With so many holiday sales and cheap LCD televisions being offered by major retailers and top ecommerce sites, it's becoming more difficult to purchase a low priced LCD TV without sacrificing quality.

I've put together this little guide to help make sure you get a quality TV and still get a bargain.

Avoid Off Brands

My first piece of advice is to avoid HDTVs that have brand names you've never heard of. It's one of the easiest ways to avoid cheap, low quality TVs.

For Small TVs, 720p is fine

If all you plan on using your TV for is watching television of playing video games, then if the television set you're considering purchasing is 40 or less, you don't actually need full 1080P resolution. If you're thinking about using the TV as a computer monitor, just buy a computer monitor instead.

If the TV is 42 or more, then 1080p is the right choice.

LCD, LED or Plasma

The cheapest TVs are always LCD TVs. Plasma TVs tend to be good values for their size (there aren't a lot of sub 50 plasmas these days), but suck up three times more power which can add hundreds of dollars to your electricity bill each year. LEDs are excellent for picture quality, brightness, and black levels, but are the most expensive of the bunch.

If you're looking for a good deal, just stick with LCD.

Contrast Ratio

I've seen many bargain TVs recently sporting mere 10,0001 contrast ratios. To be honest, the picture simply won't look as crisp or as nice as you're probably expecting with such low ratios. High end LED TVs have ratios that are in the millions now, but as long as you get one that has at least 50,0001, you'll be fine.

Refresh Rate

One of the biggest complaints about LCD TVs from the days of yore was that when you'd watch something that had a lot of action, for example, sports, that the motion would get blurry. This was due to the fact that most LCD had 60hz refresh rates. These days, the best LCD TVs have 480hz refresh rates. While you don't need anything that high to get a good picture, we do recommend sticking to 120hz TVs whenever possible.

There you have it, a quick and simple guide to purchasing a cheap LCD TV.

This article serves as a shoppers guide to buying TVs and lists many of the considerations which should be taken when purchasing a new television.

The first consideration which must be taken when purchasing a new plasma TV or other high definition TV is resolution. Newer technology televisions are built with 1080p resolution, while older high definition televisions have 720p resolution. The higher resolution televisions often cost about 50% more, but have a significantly clearer picture than 720p televisions. The 1080p resolution also allows the owner to take full advantage of the clarity produced by other high definition products, such as blu-ray DVD players.

The size of the television is a huge driver of the televisions cost and should be carefully analyzed based on your room's situation. The average person sits 3 meters from the TV. From that distance a 50 inch television is perfect, if a 720p TV is selected. Since the 1080p TV has higher resolution, a larger TV would work well from the same distance.

Another television specification which should be taken into consideration is the television's contrast ratio. The contrast ratio measures the difference between the darkest black and lightest white which is produced by the television. Top of the line LCD televisions have contrast ratios of 5,0001, or higher if the screen is larger than 42 inches. If a television has a contrast ratio below 5,0001, dark images tend to look dark grey while light images look deteriorated.

A purchaser of a new television should also take the televisions connectivity into consideration. All HDTVs come with at least a standard AV input, and a component video output. To ensure they are able to use all of their high definition devices, HDTV purchasers should also ensure their television has DVI or HDMI connectivity. If it is desired to connect a laptop to the TV, then a VGA input connection will be needed.

The brightness of an LCD TV, LED TV, or plasma TV is also another specification which can have a large impact on the viewing experience. A good brightness rating is listed as 550 cdm2. If the brightness rating is listed below that, images will appear muddied even if the TV has a strong contrast ratio. A TV with a poor brightness ratio is also very difficult to watch in a bright room as the sun will outshine most of the TV's picture.

The manufacturer of the TV is also very important. Panasonic televisions, Samsung television, and Sony televisions are often among the highest rated LCD, plasma, and LED televisions. There are various other manufacturers who produce high definition televisions, but many of those televisions are less reliable and of lower quality than those manufactured by Panasonic, Samsung, or Sony.

Find a range of electrical products including; TVs, netbooks and laptops from leading brand names online.