High Definition TV

[marcus aurellis]

A saleman told me that the Sony is a Sony in name only. Apparently, everything in a Sony is made by other companies. Did somebody say that Sony charges an outrageous price for some kind of cable?

For LCD the best would be Samsung, Sony and Sharp (In no particular order).

Pioneers and Panasonic rule the plasma world.

There are tons of lower end, second tier brands (Daytek, Vizio, Viewsonic, Insignia etc) that are half the price and offer a great picture. I own a no- name LEGEND plasma that has a Panasonic panel and looks and works great and paid less than $800 for it last year. Ive even seen a 50' Maxent brand plasma for $599 at Costco...Killer deal IMHO.

Pretty much depends on your budget, but there are alot of great deals out there and probably nore on Boxing Day!!

Marcus Aurellis

 

[Rockslinger]

Pretty much depends on your budget

Thanks buddy, when we completed our last project (and it might be the LAST project ever) they gave us a bunch of gift certificates (cannot be redeemed for cash) and a fancy watch (which I am trying to sell). So, I do have the budget in the form of gift certificates.

 

[danmand]

For LCD the best would be Samsung, Sony and Sharp (In no particular order).

Pioneers and Panasonic rule the plasma world.

There are tons of lower end, second tier brands (Daytek, Vizio, Viewsonic, Insignia etc) that are half the price and offer a great picture. I own a no- name LEGEND plasma that has a Panasonic panel and looks and works great and paid less than $800 for it last year. Ive even seen a 50' Maxent brand plasma for $599 at Costco...Killer deal IMHO.

Pretty much depends on your budget, but there are alot of great deals out there and probably nore on Boxing Day!!

Marcus Aurellis

What about Toshiba? Would they sell e second rate product?

 

[marcus aurellis]

All things considered:
Plasma vs LCD
1080p vs 720p
60 hz vs 120 hz refresh rate

And I could go on....

I would recommend a 50' Samsung or LG plasma, 720p model.

You could probably pick one up for under a Grand and maybe less later this week.

Sure there not top-of-the-line, but I guarantee you will be happy.

Oh, and dont fall into the Monster/Rocketfish cable scams...you can get no name HDMI, DVI, Component cables for next to nothing at discount stores.

Good Luck

Marcus Aurellis

 

[marcus aurellis]

What about Toshiba? Would they sell e second rate product?

Kind of in the middle along with LG and Hitachi.

But again, just my opinion.

And if you have crazy$$$$$, checkout out Runco and Bang & Olufsen plasmas...

Marcus Aurellis

 

[tboy]

I have a Soyo 32 inche HDTV . at first I thought I would get a sony or samsung, but I really love my soyo.

so basically with HDTV they are all prety much the same its about how much are you willing to spend.

Not even close to being true.

Each set has different characteristics. Kiro (Pioneer) as famous for having the blackest blacks, some have high contrast ratios, some have fast refresh rates (black to white to black in ms, the lower the better), you have some HD that can only produce 720, some produce up to 1080, some are interlaced (only refresh every second line per scan) some are progressive (every line is replaced per scan), some have multiple HDMI inputs, some only have one, some are brighter than others but don't have black blacks.

When I went looking I should could not get past being able to see the individual pixels in a 720 set. I found the 1080 sets to be much smoother.

Something else you have to consider when buying a flat panel display is the ghosting effect that you get with some LCDs. This is where you are watching a fast changing image like a hockey game and you see a great streak behind the players as the individual pixels go from dark to white.

There are numerous threads on this subject here at terb....I suggest you do a search and read up.

 

[pencilneckgeek2]

I would recommend a 50' Samsung or LG plasma, 720p model.

Marcus Aurellis

50' Holy fuck, how big is your house?

 

[Rockslinger]

ghosting effect that you get with some LCDs.

Would a 60hz cure ghosting?

 

[tboy]

50' Holy fuck, how big is your house?

with 50" you only need to be a minimum of 8' away......

Remember: the proper viewing range should be 170 degrees. Your field of view when staring at the exact middle of the screen should include the whole screen and you should just be able to see the left and right edges.

I love how people go out and buy large screens and then sit a mile away. Why not just buy a smaller screen and sit closer?

People often forget about the height of the screen too. Your eye level should be in the centre vertically of the screen. If it's mounted on the ceiling or ?? so you have to look UP at it? It's way too high.

 

[tboy]

Would a 60hz cure ghosting?

