Help with buying a HDTV

[TylerBD12 10+ year member]

So i'm finally getting ready to buy my first HDTV. I know nothing about them, so i figure some of you guys could point me in the right direction.

I dont watch a whole lot of movies but i do play my xbox 360 alot.

which would be better LCD or Plasma?

I want something around 42" and my budget is around the 1500-1800 range.

Links would be great!

Thanks,

Click to read more...

 

[Rich B 5,000+ posts]

I dont watch a whole lot of movies but i do play my xbox 360 alot. which would be better LCD or Plasma?

Plasma suffers screen burn when its used with static images (like scores at the top of most games).

If you want flatscreen LCD would be your best bet, but if you dont need a set with less than 20" of depth I would advise getting a RPTV based on either DLP or LCOS (Sony calls it SXRD, and JVC calls it HD-ILA).

The RPTV's can be less expensive at bigger sizes than flatscreen LCD's.

 

[Igno 10+ year member]

get 1080p its the new standard, not a lot of material at a 1080p but you might as well be rdy, LCD and Plasma are both good each has its own attributes, google LCD vs Plasma, you should be able to get a great set for that

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=167

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=166

this forum rocks for home video and audio some of the industries top people in there

 

[TylerBD12 10+ year member]

yeah i dont remember where. but i heard plasma was a little slower for gaming. Is that true?

 

[j3bus2k3 5,000+ posts]

yeah i dont remember where. but i heard plasma was a little slower for gaming. Is that true?

No,

Best advice I can give:

If you get your HD service from a cable company, satetllite, and DO NOT pull in over-the-air broadcasts, get an HD monitor. Far cheaper, and the picture is just as good...

 

[joetama 5,000+ posts]

Go to the store, look around, if you can't really tell a picture difference between LCD & Plasma get the LCD.

New Plasma monitors are very resistant to burn in, HOWEVER, there is always the chance of them getting ghost images, so if you do play a lot of games the only real way to go is LCD....

Sharp & LG are two of my favorites....

 

[1loudsuv 10+ year member]

Plasma suffers screen burn when its used with static images (like scores at the top of most games).
If you want flatscreen LCD would be your best bet, but if you dont need a set with less than 20" of depth I would advise getting a RPTV based on either DLP or LCOS (Sony calls it SXRD, and JVC calls it HD-ILA).

The RPTV's can be less expensive at bigger sizes than flatscreen LCD's.

another thing with plasma is that after about 60,000 hours of use the light output is cut in half. but heh if you dont watch much tv who cares that will be a very long time before that happens

now with rptvs they have bulbs that cost around $200-400. and need to be replaced every so often usually around 6000 hours of use.

rptvs are also very cheap now. you can get a 50" 1080p model for around $1,500.

their usually lcd, or dlp. allot of people like dlp but you need to demo it first for about 2 hours, some people a small percentage can see a rainbow with dlp, sometimes its not evident till you bring it home.

now also with lcd rptv the sde (screen door effect) is more noticible but if your seating about 1.5x the distance of the screen you probably wont even notice it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_door_effect

in my case i demoed about 20 different tv's and a freind had recently bought a tv and done the same so i cut out the ones he said where garbage.

and for my money the sony xbr1 was the best choice second was the pioneer pro-fhd1 but i couldnt afford it and im glad didnt buy it. for 7 grand i could get a 1080p sony pearl projector with a nice stewart screen.

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pna/v3/pg/product/details/0,,2076_310069731_290043890,00.html

btw i suggest whatever tv's your looking at getting that you post it here first so we can give you the nay or yay //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif some tv's have problems like the westinghouse 1080p models that have motion blurr problems. and theirs a couple with banding issues

 

[j3bus2k3 5,000+ posts]

some tv's have problems like the westinghouse 1080p models that have motion blurr problems. and theirs a couple with banding issues

...well thats your problem //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif

My vote goes to DLP if your going to be putting it on a stand. Dollar to performance, they cant be beat. $2300 for a 56" 1080P Samsung or $2000 for a 65" Toshiba 1080P...

 

[96civ 10+ year member]

IIRC DLP and LCD are almost exactly the same, performance-wise. DLP is a tad bit better though.

 

[TylerBD12 10+ year member]

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8251358&type=product&productCategoryId=pcmcat95100050036&id=1169512521206

how would this one do? it's right in my price range and that ambilight looks pretty cool.

 

[joetama 5,000+ posts]

Go to the store and look at it before you buy it....

And you decide....

 

[99gtxgolfer 10+ year member]

i love my hitachi...42in

some buddys pwn'n the Wii

 

[JT1979 10+ year member]

I am fond of the Samsung LCD TV's, They are pretty nice and not very expensive

I install Satallite TV and these are great Tv's for HDTV

 

[1loudsuv 10+ year member]

i love my hitachi...42in

some buddys pwn'n the Wii

SWEET!!

nice tv and ive been thinking of buying a wii how fun are they?

oh yah heres a screen shot of my tv playing a blu ray movie.

 

[quakerroatmeal 10+ year member]

I am fond of the Samsung LCD TV's, They are pretty nice and not very expensiveI install Satallite TV and these are great Tv's for HDTV

Samsung LCD TV's aren't very expensive? I wanted to purchase a Sammy 42" 1080P LCD but the price was well over 2,000 easily. I love sammy tv's but I couldn't pay that. I ended up with a Samsung DLP though. If you can wait I think by the end of the year, the prices will drop for most tv's. Also the thing I do not like about DLP's are they have a slight pincushion/bow effect when watching in 4:3 mode.