting diodes. LED stands for light emitting diode, and if you remember the LCD (liquid crystal displays) of the 90s and early 2000’s, LED TVs are essentially the same technology, the only difference being the use of LED lights in place of the bulkier fluorescent back lighting of older TVs. This is why TVs in recent years have gotten so much thinner, and if you are looking for a low to medium (under $1500) price large flat screen TV to adorn your wall, this is the class of TV you’ll want to get. If you’re looking for a real bargain, this 43 Inch 1080p LED Smart HDTV by LG is a nice place to start. If you’re looking for the best of the best in LED technology, there’s actually a newer class of LED TV that’s got a buzzword of its own—the 4K Ultra HD—which we will go into detail later in this post.
OLED TVs
With the removal of plasma screen TVs from manufacturers’ lineup, most TVs you see today, despite the sheer number of buzzwords, are using LCD technology. But if you thought the OLED TV was just another buzzword, you’d be wrong—organic light emitting diodes are an entirely different technology that fills the void that plasma screens left behind. Instead of relying on LED backlights, each OLED serves as both the RGB pixel and the source of light—and the result is better black levels and contrast ratios and competitive resolutions to LCD TVs. Another advantage is that the picture quality doesn’t diminish when you view an OLED screen from the side or at the angle—a huge plus if you’re throwing a game day party. OLED TVs are a new technology and as a result tend to be expensive, however this 55 inch 1080p Smart 3D Curved OLED TV is a real steal at just shy of $2,000.
4K Ultra HD TVs
While many manufacturers touted 4K Ultra HD as a revolutionary new technology, it’s really more of a buzzword to capture the latest step in HDTV resolution. The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) classifies any television that can display a minimum of 8 million active pixels and a resolution of 3,840 by 2,160 pixels as a 4K TV. The moniker is usually applied to the latest in LED TVs, but some OLEDs with comparable pixel ranges have also adopted the marketing word. If you’re looking for the latest and greatest TVs for your living room, consider this 65 inch Curved 4K Ultra SUHD Smart 3D LED TV, which actually provides a nice segway into our next section, curved screen TVs.
Curved Screen TVs
Next to resolution and display technology, manufacturers have given us yet another feature to consider when selecting the right TV for your Game Day viewing experience, the Curved Screen TV. There is a bit of controversy within the tech community about how exactly curved screens improve a user’s viewing experience, but the theory is easy enough to understand—screens in theaters and the IMAX are slightly curved to correct the field of view and depth perception for your audience, so why not scale that down for the living room? One thing that is for certain is if you want to create a feeling of immersion, large curve screen TVs do a pretty good job, and work great for scenes like being surrounded by the deep ocean or a football field. Looking for total immersion at your next game day party? Try this massive Samsung 78 inch Curved 4K Ultra HD Smart 3D LED TV which is sure to fill your game day viewing space.
We hope this breakdown helps you decide which TV is right for your Ultimate Game Day Viewing Experience! Looking to throw a party and host some friends for Sunday Night Football? Check out our other post on How to Throw an Epic Game Day Party!
I liked how you mentioned that a curved TV is good at immersing you. My wife and I are wanting to upgrade our living room and we were wondering what kind of television could get that would immerse us in whatever show we watch. I’ll be sure to tell her that we should look for a curved TV for our living room.