Must-see TV takes on a whole new meaning when you walk into one of the many mega electronics stores in northern Colorado.

For a guy, it’s sensory overload.

Little ’uns, big ’uns, wide and wider, all beautiful in a manly sense of the word, all colorful, all with crystal-clear color and sound. So, with such a plethora of choices, what’s a man (or a woman buying for her man; or, because we’re not chauvinist pigs at NEXT, a woman buying for herself) to consider when making a considerable investment in a television?

When it comes to the big, fancy flat-screen and flat-panel HDTVs, you have LCDs and DLPs. (We didn’t forget plasma; it’s just not a cool acronym.)

BFD, right? After all, you’ve been dealing with CDs, VCRs and DVDs for years.
Well, don’t make a salesperson LOL because you didn’t learn about a CRT TV.
Trust us, grasshopper, there is much to consider. Pay attention, and you’ll be a TV VIP ASAP.

(Yes, yes, we stole the acronym idea from Good Morning Vietnam. Don’t like it? BOO HOO!)

The world of High Definition — that’s HD, or, if you really want to be cool, thrown in a “Hi-Def” here and there when talking about your boob tube — is a vast landscape of multiple styles, sizes, prices and manufacturers.

To make heads and tails of the technology, we turned to Mitch Gonzales at Ben’s Furniture in Greeley and Andrew Pierce of Ultimate Electronics in Fort Collins.
Here’s what we learned:

The old-fashioned Cathode Ray Tube, CRT, televisions are still being made. They’re the regular ones you’ll find at Wal-Mart, or any other retailer that sells TVs. As the new technologies advance and become more affordable, CRT will likely go the way of the abacus.

The three technologies to choose from in HD flat-screen (and flat-panel — the thin, wall-mounted kind) TVs:

1. Plasma. Yes, it actually produces its high-resolution picture with plasma gas. Comes in both High Definition and Enhanced Definition. Thin and can be wall-mounted. At higher elevations, used to make a buzzing noise, but that’s not much of a problem anymore. New models have elevation ratings (although it may take some looking to find out the rating).
2. LCD. Liquid Crystal Display. Size and price used to be a consideration with comparing LCD to plasma, but that’s changing rapidly as LCD makers are catching up.
3. DLP. Digital Light Processor. This is technology developed by Texas Instruments. The upside is it’s generally cheaper than plasma or LCD. Because competition in this market is so stiff, manufacturers have made rapid advances in the technology. Thusly, prices are following the precedent set by VCRs and DVD players — wait long enough and they become affordable. Sort of. Plasma TVs, when they first came out several years ago, were about $10,000. “Prices have dropped so much now that people have no problem spending $3,000 on a TV,” Gonzales said.

That’s about what one of the hottest TVs on the market — the Panasonic 42-inch Plasma HDTV TH42PX50U, which was given its top rating by Consumer Reports  — will cost. In the flat-screen market, from 30-inch to 60-inch, prices range from $1,100 to $10,000 and then some. Sharp has a 65-inch, 1080 resolution set that will run you $20,000.

You should also consider factors other than watchability. Will you use it for video games? In one online forum, a dealer said that with plasmas, “burn-in” isn’t anymore much of an issue anymore. LCDs and DLPs also provide excellent gaming formats. This particular dealer preferred DLP for video gaming.
But something we found out while talking to people about televisions: A dud to one guy is the next guy’s favorite. Gonzales, for instance, is partial to plasma televisions.

So do some research.
“Find somebody who you trust,” Pierce said. “Be open to letting them guide you through your wants, wishes and needs.”

Because the last thing you want after shelling out $3,000 is to be SOL with LAME HDTV.

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