The latest development in television technology is 3D. The one drawback to this technology is the cost. Costing at least £1500, they are currently not within the budget of most households. Referred to as 3DTV, there is only a short supply of 3D films currently available. Although, of course, it is bound to increase in time, and Sky broadcasts, such as the Premier League, may soon be in 3D. 3D glasses are needed to experience 3D technology, but they are cheap to buy.

We will now look at the features most television sets will contain. First off, there is HD Ready. This refers to a TV set which is ready for high definition transmissions. Look for a HD Ready TV which has a 1080i or 1080p capability. The lowest HD definition is either 720i or 720p lines of detail, which means the picture is not as well defined.

Screen size is next, whilst a huge screen of 50 inch sounds like alot of fun, there is the practicality to bear in mind. Will it fit in your home?, the bigger the screen, the further away you need to sit from the TV, so as to view the picture at optimum performance. So, if you're tempted buy a 70 inch monster, consider the fact that you may need at least 12-20 feet viewing distance..

The likes of Sony, Philips, Panasonic, Toshiba, LG, Samsung, Sanyo, and Sharp have similar specification lists. If you're looking to spend over £700, then you should expect the following features,

• S-Video connection
• Component video connection
• AV inputs - at least 2-3
• DVI connection
• HDCP enabled
• HDMI connection, it's very important so you can hook up a HD Ready digibox
• PCMCIA
• On/off and sleep timer
• Finally a child lock, so you can block out certain channels

When it comes to performance, the higher the better of course. Therefore compare the following, (and pick the highest for your budget)

• Pixel resolution
• Contrast ratio
• Brightness level
• Audio power output level

LCD vs Plasma? The plus point for an LCD TV is it's low power usage. If you're sick of sky high electrical bills, then consider LCD. They can save upto 50%, compared to a regular CTF TV.

Plasma and LCD share some similarities, they both have a slimline design, which means you can place them closer to a wall and save valuable room space.

LCD will give the highest brightness level of all TVs, due to it's pixel rate. However, LCD is generally let down by a low refresh rate, which means a ghosting effect can occur for fast moving images.

Plasma is still the best technology for depth of colours. With a spectrum of 16.77 million colors, it has more than the human eye can register, which results in life like images. Plasma also has the widest viewing angle of any technology.