HDTV suggestions

[Corey Balint]

My mom just got suckered into buying Monster Cables when she bought her new TV. I heard that and had her return them immediately.

Anyone know any good places for refurbs/old models? I know Pete said that Costco/BJ's/any wholesale club will normally sell older models, but does anyone else know any good places to get some? Or does anyone know any places to avoid when seeking a refurb/open box deal?
I'm wavering on how much money I want to blow on this TV and want to search out some cheaper options.

[Wayne Doenges]

Late last year I was in Sears to get my car alignment done so I went up to the second floor to look at the TV's. As soon as I saw them one stuck out as very bright and clear. It was the Samsung 4671 LCD HDTV. It blew all the others away including the plasma's. It has the 25,000:1 contrast ratio. The new one, 46A650, has 50,000:1 contrast ratio but doesn't look any better than the 4671.

[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.

[Cory]

We bought the previous model year's version of this TV. We'd have gone for a bigger one, but the room it went into is not very large.

It's a great TV. We love it. SDTV looks like garbage relative to a non HDTV, but that's expected of any HDTV. Most of my TV watching is ESPN, ESPN2, FSN, Discovery and then a couple shows on ABC/CBS, so pretty much all of it is in HD, and it looks beautiful.

[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

[Madison]

Forgive me for tacking this onto this thread, but I don't really know from A/V stuff and this seems as good a place as any to ask about it.

For reasons that are too ridiculous to explain, I have to convert an output from HDMI to DVI, then from DVI back to HDMI. There's an intermediary device involved that only supports DVI. As a result, am I losing the enhanced quality provided by the HDMI cable?

[Joe Ross]

Originally Posted by M. Krass

Forgive me for tacking this onto this thread, but I don't really know from A/V stuff and this seems as good a place as any to ask about it.

For reasons that are too ridiculous to explain, I have to convert an output from HDMI to DVI, then from DVI back to HDMI. There's an intermediary device involved that only supports DVI. As a result, am I losing the enhanced quality provided by the HDMI cable?

No, the hdmi and DVI video specs are the same. You just lose the ability to carry audio through the hdmi cable.