any TV experts

[RonC]

i want to buy a smallish big screen. maybe 42inch or so. neither me or my wife watch a lot of tv. when we do, its mostly the news, maybe a movie or sports once a week. no games on the TV.

i see 1080 being the most popular and the most expensive. i dont even know what the 1080 really means. I also see lesser numbers like 740 or whatever.

considering my viewing habits, what should i look for? a good deal is important

 

[Craig Mac]

i want to buy a smallish big screen. maybe 42inch or so. neither me or my wife watch a lot of tv. when we do, its mostly the news, maybe a movie or sports once a week. no games on the TV.

i see 1080 being the most popular and the most expensive. i dont even know what the 1080 really means. I also see lesser numbers like 740 or whatever.

considering my viewing habits, what should i look for? a good deal is important

http://www.thebestplasmatv.com/guides/720p-vs-1080p/ may answer some questions you have.

If I had to do it over again I would get a 1080p set, but mostly for connecting blu-ray/PS3 to it. The difference to the naked eye is minimal, but 1080p will be the standard down the road IMO.

That being said, if it is a low priority and won't be watched that much, just save the money and get a 720p as most future devices will probably support either format TV.

 

[Mitch]

We went with a 720 last January and got a 56" (TV is about 16" deep not a wall hanger) for under $1000 delivered. From what I understand if the quality of picture on a standard DVD is good enough for you, this can save you lots of money. Unless you go with a Blu Ray or HD DVD you will not even see a difference between a 720 and a 1080 with a standard DVD player anyway. Cheapest 1080 that was quite a bit smaller was still almost twice the price back then. We are very happy with it's picture, but we are like you, don't watch a lot of TV, and a DVD now and then.

 

[GoodfellasPandC]

I've done my research and I'll tell you what I know, it will be up to you to find the best deal because it depends on what is important to you. I would, however, spend my money on a reputable brand at a reputable location.... otherwise expect to run into problems, and expect to have a hard time solving them.

Plasma screens are not as bright as LCD screens, and many people make the decision between the two based on the amount of natural light in the room they will be putting the TV. We have 6 large windows in our room, so I went with LCD. The LCD's usually have a slightly better viewing angle too, but the Plasmas have a better contrast ratio (blacker blacks... resulting in whiter looking whites) You will usually see the plasma ratios around at least 30,000:1.

A 1080p TV is great to have, and you can get one very cheap now compared to what they used to be... however, it's not necessary unless you plan on buying a blu-ray player. Even when HD broadcasting is in 1080p, a 720p will still work great. The number 720 and 1080 have to do with the number of horizontal pixels, so sometimes you will see "1920x1080" which gives the vertical pixels too. The "P" means progressive scan, and if you see 1080i, the "I" means interfaced. I don't think it's gonna mean a thing for me to go into that... progressive is the most capable of the two, and much better for sports. I always keep my TV on 720p instead of 1080i for this reason. Hope this has been helpful. Don't forget about the money you will have to spend on an HDMI cable (one for tv and one for every compatible HD component) and the service.

 

[gbpacker66]

Plasma screens are not as bright as LCD screens, and many people make the decision between the two based on the amount of natural light in the room they will be putting the TV. We have 6 large windows in our room, so I went with LCD. The LCD's usually have a slightly better viewing angle too, but the Plasmas have a better contrast ratio (blacker blacks... resulting in whiter looking whites) You will usually see the plasma ratios around at least 30,000:1.

Please check your facts. I have worked in an electronics store and have sold both plasmas and LCD's. Your are going to have a brighter picture on the plasma as well as a better viewing angle. The downfall to plasmas are the amount of heat that they put out, the amount of electricity that it use compared to a regular tv, and the lifespan of the tv (could be anywhere between 5-9 years whereas a LCD can last up to 15-25 years) . You find that quality of the picture over time will degrade a lot quicker that a regular tv. If you play any video games, the plasma will be subject to what is called a burn in, this happens when you play the same game a lot with the same back rounds, what happens here is the back round of the game image will burn itself onto your plasma screen. One more thing about plasmas, if you are watching any real quiet scenes in a movie, you will here a hum in the lower quality plasmas, this is coming from the transformer in the tv.

I would highly suggest a LCD. You will not have any of the problems with a LCD that are associated with a plasma.

Happy Hunting.

 

[mnelson]

If you play any video games, the plasma will be subject to what is called a burn in, this happens when you play the same game a lot with the same back rounds, what happens here is the back round of the game image will burn itself onto your plasma screen.

Todays plasmas dont have that problem anymore...

Also whatever you get make sure that you buy a name brand!

Plasmas:
-Pioneer makes the best, but cost the most
-Panasonic and Samsung are the runners up, both make super nice sets but are just a touch lower than pioneer in terms of black levels and build quality

LCDs: Remember your 3 S's
-Samsung
-Sony
-Sharp

Overall if i were to buy another tv i would get a samsung, and unless you are going to get a bluray player i would get a 720p set. I spent way to much money just for the extra lines on both my lcd and plasma and kinda regret it......

