Buying a new TV -- HELP!!!

Ok, so here's the deal...the last time I bought a TV was at LEAST 10 years ago. In all honesty, I know nothing of HD, 1080i, 1080p, LCD, LED, plasma, etc. Not that I don't watch HDTV, just always my roommates had them, so I never needed one for myself...however I'm about to move to my own place, and I just won't live with a 10+ year old 27" heavy azz non-HD TV.

So, I'm looking for people to give me some quality recommendations for a good TV at a good price.

I'm looking for something that's right around $1000 (+/- maybe $200). Probably want something that's 46-50"...my current TV is 50" and it's plenty big enough.

Even if you don't give a specific model, a list of "must have features" might help as I shop around to find something that meets all the requirements in my price range.

I prefer LCD, and not going with 1080p is not worth the cost savings. Too many sources of media are using that resolution, so even if you are not using it now, you will.

If you are playing video games, go with LCD over plasma.

LED is nice, but costs more than LCD, and LCD has a more proven track record at this time, since it has been around longer.

I like Samsung, but if you stick to any major brand you shouldn't have a problem.

Don't get caught up with refresh rates, or huge contrast numbers. These things have more to do with marketing propaganda than actual noticeable quality issues.

My LCD is 60Hz, and it looks the same as a 120Hz to me. Now they are 240Hz.....whatever.

ihomebrewing pretty much nailed it...I will add though:

LED vs. LCD---LED is LCD, it has to do with a different source of the light. Typical LCD used a flurescent lamp for its light source, LED-LCD uses, well, it uses LEDs. Others can argue about the differences on picture quality, the biggest thing with LED-LCD is that they are much thinner than LCD TVs (since LED are much smaller).

Beat me to it. The other thing is that LED has a longer service life than the fluorescent tubes, not that they can't be replaced. The other benefit is a more even light pattern but it's not that big of a deal in the grand scheme.

I actually like Plasma UNLESS you have an extremely bright room to deal with. Refresh rates actually do matter because things tend to look like stop motion animation. Maybe it's a matter of personal sensitivity but the only way to know for sure is to go compare the floor samples. Refresh isn't even a question on plasma by the way.

If you do go LCD which are easier to find in 50+ inches, go with 1080p and 240hz refresh.

Hey, check out the new Panasonic TC-P50S30 50" plasma if you have a Netflix account and want to stream directly. It's right at your $1000 price point at Bestbuy. If you DON'T care about streaming/internet connections then you can save $10 and go Samsung PN50C550G1F.

REally good info so far so really the only thing to add is that you raelly should check BJ's. They don't have a huge selection but what they do have is priced very well. The last 4 or 5 TVs I have bough came from there.

What ever you get buy the longest extended warranty you can get..
from talking to my friend who sells tv's 60% of new tvs die within 3 to 4 years
not like my 18yr old magnavox

I am in line with Bobby...

First, LED vs. LCD is different. LED will use much less power, last longer, and provide a more even picture. Is that worth it to you? Go look at two comparable sets side-by-side.

I prefer plasma over both. It provides deeper blacks, no refresh issues, and sharper contrast. The advantage in LED/LCD (like stated above) is that gaming is easier/better to setup properly on those sets.

IMO, light sensitivity is a wash. All sets look like crap with light shining on them. Some people care about this stat, but I don't consider it. If I want to really watch something, draw the shades, else just accept the picture will be crap.

I want this set:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003924UBG/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

<NOTE> I do not have a tv. However, I am a bit of an audiophyle tv snob (part of the reason I don't have one yet). I have spent a lot of time reading reviews and going to check out sets.

Ugh. Guess I'll be the thread troll as there's so much wrong here IMO...

For gaming, plasma still beats any LCD tech hands down due to faster response and less action ghosting. In fact, most TV geeks *still* prefer plasma over LCD for ANY kind of viewing. Problem is, plasma is getting increasingly scarce, which means sets like the infamous Pioneer Kuro PDP-5080 demand even more $$$ used than they went for new.

Resolution is much less important than black level. The higher the black level, the better your TV will look. Period. This should be the 1st thing you look at when comparing TVs.

As for resolution, granted 1080p is pretty much the norm nowadays, but unless you're going bigger than 50" or sit 3 feet away from your set, you won't notice a bit of difference over a quality 720p/1080i system.

Don't forget to factor in the ambient light levels of the room. Plasma will always throw more light than LCD and works much better in bright rooms. It also has better viewing angles than LCD. That said, the Samsung LED backlit LCDs do a fair job and have decent viewing angles. When I could no longer get Pioneer plasmas, I switched to the Samsungs for our HD videoconferencing rooms and folks have generally been happy.

