HDTV owners - pls chime in

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JHZR2

JHZR2

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Hello,

Im looking at a larger screen modern hi-def TV.

Im not going with plasma, as it is not energy efficient, heavy, and Im not sure there is a bona fide benefit to the technology.

Im right now town between a 61" LED-based DLP (samsung 750 series) and a 46-52" 120Hz, 10-bit LCD tv, likely a samsung 650 series, or else a sony W, Z or XBR series tv.

I know a lot of the pros and cons with the different TVs, as Ive read a lot of reviews. Ive seen comments on glossy screens, matte screens, but most of the posts that you see generally are folks that either have bad issues for one reason or another, or else or else are filled with owners that LOVE the TV.

I dont think that I can necessarily go wrong with either, but Id like to know folks opinions on here... what did your research find? What did you go with?

THe LED DLP tv is cheaper overall, cheaper per inch of screen, and uses at least 40W less than a 52" LCD. Not a bad deal. Yet screen geometry and standard def quality issues seem to be a potential problem. Yet at the same time, I guess RPTVs have been around for a long while as std def TVs and have done well for a long time.

Any thoughts??? I watch OTA TV and have lots of DVDs, so I want the best qualities for legacy programs as well as future stuff (which I guess is less of an issue).

THanks,

JMH
 
Sounds like your budget is way different than mine.

I ended up with a 37 inch olivia LCD.

I couldn't be happier with it.

599 shipped from newegg, no tax and free shipping.

I think mine uses 130 watts.
 
I was in the market over the holidays last year. Ended up buying an Olevia 42" LCD as I got a great deal on it from Target. A good friend bought a Sony RPTV about the same time and went thru the same shopping process as I did.

RPTV was tops on my list but I bought LCD because my furniture could not support a larger than 42" TV. Plus, I believe RPTV is a (slowly) dying technology although I agree the Sony's and the Samsung's RPTV offerings are terrific.

I didn't care for the poor viewing angles of the RPTV models I saw and my TV room is very bright which I feel RPTV is at a disadvantage over LCD. Plasma would have been nice but the price point was out of my budget and the image advantages are mostly negated due to my viewing room situation.

So, for me the best overall deal was LCD. But if you want bang-for-the-buck in terms of size, its hard to beat RPTV. Deals are very good right now but selection is dwindling and will get worse in the coming years.
 
The GF's 32" Vizio in the love room from Costco is great. I'm sure it has just average specs but the pic quality is as good as the signal source. Nice thing about Costco is they double the warranty to 2 years for no charge. Nice place to buy a flat screen/
 
The GF's 32" Vizio in the love room from Costco is great. I'm sure it has just average specs but the pic quality is as good as the signal source. Nice thing about Costco is they double the warranty to 2 years for no charge. Nice place to buy a flat screen/
 
jhz, excellent choices for LCD TV's! My research found that the best picture quality was from the 'big four', SSPP, Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, Pioneer. In the end, we purchased a Samsung 65F 46" LCD. Fantastic picture with true-black, no red-brown bleed, and a 3 HDMI connections.

My suggestion is to go with the LED LCD. DLP is nice, but not as nice as LED LCD. The LED LCD is brighter and more vivid IMO.

DLP is for very large rooms but even then, ounce for ounce, the LCD is best.

As an aside, I watched Die Hard 3 in 1080p from a Marantz 1080p projector on a coworker's home theater room, the screen was 16' x 9'. Amazing room! But the sorta dull brightness reminded me of the DLP products as they don't possess the same brightness as the better LCD models from the big four.
 
I have a 42 inch Vizio Gallevia 1080p LCD and a Samsung 27 inch 720p CRT HDTV. I love the Vizio and would reccomend it to anyone.
 
Got a 32" LCD (Polaroid) 2-3 years ago and regret. It was the cheapest reasonable priced ($1.1k at the time) but horrible reliability. Now in the cold temperature it has to warm up for 10-15 mins before the screen will show up from the TV input. For a budget system, stay with a known brand (non-cheapo) that is retiring rather than a low cost new unit that is not yet proven in reliability.

Check out techbargains frequently for deals.
 
Originally Posted By: D189379
Don't DLP's have terrible viewing angles?

Not really. I mean, nobody is going to want to sit too far on the sides anyway because even if the viewing angles were that good, what kind of a watching experience would that be? Most of the time you don't sit at a more than 45 degree angle, and that's not a problem for a DLP.

The one thing about DLP/RPTV is that they aren't as bright as plasmas or LCDs. This means that if your room gets a lot of ambient light that you can't tame, it may be harder to see.
 
Originally Posted By: PandaBear
Got a 32" LCD (Polaroid) 2-3 years ago and regret. It was the cheapest reasonable priced ($1.1k at the time) but horrible reliability. Now in the cold temperature it has to warm up for 10-15 mins before the screen will show up from the TV input. For a budget system, stay with a known brand (non-cheapo) that is retiring rather than a low cost new unit that is not yet proven in reliability.

Check out techbargains frequently for deals.

i fix a ton of polaroid hd sets here.
quality control?what quality control!
lots of cheap caps,bad bga soldering under chips,fragile hdmi jacks,junk dvd decks,ect.
number one worst choice in a hdtv.ilo,visio not far behind.
the 2 olevia sets i have serviced strangely enough were damaged by cockroaches!
 
We have a 40" Samsung LCD. Verry happy with it. Contrast ratio's are getting better and the picture quality of the LCD's is approaching Plasma. Sony Bravia is good but expensive.
 
JMH, we have had a 56 inch Samsung DLP for about 3 years. It was the right choice for when we bought it because big screen LED set prices were high then.

If I were to buy now, I would get an LCD set. They have a brighter more vivid picture and the prices have dropped way down.

Whatever you buy, carefully consider your viewing area and how you use it. A glossy screen is no good if you have a lot of light sources (windows, lights, etc) in the viewing area, the reflections will drive you nuts.

If you like to watch it in a well lit room, a DLP is at a disadvantage, but not out of the question.
 
I got a $250 open box discount on the TV I wanted anyway, a Westinghouse 42" 1080 LCD, $950 almost a year ago. I do LOVE it.

I have the CR buying guide here. I'll just list the choices in order and if anyone wants specific info, just ask.

52"

Sony KDL-52XBR4
Sharp Aquos LC-52D64U
Samsung LN-5281F
Toshiba 52 LX177
LG
Sharp



46"

Sony KDL-46X BR5
Samsung LN----
Sony KDL-46W3000
Mitsu
Sony Bravia KDL-46S3000 (a best buy)

JVC
Olevia
Toshiba
Vizio
Westinghouse



My honest advice is to scale down and be happy with an under $2000 TV with $1200-$1500 being ideal, imo.
 
Our 52" Sony Plasma has been a real pleaseure since we got it.

It wasn't too heavy. Don't care if it uses a few watts. It didn't cause any issues with the generators the 4 days we were off the grid this spring.

Picture is great. You can see individual hairs in the bears of the pitchers and individual blades of grass on the field. The chicks are hotter in HDTV (or not, as the individual case decides).

Dust wasn't attracted to it. That was a big treat.

No problems in the year we've had it.
 
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