OT: Flat Screen TV's

[firerescuefin]

We are looking for a new TV for our living room...stopped by Best Buy on the way home and completely overwhelmed. We may watch 2 movies a month at home. Mostly watch basic cable and sports. Any thoughts on key numbers (resolution) brands at certain pricepoints (good/stay away), LCD vs other tech.

Thanks in advance,

Geoff

[rice rocket]

Pick a price point and desired size first maybe?

[dekindy]

We went through this a couple of years ago. Our newest television was 15 years old. The traditional tv is gone and if you are like most people you have a piece of furniture that will not accomodate a flat screen tv so you had better budget for a new stand also.

We ended up purchasing older technology and purchased a plasma Panasonic that had high marks for quality. I don't know if it is even possible to buy a tv like that now, but we thought $749 was a lot to pay for a television. Our friends spend no expense regarding technology purchases and just paid $2,000 for a 52" state of the art tv for their bedroom no less.

I felt overwhelmed like you but after I got my friend over the fact that we were not going to pay what they did for a tv, he took me to Best Buy and educated me on the options and prices. After about 30 minutes it was obvious what we needed.

You probably should have it delivered. I was able to get mine in the car but it was tight. In hindsight I should have had it delivered.

[regularguy412]

Dynex is a good value for the money. Best Buy- $279 for a 32". Just picked one up for my mom.

Mike in AR:beer:

[eddief]

and ended up with one of these:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001THFRH4/ref=oss_product

I may have been swayed by the 19 reviews and the fact there were no crap ones.

My first flat screen and HD experience. I love my TV! I am not a power user and watch some network, cable, and rented movies. I am sure anything in 1080 from Costco or Best Buy would have served the purpose...but got a killer deal on this...under $700 at Amazon at the time.

I have a small space and was afraid 40 would be a drive in. Given another chance, I'd get more inches. As in many things on the forum, size matters, bigger is better.

Just one data point to confuse you some more.

[firerescuefin]

Pick a price point and desired size first maybe?

46-52".......I am a little reluctant to put pricepoint (we will spend what we need to spend). We don't need top of the line, but want something that will give us a good picture and good use (think centaur-chorus...or 105-ultegra for you shimano types) of tvs.

[97CSI]

Are flat-screen TVs measured diagonally like CRT based?

[1centaur]

Yes on diagonal.

I recommend thinking about connections - RCA cables and HDMI cables; depends on the things you expect to hook up - some TVs lack RCA connections but maybe you have a VCR you plan to use for a long time - how many and where (back, sides), maybe a computer/wifi connection of some sort because in 5 years a TV without a computer connection may seem over the hill. Look at Crutchfield.com to read their thoughts on plasma vs. LCD and consider your room/light/glare. 3D is on the verge but may stay there for a decade. Bang for the buck is technology from 1-2 years ago (i.e., the ones with the most reviews on Amazon). Never forget that you don't watch TVs side by side, so whatever you get will be very good. Consider odd things like headphone jacks if you need them - many TVs don't have them. Also consider sound - speaker outputs or not. If space is tight in a TV cabinet, thin bezels give you more screen - I got a 46 inch where some 42s would go just because my bezel was minimal - I read spec sheets and measured 3 times.

I have a plasma where the glare is low and a very high refresh rate LCD where the glare is high. I am happy with both. While everyone will tell you the blacks are blacker on plasmas, you will not always read that the whites are considered whiter on LCDs.

Many, many bargains to be had, but always with a give-up of something. Research all the stuff I said before you get hung up on picture quality.

[vqdriver]

just my experience cuz we go thru a lot of tvs at work.

lg - my recommendation. no problems, great picture, great prices.
sony - picture's good. no performance issues. best menus. hi price.
samsung - great picture, fantastic prices. but have had some power supply issues after a couple years.
pioneer & panasonic - great picture, asinine menu structure
haven't tried dynex or vizio

stick with lcd. plasma's done and led is pricey. lcd is in the sweet spot of pricing and tech.
look for at least three hdmi inputs and you should be fine. one for your bd/dvd player, and the other for satellite tv if you want hd later. one on the side for camcorder/temporary use.
plan on sizing up from your current tv. just do it.

again, just my impressions.

