Forget your old TV, it is flats-screen era

Forget your old TV, it is flats-screen era

Doharto J. Simatupang, Contributor, Jakarta

When Sony launched its Wega Series flat-screen televisions
here in late 1998 -- the first in the country -- people were
impressed but the sales were thin. Given the sharp depreciation
of the rupiah against the dollar, the price was so high that only
the rich could afford them.

Several years on, however, an increasing number of flat TV
brands are available at competitive prices on the Indonesian
market. They range from foreign brands like Europe's Philips,
Toshiba, Panasonic, JVC, Sharp, Sanyo and Hitachi from Japan, LG
and Samsung from Korea, Changhong, Konka TCL and many others from
China to local brands such as Polytron, Sanken and Akari.

Today, the most popular sizes for flat-screen TVs are 21 and
29 inch sets and they have become so trendy among the middle
class that Sony, JVC and Samsung no longer produce sets with
conventional screens.

Designers say that 21-inch flat TVs suit small size rooms in
offices or at home, while the larger 29-inch is better for larger
areas.

Then there are the must-have features one should expect from
your TV for superior sound and picture quality.

Compulsory features are full stereo, whether is it is NICAM,
Zweiton or AV Stereo. A NICAM stereo sound system will allow you
to enjoy an audio quality comparable with that from a compact
disc. Surround sound systems like Dolby Prologic Surround, Tru
Surround (SRS), Virtual Dolby Surround, Incredible Surround Sound
(Philips), 3D Sound or Cinema Surround (JVC) help bring a cinema-
like atmosphere to your viewing.

To enrich or increase the bass sound emanating from the
speakers built into the TV cabinet, many manufacturers now
provide sets with built-in sub/super-woofers or even dual sub-
woofers (Sanken). Improving the bass quality, however, does not
come cheap, as your set ends up consuming more electricity. TV
manufacturers, however, are on top of this problem and are now
producing energy-efficient sets.

Several other manufacturers have found a smart solution to
increase the quality of the bass sound without additional
electrical energy consumption. They have added a circuit called
variously Virtual Hyper Bass/X'Bass/Bass X'pander/Bass
Boost/Turbo Sound/Mega Bass. Meanwhile, Polytron uses oval-
shaped speakers of the Zepplin type to optimize the space volume
in the limited TV cabinet and, the makers say, give better audio
quality.

When commercials interrupt our viewing, the Picture in Picture
(PiP) feature is a nice way to explore the other available
channels. If the set has a Multi PiP (MPiP) feature, one has
greater freedom managing all the TV programs available, with the
screen able to be partitioned into 12 small windows. If your
television set has a Double Window feature, your TV screen can be
divided symmetrically into two parts. Then two people can watch
two different TV programs -- by wearing separate headsets of
course.

Meanwhile, several more features like Double Window/MPiP, a PC
input terminal (TV monitor), HDTV (High Definition TV, a Memory
Stick slot, Flicker Free (non-flickering) and Progressive Scan
are only found in 29-inch flat television sets of the premium
class.

What about the price, you may ask?

Chinese-made 21-inch flat-screen TVs can now be purchased for
less than Rp 1 million. At this price, it is worthwhile for
owners of conventional 21-inch TVs to replace them with flat-
screen ones. Unfortunately, Chinese flat-screen TVs only come
with standard features like AV stereo, an AV multi-system and a
front AV-input terminal. And the sound quality of these sets is
just barely adequate.

The features in 29-inch Chinese flat-screen, meanwhile,
resemble the Sharp 29-CFX1 and the Samsung CS-29K5, both now
available for less than Rp 3 million. The Chinese sets, however,
are priced below Rp 2 million.

Given the cheap prices, it is no surprise that flat-screen TVs
are now part of the lifestyles of middle-class Indonesians. Do
you have a flat-screen in your home yet?