Getting a new TV...What do i look for?

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calvinnnnnnnnn

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Our biggo 48" sony that takes up an entire living finally broke!
My parents told me to look for a nice flat screen tv.
So, i know nothing about TVs.

Were looking for a 48"+ FLAT

Whats the difference between LCD and Plasma? which is better
When looking at the specs, what is GOOD and what is BAD? Like the HZ stuff lol
Idealy, what brand stands out?
I watched Star Trek Blue ray on a Samsung LCD and was blown away, i didnt know quality can be that good !!!!!

Heck, any recommendations?
 
LCD uses about half as much electricity as Plasma.

Best Buy replaced our 46" Samsung 60hz HDTV with a 240hz TV for no charge. (SWEET!) VERY nice. This TV is really fantastic no doubt. Very little to no blur unless the camera is zoomed in from far away on sports events AND there is lots of action. Huge improvement over 60hz.

However, look at an LED TV before you purchase. If you have the money on hand, you'll be impressed with it and leave both LCD and Plasma behind. LED is more than just one step up.
 
A 1080p TV from a reputable brand will serve for a long time. I am partial to Panasonic products but they are not alone in making quality products.

Just stay away from bottom of the barrel products and you will be fine.
 
Vzio seems like a loser brand given its track record with my mother today.

First one I hook up initially with Sesame Street(elmo) and my 2 yr ecstatic watching. Then the picture goes nuts with lines, a loud screech and crackle and blank picture. To boot my 2yr old berserk.

Back to target, get another works wonderfully so far but remote has trouble working unless close??

Is VZIO junk, or seriously bad luck? Or $450 too cheap for 1080i 32" TV?
 
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Just my personal preference but I prefer plasma to LCD although the new LED LCD panels are pretty slick.


have you browsed the forums at AVS? There is a wealth of information there on all the current models from real users. A great place to start for research.

Like others have said, stick to name brands....if you go LCD then Samsung and Sony would be my first stop. For Plasma look at Samsung or Panny, you can get a nice Sammie 58" plasma for well under $2,000. If you can find one, they were closing out the Pioneer plasma sets a while back, they are great, and at the close out prices were a steal IMO.

What is your budget?
 
Originally Posted By: rjundi
Vzio seems like a loser brand given its track record with my mother today.

First one I hook up initially with Sesame Street(elmo) and my 2 yr ecstatic watching. Then the picture goes nuts with lines, a loud screech and crackle and blank picture. To boot my 2yr old berserk.

Back to target, get another works wonderfully so far but remote has trouble working unless close??

Is VZIO junk, or seriously bad luck? Or $450 too cheap for 1080i 32" TV?


they are cheaply made,designed in california and built in china.
 
Panasonic, Samsung would be my first choice. get as large a tv as you can fit and afford. you will like the picture on any of the technologies: LED/LCD, traditional LCD, plasma. all the hype right now is on lcd/led. do not discount plasma simply because it is "old technology" - you may find some really good values with plasmas - and while I normally woulda agreed that plasmas use more power, my boss (director of video productions at our company) challenged that statement today - he sent me a podcast study showing that the power rating on a plasma assumes that its all lit up at full intensity, which they never are. I'm gonna have to get out my power meter to find out for sure. we run 500 video conferences a month - most of them high def. I have been working 6 months straight on high definition video conferencing research and also worked on two Cisco telepresence deployments. (think (3) 65" plasmas in a room. with design help from Disney) Yes, Cisco currently will only use plasmas because they provide the best picture.

the source and quality of your source will be more important. with the exception of Blu Ray; almost all broadcast content is 720p or lower. some cable providers downrate certain channels even more.

Vizio is junk and has a high failure rate.
 
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Originally Posted By: tomcat27
Panasonic, Samsung would be my first choice.


^^2nd! Those two definitely have the best picture.
 
Plasma has superior black levels. That makes for a richer, deeper looking image. They also don't suffer from view angle degradation the way LCD does. The power consumption issue? There is no power consumption issue. LCD's run at full power every second they are on. Plasma's run at variable power depending on what is being displayed. On balance one or the other will have little effect on your electric bill. Go for the best picture. I'd say motion is still better on Plasma as well.

If you can find a Pioneer on clearance somewhere they are without a doubt the best plasma made. If not just get a Panasonic. All the others vary from not quite as good to quite a bit worse.
 
Originally Posted By: rjundi
Vzio seems like a loser brand given its track record with my mother today.

First one I hook up initially with Sesame Street(elmo) and my 2 yr ecstatic watching. Then the picture goes nuts with lines, a loud screech and crackle and blank picture. To boot my 2yr old berserk.

Back to target, get another works wonderfully so far but remote has trouble working unless close??



Is VZIO junk, or seriously bad luck? Or $450 too cheap for 1080i 32" TV?


My Mom bought a VZIO and had the exact same issues...Back it went the same day.
 
Got a 46-inch Panasonic Plasma for Christmas. The picture quality is amazing. Clarity and color accuracy are outstanding. The reason plasma don't sell as well in stores is because of all the bright lights. Plasmas are designed for darker environments.
 
You are pretty much limited to an LCD or Plasma as they don't make CRT tubes anymore.

I know nothing about an LED television.

We have a cheapo Magnavox LCD with a 37" screen that has a wonderful picture...when I watch it as most of the time it puts me to sleep.

Good luck in your purchase as there are almost as many recommendations as there are televisions.
 
we have a 1 yr old 550-series Samsung 1080p 40" LCD and I am VERY happy with pic quality and features.
free over the air digital channels, DVD, and Blu Ray looks fantastic when set up well.
Very advanced pic quality adjustments that other brands only include in service menus for techs, Samsung just includes for the consumer - I love that fact.
 
great input.....i did a bit of researching on cnet and samsung tv's are now definitely top of my list along with LG.
 
Consumer Reports show that LCDs use much less power than Plasma.
You'll want 120 Hz or 240 Hz. 1080p of course.
LEDs are a step up, but hard to tell the difference picture wise.
In larger sets, IIRC, CR says Samsung, Sony, and Toshiba are the top three.
The cheaper brands are second and third string products-be careful.
Some el-cheap-O sets have quality brand names from yesteryear.
RCA, for example.
 
The LED TV todays are just LED back lit, not OLED. IT will make your image look nicer, but IMO not something worth paying that much for at 1.5-3k a pop.

I'd say get a 120Hz 1080p 52" since your original was probably not 16:9, and that makes the current 16:9 TV a bit smaller when the inches are the same.

Buy one of the better brand than Vizio, people say Plasma doesn't last as long as LCD and if you agree with that, stay with LCD, and get something from a reputable brand and it will be good.
 
Actually Panasonic is also really good, but they limit sizes to 42" max, I think.
Sony is way overpriced, and have more problems that any other major brand, but ppl buy it blindly because the name is big.
They use Samsung panels in higher end models, but it's Sony's processing that screws them up, and bad QC at times.

Samsung offers most bang for the buck, IMO; Toshiba is really good, but skimp on features.
 
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