Woot for tax returns. HDTV opinions/guidance needed

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

im getting over 1000 back!!! woot! and im gunna do something with it.. maybe buy some new snowboard gear..

Hopefully a dictionary is included in there...or maybe an ESL class...

 

[xxBURT0Nxx 10+ year member]

Okay, hopefully I can help you out. Basically there is no point in buying a 1080p television, so I would stick with 720p to save some money. You are looking at approx. a 37" screen, so you wouldn't be able to tell a difference in resolution between 720 and 1080. Also, 1080p is a bunch of marketing hype anyways. Nothing is broadcast over cable in 1080p, so the only 1080p material you can get is through hddvd or bluray, and both will look just as good in 720p.

Next up is deciding between plasma, dlp, lcos, crt, and lcd. Of all of these tvs, lcds are going to have the worst picture quality. They will still look good, but they don't have deep blacks, or as nice of contrast ratios. Plasmas will look awesome if you are looking for a flat panel tv. They have high contrast ratios, deep blacks, like 178 degree viewing angles, however they don't come in sizes smaller than 42" and tend to be a little more pricey, but you get what you pay for. DLPS and LCOS are pretty much the same, they have awesome pictures, but poor viewing angles. They are also about 8" deep, so no wall mounts. THey aren't a bad deal, and you can get them for cheap because samsung and sony are phasing them out. Look for the sxrds from sony. (i can get you a 50" for $1000)

Other things to keep in mind with tvs:

Inputs, try to get as many of every kind as possible to avoid switch top boxes in the future.

Sound quality: If you aren't hooking up a home theater system, try to get one with decent sound and non distorting speakers.

Refresh rate: try to stay around 6ms (lower is better). Don't buy one with higher than 8ms.

Contrast Ratio: Keep it above 15000:1

Don't buy a large tv if you are sitting 6 ft away. the picture will look terrible

 

[miker 5,000+ posts]

Okay, hopefully I can help you out. Basically there is no point in buying a 1080p television, so I would stick with 720p to save some money. You are looking at approx. a 37" screen, so you wouldn't be able to tell a difference in resolution between 720 and 1080. Also, 1080p is a bunch of marketing hype anyways. Nothing is broadcast over cable in 1080p, so the only 1080p material you can get is through hddvd or bluray, and both will look just as good in 720p.
Next up is deciding between plasma, dlp, lcos, crt, and lcd. Of all of these tvs, lcds are going to have the worst picture quality. They will still look good, but they don't have deep blacks, or as nice of contrast ratios. Plasmas will look awesome if you are looking for a flat panel tv. They have high contrast ratios, deep blacks, like 178 degree viewing angles, however they don't come in sizes smaller than 42" and tend to be a little more pricey, but you get what you pay for. DLPS and LCOS are pretty much the same, they have awesome pictures, but poor viewing angles. They are also about 8" deep, so no wall mounts. THey aren't a bad deal, and you can get them for cheap because samsung and sony are phasing them out. Look for the sxrds from sony. (i can get you a 50" for $1000)

Other things to keep in mind with tvs:

Inputs, try to get as many of every kind as possible to avoid switch top boxes in the future.

Sound quality: If you aren't hooking up a home theater system, try to get one with decent sound and non distorting speakers.

Refresh rate: try to stay around 6ms (lower is better). Don't buy one with higher than 8ms.

Contrast Ratio: Keep it above 15000:1

Don't buy a large tv if you are sitting 6 ft away. the picture will look terrible

WOW.... 15000:1???!?!? you will not get that with an LCD.. lol.. Ummm, WTF, to the not buying a large TV.. Well unless your TV sucks balls, that statement is ****ing stupid. Xbox and PS3 will be in 1080p. Also.. Do you realize how big of a difference the Res. of 1080p and 720p are? It's quite large, and IF the person were to put there computer on it they would want the highest Res. possible.

I do agree with you, to NOT buy a 1080p TV though. I bought one, have not used 1080p yet... Want to, but can't. So I bought a 1700$ TV, when I would have been just as well off with the 1300$ one or w/e their 720p line costs.

Lol... What kind of TV do you own? Are you comparing NICE plasma's with shitty LCD's???

One last thing... You can buy 37" plasmas...............

 

[SethPhillips 5,000+ posts]

Hopefully a dictionary is included in there...or maybe an ESL class...

naw just snowbaord gear.. i dont need no edjubacation..

 

[lilmaniac2 5,000+ posts]

WOW.... 15000:1???!?!? you will not get that with an LCD.. lol.. Ummm, WTF, to the not buying a large TV.. Well unless your TV sucks balls, that statement is ****ing stupid. Xbox and PS3 will be in 1080p. Also.. Do you realize how big of a difference the Res. of 1080p and 720p are? It's quite large, and IF the person were to put there computer on it they would want the highest Res. possible. I do agree with you, to NOT buy a 1080p TV though. I bought one, have not used 1080p yet... Want to, but can't. So I bought a 1700$ TV, when I would have been just as well off with the 1300$ one or w/e their 720p line costs.

Lol... What kind of TV do you own? Are you comparing NICE plasma's with shitty LCD's???

One last thing... You can buy 37" plasmas...............

this post is such an incoherent rambling I read it 3x and still don't understand....

The difference is large on 1080p and will be noticable, but dont buy it b/c it wont matter? wtf?

