T.V. recomendations

[tripp]

Any of you guys bought a big screen t.v. recently?

I am going to get one in the near future since I am re-doing a couple of rooms in my house. I want to move the 32" tube set that is in the living room right now and put it in my room that is going to be for my cigar stuff and car stuff.

I want a t.v. that my wife can play video games on and I can watch dvd movies on. The room is 18' x 18' I dont know if I am gonna have a 2000 budget or a 3000 budget. Any tips or resources for places to do research?

 

[cvm4]

My advice would be to not buy a TV because it's the prettiest or looks better. But buy one that has the better specs. The higher the resolution, the better the picture will be. Also a high contrast ratio is great too, i.e. 3000:1 or 4000:1, etc. This enables brighter whites, deeper blacks and every shade in between to be shown as more life-like. And if you want to go with HD, make sure the tuner is built in and not HD-ready (you have to buy the tuner for this). As far as TV's go, I really like the Samsung LCD's and Plasmas.

 

[caudio51]

I hear the sharp aquas are a good TV

 

[AZsteelman]

I love my JVC D-ILA...better picture than DLP, in my opinion...

 

[DocLogic77]

CVM thanks for that info. I am also looking and really don't know what I'm looking for.

 

[Headbanger]

You have to know things like how far away will you be from the set to give the best viewing distance. An 18' long room can hold the largest set anyone makes, but will look like shit if the couch sits 5' from it. So if your going to be 12' from the TV, make sure when looking for the new set you sit 12' from it. If it will be a video game TV and you watch football, ask the stores when you can bring YOUR video game and play some of your favorite games like when the store is slow on Monday night. Also watch that football game on that TV that 12' away. Try to match specifics of your home as to when your viewing the TV at the store. The stores will ALWAYS show you the best the TV can do. But it will only do what your home can put into it. So if you only have an antenna and picking up HD, ask them to do the same.

I have to disagree with Cliff on do not get the prettiest set to some degree. A lot of time the TV will be off. For me and the wife, we wanted something that looked good when off. We personally HATED the new Sony WEGA sets cause the outside where the speakers were looked like parentheses. Could be the best set in the world, but not if were distracted the whole time when it is on. We wanted a LCD Micro display (not the 4" flat type, this is LCD but rear projection) or DLP set. We ended up with a Hitachi 50" LCD mostly cause it was all black surrounding the TV screen (many plasmas are black all around too). Every time the wife looked at other TV's the silver surrounding it distracted he.

Also color contrast is mostly for plasma ratings. But how many lines per does it produce? 720p, 1080i, 1080p? Contrast does mean a lot, but not everything. 1080p suppose to be the latest and the greatest coming up. Most things to go with that set are still a long way away unless you invest heavily in the go with hardware.

Definitely start looking now and search for audio and visual sites. See what those have to offer as far as reviews.

Best advise, the more homework you do the happier you will be.

 

[DocLogic77]

headbanger your advice is very helpful

 

[Headbanger]

headbanger your advice is very helpful

Who said that? Let me write that down for the wife.

We spent too much time reviewing and looking before we made the purchase for sure. Now why I have not gone to HD broadcast and Directv yet is beyond me.

 

[DocLogic77]

Who said that? Let me write that down for the wife.

We spent too much time reviewing and looking before we made the purchase for sure. Now why I have not gone to HD broadcast and Directv yet is beyond me.

Tell the wife I think you gave great advice. It's painful for a woman to give a man a complement.

 

[N2Advnture]

Hey John,
We just picked this one up a few months ago for the master bedroom.
http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?dest=5&item=333226

$870 for 32" HDTV (LCD)
$ 80 3 yr extended warranty

More inputs than you would know what to do with and the picture/sound has been great, especially for the price.

A buddy at work (who is HUGE into his tvs) bought 2! I was going to pick up another one for the room off of the kitchen.

~Mark

 

[tedski]

OK, well I'm finally in the market for a big screen HDTV. Any updated opinions out there? Tripp ... what did you wind up getting?

My family room is 12 x 25 ... with most seating between 8 and 15 ft away. I've been looking at rear projection sets as they seem to be the best bang for the buck in the larger screen sizes. I really like the JVC ILA(LCOS) TVs ... in 56 and 61" sizes. I think the pic is significantly sharper than similiar DLP technology sets.

Anyone else get a big screen recently and want to share their experience?

 

[N2Advnture]

OK, well I'm finally in the market for a big screen HDTV. Any updated opinions out there? Tripp ... what did you wind up getting?

My family room is 12 x 25 ... with most seating between 8 and 15 ft away. I've been looking at rear projection sets as they seem to be the best bang for the buck in the larger screen sizes. I really like the JVC ILA(LCOS) TVs ... in 56 and 61" sizes. I think the pic is significantly sharper than similiar DLP technology sets.

Anyone else get a big screen recently and want to share their experience?

