5 reasons to buy a new HD TV for the 2010 World Cup Finals

Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the last couple of months, you’ll be fully aware that we’re now just a few weeks away from the start of the 2010 World Cup Finals in South Africa.

Not only is that a great excuse to get the beers in, but it’s also a pretty good time to start thinking about investing in a shiny new TV to watch the tournament on too. “But I already have a reasonably good TV to watch it on!” I hear you say. Well “reasonably good” is hardly suitable for watching the world’s greatest sporting tournament is it? Do you think being “reasonably good” will be enough to beat the Germans on penalties in the final? Exactly.

So here are 5 top reasons to buy a new HD TV for the 2010 World Cup Finals.

HD TV picture quality is way better than standard definition sets

HD TVs allow for a much sharper image to be displayed than could ever be dreamed of with a standard definition set. Regular TVs only feature 576 vertical visible lines crammed together to create their picture, whereas HD TVs can offer as many as 1080 lines. It means the pixel count for a HD TV can be as much as a whopping 2,073,600 pixels compared to 414,720 on a standard telly, leading to far greater detail in the pictures shown. Basically, with a HD TV you’ll be able to see every bead of sweat on Rooney’s face as he darts about in the South African sunshine.

New motion tech is great for fast paced footie matches

Football is a fast paced game. It isn’t like American Football, where bulky prima donnas stand around planning “plays” for half the match; this is a flowing sport where every run and pass can make a massive difference, albeit filled with its own set of slightly more svelte prima donnas. Lots of older TVs can be a blurry mess when it comes to covering any action that moves at speed, but many newer HD sets have got built in motion tech to counteract this problem. Improvements to TV refresh rates, the number of times your TV updates the image it displays per second (measured in hz), have made this possible. You want to get any set that has a screen refresh rate of 200hz or higher, such as Samsung’s super-slim UE40B8000 with its 200Hz Motion Plus processing. Some, like Panasonic’s VIERA NeoPDP take this even higher, going as far as 600hz, though by that point any benefits are pretty much invisible to the naked eye.

Built in Freeview and Freesat mean subscription-free high def content

Though Sky offer a fairly comprehensive HD package, it can be pretty pricey to commit to each month. Freeview and Freesat now both offer a selection of HD channels absolutely free, meaning you can get great picture quality and more vibrant colours without having to dig deep into your pockets each month. Lots of sets, including Sony’s striking Bravia HX703, now offer Freeview HD built-in too, meaning you don’t have to splash out for a separate set-top box to enjoy the high definition World Cup coverage offered by ITV and the BBC. Come the inevitable digital switch-over, when the plug finally gets pulled on the analogue signal, you’ll be set up to enjoy digital TV too.

HD TVs are cheaper right now thanks to World Cup deals

TV manufacturers and retailers have their fingers on the pulse and know there is going to be a load of interest in their gear in the run up to the World Cup. To make their wares ever more appealing at this critical time there are loads of deals knocking about to grab your attention. Sony are offering a trade in scheme which sees them knock off as much as £150 off of a new TV when you bring in your old one, while Curry’s are giving back £10 for every goal England score on TVs bought for over £599. Best Buy go one better – buy any TV over £499 from their Thurrock branch and if England win the final, they will give you your money back, plain and simple. Order in a Loewe set and you could potentially save yourself a massive £6,500 if England come up with the goods. Mental savings there.

The World Cup only comes once every 4 years!

At the end of the day, it’s all about getting the most out of a massive event that only comes around once every 4 years. If you live to be 70 you’ll only see at besst 17 and a half World Cups which, when you compare it to the annual Wimbledon tennis tournaments or American Football Superbowl’s, hardly seems fair at all. A great TV can really make it all that much more enjoyable. And if England are lifting the cup at the end of it all (fingers crossed), you’ll have some crystal clear memories to look back on.

Gerald Lynch
Editor: Tech Digest.tv