 

[alstee 10+ year member]

I would suggest the lg 42lc5d I think you can get one for under 1,000 at bestbuy. I saw you said soemthing about burn in you dont have to worry about it with tthe lg plasma they have a few different things to help you with that. The first thing is what they call orbiter mode that makes all the pixels move slightly to avoid the burn in also it will have a inverson mode so if you do somehow get a burn in you can go to the same game and hit that and it will basically reverse the image again taking out the burn in now if you left it on pause or something for a week and you got bad burn in you can go to the white wash mod ei think and that will erase it. Also they ahve a 2 year warranty I used to sell a ton of these when I worked for a home theater company

 

[alstee 10+ year member]

oh and also I would stay away form looking at contrast ratio a tv company can put anything they want as a contrast ratio there is actually no way what so ever to actually measure the contrast ratio also soemthing to keep in mind that yes both plasma and lcd have great picture quality waht you are going to find with a lcd compared to the plasma is if you watch the lcd you will notice some pixualation on a lcd compared to a plasma if you are watching something with quick movement. but if you are putting this somewhere like in front of a window you may want to go with lcd due to the glare

 

[miker 5,000+ posts]

this post is such an incoherent rambling I read it 3x and still don't understand....
The difference is large on 1080p and will be noticable, but dont buy it b/c it wont matter? wtf?

lol.. Sorry.

The guy was just being dumb. He said not to buy a TV with a contrast ratio under 15000:1, which is just plain stupid. He said Plasmas look much better than LCD's which ,again, isn't always true.

I said the difference in resolution of 1080p, and 720p is large, and that, IF you are using this TV as a computer monitor you will certainly notice the difference. (was just stating b/c he said you will not notice any difference)

I am saying not to buy a 1080p TV b/c you will almost never utilize 1080p.

I'm just pointing out that the guy who posted is completely dumb. He is throwing out false/ stupid info.

 

[lilmaniac2 5,000+ posts]

lol.. Sorry.
The guy was just being dumb. He said not to buy a TV with a contrast ratio under 15000:1, which is just plain stupid. He said Plasmas look much better than LCD's which ,again, isn't always true.

I said the difference in resolution of 1080p, and 720p is large, and that, IF you are using this TV as a computer monitor you will certainly notice the difference. (was just stating b/c he said you will not notice any difference)

I am saying not to buy a 1080p TV b/c you will almost never utilize 1080p.

I'm just pointing out that the guy who posted is completely dumb. He is throwing out false/ stupid info.

ah much more intelligible, thank you

 

[bds0688 10+ year member]

Eh, every Vizio I see has a bit of blur to it, I know, store sets, but feh. I use mainly the 360, but the Wii is also used, and can do 480:laugh:

But it is a general consensus, that for all my intents and purposes, 1080p and bigger than 37 are useless and wasteful?

 

[I want SExxx 10+ year member]

There's a lot of false information you've been given here. I would think people into car audio would also be somewhat educated with TVs but I guess not. First off LCDs are not better then plasmas nor are projections (people need to quit calling them DLPs because not all of them are DLPs). Yes you will be able to tell a huge difference in the store between a plasma and LCD. LCDs are much brighter. So bright to the point of not looking realistic. So bright that even minor distortions in the picture are very noticeable. Watch Standard Def on a XBR4 or samsung 71 series, talk about a bad picture. Now with that said I'm not saying LCDs are bad. You can turn down the brightness and have a good picture, but not even an XBR4 or Samsung 71 can compare to a Panasonic or Pioneer plasma. Some of the benefits of a plasma is a life-like picture, ACCURATE COLORS (not over done), great contrast in different shades of grey and black, blur-free motion (even better then 120hz lcds), and now after a lot of improvements...... RELIABILITY. The main benifits for a LCD are smaller sizes (plasmas are very rare below 40"), Anti-Glare screens, Great visibility in very bright rooms, and great reliability. I would throw a projection TV out of the mix for the fact that you don't need 50+ inches and reliability (it is expected maintenance to replace bulbs). If I were in your shoes I would fork over a tad bit extra and find you a 42" Panasonic 75 series. They're normally around 1200-1400, but if your patient you should be able to find one for around a grand. It's still a 720p TV, but its going to look as good as most 1080p LCDs and better then ANY LCD with Standard or Enhanced (DVD player) Definition. Now I know a lot of people will say WOAH WAIT NO don't buy a plasma for video gaming because of burn-in. Well Panasonic has taken care of that with their pixel shifting and if you do get some burn in (if you play video games for hours on end with something in the exact same place) it only takes a few minutes of playing bright motion filled programming to return it to normal. Well that's my 2 cents.

Sorry its all one paragraph I'm tired...

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

and now after a lot of improvements...... RELIABILITY.

What kind of a lifespan are we talking about?

 

[I want SExxx 10+ year member]

What kind of a lifespan are we talking about?

Panasonic is saying about 25 years at 6 hours a day. And JimJ I'm sure you know this but for others..... lifespan means how long a TV will last until half the original brightness. This is for the panel itself not the electronic components inside. And for panasonic look at how many of their first gen (late 90's early 2000's) Plasmas are around compared to ANY other company. Most plasma companies (including companies that make LCDs too LG, Samsung, Panasonic ect..) are saying that there isn't much difference in plasma and LCD lifespan.

 

[bds0688 10+ year member]

Hmm. The 42 inch can be had for a grand at Circuit City and HHGregg right now. I just don't know if I can justify a grand on a TV alone. If it helps, I will not be using this for a monitor*1080p argument* If I wanted to spend another 300 for that, I'd buy a 26 inch monitor. *shrug*

I'm leaning toward Toshiba and Panasonic though. They seem to be getting **** good revieiws on whichever site I go to. Sony and others have some nasty issues, but that could be atrributed to higher sales in those brands.

I'll be debating awhile, 3 weeks for the federal to come in.

 

[Beefy 10+ year member]

I for one dont recomend Vizio whatsoever.

I may just have a dud but my picture quality on my 32" is sh!t, the remote control backing is pealing off, and it turns itself on/off whenever it wants to. If you want good prices, go to Sam's club. I'ed recomend a 32" Phillips 1080P.