Recommendations on a new TV

[Tasty]

Got some money to play with, looking to buy a new tv and after recommendations if you have any.

Plasma/LCD?
720p/1080i/1080p?
52"/55"/larger (not going smaller than 50" although must admit I could live with something in the 40" range

Open to suggestions. GO! :D

edit: currently looking at the 52" xbr bravia

[Trammel]

How much do you want to spend and why?

Kuro and Laservue (it's new) are probably king poop right now if you want to pay a ton.

The 1080i/p thing is just marketing.

It depends what you want to do with it really, the only real 1080p stuff in any quantity is if you go blu-ray.

The "HD Channels are 720p"

[Tasty]

Hdtv isnt 1080?

as for price I'd rather not spend more than $5500

and for what: xbox/hdtv/movies/occasionally wow ;)

[valkry]

I'd go LCD over plasma, plasma tends to reduce really badly in quality after a while. If you leave it paused, the picture will leave an outline that stays there when you press play, which will get annoying. They reckon it only has a life of about 5 years, whereas LCD is much longer.

[pixelimp]

You can't go wrong with a Sony Bravia. Been drooling for one of those for a long time.

[Threeofme]

I used to work for Sony and it's probably the same no matter where you go, but I see no added value in a Bravia as opposed to a Samsung.

I have a 32" LCD (Samsung) and it's great, cant advise on a 50", but dont be fooled by the brand.

[Anjuna]

I have been in the Home Theater business for a majority of my life (family thing) and the best LCD TVs I have seen in years are made by Sharp. Long and short, we try to avoid selling Sony. We end up sending a lot of Sony TVs back for repair. I think I have seen one Sharp go back. Superior Panels and electronics. No offense to the former Sony employee, but I have been to quite a few of their conventions and have never been impressed with their quality of service and employees.

Looking @ my price list, you could get a sick 52" (LC52SE94U) with speakers & stand for $2799.00 or without the speaker and stand (LC52SE941U)for $2599.99. If you want to go 65" and push your budget a litle, then go with the LC65D54U $4999.99.

Don't buy some cheap ass brand. This is an investment and it's best to buy quality so you don't have to buy it twice.



Edit: If you're near the Washington DC area let me know and I will give you my contact info. I also quoted MSRP as of Oct 2008. You might be able to find them a little cheaper than that listed price.

EDIT2: Here are some links.

52" - http://www.sharpusa.com/products/ModelLanding/0,1058,1996,00.html

65" - http://www.sharpusa.com/products/ModelLanding/0,1058,1930,00.html

[Threeofme]

No offense to the former Sony employee, but I have been to quite a few of their conventions and have never been impressed with their quality of service and employees.


Non taken, this was actually my point,

hence the reason I dont work there anymore.

nice enough ppl, but the majority are incompetent, and yes I had loads of returns with Sony Bravia...LOADS!

[Anjuna]

Non taken, this was actually my point,

hence the reason I dont work there anymore.

LOL I see what you (really) posted now! That's what I get for reading the forums without coffee!

[pinotnoir]

Go plasma 1080p. If you go blue ray just buy a $399 PS3. The player is very high quality and you get a ps3 with it. Samsung is nice and affordable. Pioneer is high end and very nice.

[Tasty]

I have been in the Home Theater business for a majority of my life (family thing) and the best LCD TVs I have seen in years are made by Sharp. Long and short, we try to avoid selling Sony. We end up sending a lot of Sony TVs back for repair. I think I have seen one Sharp go back. Superior Panels and electronics. No offense to the former Sony employee, but I have been to quite a few of their conventions and have never been impressed with their quality of service and employees.

Looking @ my price list, you could get a sick 52" (LC52SE94U) with speakers & stand for $2799.00 or without the speaker and stand (LC52SE941U)for $2599.99. If you want to go 65" and push your budget a litle, then go with the LC65D54U $4999.99.

Don't buy some cheap ass brand. This is an investment and it's best to buy quality so you don't have to buy it twice.



Edit: If you're near the Washington DC area let me know and I will give you my contact info. I also quoted MSRP as of Oct 2008. You might be able to find them a little cheaper than that listed price.

EDIT2: Here are some links.