[1centaur]

Well, plasma remains the videophile's choice from what I read. Naturally higher refresh rate in plasma and blacker blacks being the key features they care about. They consider it Beta vs. LCD's VHS.

[jghall]

Many things to consider. Room size, how close you will sit, is the room dark or is there a lot of ambient light?

VQ has a pretty good read on the manufactures, but I'll not go as far as to stay plasma is dead.

If you have a Fry's around, they tend to have the best deals. Though you may have to hit them at the right time.

[rice rocket]

I thought blacks weren't black on plasma? They also radiate a HUGE amount of heat.

Anyways, I'd go for an LCD (CCFL lit, LED backlits are way overpriced currently), 1080p, 120Hz.

TV (NTSC) is broadcast in 60Hz, Blu-ray is 24Hz. 60Hz refresh rates have frame drops since 24 does not evenly divide into 60, but 120Hz will look smooth with both inputs.

240Hz doesn't really get you anything extra.

AMOLED will probably be here in 5 years, so don't drop too much money right now.

[vqdriver]

i may have overspoken on plasma being done. but i'll elaborate and say that plasma is no long a consideration when we shop for tvs (about twice a year). the biggest practical factors being the weight and burn in. burn in has apparently been addressed by the manufacturers, but the heavier sets present a problem when wall mounting or even tabletop use in some instances.

as far as image quality, i honestly can't tell the difference between plasma and lcd. the source makes a bigger impact there.

[tkbike]

I currently own three large flat screens; Panasonic plasma, Vizio LED and the newest one a Samsung plasma. Some common misconceptions for plasma are excessive heat and burn-in, both were addressed quite some time ago, plasmas do run warmer than LCD/LEDs but it is by no means excessive.

1centaur is correct, videophile's still do consider plasmas the best for picture quality. If I'm viewing a sporting event or a movie I always go to a plasma set, normal TV viewing, it doesn't matter.

Personal picture preference is the most important choice in selecting your set, go to a store that will let you adjust lighting and settings and then make your choice. I don't think any of us live in a big box with bright fluorescent lights like a Best Buy has for their displays!

[Lifelover]

Don't buy your HDMI cables at the store. You can order them on line for a fraction of the cost.

http://www.abacus24-7.com/search-by-product.aspx?id=10221

You can get a 6' cable for $1.99

[bfd]

Well, plasma remains the videophile's choice from what I read. Naturally higher refresh rate in plasma and blacker blacks being the key features they care about. They consider it Beta vs. LCD's VHS.

Agree! For it's "reference tv," cnet still uses a 50" Pioneer elite "kuro" plasma. Even thou Pioneer is now out of the tv business, at that time 2008/09, it cost $4500 when all other tvs were in the $2000 range.

I recommend panasonic as it purchased the kuro technology from pioneer. Good luck!

[mcteague]

Plasma is far from done. For mass market TVs that may seem the case. Check out the enthusiast forums and plasma is king for picture quality. There are some limitations though. Plasma is best for rooms that are not too bright and are not as energy efficient as LCDs, but are much better these days.

Plasma strengths are deeper blacks, more realistic color and MUCH better off axis viewing. Panasonic and Samsung are the leaders. For best picture go with the VT25 and 8000 series.

Tim

[lemondsteel]

I bought a Panasonic Plasma based on service records and great reviews. Very happy with the picture and the on screen menus are easy to understand. Very easy Remote functions. The plasma is a 720 resolution. The only reason to go 1080 is for Blue Ray. Personally my eyes at this point are pleased with 720. Neighbor has a EXPENSIVE Sony 1080 and it's nice but not worth what he paid (my opinion). Panasonic 720 plasma's are price very good right now. My 2 cents

[veloduffer]

Do you use Netflix or Amazon on Demand, or desire to? These services allow you to rent (or buy) movies or tv shows over the internet directly into your television. The newer TVs are "internet" or "internet application" ready and can be accessed wirelessly (there is an internal Wifi and you need a wireless router) or connected directly to your router.

There isn't really a price premium for this, it's just another added feature.

