New flatscreen TV

[Carlman]

I'm going to get a new flatscreen, about 46" size... I have to get it at Best Buy because I have big credit there... I took a look and the Plasma's all look pretty good and the LCD's aren't bad either...
Do the Plasma's still hum and use a lot of power?  Is there any real pro or con to going one way or the other?  Any special TV I should look at?
-C

[rosconey]

just bought a cheap 32 for my bedroom at wally world-posted in the digital area because i am to stupid to look around for the right spot-lol
the digital hd picture is very good,regular tv isnt -

saw some vizio tv's that had a nice picture-looked at some 47-50 inchers myself,want one by football season-
visio has a 1080p 47 lcd that was very impressive

[Carlman]

Thanks, Rosco... But I need details... I know there's an age-old debate about LCD's blacks not being black enough and Plasma's being crazy on noise and power... but better pictures... And I had a hard time differentiating anything at the store.

The TV will be used with a cable box... HD and digital channels... And at this point, it's 90%+ regular TV still... In July of 2007... So, even though HD TV's are about all you can buy, you can only get 10 channels in it.... and of those only about 4 or 5 actually use HD cameras and production... Sorry to be so cynical but it has to be said.

So, the flatscreen needs to:
Look good on regular tv.. (is burn-in worse on LCD or Plasma?)
Be purchased at Best Buy
Be 45-50 inches
Be quiet
Use 'normal' amounts of power (not more than a regular RPTV or CRT)

At this point, I don't care about price... I'll work backwards on that if I have to.

Thanks,
Carl

[rosconey]

not sure you will find a good looking regular tv  other than a crt- my 32" widescreen panny tube has a super standard picture,but i have yet to see any flat screens that do it well,seen some nice ones the last few years and the only large screen that did a good standard picture was dlp projection tv's-

i dont think burn in is a issue anymore on plasma-they all say something about no burn in on the box's-
as for power,i have noticed that plasma use a little more than lcd while searching for my big one- i have no clue how it compares to my panny because it doesnt state power consumption like the stats with newer tv's-

didnt hear any extra noise while looking at the plasma's at sams club,you stand right next to them-

fox baseball last weekend was great on my new lcd-fox does hd right as does espn-cbs blows in my area

[bpape]

The newer LCD's are putting up a good fight.  Look at the Panasonics and the Sharp Aquos series.  Surprisingly good black levels and some of them are even native 1080p sets.  Stay away from the LG's.  The pic is good for a while but the design pushes the components to their limit so long term reliability is in question.

Bryan

[stereofool]

Carl,

I'm in the hunt, too. I've been putting this off for about 8 yrs  .

Recently, I've been looking at several in Wal-Mart...while I'm wondering around. The best pictures I've seen since they have received their 1080P's, are a couple of Philips...one LCD (1080P) and one plasma (720P).  I don't hear any humming from them, but they are up high, and in a somewhat noisy environment. I'm not sure about regular TV performance, but I don't think most HDTV's do all that great.

Here are links for each one...I'm sure BB has something very similar or a model or two up.

http://www.consumer.philips.com/consumer/catalog/tree/en/us/consumer/tv_gr_us_consumer/consumer__rs_screen_size__r_large/ce/_productId_50PFP5332D_37_US_CONSUMER/widescreen_flat_TV+50PFP5332D_37?proxybuster=UP0Q1CBBXBC3TJ0RMRESHP3HKFSEKI5P

http://www.consumer.philips.com/consumer/catalog/tree/en/us/consumer/tv_gr_us_consumer/consumer__rs_screen_size__r_large/ce/_productId_47PFL5432D_37_US_CONSUMER/digital_widescreen_flat_TV+47PFL5432D_37?proxybuster=UP0Q1CBBXBC3TJ0RMRESHP3HKFSEKI5P

Also, check on avsforum.com...where you can find a LOT of feedback concerning most models of all forms.

[Phil]

The avsforum site is great but has so much information.  As a newbie to video stuff, I found the discussion about how to choose the resolution based upon viewing distance to be, well, eye opening. 
In short:

- On a 27" HDTV, 1080i/p - 3.5ft away. 720p - 5.29ft away
-On a 32" HDTV, 1080i/p - 4.1ft away. 720p- 6.27ft away
-On a 37" HDTV, 1080i/p - 4.83ft away. 720p - 7.25ft away
-On a 42" HDTV, 1080i/p - 5.49ft away. 720p - 8.23ft away
-On a 50" HDTV 1080i/p - 6.53ft away. 720p - 9.8ft away.


For power consumption, see:  http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6475_7-6400401-3.html?tag=arw
The cnet site also has excellent reviews, both from professionals and owners. 

