HDTV suggestions

[Kyle]

I am watching my 40' 1080p Vizio right now and I love it. I paid about $650 for it a few months ago at bestbuy.com on a sale. i love this t.v It has 2 HDMI ports and everything else you need to hook up multiple game systems.

[Jeff Waegelin]

I bought a 42" 1080p LG about 3 months ago, and I've been loving it. I got it on sale at Circuit City for about $1200. If you're not set on one particular make or model, you can usually find one or two that have a great deal going at any point in time. Just find out what the current promotions are, do your research, and if it sounds like a good deal, go for it. Otherwise, if you're not in a hurry, you can wait until one you do like comes on sale. They bring out new models all the time, so you can probably catch a good deal on something that's being phased out.

One key thing to keep in mind is the size of the room - you don't want it to be so large that it overwhelms the room, and you also don't want to be sitting so close that you don't get a good view of it all. I've got a pretty decently sized living room, and my 42" is about the largest that would comfortably fit. If I'd gone up to the 46", it likely would have been too big for the room.

[Madison]

I'll probably be buying an HDTV soon, as well, as I'm tired of trying to see the ridiculously tiny text on many XBox 360 games. I have a 32" TV right now and will probably end up with an HDTV that's about the that size -- or maybe 37" or so. If I go much larger than that, I'll run out of walls large enough to accomodate the TV.

I've been curious what effect the switch from a 4:3 aspect ratio to widescreen makes, though, in perceived viewing area. Regular TV shows will appear smaller on a 32" widescreen TV than on my TV, but is that difference really noticeable?

[ScottM]

Sorry to say this, but...

Vizios are cheaper for a reason.

Before I would buy, I would compare whatever I'm interested in with either a Sharp or Sony. Preferably Sharp.

BTW - I'm not disappointed in the least with my Panasonic plasma. When the lights burn out in 10 years or so, I'll buy the latest technology.

[Ashley Weed]

The majority of the things I own are the "not known/top brand" or I buy used/second hand on eBay, etc. There is a large mark-up on things just because they have a name on them, and for other things as soon as they have "rolled-off the lot" they loss the majority of their value.

I would rather spend $350 (or similar) for a TV that is under warranty for one year with a no name brand than a TV that costs $1500 under warranty for one year and have the same thing happen to it - Break!



As for the CostCo deal. Unless you yourself is a CostCo shopper the majority of the time, it may not pay off. The executive membership is $100, whereas the regular membership is $50. You get 2% back on all purchases. Therefore you need to spend $2500 (correct?) in order to get that extra $50 back. Everything else you buy during the year after that you get cash back on too.

Thats why I noted if you happen to know someone, or can get someone to go in on a membership with you - its a win win.

We have been eying a new 50" ($1200) I believe at CostCo for some time now. One benefit of that is it comes with a nice little surround sound system. Nothing fancy, but good enough for movies.

I'll post some links if I can locate them.

[MrForbes]

Originally Posted by M. Krass

I've been curious what effect the switch from a 4:3 aspect ratio to widescreen makes, though, in perceived viewing area. Regular TV shows will appear smaller on a 32" widescreen TV than on my TV, but is that difference really noticeable?

Thats an interesting question. Seems that right now TV is in a transition to the widescreen format, and everything is a mess! SDTV is 4:3, HDTV is 16:9, and as a result of both systems being used at the same time, it's confusing.

I personally don't like scrolling text, and having the ability to crop off the top and bottom of a 4:3 picture on a widescreen set is nice. But if you want to see the full width of a widescreen video on a 4:3 screen, then you end up with the little letterbox.

Right now we have 2 TVs in the living room, one is a 4:3 32" and the other is a 16:9 42", both have similar vertical size, but widescreen shows look much better on the wide screen, and normal old TV looks "right" on the small screen.

And my wife and I have different ideas about which way to watch which shows, there is a lot of personal preference involved. For exmaple, I'd just as soon watch the old TV shows on the widescreen and zoom in and lose the top and bottom, and she's ok watching widescreen movies in the letterbox on the narrow TV.

[Wayne Doenges]

Take a look a the new Samsung LCD. 50,000:1 contrast ratio and 120 hz.
I saw the Samsung 4671 and 5271 (46" and 52") and the picture was very sharp (25,000:1)

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Before making a decision on make and model check out one of the viewing distance/screen size calculator sites.
http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/09...o-screen-size/
http://www.crutchfieldadvisor.com/S-...me/tv_faq.html

