• How to Display Your TV

• Screen Size

• High Definition

• Flat Panel

• Rear Projection

• Traditional Tube

• How to Find TVs on eBay Australia

• Buy TVs With Confidence

• Need More Help?

• Legal Disclaimer

How to Display Your TV

How to Display Your TV

Before you select a television, decide if you want your TV to sit on the floor or hang on the wall like a painting or mirror.

• Wall: If you want to hang a flat panel LCD or plasma TV, measure the wall with the best TV viewing position. Make sure you have evenly spaced studs; you don't want to try to hang something as heavy as a TV in plaster alone. If you have enough space, buy a wall mount. You can hang your TV yourself or have a carpenter or installation expert do it for you.

• Floor: If you want a flat panel, but don't have enough available wall space, buy an LCD or plasma TV and a flat panel stand. CRT tube and rear projection televisions also stand freely and often cost less with little compromise in picture quality.

Screen Size

Screen Size

Televisions come in a lot of different shapes and sizes. To find a television that will best fit your room, measure the length, width, and depth of the area where you plan to put your new TV. TV dimensions are usually included in item listings by sellers. The type and screen size of television you buy should be determined by the characteristic of the space where you intend to put your TV. Make sure to leave empty space on each side if you are planning on fitting in a home entertainment unit to prevent having to cram the TV in amongst your furniture when you get it home. It doesn't necessarily mean you should buy a television that fills the entire area just because you can. For example, you will feel like you are sitting in the front row at the movies if your couch is only 60cm away from a 70" or 175cm screen. Suggested viewing distances for widescreen TVs include:

Certain types of TVs work better in some rooms rather than others.

• Small Room: Flat-panel LCDs between 15" (38cm) and 21" (53cm), 15" (38cm) to 20" (51cm) CRT tube TV, TV/DVD/VCR combos, and portable TVs.

• Narrow Room: Rear projection, LCD, and plasma.

• Large Room: CRT tube, plasma, LCD, and rear projection.

When buying a TV with a 38" (95cm) or larger screen, choose between plasma and rear projection DLP.

Weight Consideration
Be sure to check item listings for the weight and shipping costs before placing your bid. It is more expensive to ship heavier TVs so by chosing a flat panel LCD or plasma over a much heavier traditional tube TV, you may save yourself some money.

High Definition

High Definition

Experience the movies and sporting events in more detail than ever before! High-definition television (HDTV) delivers amazingly clear picture quality, often with 5.1 surround sound, directly into your living room.You won't feel like you are just watching a program. You'll feel like you are walking the streets of Rome, catching some rays at the beach, or even sitting on the sidelines at the game. To get HDTV content:

Improve DVD picture quality

Widescreen 16:9 DVD movies aren't high definition. Although they look great on a widescreen, you'll need a progressive scan DVD player and component video cables to achieve near high definition 576p video. In order to make full use of the Dolby Digital or DTS surround sound through your home theatre setup, purchase some fibre optic or coaxial digital audio cables.

Program quality

Resolution describes the quality of the programming your TV can display. Higher numbers offer better quality.

• 576p: Near high definition progressive scan 1024x576 resolution signal used by progressive scan DVD players and Enhanced Definition Television (EDTV).

• 720p: HDTV programming comes in 720p or 1080i. A 720p progressive scan signal has 1280x720 resolution.

• 1080i: HDTV programming comes in 720p or 1080i. A 1080I interlaced scan signal has 1920x1080 resolution.

If you want your HDTV to show every detail of a 1080i image, be prepared to pay a premium. Plasma, LCD, LCoS, and DLP TVs have a fixed number of pixels. This native resolution tells you how much detail you'll see, with higher resolution displays showing more detail.

HDTV vs. HDTV ready

"High definition television (HDTV)" indicates that a TV can receive a high definition television signal, although it may require additional hardware to do so. It can describe a HDTV ready, HDTV compatible, or integrated HDTV television.

• DTV: Digital television describes the digital broadcast television standard for HDTV and standard definition television. A DTV can display progressive scan DVDs and can usually display HDTV programming.

• HDTV ready: Television capable of receiving a high definition television signal with the help of a receiver/tuner. Sometimes called HDTV compatible.

