When people find out that I review televisions for a living, three things invariably happen. First, you get a look of amazement that such a ‘cushy’ job even exists.

Next you get the incredulous “so you just sit around watching HDTV all day, right?!” question. Followed by the coup de grace: “Surely there aren’t many things to look for on a TV, are there?”

Actually there are. So in this ‘Secrets of a TV reviewer’ article we’re going to give you an insight into exactly what a TV reviewer gets up to. At the very least, it should help you make more informed TV buying decisions in the future.

TV reviewing 101

The first thing that I do when I get a TV in for review is have a good look at it. Is it attractive? Is it well built or does it look cheap and plasticky? Is the TV compact or unnecessarily large? All that probably matters for most people, though, is whether a TV suits your décor and fits into whatever space you’ve got for it.

Where things get more serious is when considering a TV’s connectivity options. The key things I look for here, given that we’re now living in an High Definition age, are HDMIs. Basically the more HDMI ports a TV has, the better. Two should be considered a bare minimum on a main TV.

Also of interest is the type of HDMI that the TV features, ie do the ports conform to v1.2 or v1.3 of the HDMI specification? This distinction matters because the newer v1.3 HDMIs can deliver automatic lip-synch correction and better pictures thanks to the new Deep Colour system. Provided any HD discs ever launch that carry Deep Colour, of course…

In terms of other connections on a TV, you probably already know that not all connections are equal in terms of picture quality. But you may not realise how great the differences are.

How to spot a good HDTV

Here - from best to worst - is how the connections hierarchy stacks up: HDMI/DVI, component video, VGA PC inputs, Scarts (provided you use their RGB capabilities), S-Video and finally composite video, which should frankly be avoided at all costs.