Hey All,
I need some help. I’m looking to purchase an HDTV over the summer and I am looking for suggestions on brands to look at. I’ve browsed around review websites and company websites, but I want to get some posters opinions on TV’s they have, have used, or have watched.
Here are some random tidbits of information about my wants/usage.
Wants:
40+ inch, maybe a 36…but 40+ is more preferred.
LCD, I don’t want a Plasma. 'Nuff said.
1080p, I know the whole “a human couldn’t tell the difference line” but still…might as well.
Less than $1,500 (this is going to be hard to do, I know)
Uses:
General TV watching
Watching sporting events…80% of my TV usage (aside from games) is sports related
Xbox 360 (I’ve got a 20 inch screen tube tv now…and if I play any sports game (again, most of what I play) it comes out fuzzy and just isn’t as fun as it could be)
That is really it I think. I plan on getting a DVR at some point and possibly a better audio setup…but those aren’t big concerns as it stands.
I plan on waiting at least a month or two as well. I know their are massive price cuts occurring soon so I will be holding off at least a little bit.
I’ve seen a few Visios, both plasma and LCD and they’re both very good. The price point Visios have makes them a very good choice.
Whatever TV you do get, spend a little money and get a calibration DVD. I’ve used this one and it made a real difference.
How did I know you would be one of the first to post on this Jeff.
Yeah, I’ve been looking at Vizio’s already but I’ve had some people tell me not to look too deeply into them. However, the price is very reasonable and right now, it is my #1 choice due to the relative cheapness and just solid looks.
The calibration DVD is a good idea as well. I was planning on something of that nature. My family just got a 52" Sony Bravia and had some calibration issues that they had Best Buy or someone come out and fix it (I’ve got no idea really what they did, but they had someone come out I know.)
I’ve been looking at them too, although we don’t really need one…since we have a couple 42" projection TVs we got for free recently (I sort of fixed one, and the other works but has some wierd blue lines across the screen that are sometimes bothersome).
Looks to me like the smaller sets that you can get 1080P you pay a premium for that, and it’s not worth the extra money.
Also do some research into the remote control, apparently some sets don’t let you easily change aspect ratio (zoom, or crop, or whatever it’s called) without going into a setup menu. That would drive me nuts.
I would treat this purchase like buying a computer…don’t spend too much money, because in a year the high dollar set you bought will be available for half what you paid for it…that bugs me…
Also on the calibration thing, if you search the forums on home theaters you can usually find people who’ve tweaked the set and they offer suggestions on how to do it.
I highly recommend the Logitech Harmony remotes. They are super simple to setup and allow all sorts of customization. If the menu system is bad, the Harmonies allow you to create macro functions to do multiple things with one button push.
I have the Harmony 550 and love it.
Well, in terms of technology I guess mine is old now.
If you consider a Vizio… consider an executive Costco Membership (or find someone who has one) and reap the cashback rewards.
I have a 32" Olevia… that I paid $350 for in 2006 in a Black Friday Frenzy. I think the HD channels (that I pawn off of Comcast through my tuner) are outstanding.
I can say that I have notice that p does make a difference, and over the summer, you will be seeing fluctuations as even newer technologies replace and advance p.
Cashback rewards? Hmmmm. This is something I haven’t thought of. I did think that if I were to get a Vizio to get it from Costco. I’ll have to look into that now.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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)
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 know our TV allows you to choose between the ratio you want to display in.
I have the benefit of having both the HD channel and the SD channel. If I decide one is not displaying how I think it is ‘correct’ I just switch to the other channel to get rid of “squashed heads”
If you are looking for the best quality tv (i.e. sharper image, longer life, etc.) i’d stick with the following brands:
Samsung
Panasonic
Sony
These are the top 3. They are a bit higher in price than the rest of them, but i’d say spending an extra $100 would be worth it. And remember you only get the most basic cables when buying a tv, so you will have to get the HD cables etc.
Right now you can get the following for under $1500
I use the Circuit City Website simply because i have worked their and know it the best.*
I would suggest looking around stores such as Best Buys, Circuit City, and the manufacturer’s websites as well to see where you can get the best price once you figure out the TV you would like.
I’d also recommend not only getting a set of HD cables, but also getting an extended protection plan. (i know i sound like i still work for them). But in all honesty the number’s of tv’s that we would have people come in and talk to us about that had broken say a year or 2 after they got it was amazing. (most manufacturer’s protections plans only cover 3 - 6 months on TV’s)
Good luck and let me know if you need anything else.
I forgot to mention one of the most important things. Trust your own eye.
Sony’s may have amazing color and the Samsungs may have a contrast ratio through the roof but if they look the same as a Visio or LG or NoName brand to you, consider it.
You’re going to be the one watching it the most. Trust your eye.
Also, bring a DVD with you to the store when you go looking and ask if they can play it (no offensive material). The signal that stores run to every TV in the place is not always the best quality. Use your own signal to judge.
Yeah, the wide screen TVs generally let you select the way you want to view–either “normal” (with bands at the sides when viewing 4:3 material), “full” which is how widescreen video should be, or “zoom” also called “fill” which crops the top and bottom of a 4:3 show to fit the full width of the wide screen, or “wide zoom” or “wide fill” which stretches out the edges of the 4:3 show to fill out the whole width of the screen.
I generally watch 4:3 stuff in the zoom mode.
Also, we have a couple digital TV tuners that do SDTV, not HDTV, and they also have a zoom feature, so you can select how the display looks. Typical choices are “set by program”, “letterbox”, “cropped”, “sqeezed”. I usually set it to cropped, so the sides of the widescreen content is cut off on a 4:3 TV.
What’s fun is connecting the SDTV tuner to a widescreen TV, watching content that was originally HDTV (widescreen) and figuring out how to get all the zooms set so that it shows up like it should. Works well once you get it figured out…for example, I watched the Carrier show on PBS on the widescreen in full digital clarity, although it is pretty low resolution because the only PBS transmissions we get are from an SD repeater instead of the HD transmitter (the problem with living 75 miles from a big city)
