Plasma/LED/LCD BIG SCREENS..

[OtisBlkR1]

Originally Posted By: rjacket
Get a Mitsubishi DLP: 73 inches for less than $1k.

Since you want to use it for movies, you'll find it looks the most movie like (DLP is the same technology used in theaters).

Note that once you watch blu rays, you won't want to watch DVD's.

Then spend the money you saved on a nice stand, 3d glasses, content, popcorn and beer!

this wont work as im wallmounting the unit. 50% of the reason for walmounting is little greasy,penut-butter, goldfish cracker covered finerprints all over my current floor standing 2004 mitsu 50' IM OVER IT, tired of cleaning the tv every time i want to watch tv.. kids are great, gotta love them

 

[doitmyself]

It would be a shame to have such a nice television without a surround system. If you could find a TV for around a $1,000, you could still budget in a modest system like the well reviewed Energy Take 5 speakers with Denon receiver.

Surround sound is simply thrilling.

Regarding wall mounts, I recently bought one from MonoPrice and was astounded at the heavy, high quality build for a fraction of what Best Buy charges.

Have fun with your purchase! You only live once (maybe).

 

[Errtt]

My last buy is the Samsung 55" LED 240Hz & I'm happy with it.
All the others (2 spare rooms, master bedroom, sons room & garage) are all LCD's.
I got tired of crunching the numbers, so when I go to look at TV's, I try to distance myself from the TV the same distance I'll be using it at home, then watch, compare, watch, compare etc. The number crunching just got to me. I'd rather look and like/dislike the picture instead on looking at paper/laptop and crunch numbers.

 

[D189379]

I have both a plasma and a LCD.

The noticeable differences to me are: price (plasma being a lot cheaper), the LCD is brighter during the day making it easier to see when the suns out, and the huge amount of heat the plasma puts out.

I'm sure in a store being able to see 2 tv's side by side might seem like a world of difference to some people (Ie; black levels, refresh rates, etc, but I honestly don't even notice which of my own tv's looks better. (I can't tell by looking at a tv screen, which is plasma or lcd or led)

I have a slight preference towards LCD (since my home gets a lot of sunlight), but if I was buying another large tv (50" or bigger), I'd probably get a plasma just to save the $800-900 over a comparable LCD.

 

[RTexasF]

To me the advantages of plasma over LCD are many and the disadvantages are few. Plasma still has a superior picture, blacker blacks, and an extremely wide viewing angle. There is no lag or jitter in fast moving scenes/objects and the cost is rock bottom. For the price difference and the pluses it can use more electricity and put out heat all it wants.....I still come out ahead. It's "summer" where I live for most of the year. We have a 50" Plasma in the living room and a 42" in the bedroom. Uh, that's why you have air conditioning right? I don't stand next to the TV to watch it. Go with the Panasonic, I did and I'd buy another without a second thought.
There is a small LCD in the office and two old CRT's in bedrooms. The Panasonic just kicks butt and it's only 720p!

 

[nleksan]

Do not go by what a TV's picture looks like in the store, as all TV's have "store mode" that cranks up brightness/backlight/contrast/etc to insane levels and actually looks terrible at home.

I prefer local-dimming LED-LCD televisions, and my home theater has a 55" LG unit that is 10mo old, 1080p, and 120hz refresh rate. The artificial motion blur "enhancements", well, I do not like or use them. I have never noticed an issue with 120hz vs 240hz, as with the former the screen is refreshing 4x per frame (or more w 24fps TV and 3:2 pulldown). The ONLY advantage 240hz has is for 3D so that each eye gets 120hz instead of 60hz.
I really look forward to the OLED units but will not buy one for 2-3yrs after they are released, as I would want the tech to mature and, for $6-10k I would rather get a high end DLP 1440p projector and have a 160" screen... (biggest I can fit with basement ceiling height)

LG has been who I have bought my last 5 TV's from, all LCD/LED and over 7yrs with all still in use, not one dead pixel, bulb/lamp, or any other problem. I highly recommend them.

