LCD TVs are a great technology, but let's face it: a lot of the specifications that go into creating these products can fly over our heads.

If you're just an average Joe who doesn't understand the first thing about electronics or television sets, you might make an easy target for a sleazy salesman who wants to sell you on some sort of feature you don't really need.

You'll also want to know one basic thing about LCD TVs: the price points. If you don't know anything else, you should at least know what a good LCD television set can cost you these days.

One good way to stay on top of things it to check publications like Consumer Reports, which is a magazine that tries to work on your side by recommending the best products for the buck. It's one way to have a leg up on the salesman who may not even know about the Consumer Reports ratings themselves. If you want another boost, be sure to read the four tips in this article for making sure you don't get bamboozled.

1: The price seems too high.

If the price seems to high on the LCD you're being sold on - especially for a smaller LCD TV - then there's a good chance that is simply too high a price. Don't feel like the oaf who doesn't know enough about televisions to tell a salesman that you don't need a TV like that for the price he's offering it at. Even if a salesman offers to lower the price, you may still be paying too high a price for the product you're considering.

Don't make a decision on the spot. Be perfectly willing to be a waffling customer if that's what being a good consumer is all about. Make sure your salesman knows that you're after something specific, and that you don't care to be talked into any one particular LCD TV. Sure, you can have a salesman make recommendations for you, but it's far better if you come into the store understanding what you want, having conducted your own independent research.

2. You have to sacrifice quality for quantity.

If you are able to get a nice "deal" on a larger LCD TV but find that it's actually far inferior to several LCD TVs that are only a little smaller, there's a possibility that you're getting a bad deal. That's because a television of this type might be making up for its inadequacies with pure size. Be sure that you know the good brands and you understand which of the larger LCD TVs measure up, if that's what you're after. If you're not after the largest TV in the house, why are you letting the salesman talk you into it? Have a little more discipline!

3. You feel pressured.

A salesman working on commission needs your sale in order to make money, but that's no reason to make a decision under pressure. If you feel any pressure whatsoever, you are perfectly within your rights to walk away and maybe even consider another store. Don't make decisions under social pressure - it can be a technique some salesman use in order to get you to commit to something you're waffling about. Don't be afraid to be a waffler.

4. You didn't do your research.

Sometimes you might just get a bad deal out of ignorance - both from you and from the salesman. If a salesman is just working a retail job and doesn't earn commission, he might not have a lot of incentive to learn a whole lot about televisions. Do your research - even if you had a good salesman, you might have gotten the wrong kind of LCD TV just by mistake.

It's no secret that there are about a million different LCD TVs out on the market today, and with brands ranging from the recognizable Sony to the less-than-household-name Ovideon, it's not hard to figure out why so many people feel lost.

If you're going to buy the right LCD TV for you and your family and actually feel good about it, you're going to have to have some measure of confidence and faith that what you're learning about these LCD TVs is actually the right thing. That's why it's important to learn how to navigate this crazy electronic world - before you drive yourself crazy trying to find the right television for you.

BestStuff.com gives you a good introduction with its article, "Read This Before Buying a Plasma or LCD TV." But we're going to supplement that material in this article and expand on the ways you can navigate the LCD TV universe. It's not "LCD TVs for Dummies," but it is a guide to help the less-informed to find their place.

Write down what's important to you in a television.

Consider this like a dating game show: if you had to write the three top qualities you were looking for in an LCD TV, what would you write down? Don't be afraid to write how you really feel, because you may just find that it's an easy feature to shop for. Write them in the list of highest priority - such as screen size - to the smallest, and then take a look at it. These will be your guides through the LCD TV universe. Hopefully, you've written down some characteristics of TVs that can be easily-defined, but even if they're not, you can still conduct research and find what you're looking for.

Next, give your characteristics measurements.

If we were still playing on the dating game show, you'd have to define what each of the characteristics you've written down actually meant. For example, if you wrote "Intelligence" for your ideal date, you might consider saying "at least 110 IQ." Ditching the analogy for a moment, let's think about how this would look when applied to LCD television sets: if you wrote down "screen size," as was our previous example, then you can easily define that. You might write "At least 46" screen size" as a way to determine what you want to get out of your LCD TV.

What if you're not sure about what specifications fit your "LCD wants"? This is where your research begins. Start poking around a few brand-name sites and even some retail outlets to check out the different characteristics and features of each of the TVs you see. Look for features you might use as a definition for the LCD characteristics you initially wrote down. As you get an idea of the general specifications of many LCD models, you'll better understand what a "minimum" standard might mean for you.

Choose a few candidates.

Once you've defined these features, try to find TVs that satisfy all of the characteristics you've written down. If "price" was one of the important features you were searching for, make sure that you don't include any model that would be higher than your maximum allowable price. This will help you narrow down the list of LCD TVs available out there to a select few. If no models meet all of your needs, you may need to relax your standards a bit. You can't expect to pay $50 on a 55-inch screen LCD television set, can you?

Once you're this far, you should feel pretty good about what you've found. Congratulations! You've circumvented the usual channels and have done your own independent research. You probably know more about LCD TVs now than you ever thought you would.

