Researching new TV

[i386]

Wife wants to get us a new TV after Christmas. I swear it was her idea. I looked into this some last year but we never bought one. 42" seems to be about the right size for our room. We don't have a Blu-Ray player yet, but we will probably get one.

Last time I looked into this it was:

Get 1080p
Get plasma for better picture, if you don't play games on it due to burn-in issue.
Otherwise get LCD.
Don't buy a Dell.

Any of this true/false/irrelevent? Any special consideration for Blu-Ray? I'm not planning on switching my satellite service to HD yet because it's almost double what I pay now. I will switch when they stop charging a premium for it.

We looked at Sears on Saturday and most all of them looked good to me which hasn't always been the case. They mostly had Sony and Samsung.

Extended warranty yay/nay?

 

[wildmaninal]

Re: Reasearching new TV

Re: Reasearching new TV

I personally don't have a flat screen yet, but I had the pleasure of shopping for one with my brother. He ended up buying a Vizio, in a 36". So far he is pleased with it, I believe it is an LCD screen, might be a plasma though, Vizio only has the 1 type of screen (Plasma or LCD I can't remember). It is a cheaper made TV but still performs well, picture quality is pretty good on it also.

I personally was looking at a Samsung just yesterday, just viewing the movie they was showing on it at sears. It had an amazing picture quality, Although they (sears) will say Sony is the best. Now a days all of them seem to have a good view while looking at them from a side angle.

Just depends on how much money you want to spend. Also read the consumer reports, or customer reviews that'll help out some.

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: Reasearching new TV

Re: Reasearching new TV

My neighbor just bought a 46 Plasma Samsung....the picture was fair at best.
He returned it for a Samsung LCD 120 hertz.......SO MUCH BETTER!!!
The plasma is older technology and sell cheaper than the LCD sets.
I have a 46 LCD Sony....love it!
As far as brands i have researched hours reading reviews.
It seems the higher end Sony,like the XBR series is rated the best with the Samsung being next in line.Then the higher end Sharp tvs.
Everything i have read rates the LCD sets better than Plasma and the tv itself weighs less and uses much less power.The DLP sets were rated better than plasma too...
The new 120 hertz sets handle fast motion without any blur affect versus the 60 hertz sets..twice the refresh rate...better if you watch sports...

As far as warranty i know Sony will sell you one direct from them.
Circuit City wanted 400 bucks for the same warranty that Sony sold for a little over 100 bucks...

 

[fdmsiv]

Re: Reasearching new TV

Re: Reasearching new TV

I usually don't like Consumer Reports but I broke down and paid for the online service. I bought the highest rated LCD and I was blown away by it. The rating weren't exactly current (maybe 6 months old) but the Toshiba they recommended is fantastic.

 

[Barnacle_Bill]

Re: Reasearching new TV

Re: Reasearching new TV

I just went thru this a while back and after a lot of research Toshiba kept coming out on top. So thats what I got, a 42" LCD and am well pleased with it so far.

 

[wildmaninal]

Re: Reasearching new TV

Re: Reasearching new TV

All the reviews in the world mean nothing compared to your own eye...

Your own eyes might be disappointed by a glitch or might not see anything at all if the screen gives out. When in the long run reading reviews and staying on top of the recalls/technical issues of the product etc etc will make for a more confident buyer.

 

[jlinder]

Re: Reasearching new TV

Re: Reasearching new TV

1080p is a hyped a lot but you need to know some facts.

1080p means it will accept a signal in 1080p and play it. It does not mean it will display it. Pay attention to native resolution. That is what the display really is. 37" and below is typically 1366 x 768 or less. You will find a lot of sets bragging about 1080p in big letters and hidden in small print is a native resolution of much less.

With one exception no one is transmitting at 1080p. The exception is one of the sat. providers and I believe they are push it down your internet line. It just takes too much bandwidth.

A much more important factor to quality is compression. Consider this - a 1080i signal uncompressed requires 1.5 Gbit/s signal. 1080p takes twice that - 3Gbit/sec. Helps with motion but at a tremendous cost.

1080p is used for the big production houses and movies. (An hour of uncompressed 1080i is about 500GB. At1080p it is a terabyte). Network TV and local stations only acquire the signal at about 35Mbit/s. Local digital broadcast is 19Mbit/sec. The cable channels recompress this down as far as they can - 8 to 10Mbit/sec. When you get it is is only about 150th its original size. A lot is lost. (It is amazing that it can be compressed as much as it is and still be as good as it is. I could tell you what to look for to see the artifacts of compression but once you know what to look for it it is hard to forget.)

So compare the pictures but don't be sold by the numbers they advertise.

BTW - I bought a Vizio and like it. Good by for the cost.

If the above wasn't long enough now to get up on my soapbox.

Try calling your cable company to complain about the picture quality. They will send out a guy who will check levels and that's it. I spent 3 months trying to get it fixed. Every man who came out did his stuff, declared it OK even though we still had problems, then I gave him a lecture on how compression works.

I finally reached someone in charge at the headend who knew what I was talking about and was able to get some improvement.

No one knows what it should look like so no one complains.

 

[Bass Man Bruce]

Re: Reasearching new TV

Re: Reasearching new TV

We went through all the research and bought a 52" Samsung Plasma in 720p.
The 1080p while nicer was simply too much for our budget.
We're very pleased. Also we had it "calibrated" two mos after purchase.
This is supposed to pay for itself on electric savings, and prolong the life of the tv. It also supposedly increases contrast and removes "halos".
I am partially color blind and could not tell the difference but I googled it and for the most part got positive reviews.

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: Reasearching new TV

Re: Reasearching new TV

jlinder,my neighbor wanted to know why my off air HD channels look better than his cable HD channels.I tried to explain to him how much the cable company compresses the signal but he did not understand....
To get all of those analog and HD signals thru a coaxial cable they compress the crap out of it...