• HDTV compatible: Television capable of receiving a high definition television signal with the help of a receiver/tuner. Sometimes called HDTV ready.

• HDTV monitor: Monitors display a signal fed into them and do not include a built-in tuner for programming. Many plasma and rear projection televisions fall into this category.

• Integrated HDTV: High definition television that has a built-in HDTV (sometimes called digital or ATSC) tuner. Connect an antenna to your integrated HDTV to receive high definition broadcasts over the air. You will still need to order an HDTV package and receiver from your cable or satellite service to receive HDTV programming from them.

Keep in mind that a built-in HDTV tuner will only help you get broadcast programming over the air. If you order an HDTV package from your cable or satellite service, request an HD receiver for your HDTV, HD ready, or HD capable TV.

HDTV alternatives

Some televisions don't produce full quality high definition programming.

• Analogue: Traditional analogue TVs can display standard television programs broadcast over the air, on cable, or on satellite, including digital cable and digital satellite signals.

• EDTV: Enhanced definition television sets produce near high definition (576p) resolution progressive scan signals. While they can receive HDTV signals, they are unable to produce the same quality image as a true HDTV. Plasma TVs sometimes fall into this category.

• SDTV: Standard definition television support 576i (interlaced scan signal with 720x576 resolution) and 576p (progressive scan signal with 720x576 resolution) digital television signals.

Flat Panel

Flat Panel

Hang a thin flat panel on your wall or display it on an artistic stand and let your TV become the centre of attention in any room.

Look into LCD

Flat Panel LCD TVs use the same liquid crystal display technology found in LCD computer monitors to create sharp, bright images in all lighting conditions. They work by shining light through pixel cells, with each cell containing a red, green, and blue component, but do not have the ability to turn off specific pixels. As a result, some LCDs have trouble achieving a pure black, which can affect contrast levels.

LCDs above 40" (102cm) tend to be far more expensive than similarly sized flat panel plasma and rear projection TVs. All in all they make a great choice for people looking for a relatively small flat panel, especially if you want something between 15" (38cm) and 21" (53cm) for a small room. LG , Philips, Samsung, and Sharp make popular models.

Perfect plasma

Plasma TVs look so sleek you'll have guests drooling over your new TV in no time. Companies such as LG, Samsung, Pioneer, and NEC make widescreens starting at 36" or 90cm (with sizes up to more than 70" or 175cm) that offer amazing colour accuracy and saturation, and provide a good view from almost anywhere in a room.

Plasma TVs create an image by applying an electric charge to gas filled cells which react with a burst of ultraviolet light. The process leaves your screen vulnerable to burn-in. So, if you like to watch the same TV station for eight hours straight every day, you may get the station's logo burned into the corner of your screen.

Many plasma TVs do not have speakers, which means you will need to buy the right cables to pump sound through your home theatre system or speakers.

Rear Projection

Rear Projection

Do you want to buy a big screen? Rear projection TV screens go up to 70" or 175cm, and cost less than a similar screen size plasma TV. Most also support HDTV content. Some well known brands include Samsung, Panasonic, and Sony. Although they weigh about as much as plasmas, rear projection TVs use different technology to produce a picture, creating television magic using lenses and mirrors to magnify an image and project it onto the back of a translucent screen. They often stick out from your wall and some stand tall on a cabinet that houses their light source, lenses, mirrors, and other electronics.

Rear-projection DLP

When deciding on a big screen, most people choose between flat panel plasma TVs and less expensive rear projection DLP TVs. They come in screen size of 42" or 105cm and larger and use Digital Light Projection technology to create detailed images with subtle colour variations and deep blacks for contrast. In order to get the best brightness and contrast, position your couch so that you can watch your screen dead on.

Rear-projection LCD

Thin and light rear projection LCD TVs offer good image quality and weigh less than rear projection CRTs. However, the picture produced is often darker due to the fact that they don't reproduce black as well as DLPs.

Rear-projection CRT

Your mate who has had a widescreen TV for 10 years probably has a rear projection CRT. It use three separate cathode ray tubes to create red, green, and blue and the TV combines the three beams before magnifying and projecting the image. Like any CRT TV, you need to close your curtains to see the brightest images and prevent the sun from washing out your picture. They weigh more than LCD and DLP rear projection TVs and are typically 12" to 15" (30cm to 37.5cm) deeper.