 

[Eric]

Samsung Touch of Color

 

[gbpacker66]

DLP's have also come long way. But they are not like a flat panel that you can hang on the wall.

Some good brands are;

Mitsubishi
Toshiba
Samsung

 

[Brazilla]

Ron don't forget the LG Brand. They're rateings are right up there with the Sharp and the they cost less. With your viewing habits, I agree that unless there's a bluray in your future you might want to stay with the 720p. There's a very important factor you need to remember here. What distance will you be viewing your new set from? With a 40-42", if you're closer than 6' to 8' the picture is going to look like shit and you're going to go crazy trying to figure out what's wrong. They're just made that way and they also have a much better image in HD also. One other thing....GET THE EXTENDED WARRANTY!! I like to use Best Buy if I can. They will match any advertised price and they have the best service I've found. That's just my 2c.

 

[Cyrann]

What distance will you be viewing your new set from?

This is very important when buying your HD set. As I read through the thread, I'm glad Brazilla brought this up. In your case (talking about 720p/1080i native sets) you need to pay close attention the light blue and green lines... and just the green for 1080p:



This is a quick, though concise, chart of optimal view distance on your new set.

It's funny that I jut came home from a local B&M and had just this conversation. If you are thinking about Blu-ray (the lone standing true HD format) and 1080p, you are going to want to head north of 40 inches and then look at view distance. If you get a 1080p set < 40" the difference between 720p and 1080p is minimal. If you are looking for 720p/1080i (i.e. HDTV broadcasts and upconverting DVD Players) the size of the TV is actually personal preference.

If you want the best "flat" HDTV I would look at:

Sony Bravia XBR series (1080p)
Sharp Aquos (1080p)
LG (1080p)

If you want the best "rear projection" HDTV I would look at:

Mitsubishi (1080p or 720p/1080i)
Samsung (1080p or 720p/1080i)

Lastly, I will attempt to help give you 1080i/1080p in lemons terms; 1080i - "i" standing for interlaced fills the TV picture in a sequence of lines , i.e. 1 3 5 7 9 and then comes back and fills the even numbers 2 4 6 8 10. This is why, when watching, lets say Golf in HD, panning over water will show lines on your screen visible to the eye. 1080p - "p" standing for progressive scan fills the TV picture in order 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 and during Blu-rays you lose zero quality while panning.

I hope this helps.

Oh, and lastly there is a bunch of cord conversations that will go on as well... HDMI vs whatever, so you will need to take that into consideration. Once you select your TV, PM me and ill point you in the right direction and/or to the best sites with the best pricing.

 

[Clinton]

Any new 42" or larger LCD is almost certainly going to be 1080P so no need to be concerned about that. That's going to be the hi-def standard for quite awhile. Shop by brand and/or price. Check Consumer Reports.

Plasmas were just stopgap technology until manufacturers could figure out how to increase yields on LCDs. It used to be hard to make them without defects. Don't buy a plasma.

Rear projection isn't a flat panel TV. It used to be high end, but it's pretty much obsolete now. Don't buy RP.

 

[Boppa-Wasch]

Got a Vizio LCD for the Porch/smoke room and love it!

 

[RonC]

i dont even know what the hell bluray is

 

[Clinton]

Then any recent model LCD TV will be just fine for you.

But if you're a sports fan (NFL for me), once you see a game in hi-def, you'll hear the angels sing...

 

[Cyrann]

i dont even know what the hell bluray is

Its the HD video and storage format that has been selected. Basically a DVD can hold 4.7 GBs worth of information and a Blu-ray disc can hold 50 GBs worth of storage...so when movies are shot with HD cameras it takes a lot of space and only those discs/players and 1080p TVs can run them at peak performance.

If you head into BestBuy and ask someone to see the difference between DVD and Blu-ray... you will be blown away.

If you could care less, and do not want to deal with the highest definition and/or $20-40 movies (hence why I use netfilx)... then just get a 720p/1080i HDTV, that will be more than enough for 1080i HDTV viewing (HD Sports and TV shows) and an upconverting DVD player.

Just make sure that when you purchase your TV, it has at least one HDMI input, so that your Direct TV box, or whatever provider you use can link to your TV with zero sound/picture quality loss.

 

[gbpacker66]

The next step after the tv is building a surround sound system, this can be a lot of fun. Be very careful when you get to this point. The wife might kick you out. There are many great systems you can purchase for under $1000. Stick to the name brands when you get this far. Some retailers will talk you into a higher priced product, but it is not necessarily better (higher price= higher margin). Buy what sounds good to you. The size of the room is a big factor when looking systems. You don't need 6 foot tower speakers in a 15x15 room. Be sure to ask about the return policy on the system, if it doesn't sound good in your living room, return it and get something that appeals to your ears.