Guys,the newer LCD sets are not near as bad as far as viewing angle like some of the older models.

 

[PaulyV]

Re: Reasearching new TV

Re: Reasearching new TV

My 2 cents..I purchased an LG 42"1080 p LCD..wasn't happy with the pic( I have HD Digital) Brought it back same day..Bought a Samsung 42 LCD 1080p...INCREDIBLE picture. Great blacks/contrast. Plasma is over priced..You can get a Samsung 40-42 1080p for 899-1000$ If you go below a 40" screen go 720 p from what I have read,you will not get the benefeit of 1080 below 40 inches. 720's Samsungs 37"- 40" go for 699.00

 

[mthieme]

Re: Reasearching new TV

Re: Reasearching new TV

A lot is personal preference. You are going to have to go look at them. If you want the best, Mitsubishi just came out with their LaserVision, and then there's Sony's XBR. The biggest single downfall with plasma is that they generate a lot of heat...when you go shopping, put your hand over the back vents.
Here's another shopping tip. Don' judge a set if the store has their displays hooked up to cable...they will all have poor pictures. Some stores have HD demo DVD's running which will show off the capabilities much better.
I liked the LCD's best, but in the end I went with a Samsung LCD rear projection mostly for size - 67" (big room).

 

[jlinder]

Re: Reasearching new TV

Re: Reasearching new TV

jlinder,my neighbor wanted to know why my off air HD channels look better than his cable HD channels.I tried to explain to him how much the cable company compresses the signal but he did not understand....
To get all of those analog and HD signals thru a coaxial cable they compress the crap out of it...

Guys,the newer LCD sets are not near as bad as far as viewing angle like some of the older models.

If you really want to see something NHK in Japan has an experimental system that runs at 4320i with 22.2 channel sound. That is really something impressive to see and hear.

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: Reasearching new TV

Re: Reasearching new TV

If you really want to see something NHK in Japan has an experimental system that runs at 4320i with 22.2 channel sound. That is really something impressive to see and hear.

That will be really cool! Holy cow!
How many years will the cable companies need to catch up with that technology?

22.2 sound..geeze! I thought 7.1 sounded pretty darn good....

Time to Google NHK and see that.....

 

[jlinder]

Re: Reasearching new TV

Re: Reasearching new TV

They were showing a football game projected on a 60 foot screen. A lady behind me got so into the action and yelled for the touchdown. When I turned around to see who it was she wasn't there. That's how good 22 channel sound is.

 

[wildmaninal]

Re: Reasearching new TV

Re: Reasearching new TV

BTW - I bought a Vizio and like it. Good by for the cost.

Vizio is a LCD right Jlinder? They don't have Plasma, or is it the other way around? I guess I could just look it up .

The biggest single downfall with plasma is that they generate a lot of heat...when you go shopping, put your hand over the back vents.

Now that you mentioned the heat.....I was going to mention that earlier myself but I couldn't remember which type of flatscreen they said put out alot of heat. I also recall now what the salesman said, and just agreeing that the plasma tvs do put out alot of heat.

 

[jlinder]

Re: Reasearching new TV

Re: Reasearching new TV

Vizio is LCD. I just went with the 37" which only has the 1366 x 768 resolution but that works for me.

Another rule of thumb is that for eyes with 20/20 vision to be able to resolve all the pixels with good contrast you should multiply the size of the screen by 1.5 and sit no more than that distance away from the screen.

For example, for a 40" screen with a 1080 resolution you should sit no further than 60" away (5 feet).

Most people sit about 9.5 feet from the screen. This would mean that to get the full effect of HD you should have close to an 80" screen.

Wife didn't go for it, but those are accurate figures.

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: Reasearching new TV

Re: Reasearching new TV

Thats a good reason to talk the wife into a bigger screen....lol!
The 46 i have is in a small den,i sit about 11 to 12 feet from the screen and it looks good. A 52 would have been nice.
Waiting for the XBR6 to drop in price then the 46 will be the bedroom TV.

I was reading that the Vizio are actually rated great for "bang for the buck"
I think they have come along way since the first models of LCD.

Whatever we buy will be outdated in a year or so.Just like computers the technology grows by leaps and bounds in a very short time.

 

[jlinder]

Re: Reasearching new TV

Re: Reasearching new TV

Thats a good reason to talk the wife into a bigger screen....lol!
The 46 i have is in a small den,i sit about 11 to 12 feet from the screen and it looks good. A 52 would have been nice.

What happens when you sit that far from the screen is that when your eye tries to resolve the fine resolution it can but the apparent contrast drops.

What happens is the picture loses punch on the fine details. You just don't realize it.

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: Reasearching new TV

Re: Reasearching new TV

What happens when you sit that far from the screen is that when your eye tries to resolve the fine resolution it can but the apparent contrast drops.

What happens is the picture loses punch on the fine details. You just don't realize it.

Good excuse for my XBR to be much bigger.... Wishing for big price drops after the Holidays.The XBR8 will be out in 09 i think but way out of my budget.

 

[Pony]

Re: Reasearching new TV

Re: Reasearching new TV

LCD vs Plasma also depends on the room. The glass panel on plasmas can reflect a lot of light which can cause some viewing issues.

I work in the retail electronics industry so I try not to get involved much in these debates, but in all reality you do get what you pay for. Its pretty rare to see sets come back with issues from the big players (Sony, Samsung, LG), but I see lots of quirks and issues with some of the lesser known brands.

It was surprising to see so many Toshiba supporters......I have numerous friends that have them and none are all that pleased. Though this was a year or so ago in terms of model year.

My picks

LCD: Samsung or Sony
Plasma: Panasonic