If you're thinking about buying a new LCD TV, you may be wondering about a lot of the specifications.

You may be concerned about the field of vision and how it will work in your house. You may be thinking about the pixels, the resolution, and even other features.

But one of the most important questions you'll tackle is quite simple: do you want a big TV or do you want a small TV? Since LCD TVs come in a large range of sizes, your choices are not exactly limited.

The problem with this question is that the cost is generally proportional to the size: you make a classic trade-off in quality when you spend less money on a smaller LCD TV. But depending on your individual situation, an LCD TV might be exactly what you needed. Let's take a closer look at this matchup to see what TV solution works best for you.

The Advantages of a Large Television

Chances are you don't need an article online to tell you about the advantages of a larger television: you simply need to take one look at a large LCD television in the store to know what you're dealing with. A large television provides a wider picture, greater visibility, and since the picture quality is indeed high, you won't miss any of the small details of your favorite Lord of the Rings film. The large television is, of course, the way to go.

When you consider, at the same time, the disadvantages of a smaller television, you'll understand why. A smaller television can work in a room such as a kitchen or a dining room, but as the featured piece of electronic equipment in your living room, it will just look out of place and totally undersized. The larger your home is, the more true this will seem. So we're all done, right? We can shake the dust off our hands and head home?

Not so fast. There is one major disadvantage in the world of large televisions, and that disadvantage is simple: cost. Depending on the depth of your pockets, this one single issue may be a dealbreaker.

Getting By With a Smaller LCD

A smaller LCD still provides high quality picture, but it doesn't produce it at the scope of the larger model. For this reason alone, many people are hesitant about buying a smaller TV. They may end up buying the largest television they can buy. But what are some advantages to buying a smaller TV if you figure that's all you really need?

For example, consider the example above, in which we mentioned that having a small television in your living room can look odd. It wouldn't look odd, however, if your television set wasn't even there. You could have a difference piece of furniture rather than an entertainment center, like a piano, or could even make the fireplace the focus of the room. It's up to you.

Meanwhile, you can easily place a smaller LCD in a room like the kitchen so that you can catch a show while you cook - if this is all the television you want in your day, having a smaller LCD television is perfect for you. It's not expensive, it won't break your bank account, and it will suit your needs perfectly without being too cumbersome. Placing an LCD TV in a room like the kitchen will also discourage you from watching too much television; you can spend your time with other hobbies.

Which option is for you? That depends not only on your bank account, but on you. What kind of TV person are you?

If you've ever owned a big-screen television set, then you know about the spoiling effect: after the initial novelty wears off, you grow used to the idea of a giant TV in your home and eventually, you don't even think about the quality and size of your screen.

Other people who aren't used to big-screen TVs might marvel at yours, but you're so used to it that you hardly notice any more.

Does this also happen with LCD TVs?

We know HD television is already becoming popular. We also know that in the U.S., some 47 million television sets are HD-capable, which means a large section of the population is growing "used" to a higher quality picture. So what does this mean for the world in general, and what does it mean for the world of LCD TVs, where clearer picture and high resolutions are simply making a better picture quality the new "normal"?

Newsflash: Novelty wears off

No matter how great your television set is, the novelty will eventually wear off. It doesn't matter if you're buying the best LCD TVs out there: eventually, your mind will grow accustomed to the specific stimulation it's getting from a specific product. Does this mean that you forget the HD quality, or that you stop enjoying the better picture? Of course not. You may watch someone else's television set for a while. If they're getting a standard cable picture, you might not even notice the difference. But when you snap that HD television set back on, you will once again feel it right away. It might not be as dramatic as the first time you saw high-definition television, but you'll still remember: "This is why I bought an LCD TV."

The novelty, of course, wears off. But that doesn't mean the effects do. Even as you grow accustomed to a better type of television, you will still notice the differences between your television and another type of television as long as there are differences to notice. It is exactly this difference - this contrast, to use a television term - that makes our initial "novelty" so special in the first place. If you've never even seen high-definition television, there's a greater chance you'll be amazed by it.

Keeping Old TVs Around

Of course, you might not need to venture to a friend's house in order to see an older-style television: you may simply have to go into your own basement, where a standard television set is waiting to be watched. If you travel quickly through the same rooms, you'll be able to instantly tell the difference between standard television and high definition television. There's a good chance that if you live with a large family, you fill find yourselves fighting for the "rights" to the high definition television for movies, television shows, and video games.

Keeping the old TV around doesn't just give you an extra screen and an extra option, it keeps this "contrast" effect in order to draw a comparison between your LCD TV and the standard TV. You'll come to appreciate the quality of that LCD television set over time, realizing that you frequently go to it when you're looking to enjoy a program with better picture quality.

Getting Spoiled by Technology

Quite simply, you will get spoiled by technology sometimes. But this doesn't always mean that you'll be totally disconnected from the old models of electronics. It is the contrast between what we're used to and what we're seeing that makes an LCD appear even sharper in the beginning. The truth is, the LCD TV is always the same - it's your brain that changes.