LCD TV's ---- Under 40 Inches

ScottB

ScottB

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I am looking to replace a bedroom tv (27 inches) with a newer flat screen unit. Likely around 32-37 inches as applicable. Dont tell you love Sony cause they make the PS3, but tell me some interesting facts about which brands to look at. (Samsung, Sony, Sharp are currently fav's)

I was told Sharp was the godfather of LCD or was it plasma, tell me the facts ! I was also told only two manufacturers actually make the displays. Again tell me the facts. 720p versus 1080p for a smaller screen and non-digital cable currently. (it will have PS3/Blu-ray machine attached) I figure around 1000.00 as wife watches tv in bedroom more than I do.
 
Scott, I plan on buying the Samsung 42' 1080p with in the year. Every tv I have looked at it seemss that the samsung had the better picture. You can get the 720p 32-37 inche for good price. The 1080p 42' is I think around 1'300$
 
Just bought a couple of months ago the Samsung 71" 1080P DLP for the living room and I love it... going to buy a smaller one for the bedroom. Been looking at the Samsung DLP 42" or even the 37" LCD for the bedroom, done a lot of research online and it appears Samsung has the best ratings. Only other one I have read a lot of good things about is the Sharp 37" Aquos LCD. For the bedroom I do not think HD is that important, since I do not watch much in there ( I really hate paying all the money for a TV for the bedroom, but I like to keep CNN on in there when home- don't ask why I don't know I just do!)But in my opinion both are great choices, it took me several months to pick the living room tv, so I can feel your pain on trying to decide.
 
Samsung makes great tvs Scott. I have the 61" 1080p DLP. At the size that you are considering, 720p/1080i/1080p shouldn't have a noticeable difference. You do want to make sure that the inputs handle 1080p though for the PS3. You could downscale it, but why? Maximize the resolution! The Samsung 1080p sets are native 1080p, so they will upconvert everything to 1080p. AVSforum has a lot of info if you have the time. Good luck!
 
Here's what I've heard. Top plasma's= Panasonic; top LCD's=Sharp/Samsung. I've had both. Plasma runs very hot and uses an extraordinary amount of electricity. I currently have a 52" Sharp Aquos LCD, 1080p and get a lot of compliments on the picture. My buddy just got a Sharp Aquos LCD 40 something inch. He found the best price at Sears so there's a place to look. I think that you can definetly tell the difference between 720p and 1080p. Something to weigh against the price.
My plasma kept going to a black screen when it got hot so I took it back to Costco and got the LCD.
 
I was told at several stores that for plasma that pioneer was the best and for lcds that sharp was the best. I know for a fact you cant go by picture quality that you see in any stores. All of the displays have the factory setting to just look bright. I purchased a 60 in pro-1540 pioneer plasma last year for christmas and at the time they only made a 50 in 1080p plasma. There is some soort of rule to actually see the diff from 1080p and 720p or 1080i. For 50 in you have to sit 3 to 4 feet to actually see the extra detail. Any further and yo won't notice anything. For 60 inches I believe its 7 to 10 feet. Since I have mine on the wall I just went for the bigger screen. Now there are more 1080p plasmas then ever and the cost about the same as what I pauid for the 60 in. If you do get the 1080p lcd or plasma make sure you get a blu-ray player also. To me its the picture quality is better than the movies. I personnaly like plasmas over lcds for picture quality. I know when sopping for lcds you have to look at their response time. The higer the number you will notice flickering in the picture especially when watching sports or action movies. I think sharp has the fastest time at 4 ms. Hope this helps a little
 
i got a panasonic 42" for like $1,100 a few months back 1080p HD. I couldn't be happier with it. And I like it WAYYY better then the toshiba my bro got for almost double the price
 
friend of mine has a sharp aquos in the 30-40" inch range, maybe 37 if I remember correctly. Looks awesome, just as good if not better then any other LCD i have ever seen, except maybe the Sony XBR LCDs. For the price of the aquos TVs, to me they seem like a bargain.

Another friend has a 46" bravia that I watch alot, and HD stuff looks great on that too. I would not buy one unless it was 1080p.
 
I purchased a 32" Samsung Flat screen LCD 780p and have nothing but great thing to say. It takes some time to tweak the picture to make it look great and when you do OH MAN. Discovery HD on the tv's brightest setting is mind blowing (colors are very vibrant/alive). If your wife plans on watching movies on dvd's that are non HD & older dvd's (pre 2001 I think) you will need to purchase a dvd upconverter to play it in 780p. It will make the picture look 100x better then with out. A standard dvd player made the picture look very grainy and dull except when the screen was set at 4:1 which is elongated and thin (not very enjoyable to watch imo). DO NOT fall for buying the $$$$ HDMI wire, HDMI is a digital signal (1's and 0's) so having a good wire will give you the same sound/picture a premium 100$+ cable will. Here what I mean Beware the HDMI Cable scam. « Techno babble from an IT guy named Harry I picked up the Monoprice.com HDMI premium cable ($[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]15.44[/FONT] Only for $11.58 each when QTY 50+ purchased - HDMI to HDMI CL2 Rated (For In-Wall Installation) Cable (24AWG) w/ net jacket- 6ft (Gold Plated) | High-Quality 24AWG HDMI Male to Male Cables) to compare it to the $100 Monster Cable I purchased a week before the Monoprice cable was identical and it was thicker :(. I can take close up's of both if you want?
EDIT mt thread with pic and specs on the TV http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/off-topic/7313-exactly-why-i-dont-walk-into-best-buy-often.html
 
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Personally, I'm a big Sony fan. Can I go into technical details as to why? Sorry, I cannot. I spent quite a bit of time researching LCD TVs before I bought my 40" Sony Bravia for the bedroom. In the end, there is only one way to compare and that's to see them in action, playing a movie or something you enjoy. Look at them side by side and SEE if you like them or not.