Traditional Tube

Traditional Tube

With all the buzz over plasma, LCD, and DLP, a lot of people forget that manufacturers such as Teac, Philips, Panasonic, NEC, and Sharp still make the traditional cathode ray tube (CRT or "tube") TVs you've come to know and love over the years.

The word "flat" pops up in a lot of item listings on eBay Australia. Do not confuse flat screen with flat panel. Traditional tube televisions can come with a standard curved screen or a flat screen that provides a larger viewing area.

Tube TVs have a lower base price than flat panels, but they are also heavier and deeper. As screen size increases, weight increases, and so do shipping costs.

How to Find TVs on eBay Australia

How to Find TVs on eBay Australia

Once you have decided on the type of television most suitable for you and your home, go to the Electronics portal, click TV, Video & Home Theatre, and start searching for item listings on eBay Australia.

• Categories: The Categories list on the left side of each page will help you narrow down your listings by item type. You'll find links for LCD Screens, Plasma Screens, TVs, and more. As you dig deeper into the site, you will be able to further narrow down your choices by subcategory.

• Keywords: Search eBay Australia listing titles for specific words. For example, if you want to find a rear projection TV, type "rear projection" (without quotation marks) into the Search box. Click "Search title and description" to expand your results. Visit eBay Australia's Search Tips page for more tips on searching with keywords.

If you can't find exactly what you want, try shopping at an eBay Store, tell the eBay Australia community what you want by creating a post on Want It Now, or save a search on My eBay and eBay Australia will email you when a match becomes available.

Buy TVs With Confidence

Buy TVs With Confidence

Before making your purchase, make sure you know exactly what you're buying, research your seller, and understand how eBay Australia and PayPal protect you.

Know your purchase

Carefully read the details in item listings.

• Figure delivery costs into your final price. If you spend a lot of money, make sure the seller will insure the item when it ships.

• If you want more information, ask by clicking the "Ask seller a question" link under the seller's profile.

• Always make sure to complete your transaction on eBay Australia (with a bid, Buy It Now, or Best Offer). Transactions conducted outside of eBay Australia are not covered by eBay Australia protection programs.

• Never pay for your eBay Australia item using instant cash wire transfer services through Western Union or MoneyGram. These payment methods are unsafe when paying someone you do not know.

Know your seller

Research your seller so you feel positive and secure about every transaction.

• What is the seller's Feedback rating? How many transactions have they completed? What percentage of positive responses do they have?

• What do buyers say in their Feedback? Did the seller receive praise?

• Most top eBay Australia sellers operate like retail stores and have return policies. Do they offer a money-back guarantee? What are the terms and conditions?

Buyer protection

In the unlikely event that a problem arises during your transaction, eBay Australia and PayPal are there for you.

• Pay safely with PayPal: PayPal enables you to pay without the seller ever seeing your bank account or credit card numbers. In fact, PayPal protects buyers 100% against unauthorised payments from their accounts. Plus, with PayPal Buyer Protection, your purchase can be covered up to $1,500.

• eBay Australia Security & Resolution Centre: Visit the Security & Resolution Centre to learn how to protect your account and use eBay Australia's quick and efficient resolution tools.

Need More Help?

Need More Help?

Visit our help pages or start a thread on one of our Community Discussion Boards - If you have a quick question that needs answering, try posting it on our community Answer Centre - there's bound to be a seasoned eBay Australia veteran with just the information you're looking for!

Legal Disclaimer

Legal Disclaimer

Buying Guides are intended merely as a guide or review for members when considering what products or services they may be interested in bidding on or purchasing. eBay does not make, and nothing in these Buying Guides is intended to constitute, any warranties, guarantees, representations or assurances about the accuracy of the information or content contained in these Buying Guides. Furthermore, eBay does not make, and nothing in these Buying Guides is intended to constitute, any warranties, guarantees, representations or assurances about the nature or performance of the products or services appearing in the Buying Guides. eBay is not affiliated with nor does it endorse the use of any particular product or service.