Topic: TVs - talk to me

[ober]

OK, so from previous threads, here's what I've gathered:

No Plasma - consumes too much power
No DLP - doesn't last

LED vs. LCD?  Which is better?

Brands:
Samsung
Sony
Mitsubishi?
?

My wife and I are potentially going to buy one but my in-laws have asked me to find one for them too.  For myself, I'd probably go 46" or above.  For them, probably more in the 42" range.  Is it reasonable to think I could get a good TV for under 700?

EDIT: Additional requirement for myself, I want to be able to game on it.

AND GO! 

[Steve]

Gaming is another reason to toss Plasma.

I vote LED from my experience with laptops

[KnuckleBuckett]

LED is fine for small screens.  Unfortunately, as screen size increases, light control across the screen decreases.  (blotchy dark scenes at home at night).  They are probably about four years off getting this remedied.  So, no, on LED for now. 

Plasma consumes too much power?  Compared to what?  A 60+" plasma uses about what a PC workstation does.  Around 100 to 400 watts while in use.  Actual power use depends upon the brightness of the scene at the time.  They aren't awful by any means.  Also best picture these days is plasma.  Panasonic.  An despite Steve's uninformed claims, you can game on a Plasma without worry these days.  Sorry Steve that was NOT meant to sound that douchey.  See link.
http://reviews.cnet.com/plasma-burn-in-seven-things-you-need-to-know/

LCD is the only choice you are giving yourself. 

Now for a brand...

NOT Phillips, JVC, or Toshiba.
These are doing well...
Vizio, Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, LG... I would expect you are going to be in the 32 to 47" range mostly 32 to 40".
Maybe...
Hannspree??  Dunno.


Look for...

-120Hz (anything beyond is meaningless)

-At least 3 HDMI inputs (newer models are going with 5)

-1080P (on a 30" and lower this is immaterial)

-Upconversion (this makes standard definition signal not look like godawful shit)

-3D (I fucking hate it but it is coming like it or not)

-Sadly you have to disregard brightness as it is a trumped up number.

-Also please do not be a Tool and think that you can tell which tv looks better while you are in the store.  You can't.  Nobody can.  Shitty signal distribution, non-home lighting, amped up demo settings, and so on all add up to making in-store reviewing impossible in most situations.  Very high end salons are usually a rare exception.

-If you are debating between two televisions, off-axis viewing is a good way to differentiate them.

-Don't get a high gloss screen.  Pain in the ass if you have any light in the room.

Try to look at Costco, HH Gregg, Sam's, and Walmart.  They all have decent pricing and selections.  Try to disregard anything the sales people say.  It is always biased and rarely based in any real knowledge of the products.
 
Here are a couple quick (not well researched) possibilities.

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11539014&whse=BC&Ne=5000000%204000000&eCat=BC|90607|2341&N=4047302%204294899947%205000107&Mo=5&No=2&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&lang=en-US&Sp=C&topnav=
Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&lang=en-US&Sp=C&topnav=
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Vizio-E470VL/13904838
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Sony-KDL32EX500/13812461
http://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/product.jsp?productId=prod1842096&navAction=push
http://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/product.jsp?productId=prod1401567&navAction=push
http://www.hhgregg.com/ProductDetail.asp?SID=n&ProductID=73451

Feel free to research anything I have mentioned on the net.  It is all good info. 


My final advice...

Wait.  Save up a bit.  Get a 50+".  Different manufacturing processes.  Newer with superior feature sets, quality, and reliability.  Spend in the $1200 to $1440 range.  You will likely be far better off in the long run.

Do not forget the upconverter advice!!

[Steve]

I'm sure they are better then they used to be, but theres a guy with a big screen Vizio thats about 6 months old a few miles from me that has the home screen of his Xbox burned into it. He left it on for 8 hours by accident, and now it is burned in.