Finally, don't ignore 3D sets. Yes, 3D is a gimmick but even if you never use 3D, they typically have better specs than non-3D ones.

ok, I don't game. The only "HD" I really care about is for sports on TV, and my blu-ray player.

What I'm looking for is VALUE. Decent quality/price. Something that'll last a few years and still be watchable, but nothing that's "cutting edge" or goofy features. I don't care about crap like PiP or stuff, just something good watch.

Now that the audiophiles have chimed in about refresh rates, black levels, buy plasma, 3D, etc.,etc.(they always do)


Go and look at TV's at best buy...you see plenty of differences---you should see since you are literally comparing them side by side---that's the point: they set it up that way to accentuate the differences to up-sell you on a TV with "better numbers".

The thing is: how important are those numbers when you take TV home and that is the only thing you are looking at now? Its quite a difference perception-wise.

Sure, the experienced audiophile will see the differences. The average person? eh, Probably not so much. The OP is buying his first flat-screen....he is going to see a big difference in quality regardless of what he buys.

I tried following along with the latest/greatest in TV quality/audio components and finally came to the conclusion that it was alot of time/money to spend something with so little return. That is just me though...I have an unrefined palette for these sort of things :cross:...a TV is a TV...as long as the screen is big enough and it has the right connections...good enough for me....

broadbill said:

ihomebrewing pretty much nailed it...I will add though:

LED vs. LCD---LED is LCD, it has to do with a different source of the light. Typical LCD used a flurescent lamp for its light source, LED-LCD uses, well, it uses LEDs. Others can argue about the differences on picture quality, the biggest thing with LED-LCD is that they are much thinner than LCD TVs (since LED are much smaller).

Click to expand...

See, I thought that LED donated a display made up of RGB LEDs, and that LED-LCD denoted an LCD display using an LED light source. But this is the second time I've heard otherwise.

Assuming this looks great when I go and see it live:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Sony+-+...63279&id=1218169465735#tabbed-customerreviews

What does anyone think of this? 1080p, 120hz, 220 reviews have it as 4.6 out of 5...the highest rated Sony on the site.

FWIW...my roommate has a sony that I like, and a friend has one a year older (ours is going on 3 yrs now) and we all seem to like it.

wow there is a lot of good information and wrong information in this thread.
I do AV design for a living, i work with flat screen display's almost everyday.

First I want to explain 1080P vs 1080I vs 720P,
1080P is 1080 Horizontal lines of pixels that light up progressively, meaning all 1080 lines of pixels illuminate at once. 1080I is 1080 lines of pixels that are interlaced meaning you only see 720 lines at a time (they flicker at such a high rate your eye can't notice, tube televisions are the same) 720P is 720 lines of pixels that illuminate at the same time. So now that you understand that you can be more knowledgeable about what you want. Further more the only reason to go 1080P is if you have a blueray player or plan on getting one. The TV broadcast infrastructure will not support 1080P meaning it will be a long long long time before the broadcast TV will be 1080P. Netflix, amazon or other movie/tv streaming companies that stream in 1080P are a bit funny. You will get the 1080P resolution but you aren't getting all the frames. So if the movie is a 60FPS you are only probably viewing half of the frames.
So again ask yourself if you really need 1080P?

The refresh rate is also a very important factor, like Bobby M stated if it's not fast enough things look like a stop animation video. Also if it isn't fast enough live sports or fast actions will be distorted, and have artifacts, like a poorly compressed jpg. So refresh is important.

Contrast is only important in that a higher contrast is better. you have to remember that you have a board of lights that when turned on they light up. Even when they are showing the color black, so if your contrast is low, that black will appear as a gray.

As far as brands go, go to the store and look at them. See which one looks the best to "YOU" play with the settings, most stores pump the settings up to try and give you the best picture, i like to play with them to see how the picture looks when things aren't maxed out. Most of the actual LCD panels are made from the same companies and then sold to the manufacturers so they can put them in their displays. So chances are that same screen in a samsung is also in the lower quality brands like vizio. I for one like the picture quality of the vizio displays, but have heard bad things about there audio quality.

I personally own a 32" Sony LCD as well as a 42" Samsung LCD.

hope this helps, and feel free to ask anymore questions if you have them.

I bought this very TV this summer:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0036WT3TS/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I love it. 55 inches, no glare, the apps are awesome (there's a cheaper version without apps, but it's really convenient to pull up Netflix, Pandora, and MLB.TV without having to hook up a computer). Also, my xbox 360 and blu rays look awesome.

