[leanmattie]

Has anyone done the research lately?<br><br>
My beautiful wife wants to buy a new flatscreen TV. We have two TVs in our house. One is an excellent 53" lovely that sits in our living room, but it is 8 years old. That means nothing to me, I NEVER watch TV except for when my alma mater plays basketball or football. But it is HUGE, and my beautiful wife wants to commandeer that space for a play area for our little one. Our other is in our bedroom and is 25 years old. Still a good picture, but again, I never watch.<br><br>
But my beautiful wife wants to replace them both with flatscreens, and I'm game but when I go look at what is out there, I'm totally overwhelmed. There seem to be a 1000 competing technologies, and all of them have a lot of different options in terms of inputs.<br><br>
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Since I never watch TV, I'm not even sure where to begin to do the research, and frankly, I don't care. I just want a good TV that will last me 10 years or so.<br><br>
Plasma versus LCD? Jeez, I don't even know the questions to ask. We are definitely looking toward the lower end of the market, about 40" for both, looking for any advice that anyone can give.<br><br><br>
With Respect,<br><br>
mattie

 

[OldBaldHippie]

<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325&tag=kickrunners-20&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FSamsung-LNT4071F-1080p-120Hz-HDTV%2Fdp%2FB000U9ZCQS%2Fref%3Dsr_1_25%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Delectronics%26qid%3D1205207248%26sr%3D1-25" target="_blank">http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-LNT407...207248&sr=1-25</a>

 

[jcumming]

Everyone has flatscreens...all my kids' friends want to come by our house and watch the convex screen...and if they are really cool I take them downstairs and turn on the black and white. They'll watch it for hours.

 

[duckgeek]

Save some money and get your cables (hdmi) and wall mounts from monoprice.com.<br><br>
Good luck! I'm supposed to know these things very well and I find analysis paralysis to be easy to get sucked into.<br><br>
720p/1080i will probably be mostly indestinguishable to you based upon your stated criteria and will be the most common tv sources for the time period you stated. 1080p is mostly beneficial for those wanting to hook up as a computer monitor or high end video game consoles. 120Hz makes fast action a bit smoother, reducing the film-like effect.<br><br>
Much of the hd experience is enriched by good surround sound. I'd rather have fantastic audio and a mediocre (by current standards) set than mediocre audio and a fantastic set.<br><br>
More info than you ever wanted here: <a href="http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=9" target="_blank">http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=9</a><br><br>
Good luck!

 

[duckgeek]

Oh yeah, Costco has a 90 day return policy (great for indecisive newbies) and often double mfg warranties to 2 years.

 

[antagonist]

All that stuff duckgeek said.<br><br>
And for more practical, go LCD, less heat-output, better viewing angles, price is negligible.<br><br>
You can find the VIZIO brand televisions at Costco and Sam's Club and if you're going to invest a good chunk of change in a t.v., I would go with the 50 inch VIZIO.<br><br>
I have a 40 inch Sony Bravia, supposedly one of the best on the market at the time, yeah, I paid for the name. My buddy has a 50 inch VIZIO and it is awesome, I wish I would have went that way. But I am totally in the LCD camp.

 

[antagonist]

HDMI cables and DVD upconvertor are a must as well!!!<br><br>
Wal-Mart has the HDMI cables, 8ft., Phillips brand for like 28.00 bucks, cheapest I've seen off the net.

 

[Hanging Jury]

We went with a Sony Bravia XBR4 1080p 46 inch wide screen LCD from Amazon. I just bought a Sony Blu-Ray DVD player and hdmi cables (they're being shipped here now).<br><br>
The TV is awesome.<br><br>
When I was researching I posted here and someone made a good point, when you have the TV home and in your house, the picture will be great. You won't be comparing two pictures side by side. Whatever you get, it's going to be a nice tv. I think going 1080p was the one criteria I tried to stick with from tv to tv.<br><br>
I'm an LCD fan as well.<br><br>
Plasma is prone to image burn and uses a lot (4X, I think) more power than typical LCD.<br><br>
Good luck!<br><br>
HJ

 

[hally]

They had a big off brand (might have been vizio not positive) at the nail salon where I go. Not long after it had a large patch of bad pixels. I'd go for a more mainstream brandname or a longer warranty.<br><br>
Samsung, Sharp, Panasonic. Sony is on my shitlist so as nice as they are I'd pass.