So are they better? I'm sure they are, but if you fire up the Xbox ~12+ hours a week like i do i wouldn't suggest going Plasma when you can get a TV just as nice in LCD. As for LED i saw a 40inch one at Best Buy today while my future mother in law was buying my step son a small lcd tv for his room, and it was a thing of beauty. How it is in the home, long term, etc i have no clue.

[KnuckleBuckett]

Again the smaller models aren't nearly the quality of the 50 and up.  Thus the price.  You do get what you pay for here within reason.

Also if Vizio dude had had his screen saver on he wouldn't have done that. 

[Steve]

I don't want a TV where i need to run a screen saver so it won't break, or pay more for another ten inches to get quality.

[KnuckleBuckett]

Any TV should run a saver.  Any tv any type can be damaged by unchanging picture.  Most people don't do that shit anyway. 

If I were getting a tv now I would consider  DLP, LCD, and Plasma.  Note that Obes didn't want anything but LCD, so I didn't recommend any of the others. 

[ober]

Knuck, you were the main one I was hoping would respond.  I respect your opinions on the topic greatly.  The only thing that is confusing is that all the research I've done in the past few days does say that Plasma consumes more power.  About the only good thing I've heard about Plasma is that the picture is incredible. 

I'll definitely check on the upconverter and I would never do high gloss.  We sit approximately 10-12 feet from the TV so I don't want to go very small.  46 would probably be the smallest.

I've also read a lot of LCD vs. LED articles the past few days and it seems like almost all of them are pro-LED.  I'm surprised to hear the opposite from you, but the lighting issues do make sense I guess.

I have to do some digging and more research.  I might sit on it for a while and check daily slickdeals.net and bensbargains to see if anything good comes across.  I want to do this right.

By the way, Micah mentioned in the other thread that he had a DLP that was breaking down after a few years.  Is that an age issue that has been resolved? 

[KnuckleBuckett]

Plasmas (like any other tech) initially had their issues.  Durability burn-in and very high power usage.  They have reduced power use but not to LCD levels.  Picture is the best of all types still made.

DLP is best bang size to dollar. http://search.dell.com/results.aspx?s=gen&c=us&l=en&cs=&k=60%20inch%20mitsubishi%201080p%20dlp%20tv&cat=all&x=0&y=0&delx60%20=1  I mean...WOW.

LCDs use less power.  If that is an important criteria for a tv to you, well...go for it.  LCDs tend to get attention due to their ability to appear bright.  That is nice, but not very realistic.  Movies and television are not filmed to be so bright.  It is fake.  Like a cheap set of speakers where they pump the highs to get the buys (seriously).  But when you get a set of speaks like yours, you can listen to them forever.  Why?  Because they sound natural.  Think of shopping for a tv the same way.

Plasma and DLPs tend to present a more theatrical look when they are not in store (aka torch) mode but lack the POP of the LCD sets.

Plasmas have been working pretty hard on power consumption to stay legal in the EU.  That is why their power requirements have been dropping so fast lately.

All sets have trade-offs.  Power, picture, front to back depth, weight, bulb maintenance, too-bright, off axis viewing.

What now Obes?

[Steve]

By no means am i claiming to be an expert, or to even have a clue, i was just echoing some things i have seen and/or know about. When it comes to audio and tv, i never stand in knucks way lol

[KnuckleBuckett]

lol

[ober]

Fuck 3D.  Seriously.

Knuck, points taken.  Thank you for the advice.  OK, next criteria.  I potentially want to hang it on the wall.  Am I limited by any of the options or is LCD the winner there?

[KnuckleBuckett]

LCD again.  Cmon its a tv not a painting.


Always have wires.

[KnuckleBuckett]

If you get an LCD with LED lighting Steve will have your baby.

[ober]

Obviously I'll have wires unless I decide to fish them through the wall.  It's a position thing for us.  Our living room is weird and really the best place for the TV is above the fireplace (that we never use because it sucks shit).