Here is my experience over the last few years. In Feb 2006 I bought a Samsung DLP and extended warranty. Two years later the bulb started to dim and the light engine was on it's last days. The warranty company said that the parts needed to repair were no longer made and would replace the TV for original cost. Score on my part! I replace with a 52" Samsung LCD in Feb 2009 (purchase warranty plan again since it paid off the first time). Two years later the TV starts to have problems weird scrambeled images and 4 horizontal lines. Call the warranty company they send someone out one week later they called to tell me that they no longer make the processing chip, the TV is now obsolete and they are going to replace with a comparable TV.

Just went Best Buy last night and picked out a 55" LG LED which was delieverd today and it looks great. I kind of wanted a plasma becuse the refresh rate is 600 hz versus 120 hz on the LED.

I bought Samsung becuse of the reputation, I switched to LG because I got feedback from the BB associates that the quality of Samsung had decreased over th last few years. I don't have reason to not believe but who knows. I hav also been told that TV's are now built to be replaced every few years. My grandmother bought me a 19" Magnavox in 1991 as a graduation present that still has a great picture and gets daily use in my bedroom.

47 inch LG on sale right now for $699. I've got two LG's, 32" & 37". Happy with both of them.

jezter6 said:

Assuming this looks great when I go and see it live:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Sony+-+...63279&id=1218169465735#tabbed-customerreviews

What does anyone think of this? 1080p, 120hz, 220 reviews have it as 4.6 out of 5...the highest rated Sony on the site.

FWIW...my roommate has a sony that I like, and a friend has one a year older (ours is going on 3 yrs now) and we all seem to like it.

Click to expand...

I hate Sony electronics (run far, far away from their BR players) but their TVs are solid, if not a tad over-priced. I know several that have 1080p Bravias and are very, very pleased. You could do far worse IMO...

I just bought a 1080p 120hz LG from Fry's and love it. It was on sale for $499 from $999. Don't get caught up in the hz either. anything above 60 for regular tv watching and movies looks funny to me. I turn mine down to 60 except when playing ps3 or watching sports. I have no idea why anyone would want 240hz.

I prefer plasma as well, for the reasons that others have given-- blacker blacks, better motion, better gaming (although my GF is the gamer, not me). I watch a lot of hockey and football with zero issues. I also agree that 1080p is far overblown, and for most people, a 720p TV is a better deal since most people won't be able to tell the difference. As far as plasmas go, Panasonic is still the best (well, now that Pioneer has gotten out of the game).

One more thing: MOST IMPORTANTLY, do NOT buy HDMI cables from Best Buy or anywhere like that. They rip you off for that nonsense.

monoprice.com is the place to go...

LED is LCD. LCD displays have two types of backlights, CCFL (fluorescent) and LED. The LCD tvs with the LED backlight are just referred to as LED tvs, but you can see that is a little misleading. They will use less power, and some of them can have plasma-like black levels due to a neat feature call local dimming. But, you will pay several hundreds of dollars extra for the LED feature because it is the latest craze (and not because if is much better than fluorescent backlighting).

Plasma screens typically have better black levels due to the basic technology. This has a great effect on the quality of the picture, especially if you like to watch movies in a dark room. Might not matter much to gamers. Plasma TVs used to have problems with pixel life and burn in, but those are a thing of the past. Regarding reliability, I think they are similar to LCD.

DLPs are not a very good choice. They are still a projection TV, which means it will be much more bulky (no wallmount) and will have a lesser picture. They are, however, the best 3D tvs out there (zero crosstalk between right/left channels). They also are a great choice if you decide to go bigger than 65".

My opinion: I like plasma. I have a couple of 42" LCDs, and a 59" Samsung Plasma (PN59D56500). Bobby gave you a very good suggestion, the PN50C550. The 550 series plasmas are the low cost versions with excellent pictures but minus a lot of the frippery on the higher end models. The "C" in that model number indicates it is a 2010 model, so if you can find it you will get a good deal. The 2011 models ( "D" ) just came out. One thing to note with that older model is that the 3D feature has changed from infrared to bluetooth delivery, so the older models are not compatible with the newer glasses.

About 3D: It's really, really cool. It is not the 3D stuff of yesteryear. There are not many 3D movies (on bluray) yet, but they are coming. There are numerous channels with a little content on cable. My TV has the 3D feature and I can't get enough of it.

Note that the tvs at Best Buy and similar store are typically all f'ed up, except the ones in their "Magnolia Room", which have probably been calibrated by their Geek Squad. So, don't worry too much about the pic on the screens outside that room. You should go look, but you'll see right away what I'm talking about.

