Some TVs go way beyond just automatically adjusting for brightness. Toshiba’s AutoView feature on its higher-end Regza XV545 and XV535 Series ($1,400 to $2,800) adjusts brightness, color, color temperature and contrast. And Pioneer’s Elite line of Kuro plasmas analyzes content and room light, and makes over 40 picture adjustments, including color temperature, so a warmly lit room, for example, gets a warm picture for easier viewing.

Hot-looking sets from Sony, Sharp and LG even feature LED (light-emitting diodes) for backlighting. More than a thousand LEDs—in the cases of Sony and Sharp, red, green and blue LEDs—not only provide more efficient light and tend to last longer, but some of them can also be turned off completely, giving parts of an LCD picture better blacks than ever. This is called “local dimming.” A big drawback with fluorescent-lit LCDs is that the backlights never turn off completely during viewing, so some light always leaks through in dark scenes. By shutting off regions of the screen at certain times, energy is saved, and the blacks are deeper and better. LED TVs are a win-win, until you get to the $3,000 to $4,000 price tags. But be patient: LED costs will come down in the next couple of years.

As one industry expert put it, LEDs are the new 1080p. And speaking of 1080p, yes, many of these energy-efficient models have it, as well as the fast 120-Hz frame rate that eliminates motion blur in LCDs.

It’s been tougher to reduce the energy consumption in plasma TVs, but manufacturers are doing it—some with aplomb. Panasonic, for one, said it has reduced the thickness of the walls between plasma cells, in addition to using more phosphors, remixing the gas and optimizing the electronic driving circuits, thereby allowing for brighter pictures and making the units more efficient. Hitachi has taken a different tack: It’s equipped its plasma TVs with ambient light sensors.

Many TVs also have auto-off timers that will shut off the set after a warning if no channels have been changed or no commands have been made after three hours. This can be a huge energy saver.

Mitsubishi went in a different direction altogether with its LaserVue TV that’s due out this fall. It’s not LCD. It’s not plasma. It lights the screen via a laser shining on a DLP chip, and the company says because of that, its initial 65-inch model will consume less than 200 watts of electricity. The sets are still about 10 inches thick—and the cost is $6,999.

So there you have it. You can have a great TV. You can have 1080p, 120 Hz, cool stuff like LEDs, and lasers and even plasmas—and be more energy efficient.

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Steven Castle - Contributing Writer

Steven Castle is Electronic House's managing editor. he has been writing about consumer electronics, homes and energy efficiency topics for two decades. He is also the co-founder of GreenTech Advocates.