Why a 60-inch HDTV isn't a good investment
A screen that large is likely to consume twice as much electricity as a 32-inch LCD TV, meaning a larger power bill for years to come. Find out how to watch more TV and pay less.
Thu, Nov 19, 2009
AsiaOne
By The AsiaOne Techbot
Related story How to shop for an HDTV |
Huge TVs may be a really impressive centrepiece for your living room, but if you live in the US state of California, that 60-inch monster you got in front of the sofa will become an illegal item in 2011.
In a bid to reduce energy consumption, California had announced today new regulations on TV sets that would essentially outlaw all large, power-hungry TVs in two years' time.
Banning people from buying or owning huge TVs might sound like an extreme take on things, but the US state had a genuine case to worry about - about 10 per cent of a household's energy use is typically devoted to the television set, and that's a very significant amount for just one device.
Screen size, the technology type (such as LED or plasma) and picture brightness are the three key factors contributing towards power consumption. Find out more about each factor and how it affects your electricity bill:
Screen size - the bigger your screen, the more you bills you pay
Technology - find out which one is the power-vampire
Picture settings - tweaking this can save you money
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Screen size and power consumption
Generally, the larger the screen, the more power the TV consumes.
While this may look pretty straightforward, the equation isn't always linear. That means a 40-inch TV won't consume exactly twice the amount of energy as a 20-inch one.
Usually the equation tapers off, but this depends on the brand, model, make and technology of each TV available in the market.
As a guide, a 52-inch LCD TV will consume about twice the amount of a 32-inch model, even though the screen space real estate on the 52-inch is about three times as large.
» Find out what is the ideal viewing distance for various HDTV screen sizes
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Technology type
There are three main HDTV technology types available in the market today - LCD, LED and Plasma.
In general, Plasma TVs are the most power-hungry followed by LED and LCDs. A typical Plasma TV can consume about 300W of energy, compared to about 175W for an LCD screen.
The reason for the need of extra juice is how the way a plasma TV is built - each pixel is an individual light source. When the TV is set to display a higher resolution in this case (say from 720p to 1080p), power consumption increases too since each pixel is directly 'responsible' for it's own quality settings.
LCD TVs on the other hand, display an image in the LCD panel that is illuminated by a backlight.This means that power consumption is relatively unrelated to picture resolution.
» Read more about HDTV technology and which one suits you best
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Picture settings and how it can save you cash
One thing that many HDTV owners don't know is that tweaking some settings on their television sets can translate to a significant amount of savings in their next electricity bill.
The settings you would want to adjust would be the backlight (also called brightness) and contrast (also known as picture) controls, which both directly affect the output of light. Generally, the more light your TV produces, the more power it consumes.
Toning down the backlight and contrast controls will lead to less power being consumed, and more savings to you.
Owners of newer "green" HDTVs might also want to look out for an "energy saving" button on their remote controls. This will bring your TV to settings that are optimised by your HDTV's manufacturer to give the best balance between picture quality and power consumption.
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