Hey Ted - there is a big difference between 8' and 15'. I highly recommend deciding on the seating arrangements first. The last thing you want to do is to get a TV that is TOO large. (Many people make that mistake).

For 8', I'd go with a 42-56" depending on the seating.

Check out the new Sony 61" LCOS at 15', it is AWESOME!

~M

 

[Wasch_24]

Wanna buy mine?

Shipping would be a bitch though. :rofl:

 

[tedski]

Wanna buy mine?
Shipping would be a bitch though. :rofl:

Why are you considering selling yours?


Mark ... due to the size / arrangement of my family room, there are actually two areas of seating, thus the 8' and 15' reference. Most of the time the closer seats will be used ... but when company is over then we'll have the other areas available.

And from what I've read on some of the HDTV forums, there is no such thing as TOO large. :hysterica

I'll check out Sony ... is that the SXRD series?

 

[N2Advnture]

LOL! The problem with getting a TV that is too large is that you can only view one portion of the screen at a time vs the entire screen. It's like sitting in the first row of a movie theater. It sucks.

Yeah, the 1080p Sony SXRD is sweet! They came out right after getting my DLP and my buddy got it. Unreal.

~M

 

[Jwrussell]

If you want a bargain-basement Plasma, check out the Sylvania 42" Plasma on sale right now at Amazon. It is NOT top of the line by any means, but it's less than $800!

Beyond that HB covers most of it. Color Contrast is supposed to be much more important than native resolution. Most HD stuff comes in right now at 720p, so don't get too hung up on 1080p. If you can afford it, go for it as it's the newest thing out, but you will pay for it.

With your price point, you should have no problem getting into a 50" Plasma or LCD at 720p and a 40" or so in 1080.

Check out CNET.com for some good reviews.

 

[Electric Sheep]

I think the Sony SXRD 1080p set is the best looking picture on the market today in the sub-$3000 price range.

Personally, we just bought our 2nd HDTV and this time we got a 720p DLP. Previously we had a 1080i set, and this 720 blows the doors off the older set. I have found that the 720p is sharper, crisper, and has a better temporal feel than the 1080i (but then again, I'm pretty sensitive to interlacing artifacts).

Oh, and these things have gotten cheap. The big-name 720p DLPs are under a grand nowadays!

 

[jcgoldner]

Hi E.S.

What are you watching that is in native 720p format? I am assuming you are talking HDTV. Most broadcasts are 1080i with FOX, ABC and ESPNHD being the only ones that I know of in native 720p format. If you are talking those channels I can agree there may be a difference but it would hardly be noticeable at all on the other channles on 2 perfectly calibrated TV's.

Let's talk about specs for a moment
1080p= 1920x1080 pixel resolution, progressive scan
1080i= 1920x1080 pixel resolution, non-progressive scan
720p=1280x720 pixel resolution, progressive scan

There are two main HD resolutions in use today by HD broadcasters,1080i and 720p, one is not necessarily better than the other. 1080i has more lines and pixels, but 720p is a progressive-scan format that should deliver a smoother image that stays sharper during motion. The broadcast has to be in 720p format in order for the TV to take advantage of the progressive scan.

The first thing everyone should do when setting up their new HDTV is to calibrate it. They are never correct from the factory. Read about it online. It's the best thing you can do for your TV viewing. This is the DVD is use.
http://www.videoessentials.com/DVD_NTSC.php
Also a good place to start is on any THX certified DVD movie. Follow the calibration menu.

 

[cvm4]

Nice information John. I think I've learned more about HD-TVs, which can't be a bad thing :halfgrinw

 

[caudio51]

Hi E.S.

What are you watching that is in native 720p format? I am assuming you are talking HDTV. Most broadcasts are 1080i with FOX, ABC and ESPNHD being the only ones that I know of in native 720p format. If you are talking those channels I can agree there may be a difference but it would hardly be noticeable at all on the other channles on 2 perfectly calibrated TV's.

Let's talk about specs for a moment
1080p= 1920x1080 pixel resolution, progressive scan
1080i= 1920x1080 pixel resolution, non-progressive scan
720p=1280x720 pixel resolution, progressive scan

There are two main HD resolutions in use today by HD broadcasters,1080i and 720p, one is not necessarily better than the other. 1080i has more lines and pixels, but 720p is a progressive-scan format that should deliver a smoother image that stays sharper during motion. The broadcast has to be in 720p format in order for the TV to take advantage of the progressive scan.

The first thing everyone should do when setting up their new HDTV is to calibrate it. They are never correct from the factory. Read about it online. It's the best thing you can do for your TV viewing. This is the DVD is use.
http://www.videoessentials.com/DVD_NTSC.php
Also a good place to start is on any THX certified DVD movie. Follow the calibration menu.

Good to know.

I hope to need to do a lot of research for a bad-ass TV in the near future