Also, look into, at the very least, a decent receiver and a 2.1/3.1 speaker setup. Denon, Onkyo, and Pioneer are the best receivers for the price, and I still use a Pioneer VSX-D509S (despite having 7.1ch, a 7.2ch, and 9/11.3ch receivers) as a backup as it puts out a measured 160W+ per channel, 50W more than it is rated at, and drives my Cerwin Vega VE-12's like a champ. My other receivers require me to setup my McIntosh amps to drive a full system. Btw, the CW's are used for stereo while I have Definitive Mythos II, JBL, and Martin Logan towers I typically use as fronts with surround sound as they are much easier to voice match.
A 5.1-7.1ch receiver pushing 110-150W/ch can be had for $300, with a set of decent front towers costing $250-500+ depending on what you want. I love the Cerwin Vegas bc they do not need a sub and sound loud but clean. You can get the same model for around $300/pair. Or, get a pair of Polk Monitor70 Series II (or 60) on sale for the same price, a CS2i center, and a 12" subwoofer and you will get excellent sound. You can always get nicer towers down the road and use those as surround side/rear, or get bookshelf speakers for surround. I use 6 towers (Fr L/R, Surr L/R, RrSurr L/R), 2 JBL Studio Monitor "bookshelf" (Front High), 2 KEF Omnidirectionals (Front Wide), a 6-driver center, and a mix of 10" and 12" subs. I simply cannot go back to tiny surround speakers, towers are a thousand times better, so long as you have a strong signal.

I would avoid plasma, I personally think the picture looks a little "washed out" even on top-of-the-line sets compared to good LCD although I am constantly around LCD displays (car, home theater, 2x24" work monitors, 2x24" I-IPS and 1x30" IPS home monitors, etc) so maybe I am just very used to the look...

Avoid 3D, not worth the money and is a gimmick. Spend the extra on a receiver and some good speakers. I promise you will be MUCH MUCH more satisfied.

 

[OtisBlkR1]

for all the above mentioned opinions, Thank you ! I will consider everthing said, i currently have a 7.1 reciever, 12' powered Sub, MTX, POLK, JVC,SONY are the brand names mixed into my surround.. its pretty scary when i crank the big knob

Im probably going to update to a smaller more compact surround system in the future as mine is pretty big.

 

[nleksan]

I can promise you that a "smaller" system will be a downgrade. Big speakers are going to perform better for the most part, although there are exceptions (JBL Studio Monitors, Klipsch WB-14, etc).
But if you want good sound, a wide range, and an excellent soundstage, you will spend tens of thousands to get the same effect that a $3k "big" speaker setup gives you. You can get Polk Monitor70 Series II towers for $200-300/pair on Newegg... Those will outperform $5000 Bose "speakers" in every situation.
I remember when I first experienced how bad Bose really was... At a friend's house, he had a $3.5k 5.1ch Bose system and it was powered by a 110W/ch Denon receiver... At maybe 50-60% volume (which was quiet but harsh) there was a pop... I pulled down the speaker, took the grill off....
The PAPER element had ripped in a full circle, destroying the speaker.

If you must have small speakers, look at KEF (their omni speakers are awesome), AudioEngine, or Klipsch. Stay away from Bose no matter what... Even their headphones are overpriced junk, and sound truly awful compared to Grado, Audio Technica, Beyerdynamic headphones that cost less, and at the same price those brands' headphones are exponentially better.

At least keep two front towers, you will be very upset if you don't.

I still recommend LG local-dimming LED LCD televisions, best picture for the price by far. Sharp actually looks worse with the yellow subpixel, Samsungs look good but over-saturated and have artificially boosted refresh rates, and Sony is extremely hit or miss (two sets of the same exact television can and do have very different picture quality).
LG also has decent customer service for a foreign company.

