With so many new TV technologies out there these days, choosing the right TV can be a difficult proposition. So, if you're in the market for a new set this guide can help you make the right choice.

Before getting into the in's and out's of the latest TV technology it's important for you to know that the future of television is High Definition TV (HDTV). This new digital TV standard has a picture resolution 5 times greater than a regular TV, and the screen is rectangular rather than square. Audio improvements have also been made and include multichannel Dolby Digital sound. If at all possible, buy an HDTV set rather than a regular TV. Pricing for HDTV has declined dramatically over the past few years, and there will come a time (probably within the next decade) when standard television broadcasting will be discontinued in favor of the new digital format. When this time comes you'll need to add decoder boxes to your analog TV sets to make them compatible with the new digital broadcasting system.

All the TV technologies listed below are capable of displaying HDTV programming.

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CRT
The venerable color CRT (cathode ray tube) has been around for more than five decades, and during that time has improved exponentially. Recommended use: kids rooms, or anywhere else you want to keep the price down.

Plasma
The Plasma display has improved dramatically over the past eight years. Plasma TVs contain up to 2 million gas filled-pixels coated with red, green and blue phosphor material. When excited by a voltage the pixels glow, and you get a picture. While not quite as adept as the CRT for rendering black level, the plasma display is my current favorite TV technology due to its excellent picture, and slim form factor. Recommended use: Small home theaters, bedrooms, living rooms and family rooms. Pricing: $1,999 - $15,000 for 37-50" models, and up to $60,000 for gargantuan 71"+ models due out later this year. The lowest prices you'll see are for EDTV plasma displays that have standard 480p resolution, but can still display HDTV images -- albeit at the lower resolution. To get HDTV detail the plasma must have a native resolution of at least 720p.

LCD
The LCD display has been around much longer than any of the newest technologies. Due to their light and flat design, direct view LCD TVs can be placed in areas where bulky CRTs and even plasmas dare to go. Because LCDs don't suffer from burn-in, they can be used for gaming and computer use. The LCD display is similar to plasma in that each pixel is made up of three cells (red, blue and green), but instead of a gas, LCD cells are filled with liquid crystal material. Recommended use: Home theaters (using front projectors), bedrooms, bathrooms, multimedia computer applications, video gaming, and kitchens. Pricing: $400 - $10,000.

LCoS
LCoS stands for Liquid Crystal on Silicon - in a nutshell this technology is similar to LCD, but the liquid crystal material is applied to a silicon chip instead of sandwiched between glass panels. Like DLP, LCoS is a reflective design, and therefore is limited to front or rear projection. This technology produces better blacks, and has much faster response than traditional LCDs. Recommended use, Home theater (using front projectors), family room, media room, gaming and computer use. LCoS technology can also be found under the JVC brand as D-ILA and Sony as SXRD. Pricing: $3000 - $35,000.

DLP
After many years of research and development, Texas Instruments introduced DLP (Digital Light Processing) to the world almost a decade ago. If you can imagine nearly 1 million microscopic mirrors (pixels) on a chip the size of a postage stamp, then you'll understand what DLP is all about. Because DLP is a reflective technology it's only available as a rear or a front projection design. DLP sets are available with either three chips (the most expensive) or a single chip. Single chip models rely on a high-speed color wheel to reproduce a color picture. Some people are able to see a "rainbow effect" with color wheel models, but the latest DLP systems are using faster color wheels with multiple color segments to alleviate this issue.
Recommended use: Home theater (using front projectors), family room, media room, gaming and computer use. Pricing: $2,500- $32,000.