Initially, plasma sets are the best all around display. They do not suffer from LCD lag, viewing angle drop off, backlight color change or DLP illumination failure. However, they do form a smoke like film on the interior of the glass over time and they are subject to burn in like most displays. They are also the heaviest of the bunch.
Newer versions of the LCD family have less lag, better back lights and better viewing angles. As many have reported, the Vizio line is a good buy. They do not make the display but they are manufactured in the US. The Sony XBR line is very good looking, has almost true blacks and a color correcting backlight for accurate colors. However, it was recently reported to me that Sony no longer manufactures their own sets. Samsung is producing them for Sony. No details on whether that applies to all Sony sets or not. I suspect the same goes for other manufacturers.
DLP makes a nice picture and has few of the issues that LCD displays have but a much higher price tag on the illumination device. If considering a DLP ask what the replacement cost for the bulb is and whether it can be replaced by the consumer or requires a factory service call. A friends DLP has a great picture but there is something about the display that I have a problem with. It may be the over compression of his cable system.
No matter what you buy, you will be subject to the the compression and resolution decisions of the provider. Even over the air broadcasters do not broadcast in full HD 1080i most of the time. Those that choose either 1080i or 720P still can heavily compress the signal to allow other services to use some of the 19.2Mbit spectrum stream which reduces the bandwidth of the main signal. These compressions are mostly visible in motion, such as waterfalls, rain, car races, sporting events, backgrounds of seascapes, etc.
Be aware that when viewing a signal in a store, it could be playing back from a video server in the backroom, off the air or from a cable provider. Even if it is an HD signal, it could be upconverted from a standard def program.

I should also note that Plasmas generate of lot of RF noise. Although newer designs are better, if you require a quiet RF environment then one of the other technologies is a better choice.

[MrForbes]

Another thing that doesn't seem to come up in discussions very much is power consumption...for example, a Panasonic plasma 46" model TH-46PZ85U consumes 628 watts, while an HP LCD 47" model LC4776N consumes 320 watts.

Finding power consumption specs for some brands is also rather difficult, you might need to look at the label on the back of the set.

The local Sears store has a rather crowded TV section, with lots of sets on closely spaced shelves. The ambient temperature is pretty high!

[Wayne Doenges]

I hate to keep this thread going but I'm going to be buying an HDTV soon and I have some questions.

1) Best Buy is trying to sell me a power center. I supposed to filter the incoming 120 HZ A/C to reduce the spikes. Does it work?

2) My receiver is over 15 years old. Do I NEED to replace it or will mine work just fine for video? It has DVD and satellite functions.

3) Someone mentioned they don't like Monster cables. What do you recommend for the HDMI cables?

4) I was told that it's best to get the Playstaion 3 for the Blu-Ray capability becasue you can upgrade it faster than you can upgrade the standard Blu-Ray players. Now I'm being told that playing Blu-Ray discs on the the PS3 will eventually make the PS3 go bad. Any truth?

Thanks in advance for any help

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Wayne,
If power is a problem at your location then you might want to but a power center with built in spike protection. Not all that say they are protected actually are.
The government has a program to help with the move to HD. https://www.dtv2009.gov/ You make an application and receive the coupons in the mail. They are only good for a certain length of time and are not renewable.
Monstor cables are notoriously over priced and over hyped with virtually no scientific testing to demonstrate their claims. HDMI cables are available at Best Buy, Radio Shack or MCM (mcminone.com)
I will leave the Playstation discussion to someone who actually owns one.

[Joe Ross]

Originally Posted by Wayne Doenges

2) My receiver is over 15 years old. Do I NEED to replace it or will mine work just fine for video? It has DVD and satellite functions.

Make sure the TV has analog audio out (I'd be very surprised if it didn't). Then you can run HDMI to the tv (HDMI carries video and audio) and then standard RCA cables from the analog audio out from the tv to your receiver.

Originally Posted by Wayne Doenges

3) Someone mentioned they don't like Monster cables. What do you recommend for the HDMI cables?

I ordered my HDMI (and many other cables) from monoprice.com.

Originally Posted by Wayne Doenges

4) I was told that it's best to get the Playstaion 3 for the Blu-Ray capability becasue you can upgrade it faster than you can upgrade the standard Blu-Ray players. Now I'm being told that playing Blu-Ray discs on the the PS3 will eventually make the PS3 go bad. Any truth?

The playstation 2 had several problems with the DVD drive over the years, so my guess is the person who told you it would go bad is extrapolating the experience from the PS2. I haven't heard of any long term problems with the PS3, but it really hasn't been out that long.

[whytheheckme]

Originally Posted by Joe Ross

Make sure the TV has analog audio out (I'd be very surprised if it didn't). Then you can run HDMI to the tv (HDMI carries video and audio) and then standard RCA cables from the analog audio out from the tv to your receiver.

RCA??? Analog???


If you only have stereo audio currently, I'd highly recommend going to Wal-Mart and picking up a 1000 watt RCA 5.1 surround system for ~$130. The entire effect of your new big-screen and high-def player (blu-ray or whatever) is lost if you only have a stereo set of speakers....

Monster cables are totally overrated. There is no reason to purchase them over anything you can find at monoprice.

I'd recommend the PS3. For the same price as a regular blu-ray player, you can be playing some of the best video games on earth in true high definition (just wait for FF13 to come out.... it will be one of the first games to use all of the cores and system memory of the PS3, and it's graphics will be out of this world.) Not to mention you could charge admission to your neighborhood kids to play on your PS3 in your living room....

-Jacob

'nuff said.

[Wayne Doenges]

What I got
http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/detail/spec.do?group=televisions&type=televisions&subtype =lcdtv&model_cd=LN46A750R1FXZA&fullspec=F[/url]

I also bought a PS3, and new Pioneer THX A/V receiver, a pair of Bose speakers and a Nikon D80 digital SLR

I'm happy