A bonus... The LG I currently have as my main TV has an extremely wide viewing angle, there is no distortion regardless of where you sit. I cannot say for certain, but I would bet they are using I-IPS panels...

 

[97tbird]

Because of great marketing, very few people are aware of how junky Bose and Monster products are...mostly because they haven't heard quality audio products which are much better priced that Bose.

All of the brands suggested in previous post ^^^ are miles better than Bose

I'd also stay away from Sharp and Sony .

Our Samsung LCD is great, but it's 4 yrs old now....I hope their current line up is as good as back then. Samsungs usually have very in depth pic adjustement/calibration functions more than any other brand, so it doesn't matter how it looks like out of the box - you can adjust and tweak it as much as you like, and i have mine adjusted to different settings for different sources, and several people who watched movies with us at home (using Panasonic Blu Ray), have commented how "film-like" and natural the picture looks.

 

[hemitom]

Onkyo receivers are extremely good for the price. My last one lasted twenty years, and this is no B.S the only time it was powered off was when the power went out. My yamaha comes nowhere near the onkyo.

 

[Klutch9]

Originally Posted By: david_ES2
Please note that the led tvs are only led backlit lcds. Cant wait to see some large OLED tvs roll out


This is false. The vast majority of LED LCD tv's are 'edge-lit'. Only a handful (usually the big ones) are 'full-array', or back lit. The OLED's are a whole different ballgame, since the OLED's act as both the panel and the light source. In a flourescent LCD or an LED LCD tv, you have the LCD panel, but also need a light source (LED or flourescent), too.

 

[2Fast4U]

I have a 42 inch panny plasma that I got 2 weeks ago. It has a great picture. The black levels are amazing. A little disappointed there are not more viera apps.
I have a 55 inch led/lcd rear lit/smart dimming 240 mhz as my main TV. I calibrated both tv's with a blue ray player and calibration disk. The picture on this tv is OMG eye popping amazing and the panny just cannot produce this picture. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying the plasma picture is bad it's just not amazing.

One down fall of the panny is the glare. The glass screen produces a lot of glare in a room with a lot of light. I do agree with everyone that the viewing angle of the plasma is much better then LCD.

 

[OtisBlkR1]

i realy like Samsung 55' 3D tv i was looking at this weekend.

 

[heathenbrewing]

Another opinion for your consideration...

If you want the best picture (especially w/ those BD), go plasma. The only consideration (as previously mentioned) is glare. Its not an issue for me since 95% of my viewing is at night, but because plasmas have glass screens, consider carefully where you place it.

 

[OtisBlkR1]

Update:

So my friend purchased a 60' Samsung plasma in 2010 and claims he's used it 2-3 hours a day for the first year, the second year less. and now he's liquidating his assets. He offered me the TV and a fairly nice stand for $500.00 ive seen this set and its very nice, and this is about half the price of a new samsung Plasma today.

SO

buy or NO ?

we are remodeling and if i buy this 2yr old set i can use the extra money elsewhere in our remodel, so im for it.. but i want opinions.

 

[2Fast4U]

You cannot compare it to new TV. What are current prices on craigslist or ebay for similar.

 

[OtisBlkR1]

thats a great question, i will look into it. I know prices have dropped big time but in 2010 msrp on this set was $2,600 and he got it on sale for $2,200 plus $299.99 for the stand. Im fairly certain that tv with stand for $500.00 and i wouldnt be getting hurt. but i will CR and price compair.

 

[nleksan]

Warranty would be my concern... Televisions fail, and I would not buy one used regardless... However, now is the time of year when places like Best Buy start turning over inventory, and I have, on numerous occasions, snagged a $2-3k unit for $1.1-1.3k brand new sealed in box...

 

[OtisBlkR1]

Samsung PN58B860

most reviews i read on this set are very good, there are complaints about abnormal buzzing, but my friend states his set does not have3 this affliction. Im going Saturday evening to check it out.

 

[D189379]

I would buy it.