52" - http://www.sharpusa.com/products/ModelLanding/0,1058,1996,00.html

65" - http://www.sharpusa.com/products/ModelLanding/0,1058,1930,00.html

How interesting, might take a look at some sharp models. Live in aus btw :(

[valkry]

I have an Old Sharp TV, was bought when i was around 8...it still works fine today. Sharp is a great brand Tasty (maybe also because Sharp is also my last name lol).

btw, see if you can get one of those deals where you buy 1 tv and get a second tv for a lot cheaper...I'll take that one :thumbup:

[Tasty]

Samsung. 46" lcd. Couldn't justify the extra 2000-2500 to jump to 52" and in the end I'm glad cause I don't think a 52"would have fit the room too well lol. Also got a 5 year warranty so I'm happy :)

[Griznah]

LG 50PG6000 !! It might have another name in the US, if that's where you reside. Alot of bang for the buck! Some people compare it to the Pioneer Kuro at almost 3 times the price.
Oh, you already bought one :S Well, congrats!

[Anjuna]

Samsung. 46" lcd. Couldn't justify the extra 2000-2500 to jump to 52" and in the end I'm glad cause I don't think a 52"would have fit the room too well lol. Also got a 5 year warranty so I'm happy :)Glad you found something you like man. Enjoy!

[Hachoo]

Pure awesomeness for the money right now are DLP TVs. I currently have an RPLCD 60" HDTV from 2004 - was $4k back when I bought it, worth next to nothing now. You can get some good 65" DLPs with 1080p right now for < $2000

Anyway, MOST HD channels are 1080i, NOT 720p. Also, 1080p DOES look better than 1080i (mostly during quick movement) - usually available via HDDVD/Bluray, PS3, Xbox360, etc. You also want something that will last if things get updated so 1080p is the way to go, I'm sure cable will use that before long.

I'm personally against plasma as I've seen so many plasma tvs get really bad image burn really quickly. Flat panel LCDs are too expensive compared to DLP (and unless you're going to mount it on the wall why pay over twice as much for a smaller TV?).

Just my opinions after having an HDTV for the last 4 years.

[Tsunami]

there has been some good information giving here and some bad information.

1. sony and samsung are the same screens, only the cases and decoding hardware are different. both screens are manufactured in the same factory in taiwan. it's like comparing dell and HP, neither company make the individual parts they just assemble the pieces.

2. it has been my experience that sony and samsung both, I have 2 samsung lcd t.v.'s now, over saturate the picture to make them look better in the store. the pictures are way to hot ( i don't mean temp. but as a brightness measured on the kelvin scale) even with the brightness turned all the way down they are still too bright. if you are spending more than $2-3K spend $200-300 to have your picture professional tuned. meaning someone comes to your house with special equipment and tunes the picture quality, similar to the way your printer does a test print to align the print heads. any good home theater store should be able to do this.

3. for some reason all hdtv t.v.'s are made with a t.v. tuner, but you cannot watch cable t.v. without the cable companies tuner. this causes the picture to be processed twice, once by the cable box and again by the t.v. for this reason most HDTV look great when playing bluray but different when watch HDTV. for me samsung and sony both over process the picture causing the picture quality to go down or the letterbox to change from one brand to the next when watching the same picture from the same cable box. for me my vizio (read cheapo brand) does a better job decoding from the cable box than either of my samsungs.

4. the lighting conditions in the room and the distance viewing the t.v. are the most important factors when choosing between LCD, Plasma or DLP.
A) LCD is the best for bright rooms, but the quality of black displayed suffers in very dark rooms, so if the room is gonna mostly be dark go with a plasma.
B) plasma have now fixed most of the burn in problems that people still talk about. they do this by vibrating every pixel at a high frequency prevent or dramatically reducing the burn in effect.
C) DLP is a good mix of the two, LCD and Plasma, and currently the best value, but you cannot mount it on the wall and they take up for floor space. there are some technical issues about DLP and longevity that I am not sure have been resolved. but basically it is a higher quality projection t.v. than the standard 3 crt projectors sold years ago.
just remember, somehow that t.v. grows 20% sometime after leaving the store and you take it out of the box at your house.

5. LCD and plasma cannot display an interlaced picture because they do not light the screen the way a CRT or projection t.v. does. so they are all either 720p or 1080p. I think all DLP's are progressive now also.

6. no matter how great the t.v. is it can only be as good as the source signal. although there are more and more HDTV channels to choose from, regular digital cable is still only 480p. so unless you are only going to watch blu-ray dvd's, or HDTV....your new 1080p t.v. displaying a 480p picture will look like crap. I'm currently stuck watching a 1080p 40" sony bravia t.v. in 480p. looks great when i watch a dvd on my upconverter dvd player or play my xbox 360. but the t.v. cannot add signal detail that is not there.

also as a side note prices will be coming down a lot this xmas, so if you can hold out a little longer you can save yourself some money or upgrade to a better t.v. all in all most of what is in the store is all basically the same, spend your time and money wisely, better you make the right choice between L.C.D., plasma and DLP than worry between this model t.v. or that model t.v.