 

[cgraz]

LCD here too...we have a Sharp Aquos and we love it.<br><br>
There are a lot of good reviews on cnet.com if you want to compare brand-to-brand. The info is very easy to understand.

 

[tigger]

There's plenty of info on them on the net. Just do a google on plasma tv or LCD tv and sort through the weeds to find a few articles on comparisons and contrasts. I went LCD a couple of months ago. I rejected plasma because it was more expensive and draws more power. But it still has better picture for comparable size. I bought a small one that hangs in my garage for running on the TM and a 46 inch Bravia for my LR.<br><br>
JC, if your friends would like, I have a TV with a completely round screen that I picked up at an auction. It dates back to the early '50's, and your friends would never leave if they knew you had one.

 

["Roberto"]

HD DVD is out. Blu-Ray is in.<br><br>
HDMI Monster cables are overpriced. Go cheap, they do the same thing.<br><br>
Plasma gets burn in and runs hot. LCD DLP is better, but plasma is coming around.<br><br>
Wait another 5 years and you could get a LDP, Laser!!<br><br>
LCD DLP is Liquid Crystal Diodes run by a Digital Light Processing. IMO, DLP is the best thing on the market. I bought one a few years ago, and that TV to this day still has the best picture I've seen. My friends have the new big 1080i etc with all that jazz, and when it comes to fast action, ie basketball or whatever you watch, their new TVs don't cut it.<br><br>
Oh, and make sure you get the HD tuner in the TV, and expect to start paying more each month, or get the HD for free if your local stations offer it over the air with HD rabbit ears.

 

[tigger]

I should have added the following.<br><br>
Nowadays you are buying the centerpiece of a home entertainment system and not just a TV. You can use it for many activities including your computer screen. Be aware of the options available and make sure it will allow you to do additions in the future.

 

[Snooze]

Im gonna have to disagree with you on this one. I think you have it backwards.

 

[Lintu]

We are interested in one, too, so I'll be reading this thread for sure...<br><br>
And I just love how you always say your "beautiful wife," mattie. Warms my heart <img alt="smile.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/smile.gif"> Hope you guys and little Ruthie are well.

 

[Chupacabra]

We have a Sony in our LR, a sylvania with a built in DVD in the gym and a Vizio in the BR. The Vizio by far has the best picture.

 

[Arrojo]

Flatscreen? We put one of them on our back door when it warms up a bit. In the wintuh, we store it in the basement and put the storm winder there.

 

[purple hayes]

When I see the HDTVs on display at Wal-Mart and MicroCenter I always notice MPEG compression in the videos. Is that normal?

 

["Roberto"]

Couple of links to get you started on your research:<br><br><a href="http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/34579/122868.html" target="_blank">http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messa...79/122868.html</a><br><br><a href="http://www.avsforum.com/" target="_blank">http://www.avsforum.com/</a>

 

[wyrillco]

Dude! We bought ours there. Great deal.<br><br>
If you want to mount it on the wall, you want plasma (right?). We have rear projection, and while it's not super flat like you could hang on the wall, it's an awesome picture. We have a ginormous one in our living room (52", I think) and a 32" one in our room. We got the smaller one at Walmart. It's a name brand (I can't remember which one) and has a great pic.<br><br>
Discovery HD is the coolest thing ever. I'm hoping that since Earth day is coming up again, they'll start showing Planet Earth. That show is amazing in HD. You'll be mesmerized, Mattie.