Yep, for me as well ... connections are probably the most troublesome aspect. HD/LED/LCD/Plasma/3d/Hz ... those you can generally see the difference in the shop. But connectors you need to think about, since you're only going to notice the issues when you get it home and try to plug it in.
If all your equipment use HDMI cables (connectors are about the shape and size of USB) you should be fine with just about anything. Some have component input (like the 3 round plugs you used to get for video/dvd players/recorders). Some have VGA/DVI like computer screens. Just take note that for HD you require either HDMI/DVI/VGA - the others tend to not work so well at the higher resolution.
Usually (note some cheaper models skimp a bit on this) play low res video quite well. So viewing something like SABC (or DSTV's standard channels) should simply be scaled so it uses the full screen by using multiple pixels for each dot of the image. Sometimes this causes you to actually see the "dots" though (or worse it distorts by stretching/squashing the proportions) - I'd suggest you ask the shop to show a normal TV broadcast in addition to the BD movie they usually use so you can see if it works decently with current TV channels.
If you want to get something which will last for at least the next 10 years, then it might be a good idea to have something with a network / wifi connection too. Overseas most TV channels have either gone out of business or moved to on-line. In the US stuff like NetFlix have become ubiquitous as has similar stuff in Europe (even BBC now "broadcasts across the internet). There's been stuff in the news about SA's broadcasts becoming digital (not satellite but digital radio), this will require a set-top box, but I fear they're doing too little too late - on-line (through the internet) seems to be the future (at least if you look at the rest of the world). So to be ready when (and if) SA's internet becomes fast and cheap enough to watch live video, you should get something which will work easily with a set-top-box. For me, I already watch local TV shows only once in a blue moon (usually only sport), since I can usually view shows which are a year ahead of anything on MNet/DSTV while their quality is also full HD (nothing on DSTV is that).
Edit: Overseas the trend is to get TV's with built-in media centres (i.e. set-top-box built in). These are usually something like an Android operating system (like on smart-phones / tablets) with a program specifically designed for use on TV with a remote. Alternatively they go for HTPC (Home Theatre Personal Computer) - see my thread here about me trying to find something decent: http://www.theforumsa.co.za/forums/s...your-old-phone
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Originally Posted by montronic
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