I'm not 100% up on ALL the tech but that is one spec that does have an effect on how quickly the image changes on the screen. I think it has more to do with the black to white to black time. Typical computer monitors are around 8 - 10 ms, GOOD ones are around 6, great gaming monitors are around 2 ms. TVs typically are around 8 - 10 and cheap TVs are around 20 ms. I even saw one....lucent? Maxent Prima or something that was like 34 ms.....

I know the new samsungs are supposed to be running at 120 hz. Now this is from the commercial so I haven't verified it at their website.

My best suggestion to anyone buying a flat panel tv is to go to the store, set them all to neutral via their menus, and look at them. Pick the best ones that you like, ignore the name, and see which ones you can afford.

Frankly the Kiros were supposed to be all hot shit but for double (almost triple) the price of others? Not worth it by a LONG shot.

 

[pencilneckgeek2]

with 50" you only need to be a minimum of 8' away.....

Thanks, tboy, but he suggested a 50 foot t.v, not a 50 inch.

 

[tboy]

Thanks, tboy, but he suggested a 50 foot t.v, not a 50 inch.

LOL sorry, I missed that....damn, I must be going blind or something...back in the day I would have picked up on that myself! lol....

 

[SeasonedOne]

Samsung

I spent endless hours researching this before I bought, and ended up with a Samsung LN40A650. Lovely TV, great picture, switchable between 60 and 120Hz (movies look wrong at the faster scan rate, but Discovery Channel looks awesome). As long as you choose a 1080 set from one of the top manufacturers (Samsung, Sony, Sharp), you'll likely be very happy. For me, the three deciding factors were;
* How good I thought the picture looked in the store.
* Contrast Ratio (important for movies)
* Brightness (I have tons of windows, so LCD looks better during the day)

 

[Rockslinger]

I spent endless hours researching this before I bought, and ended up with a Samsung LN40A650.

I think I'll go with the Samsung LN40A530 for around $800. How much is the Samsung LN40A650?

I got these gift certificates from my last project which can be redeemed only for stuff (not money) so I do have the means to pay. These darn gift certificates are NOT redeemable at SC's, LCBO, lottery tickets, etc.

 

[tboy]

The only thing I can see with the LN40A530 that might be a bit of a problem is the interlaced as opposed to progressive scan. This is where only half the lines are updated with every scan.

Progressive is where all the lines are updated with every scan......

But it is all up to what you the purchaser sees. Just make sure you set all the controls on all the tv's you're looking at to neutral before buying one. The salespeople change the settings to compensate for the set's shortcomings. ie: if a set doesn't have a high contrast ratio, they'll turn the contrast setting to max. If it isn't very bright, they'll set the brightness to max.

 

[Rockslinger]

Heard that the Samsung 40" model number LN40A530 is an excellent set.

Done deal! Purchased one brand new Samsung 40" HD TV Model number LN40A530.

 

[Mao Tse Tongue]

Done deal! Purchased one brand new Samsung 40" HD TV Model number LN40A530.

I have this TV and it blows the Sony away in side-by-side. The only irritating thing is that whenever you turn it off, it makes an annoying noise. Perhaps you can turn it off but otherwise it's a great set.

 

[Rockslinger]

I have this TV and it blows the Sony away in side-by-side. The only irritating thing is that whenever you turn it off, it makes an annoying noise.

Hey Mao, thanks for the confirm. Since I may be "between projects" for a while, I do not intend to turn off the TV (thanks for the heads up). I saw the Samsung and the Sony side by side in the store, it is like comparing Charlize Theron (Samsung) to Roseanne Barr (Sony). This is the second salesperson who told me the Sony is a bastard and not a pure breed like the Samsung.

 

[tboy]

not to be a day late and a dollar short but you should check out the best buy and futureshop boxing day deals.

The flyers are up at http://boxingday.redflagdeals.com/

just click on the store logos and their flyer will popup.....

 

[plyrs99]

i just purchased an LG 50 " plasma HDTV (50PG60), and i am very happy with it. i did what tboy has suggested, and viewed alot of sets side by side, for quite sometime.

i do have to say, if you have the money, the pioneer sets blow almost everything else away. otherwise, the LG's and samsungs for me, looked pretty damn impressive. sony actually looked okay, but does not justify their prices. always had my eye on the sharp aquo's series, but when it came down to the final decision, the wife and i chose the LG.

do take the time to do a visual comparison, and try to have all the settings the same, then compare.

good shopping to all.

Plyrs99

make sure to take the time to bargain for the best deals, as the buyer definitely has the power right now.