We don't watch much TV but we do rent/watch movies via Netflix and Cinemanow (usually $3.99 to $4.99 per movie). Lot cheaper than going to the movies . With Netflix, you can get unlimited movies via internet (for the monthly fee) but it is limited to the libraries that they have access to, which is substantial but far from complete.

As for brands, we have Samsung 37" ($800 about 2 yrs ago), Sony 32" (can't remember price) and just got a Vizio (22" internet ready for $249 at Target) for the kitchen. I'm not a videophile, so they all look good to me. No issues with the Samsung and Sony and Vizio gets good reviews.

[Mike126]

We bought the 32" Sony Bravia 1080p 120mhz last year and love it. It was around $1000 at Best Buy. We bought the kids a 32" Dynex for their game room/basement/trainer room and it is a very good value.

[RPS]

If you have a Fry's around, they tend to have the best deals. Though you may have to hit them at the right time.
+1 on Fry’s having great deals, at least in the Houston area. I got my 46” Samsung for hundreds less than Best Buy wanted for the same exact unit – and in addition Fry’s included a Samsung Blu-Ray for free with the promotion they were running at the time. I’m now keeping an eye out for another great deal on a 32 inch Samsung for the bedroom.

[crownjewelwl]

Just picked up a few LED TVs. Got a big Samsung to replace a 5yr old burnt out plasma...it was a couple of Gs

The picture quality is great and it is SOOO thin.

Also picked up a couple of smaller ones from Costco. They are Vizio and very reasonably priced. Also you have 90 days to make up your mind!

[SEABREEZE]

Just went through this in the past two weeks,

Bought a 42"' LG to replace a 35" sony tube tv that went on us.
Blows away my 48" xbr9, and at $400 less

A week later our 60" xbr front projection sony required servicing , to repair it would be $500, and no guarantee how long it would go, because of age, and the next thing that goes on these TV's and the age it is a $1000 expense as the tech explained.

So I was looking @ a intial $500 repair, and eventually a $1000 repair down the road, it pretty much was a no brainer, to invest in a new TV with more current tecknowledgey.

The best rated 60" plasma is the VR25 Panasonic @ $2900 3D
The best rated 55" LED is the 8000 Samsung @ $2700; 3D

The otrher two given close chase to the Samsung 8000 are
1) LG LE8500 @ $1700 2D
2) SONY 800 @ $1700 3D

IF YOU GO LARGER IN LED MODELS THE PRICES ARE A CONSIDERABLE JUMP.
THUS THE BANG FOR THE BUCK IS IN THE 55" ERS

After watching all three LED'S I choose the Sony 800
Still not comfortable with the plasama's, maybe one day though.

If you watch TV in a dark room, the Plasama cant be beat, its absolutely stellar..As Plasma's age, they loose there intensity...


The trend in TV's today is to be a computer also, to use the web, and all its resources. It will go much furter than its now, as its at is infincy

Like to mention Vizio's have been getting great reviews.

At the CES show in Vegas Vizio debuted a 72" @ $3500. to come out in August, it never materialized, Now they are talking 20011. It was the talk of the show.

[yodelinpol]

we just got one of these 46 ers for the living room. It was on sale at Kamrt for 499 on thanksgiving day.

Movies looked great, and regular tv shows great but sports were not so hot esp football on whole field camera shots... then went to cable co the next day and picked up the HD cable box for free and watched football in HD broadcast and it was most excellent. Non HD sports not so hot though... but it is all about the source I guess...

panasonic 46 (http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=panasonic+plasma+46&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&oe=UTF-8&startIndex=&startPage=1&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=4216883554390156913&ei=oNL3TIEZgYHyBuPVhPUF&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCgQ8wIwAA#)

[Ozz]

Too funny...I just set up a new set (our first HDTV) last night.

Been looking for awhile and ended up with a Sony 46HX800....shopped around and ended up getting it at Video Only for a shade under $1300.

Cable guy shows up tomorrow to deliver and hook up the new HD cable box....

You get the best bang for buck with plasma, but most of them have shiny screens, and reflections can be a problem. We have lots of windows in our living room, so we needed a flat finished screen. Samsung LED's have a shiny screen, so that left us with Sony.

There is a pretty good deal out now where you can get a Sony bundled with a Playstation 3. the PS3 can double as your Blu-Ray, and I believe it also streams Netflix...I didn't need the PS3 and found a good price at a local video store.

