Need a new TV, dammit...

[the_bird]

Our TV's dying. Something's messed up, and I don't want to put money into a huge, old beast. Good TV for us for a while (32" flat-screen Sony, but an eight-hundred pound CRT beast). We got our $200 out of it.

So, given that I know lots and lots and lots of you folks have already done this research... bless me with your findings and recommendations! I don't need a huge-ass TV; I can live perfectly happy with 32", although I could be convinced that I might actually enjoy watching hockey with a 37" screen. The living room ain't that big. I'd like to not spend more than $500. Don't see myself buying a BluRay player anytime soon.

I've seen a Samsung model that seems to get good reviews (and isn't too expensive, especially with free shipping). Thoughts?....

Second... what the hell am I supposed to do with a dying, eight hundred pound CRT television?

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Huge Assed Samsung Owner here.

Love the set. Worth every penny. All 270,000 of them.

 

[the_bird]

Any sense of quality of the Samsungs versus any of the other brands?

 

[springer]

I have the 37 inch RCA LCD High def . I love it I wanted to go larger but I had heard if you go to large and you have cable TV the picture quality is diminished because they compress the signal. And I wont go with Verizon TV I hate them with every fiber of my being............

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Any sense of quality of the Samsungs versus any of the other brands?

Meh. They are all "pink on the inside" so to speak. It really comes down to cost and which evils you want to deal with later. Bulbs, pixel death, noisy color wheels, etc....

 

[klyph]

Love my Samsung. Best bang for the buck IMO.

 

[mosquitocontrol]

If going for LCD I wouldn't buy anything other than a Samsung or Sony. There is a HUGE difference in picture quality in my opinion. I've had my Samsung for 3 years and it is great.

 

[springer]

Meh. They are all "pink on the inside" so to speak. It really comes down to cost and which evils you want to deal with later. Bulbs, pixel death, noisy color wheels, etc....

+1000 there is no such thing as proprietary parts anymore with electronics .

 

[Zul'jin]

We bought an LG a few months ago. 42", flat screen, LCD, 1080p and all that. Cost about $800 for the in store display unit. Totally satisfied so far.

Our old TV is an RCA crt. Had it for years. No problems.

The other even older TV is a Quasar crt with built in VCR. We don't use it much anymore. Still, no problems. The RCA does have better picture quality though.

We have 2 different model Samsung mp3 players. Each a few years old. No problems.

Our first DVD player was a Samsung. A pretty fancy one too. We had to bring the first one back because the discs would not change. The tray didn't rotate. The second one was a little flaky too. The tray got stuck sometimes.

Anyway, back to TVs. We searched and searched as we waited for flat screen prices to drop. In all the reviews we read, LG was number one. Samsung always placed in the top 3 with Sony or RCA. A few Panasonics looked good but, a few more negative reviews on them than the rest. Price wise, Samsung was usually the least expensive of same to same TVs.

 

[the_bird]

This one that I'm looking at is 720p, versus 1080i (or whatever). Not entirely sure what that means, or if it bears any relevance on a TV of this size. CNET's review (pretty good) indicated that this wouldn't be an issue. Anyone disagree?

(incidentally, WHAT THE HELL is 720p versus 1080i versus 1080p? )

 

[Tonedef131]

I recently got a 40" 1080p Toshiba for $548 at Best Buy, seemed like a good deal to me considering 2 years ago it would have been 3 times that.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

This one that I'm looking at is 720p, versus 1080i (or whatever). Not entirely sure what that means, or if it bears any relevance on a TV of this size. CNET's review (pretty good) indicated that this wouldn't be an issue. Anyone disagree?

(incidentally, WHAT THE HELL is 720p versus 1080i versus 1080p? )

quantifies the pixel count in a coulmn. p and i denotes the horizontal scanning method used to refresh the screen.

 

[klyph]

That number refers to the resolution.

The suffix refers to the way the picture scans. P is generally accepted as better than I.

 

[dataz722]

Do you have a BJs or Costco membership? I have always found them to have by far the best prices. Both of my HD tvs came from there. I just got a 32" sony LCD for $400 from BJ's.

This one that I'm looking at is 720p, versus 1080i (or whatever). Not entirely sure what that means, or if it bears any relevance on a TV of this size. CNET's review (pretty good) indicated that this wouldn't be an issue. Anyone disagree?

(incidentally, WHAT THE HELL is 720p versus 1080i versus 1080p? )

A 32" tv, unless you have your nose against it, you won't notice a difference between 720 and 1080.

 

[Bobby_M]

I agree with the others that say brand does matter. The same panels are used across many brands within the same type (720p, 60hz refresh, 5,000 CR) but there are a lot of different panels out there. It means nothing if your eyes can't see the difference, e.g. coors lite drinkers are happy consumers.

Samsung and Sony Bravia models @ 1080p, 120hz with the high contract ratios spank the hell out of the LG, Vizio, and other semi-off brands when you compare them side by side.