You can have all the latest technical bits on your TV, but it's all about what pleases your eye.
 
P1et said:
In the end, there is only one way to compare and that's to see them in action, playing a movie or something you enjoy. Look at them side by side and SEE if you like them or not.
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wytstang said:
I DO NOT fall for buying the $$$$ HDMI wire, HDMI is a digital signal (1's and 0's) so having a good wire will give you the same sound/picture a premium 100$+ cable will. cPanel®
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:iagree:
with both of those statements

I had a guy at 6th ave electronics try and sell me a $90 HDMI cable, when I told him he was nuts, he started regurgitating this BS about how cheap cables will make the picture look bad, blah blah blah, I walked away from him immediately.

Cheap cables work just as good in most cases.
 
HDMI cables are the biggest scam. Like everyone says, it's a digital signal so it's either all or nothing.

I made money for a while picking up 6 foot HDMI cables online for less than a dollar and reselling them for $15-$20.
 
I have a Toshiba Regza 37in LCD tv in my bed room and I'm really happy with it. Its got a slot DVD player. Its built in on the side. The disc slides in like a cd does in a car cd player. I've got a Sony dvd player upconverts to 720p with HDMI hooked up to it. I like it alot =). I've always had good luck with Sony products also.
 
How do you guys get to sleep with a TV in the bedroom? I would never got any sleep, just watch tv :p
 
From what I've read(because I'm currently in the market), LCD is the way to go. I would get the highest resolution possible(1080i or 1080p) for the future(HD). I REALLY like the Sharp Aquos, LG, Samsung, Sony, Sanyo. Walmart just had a bunch of them in their ad this week. Yep....

Sanyo 50" Plasma for $1,294
Vizio 42" LCD for $946
Samsung 37" LCD for $1127
Vizio 32" LCD for $597

All are 720P with the Sanyo and the Samsung having the best contrast ratio(10,000:1 and 5,000:1 respectively). I might be looking at the Sanyo, but really want to get a 1080i (or 1080p) for the living room as it would be sharper. Good luck and let us know what you get.

Meghan, you are spoiled;) 71" TV?? WOW!!!! lol
 
When Plasmas were all the rage Sharp really seemed to put LCD on the map with the Aquos. If you are going to use Blu Ray I would think you would want the 1080p for sure. I have both a Plasma and LCD and I'm just partial to the Plasma. That being said the key to ANY TV looking it's best is correct calibration.

I have a MAG (the people that make computer monitors, not Magnavox) 37" LCD in the kids play room that I picked up at Staples on Black Friday for less than $500 and the picture quality is superb. But that is due to correct calibration with a Colorimeter hooked to a laptop. Calibration discs like AVIA are good but still leave a lot to be decerned by the human eye. The colorimeter takes the human element out of it. I would strongly recommend getting it calibrated by someone with a colorimeter if you can. You will be absolutely amazed at the difference it will make. All TVs will be calibrated differently according to room, light, etc. When I calibrate TVs for my friends they are amazed at how much better the TV looks when I'm done.

If I were closer to you I would come and calibrate it for you when you get it and maybe for a ride in the Vette I could be talked into it :D. However you could also pick up a good colorimeter system online. The one I use is Spyder TV. Like I said regardless of brand if you want the picture to look it's best it has to be calibrated correctly.
 
I was all intent on the Samsung 32inch unit, but read over a dozen horror stories on audio cutting out when using HDMI cords. Even Samsung offers a fix is needed in form of a flash drive and software upgrade. These puppies do look best in dark CC and BB showrooms.

I bought my father the 40 inch Sony Bravia last Xmas and gotta tell ya, from a Sony standpoint it just isnt the best looking on the block. Plenty of features and many inputs and such, but almost too much.

I settled on another Sharp Aquo's. It offered 1080p against the 720P from Samsung, and I got this puppy for under a grand shipped even though all sites want 1399.99 to 1500.00 for unit. It was rated extremely well by users and Cnet and I have a smaller 20inch in babies bedroom on wall and even normal pic is quite nice. I too was told that Sharp is currently tops in LCD from business, and does make some parts for others. Who really knows if they all arent Magnavox private labels like the original picture tubes of past.

thanks for help and I will keep you updated on thoughts once tv arrives, and dealing with internet sales and freight delivery.
 
killrwheels@autogeek said:
I settled on another Sharp Aquo's. It offered 1080p against the 720P from Samsung, and I got this puppy for under a grand shipped even though all sites want 1399.99 to 1500.00 for unit.
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the aquos TVs always stood out to me as a great value, they look awesome and are really competitively priced, especially when you look around the internet for a deal.

good choice and good luck with it.
What size did you get, I think 32-37 is a perfect bedroom size, depending on the size of the bedroom of course.
 
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