[Jeff N.]

SONY. The One And Only.

[Dave B]

Wife and I just bought a new 50" plasma (Panasonic) it is not the 1080 as that was a few hundred more.

You only need 1080 for blue ray, but hey new word out is that LCD and LED cannot handle the refresh rates of some of the streaming stuff liek a plasma can. Additionally you get a weird effect that tech folks are calling the "soap opera" look where it looks more like a hand held instead of a professional camera.

Blue ray will go away with so much HQ stuff being streamed now. Get ready to say good bye to DVD's in all sorts. Think of MP3's and what happened to CD's.

Panazonic continually makes the best Plasma screens and most sales folk will tell you the same thing...funny thing is that they are by far not the most expensive.

We are stoked with our new set up and I plan to add the new apple tv and netflix and go to town! Who-hoo!

[Ralph]

We have Samsung 40", 36", and 32". We're very satisfied.

[R2D2]

Pansonic Plasma here.
46" based on size of room and distance from the screen.

[MadRocketSci]

I like LED, have a 55" Samsung edge-lit one.

I like the green aspects. The light/thin aspect. It's the closest thing to a picture frame yet. You can pretty much hang it on the wall with one person.

downside for edge lit led is that the blacks are not completely uniform...i can live with it, better models are thin and back-lit.

[SEABREEZE]

Plasma is far from done. For mass market TVs that may seem the case. Check out the enthusiast forums and plasma is king for picture quality. There are some limitations though. Plasma is best for rooms that are not too bright and are not as energy efficient as LCDs, but are much better these days.

Plasma strengths are deeper blacks, more realistic color and MUCH better off axis viewing. Panasonic and Samsung are the leaders. For best picture go with the VT25 and 8000 series.

Tim

Didnt read the thread, prior to posting, I agree witth you 100%

I said the same thing in my post..

[RPS]

Any thoughts on key numbers (resolution) brands at certain pricepoints (good/stay away), LCD vs other tech.
Geoff, I think most things are cost dependent, so in that light:

Screen size is easiest to compare, although contrast ratio also makes a big difference in quality and therefore cost. Inexpensive sets have much lower contrast ratio ratings. Compare specs and you’ll likely see significant correlation between contrast ratio ratings and costs.

60 vs. 120 vs. 240 Hz. For larger LCD TVs 120 Hz is a good value in my opinion since it has almost become a standard offering on many sets. Lots of entry-level sets still have 60 Hz and prices can be much lower if looking for a bargain. For main TV I wanted 120 Hz (or higher) to watch action movies and sports, but for a smaller bedroom or kitchen TV 60 Hz is OK for us.

720p vs. 1080p. Many entry-level smaller sets are still available in 720p but I’m waiting for a great deal on a 1080p in 32-inch size – prices are coming down fast -- because I don't want a 720p (just a personal thing). New larger models with 720p have become rare (based on Houston advertisements and checking electronic stores) and are often offered at very good prices. I prefer 1080p in anticipation that local cable and over-the-air programs will be transmitted in 1080p before the TV becomes obsolete or wears out.

Poor sound seems an issue with all flat TVs. Smaller sets only have 3 watts per channel which sound awful in a large room, and mid-size sets often have 5 watts per channel which isn’t much better. The larger units normally have 10 watts per channel which is OK to listen to the news or Weather Channel but as others have mentioned you’ll want to budget for an audio system if you don’t have one already.

Connectivity can also be important depending on what you want. Mine can be connected to the Internet but I haven’t seen a need yet. By contrast my son just bought a box that allows him to connect his older LCD to the Internet. Different needs for different people. ;)

[oldguy00]

We recently had a 42 inch LG Plasma break, needed new boards, etc. Sold it for $40 to someone who wanted to try to fix it on their own.

We then bought two 42" Panasonic 720 plasma's when Costco.ca had them on sale for 599.
Picture on them is great.

[zap]

edit

We are looking for a new TV for our living room...and sports. Any thoughts on key numbers (resolution) brands at certain pricepoints (good/stay away), LCD vs other tech.

Thanks in advance,

Geoff

plasma.............Panasonic.

