First step: before you even turn the TV on, look at the very front of the unit. There should be a few letters that spell a certain word. This word is the MOST IMPORTANT part of what decides the picture quality of your television.
I never like telling clients that their picture is crummy because they bought their Cheap-O TV off of the home shopping network.
Also, it is really the case that you can be in a wholesale store and see the most beautiful picture in the world, buy that television, and get it home only to discover that you bought the frog side of the prince. Always remember this: retailers know what they're doing... they usually don't have a standard DVD player hooked up to their TV's! They also don't have a regular cable signal connected either. There is usually some sort of video stream playing from a very-much high-tech hard disk or a satellite signal that has been boosted more times than Barry Bonds.
I am sorry... if your TV says "Ilo" or "Vizio" or "Magnavox" or "Malaysia" on the back, there is not much you can do for the picture quality. That is the honest truth. Nicer cables might help a bit, but the gross saying I've picked up over the years is, "You can't make a terd shine."
Get a good TV. Buy good cables. The cables can be tricky, though, because a $100 set might be just as good as the $30 set you get on the next shelf. The best judge? Check the thickness of the cables. The whole idea of getting good video cables is that said cables are thick so that minimal picture is lost in transmission. With every foot of cable you run, you are losing something. Minimize this with well-shielded cables.
One last thing: satellite picture will almost always look better than cable. Picture look crummy and you have cable? Try satellite (only a suggestion). With landlines (like cable), when there are more homes watching, the worse the picture will be. This is why the masses of major-city-dwellers go with satellite, for satellite picture is not necessarily bothered by how many people are watching.
Remember: 1. Good brand TV 2. Well-shielded cables 3. Good source
My suggestion, therefore, is don't buy a $500 TV and try to invest another $500 making it look better. Get the $900 TV and buy some decent cables.

Learn more about this author, Shane Gottwals.
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