Whether or not you NEED 1080p depends on what kind of sources you have, what size panel you want, and how far you'll be viewing from. I think anything smaller than 37" from typical living room distances wouldn't benefit from 1080p (720p is fine). Once you have an HD TV, it's silly not to get an HD source like cable, satellite or Blu-ray which will all put out at least 720p source material.

One thing you can do is go for a smaller 720p TV now and keep that in mind for a bedroom TV if and when you want to upgrade the "family" TV.

The discussions about 720p vs. 1080i are probably more about what input signals the TV will support but it says nothing about what the native panel resolution is (in other words the screen is literally made up of a fixed number of dots, either 720 high, or 1080 high. Any signals that come in besides the native, needs to be rescaled)

 

[the_bird]

No Costco's or BJ's (hell, I *am* married) within an hours' drive, so no membership.

 

[Bopper]

Here's a guide for figuring out the best resolution based on TV size and distance sitting from the TV. Generally speaking, the smaller the TV the less resolution you need.

1080p is probably a waste of money if you don't get a blue ray since your picture will only be as good as your source signal. I don't see Comcast carrying 1080p anytime soon. Even if you did buy a blue ray, you need to sit very close to a 32in 1080p to see the resolution improvement over 720p.
http://carltonbale.com/1080p-does-matter

 

[dataz722]

1080p is probably a waste of money if you don't get a blue ray since your picture will only be as good as your source signal. I don't see Comcast carrying 1080p anytime soon.

Thats because comcast sucks. Both directv and verizon and putting out 1080p

 

[the_bird]

Found a 32" Sony at Amazon for the same price as the Samsung I linked earlier. Any insight as to one being better than the other?

Right now, I do have digitial cable through Time Warner, which includes a fairly significant number of HD channels, so I *will* get some direct benefit just by buying a better TV. Other than that, it'll be DVDs and the Wii.

 

[dataz722]

Another thing that most people overlook s the type and number of inputs that it has.

 

[Bobby_M]

I think it's somewhat warranted to overlook because even the cheapest LCDs have a minimum of 3-4 HDMI which is about all you'd need unless you're a game console junkie.

That Sony Bravia on Amazon is a decent unit for $399. I think Walmart has it too for the same deal.

Please don't spend more than $10 a piece for some 3' HDMI cables. Also, the LCDs have built in ATSC tuners so grab yourself an antenna and get some local over the air HD.

 

[dataz722]

For any sort of cables at all www.monoprice.com is by far the best I have ever found. They also have very cheap mounts for LCD's and plasmas. I just put in a $300+ order with them.

 

[Elshauno]

I have a 32" Toshiba 720p that's pretty nice. Heres a 37" version thats 1080p
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16889253227R

 

[Elshauno]

For any sort of cables at all www.monoprice.com is by far the best I have ever found. They also have very cheap mounts for LCD's and plasmas. I just put in a $300+ order with them.

Oh and dont buy into the expensive HDMI cable crap read up on this cnet article. As long as they work there is no difference between the cheapies and the high end cables. http://reviews.cnet.com/hdmi-guide/

 

[Reelale]

Vizio 1080P. You won't be sorry. I have an 1081 I that I bought long, long ago and it's still working just like it was when I bought it. Best buy for the money....check the reviews.

 

[mmb]

For any sort of cables at all www.monoprice.com is by far the best I have ever found. They also have very cheap mounts for LCD's and plasmas. I just put in a $300+ order with them.

I was hoping someone would pimp Monoprice. I've bought all my cables for my front projection setup and for the two 19" LCDs I bought for behind the bar as well as the mounts.

Great hardware and cables.

 

[Dr_Deathweed]

I recently picked up a 50" panasonic plasma 1080p for a REALLY decent price. I have really enjoyed it though it is much bigger than what I was orriginaly looking for. The price was right so I went with it.

I know there is the debate between LCD and plasma, and from what I understand the plasmas are better for movies/TV, and the LCD is much better for gaming. Besides, when plasmas are 1/2 the price and I personaly cannot see a difference in image quality...

I made my choice and am very happy with it.

 

[Blender]

I would get a 40" personally. You won't spend that much more and you will be set for awhile. There are not many 720P LCD 40" sets available unless you go with plasma. I think the key to buying a set is how do they handle standard definition signals. Most of our basic cable is SD and the Sharp TV we had did a real good job of displaying that signal. I beleive the consensus these days are that Samsung and Sony are the best displays.

 

[Bobby_M]

Well, the rub is that once you get to 40", I can't recommend 720p so you end up with a price bump on the size and on the res. Of course, just go to a store and stand 7 feet away or whatever your viewing distance is and compare a 720 and 1080 40" panel.

 

[thunder]

If going for LCD I wouldn't buy anything other than a Samsung or Sony. There is a HUGE difference in picture quality in my opinion. I've had my Samsung for 3 years and it is great.

I have looked at vizio and sony side by side sony has a little better picture
for the price i would go with vizio!