[scrubadub]

We bought our Panasonic 42" 1080p plasma about 2 years ago. No regrets, it's great for everything we watch on it. No desire to upgrade anytime in the foreseeable future.

This cracks me up though. Most people are happy with their mass market bikes, then they stumble onto a forum like this one and bam, they get indoctrinated into the "true" way and find themselves with a Serotta or some equivalent. Same goes with LCDs vs plasma. Then again, plasmas are way less than Serottas so maybe this analogy doesn't quite work...

[peanutgallery]

Plasma is the best, but so was Betamax

You can get a great deal on a Panasonic these days and the picture is by far the best and the best bang for the buck. If you get a plasma, don't get anything else. Too bad Pioneer pulled the plug, they were great.

[firerescuefin]

Thanks for the input guys....gives me a great place to go from.

Geoff

[mcteague]

Plasma is the best, but so was Betamax

You can get a great deal on a Panasonic these days and the picture is by far the best and the best bang for the buck. If you get a plasma, don't get anything else. Too bad Pioneer pulled the plug, they were great.
True but plasma TVs have no compatibility issues to worry about.

Tim

[Mr. Squirrel]

http://abrooklynlife.com/images/squirrel1_1.jpg

[weisan]

Eight months have passed since this thread was posted. We are behind in catching up with the technology and I am curious what folks are thinking these days...

I was looking at SONY Bravia 40" 60 Hz 1080 LCD ($359) and Vizio 43" 60 Hz 1080 WiFi LCD ($379) at Costco.

Two questions came to mind:

1) The USB port in SONY accepts MP3 and JPEG, and possibly MPEG, but what does the two ports in Vizio do, it wasn't clear.

2) The SONY has 2 HDMI ports while the Vizio has five. Does it matter?

[Dekonick]

Eight months have passed since this thread was posted. We are behind in catching up with the technology and I am curious what folks are thinking these days...

I was looking at SONY Bravia 40" 60 Hz 1080 LCD ($359) and Vizio 43" 60 Hz 1080 WiFi LCD ($379) at Costco.

Two questions came to mind:

1) The USB port in SONY accepts MP3 and JPEG, and possibly MPEG, but what does the two ports in Vizio do, it wasn't clear.

2) The SONY has 2 HDMI ports while the Vizio has five. Does it matter?

Depends on what you plan to attach to the TV. All you need is ONE HDMI IF you use a receiver that has multiple inputs and you plan to use it to change devices. If you are just going to plug devices directly into the tv, you will need an input per device.

HDMI has the best picture and sound reproduction (on equal footing to SPDIF with DVI combo) followed by component (red, blue, green cables + a sound cable wither SPDIF, digital coax or the usual left/right red/white sound cables) everything else is not high definition (exception can be coaxial cable but don't count on it unless you are going over the air antenna)

Look for internet capable TV if possible - VIZIO makes inexpensive (relative) internet capable sets for a good price. Wired is best, but often wireless is easier to set up.

3d is too early to be ready for prime time IMHO.

Good luck!

:beer:

[weisan]

Thank you, Deko-pal for the low-down.

The Vizio TV that we were looking at also has the "wired ethernet" option.

I was thinking of purchasing one here in the States and bring it over to Australia. I need to check and make sure that the voltage is dual compatible.

[bfd]

Plasma is the best, but so was Betamax

You can get a great deal on a Panasonic these days and the picture is by far the best and the best bang for the buck. If you get a plasma, don't get anything else. Too bad Pioneer pulled the plug, they were great.


Agree, I'm a plasma guy too and highly recommend it. I have an older Panasonic plasma and its good. But, the Pioneer Kuro Elites were considered the best and are the reference TV that Cnet and other testing sites use to compare all TV against. Granted the Pioneer Kuro Elite sold for over $4K or twice what other plasma did at that time!

Interestingly, about two years ago, Panasonic bought the Kuro technology from Pioneer. Take a look at the Panasonic VT series and its "Infinite Black Pro 2" technology, not quite a Pioneer, but very very good. Good Luck!

[weisan]

bfd-pal, thanks for chiming in. I will take a look at the panasonic.

One other question for the community:

How useful is the Internet Apps and Wifi enabled?

Does it work well enough?