I have a 32in and a 42 in LCD from LG. Picture looks great and the sound for my 42in is really good for tv speakers.

+1 on monoprice.com

Here's another vote for plasma - I was lucky enough to get one of the last Pioneer Kuro plasmas and I absolutely love it. It's hard to make a good comparison in the stores because they turn the LCD sets up to "torch" mode.

Also, a big +1 to monoprice for cables - they are cheap, cheap, cheap, and I mean that in a good way. I have monoprice cables in my system, and have had no problems with them.

I haven't read the whole thread, but if it hasn't been mentioned yet, the AVS forum is a good place to do research.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/

DeafSmith said:

Here's another vote for plasma - I was lucky enough to get one of the last Pioneer Kuro plasmas and I absolutely love it.

Click to expand...

I hear ya.

I had a MASSIVE panic attack when my Kuro lost picture after a brown-out. Audio was fine, menus were fine, but no input would deliver a picture. AVS forum guys saved my bacon when they suggested it was a crashed OS. An hour off AC to force a hard reset got me back in business. It will be a sad, sad day when the Kuro passes...

Here's a short article and awesome video on LCDs. I love taking stuff apart.

LED Backlit LCD TV

My new LG was delievered today. Great picture and I just posted a FB status from the TV. It's a pain the ass to try and post a message with a TV remote but was kind of cool to do so. It also had a lot of other apps available like Netflix, google maps, accuweather, napster and youtube just to name few. If I can get a hombrewtalk.com app and a beersmith app I will be set.

jkarp said:

I had a MASSIVE panic attack when my Kuro lost picture after a brown-out.

Click to expand...

DeafSmith said:

Here's another vote for plasma - I was lucky enough to get one of the last Pioneer Kuro plasmas and I absolutely love it.

Click to expand...

Ah, the holy grail. Kuro. Best black levels out of the box. Nice, guys.

My wife and I were in the same boat as you a while back. We decided to upgrade the 25" tube TV that we'd had for 10 years. I went on the websites like Best Buy, Wal-Mart etc. I read the customer reviews about the TVs in my price range. I do this for all sorts of stuff. But I figure that if 80 people have bought a particular TV and they all love it, then I probably will too. The first one I bought is a Philips 47" LCD. I bought it at Wal-Mart. We have had it for several years now and have been very pleased with it. Good picture and no issues at all. Last year, we bought a Vizio 37" LCD for our bedroom from Sams Club. It had good customer reviews as well and we have been very pleased with it as well. This year, we bought a Samsung 60" LED from Best Buy. It's freaking awesome. The picture is amazing, especially on a Blu-Ray. Don't let Best Buy try to sell you on their set up which costs $150 or something like that. All of my TVs have looked great out of the box. Piece of cake to set up. The picture on my LED TV is better than my LCDs. Maybe because it's big. I have no idea. It looks real good though.

I don't know anything about refresh rates or any of that crap they try to sell you on. I just read the reviews. If it has a ton of good ones, it's probably a good TV. It works for me all the time.

I don't trust customer reviews of TVs. Why? What percentage of Americans think Coors Light is the best beer you can buy? People have very different tastes and some just take what they can get.

Went through the same thing approximately a year ago. At that time I did a crapload of research and would like to think I had a handle on it at that time.

My opinion, is to first determine ideal screen size and resolution based on viewing distance from where you will be sitting: http://myhometheater.homestead.com/viewingdistancecalculator.html and http://carltonbale.com/1080p-does-matter

From there maybe see what options (LCD, LED or Plasma) that you have in the price range you mentioned.

I'd also recommend that if you're able to do it make plans not too far down the road to get at minimum a 5.1 receiver and speaker setup. Movies and even sporting events are much more enjoyable as most tv's built in speakers are mediocre at best.

For my me, plasma was the preference as I could get a 58" for far less than even a smaller LCD. I also have very good control over lighting in the room it went into. For plasma (at least a year ago) Panasonic and Samsung were the best options.

Must have features? Most tv's now will have all the features you need and you'll be able to add things down the road with a good receiver or blu-ray player instead. For example, I use blu-ray player to either stream video off my pc to the plasma tv or just copy the movie to USB thumbdrive and plug into blu-ray player. When new "must have" features come out, I'd rather buy them through a new (cheaper than tv) blu-ray player or receiver.

Good luck!

i have a samsung lcd i belive 55 inch ive had alot of problems with. ill not buy anouther samsung tv any time soon because of it. a buddy of mine has a mitsubishi he has never had a problem with