TV experts, I need you!!!!

Mike T

Mike T

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I'm starting to shop around for a new living room TV for my wife and I. We currently have a huge 32in CRT looking thing. We're interested in a 42-47" flat screen, either LCD or plasma. Price range $650-800.

Researching these is making my head spin. There are so many TV's around. This is going to be primarily used for digital cable TV. HD isn't a huge factor to me. Also sound quality is important.

Anyone have a recommendations, feedback, advice? All appreciated.
Thanks :)
 
For your budget I would say Vizio. Their new LED line is actually a very nice line. Go to Vizio's website, don't just shop Walmart. If you can squeeze more out of your budget then go for Samsung LED.
 
I in no way am claiming to be an expert, but I have the Panasonic 42 inch Plasma and I have absolutely no complaints. Looks good in HD, especially in 1080i. I am not sure how much these tv's run right now, but when I bought mine it wasn't too much more than the high end of your range. If you do get a bigger HD tv, I recommend a HD cable that runs from your cable box to your tv. It makes a difference. Just my two cents for what its worth.
 
One thing I have encountered with flat screen tvs either plasma or lcd is that the speakers suck. I've got my plasmas hooked up to an Onkyo and Sony surround sound. Also the price is going to hinge on what kind of goodies you want like led,1080i, and refresh rate. Good luck. Also don't forget hdmi cables as well.
 
From my research, I rate them as follows.

Samsung A+
LG A+
Sharp Aquis A
Sony A
Panasonic A-
Phillips B+
Toshiba B
Visio B

As I watch them in stores the colors on the A+ sets pop more then the others. The New Samsung 3D in 1080 is awesome. If I were in your shoes I would shoot for that. Black friday deals had them as low as $1200 for 50" screen. After Xmas expect those deals to return.

That said, this is a lot of TV for the money and I rarely shop best buy as I get better prices everywhere else.
Best Buy - Computers, Video Games, TVs, Cameras, Appliances & More
 
I love my Samsung. I think you'll love the fact that the flat panel weighs at least a 1/3 of what your CRT does.
 
Scott DeBrun said:
Comsumer Reports.
Click to expand...

That is one of my guides. But when I dive deeper into reviews of the models they recommend, the reviews are hit or miss. Some people love them, some hate them.
 
Rhudeboye said:
As I watch them in stores the colors on the A+ sets pop more then the others.
Click to expand...

One of the biggest mistakes you can make as a consumer is to base your entire opinion on watching the screen/picture in the store. Most of the time the sets on display in the store aren't calibrated and adjusted properly, and the lighting conditions on the store shelf are nowhere near accurate to the conditions you'll have in the room where you mount and view the TV at home.

For the most part, you'll find that the actual screens themselves on many models are exactly the same, the only differences are the bezel/casing, onscreen user interface, and the number and type of inputs and outputs.

I would suggest buying based on the aesthetics of the particular TV, if it has all the inputs/etc. you need, and if you like the onscreen interface. Picture quality can often be tweaked/tuned/calibrated to your liking once you've got it mounted on the wall at home.
 
Ever consider a DLP TV? Generally they are less expensive and larger (but can't be hung on a wall), when the bulb burns out in a few years it's free with a good warranty (or just get a new one on Ebay cheap). I have 2 DLP Projectors and a 65" DLP TV, love 'em.

Don't bother with a 1280x720 max display resolution unit, IMHO.

If sound really is important to you, you can forget about the built in speakers on any unit you look at. Even if one TV has WAY better built-in speakers than another TV, it doesn't matter, a good surround sound system is the way to go... unless sound isn't really important.
 
I'm trying to consider everything. Its so hard to pick one.
 
I have a Sony XBR LCD but I was very impressed by the Samsung. You can pick up a nice surround sound setup reasonable priced especially at this time of the season.
 
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I purchased an LCD because I do lots of console gaming (no, I'm not just an Autogeek, I am a Gamergeek as well).


Read any reviews available. They can help you narrow down a decision for a TV. Good luck
 
I personally like Plasma (Panasonic or Samsung), but you need to consider what the room is like you are putting it in. If you have a bright room with large windows I would suggest LCD as the plasma will get more glare from them.


spend some time on a forum that deals with TV's and you'll get better answers. ;)


LCD vs Plasma who rules? - High Def Forum - Your High Definition Community & High Definition Resource


Flat Panel Buyers Guide For Noobs - High Def Forum - Your High Definition Community & High Definition Resource



FWIW I have two Toshiba DLP's (62HMX95 & 56HM66) and Panasonic 42" plasma (TH-42PX80U)

My 62" ;)
IMG_1356.jpg
 
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im loving my sony 1080p lcd .. the sound is great too .
 
Mike T said:
I'm trying to consider everything. Its so hard to pick one.
Click to expand...

Hey, a number of years ago there seemed to be a lot of difference between plasma and LCD, and between LCD's. I was in Best Buy last week looking at them all on the wall, and it's really hard to tell much difference between them any more.

They say that you don't want to use plasma in a room that has a lot of light coming in, so LCD would seem to be the more flexible choice. They say that you can't tell the difference between 720p and 1080p on anything smaller than 50" although it seems that most of the TV's 40" and up now are 1080. Many people say that the difference between 60Hz/120Hz/240Hz is something that you really only see when viewing tv's side-by-side or in the lab. LED's theoretically have some advantages (one of them being longer life, but I've heard of plenty of early LED failures in other applications), but that doesn't mean that every LED implementation is a good one.

One thing I would be cognizant of is that the cheaper TV's frequently only have one HDMI connection. At some point down the line you may want to connect several devices this way, it makes sense to me to get a TV that has 3 or 4 (this is perhaps comparable to when USB ports appeared on computers, and there were one or two and that was fine when your peripherals still connected by serial or parallel or PS2, but now that everything is USB, you want to have a lot of ports).

I can tell by the range of sizes you gave that you've already identified that a 40" TV has the same picture height as your 32" tube, and that you're considering one size up. I'd say go with a 46" if you can find a good deal.

You're probably in-between the times for a best deal. Crutchfield is an online store that has a lot of good tech info, they usually don't have the best deal but they have free shipping and no tax if you're out of state, which may make a difference. Actually, last week they seemed to have pretty good deals, looks like they still have a few going on the LG's.
 
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