I was excited by all this stuff until I read more about how standard TV looks on most HDTV -- that is, maybe not as good as what I already have.  Once there is more content, I'm going to look at this video stuff again. 

All the flat panels are sexy though, especially compared to CRTs. 

Happy viewing,

Phil

[hometheaterdoc]

The seating distance to screen size thing is all personal preference.  While I prefer to point folks in the range of 30 degrees of viewing angle to allow your eyes to relax, it really just depends on what you like. 

I'm sitting 3.5 feet away from the 42 inch Westinghouse 1080P LCD right now.  It's my office monitor   Decent as a computer monitor, completely blows for video.  Thus the reason it's sitting here on the office desk instead of in a demo room.....

Carl,

Given that you have to buy it at Best Buy, look at the LGs and the new Toshibas that just started shipping this week.  The Toshiba Cinema Series 46 incher with 120Hz refresh should be pretty decent.  They likely should show up in Best Buy in the next couple weeks.  They had some issue with the color setting with the 42 incher... but hopefully the 46 incher will be much better.  The LGs have gotten considerably better in the past couple years.  I believe they still have a 2 year warranty where most only have 90 days or 1 year.  Again, if there really is a long term reliability issue, get the Best Buy extended warranty with part of that big credit....  that's likely wise regardless.  I normally would never buy the extended warranty from Best Buy as it's just wasted money on a lot of things.  But flat panel reliability in general is not where it needs to be compared to standard CRT tubes.... and when something does go, it's usually throw it out and get another given the cost of repair....  Given my past experience, stay as far away from Samsung as you can.... what a nightmare....

plasma still uses a touch more power than LCD when comparing same screen sizes, especially if you cut the LCD backlight off (recommended for better picture in almost every instance).  LCDs generally stand up to glare better than the plasma glass.  Most LCDs out now have a fast enough refresh that the ghosting and traily issues are mostly gone.  Plasma still has better contrast ratio and black detail..... and that's almost universal in my experience...

[bpape]

I'd absolutely, positively get a 1080 display no matter the seating distance.  Just being able to feed the display it's native resolution vs having to take a 1080 signal and downscale it to 720p will absolutely, positively, every time incur scaling artifacts.

Bryan

[LKdog]

Ok, I am a bit of a dumbass regarding TV's these days.

What is considered best format to get?

Plasma
LCD
Projection

If buying now, what is best value and smartest purchase?

Is 720p display a bad purchase?
Is 1080 highly preferred?

I have regular cable TV right now and there is a digital option one can upgrade to.
I am not sure what that really means (Mediacom).

[bpape]

IMO 1080 is highly preferred.  Almost all of the broadcast channel is 1080.  The HD DVD and Blu Ray are 1080. 

Bryan

[LKdog]

Bryan-

I am out of the loop as to what the broadcast standards are, how prevalent HD is in reality, and what I am looking at in a store. 

You can't tell from the demo sets in a store as they are running some internal high def signal to all the screens. They all look pretty good.

Since I bought my last TV 13 years ago-then I should buy at least with the curve.

So 1080/HD.

Any significant difference in picture quality/reliability between LCD/Plasma/Projection?

Obviously LCD and Plasmas are more compact.

Thanks.

-Tony

[bpape]

Exactly.  Projection is bigger but potentially the best color and deepest blacks.  Plasma and LCD are getting better - LCD is generally cheaper.  A decent LCD 1080p would be a reasonable priced investment IMO.  I'm donating my 55" Mits Diamond and buying a 55" LCD 1080p set later this summer.

Bryan

[Carlman]

A good RPTV will give a MUCH better picture at the same price per size generally.  A 46" Sony is 1500 bucks... to get something with the same quality at that size you'll need to spend close to twice as much.
If you need to place your TV in a corner of a room, an rptv makes a lot of sense... that's how I ended up with one.  However, along a wall, it does take a lot of room-real-estate... and the added cost of the flat screen is worth it for the floorspace you get back.... however, if you have to have a cabinet for all the gear under the TV anyway... and you have speakers on stands or towers.... how much are you really saving?

The flatscreen thing is interesting.... doesn't really save as much room as I would've thought.  It takes planning to really make the most of it... in-wall speakers (thanks again, Shane) and all wiring is behind the walls... but I'll still need to put the gear in a small cabinet... should be fairly neat.

Thanks for the advice on the flatscreen... we'll see how it goes next time I get to bb...

-C

[richidoo]

however, if you have to have a cabinet for all the gear under the TV anyway... and you have speakers on stands or towers.... how much are you really saving?

That's why those flat screen magazine ads never show speakers, cabinets, clutter or anything with them. It's like a 1980s architecture journal. They are trying to idealize the compactness when it isn't practical without customizing the home with built in speakers and remote electronics.