OT: Looking to buy a new TV..

[57stratdawg]

Thinking LED or LCD - but I'll listen to an argument made for plasma. I'd say a 500-1,000 price range. Anyone ever bought an open item box from Best Buy? Anyone know a good website with TV deals on it?

To make this sports related, I'll be watching MSU's limp dick offense and Renardo Sidney's fat *** on it frequently.

 

[57stratdawg]

Thinking LED or LCD - but I'll listen to an argument made for plasma. I'd say a 500-1,000 price range. Anyone ever bought an open item box from Best Buy? Anyone know a good website with TV deals on it?

To make this sports related, I'll be watching MSU's limp dick offense and Renardo Sidney's fat *** on it frequently.

 

[57stratdawg]

Thinking LED or LCD - but I'll listen to an argument made for plasma. I'd say a 500-1,000 price range. Anyone ever bought an open item box from Best Buy? Anyone know a good website with TV deals on it?

To make this sports related, I'll be watching MSU's limp dick offense and Renardo Sidney's fat *** on it frequently.

 

[Shmuley]

But it's going to run around $1,100. For the same money you can get a samsung 50"; however, I like the picture quality of the sharp.

 

[DirtyLopez]

and I believe you can get a larger plasma than you can led for the money as well.

 

[Guy From Gulfport]

Panasonic Plasmas finally carry a lot of the patented tech of the now dead Pioneer lines. Even the budget Panny Plasmas rule!

 

[gasdawg]

46" LED, i have been very satisfied with it. It cost me around 1,100 caught it on sale. The only thing that i can say bad about it so far is watching the state games on it this year.

 

[DudyDog]

http://archive.slickdeals.net/

<div>
</div><div>Click on Hot Deals or enter brand, etc. to search.</div><div>
</div><div>I caught a great deal on here several months back.</div>

 

[OneNationUnderDog]

Please don't buy Sony, unless you are buying for the name...

I agree with Dirty Lopez (which doesn't sound right if you say it out loud). IF you have a room that isn't flooded with light, then plasma is the way to go.. and NO ONE makes a better Plasma today than Panasonic.

Don't let the Best Buy hacks try and tell you which one to buy. Go and look at them, tweak the settings and let your eyes tell you which one is best.

As for open box, that is fine. I was able to upgrade 6" (again, doesn't sound right) by purchasing an open box item. It comes w/ same warranty... plus they are more negotiable.

 

[davatron]

Been very happy with this television.

 

[MedDawg]

I just bought a 73" Mitsubishi DLP rear projection set (WD-73740) for about $1,800 (non-internet ready model 73640 is only $1,500). It's not a flat panel, but it is less than 18" deep. 1080p, 3D, terrific picture. I love it. <div>
</div><div>There is65" version for about $1,000 and 82" and 92" versions, too. http://www.mitsubishi-tv.com/theater.html<div>
</div><div>You never regret getting as big a screen as you can afford. I would have bought the 82" set but I already had a finished 'cutout' in my wall that just fit the 73" set.</div></div>

 

[PBRME]

I never have liked the plasma. The picture has a weird look to it.

 

[Seinfeld]

I guess they've still got the market for those wanting huge screen size. Out of curiosity, have they done much to improve the viewing angles on those?

 

[Seinfeld]

well, until Sam's had a 47" LED with built in wireless internet for $700. I'm sure there's a newer model now because I got mine about a year ago, but for your stated price range, I give Vizio's LED tvs two thumbs up. It has a great picture, loads of inputs, and the built in wireless is great for Netflix, amazon movies, etc. Yeah, you can get to all of that through an Xbox or whatever, but it's nice not having to even deal with that.

My dad bought a 55" Panasonic plasma for about $1,200 9 months ago and it has been extremely impressive also. The screen did malfunction a few weeks ago and he had to get it fixed under warranty, but that's just going to happen every now and then. Plus, Panasonic provided him with a 42" plasma to use while his was getting fixed which I thought was pretty cool.

 

[Meridiantoo.outoftheloop]

LCD is the way to go. Plasma sets will eventually disappoint you. Get as many bells and whistles (Internet connection - WIFI - external jacks for input or output) as you can. Make certain you know how big a set you can fit into the room before you decide which one to consider. know how far your viewing distance is at home andlook at the sets from that distance when you shop. Know your light level at home and understand the sets perform differently under different lighting conditions.

Sams has good prices and lots of sets to view.They will happily take it back for the first couple of weeks. Best Buy has a restocking charge and won't refund the full purchase price. If you buy an out of box set there, understand they have already made the restocking charge which needs to be deducted from the sticker price before the set has been discounted any at all. Hook up is a snap and you don't need any geeksquad help they will try to sell you. Read the book and do the install yourself.

We have a 52 inch Sansung LED and like it very much. It runs fine off my computer, has Netflix, Pandora, internet TV and other things that are nice. Save enough money to buy a Blue Ray and wireless surround sound unit with the set. You won't be disappointed if you do.

LCD-HD flat screen is scary good. I'd buy a 120 inchone if I could. They have something new every 6 months, but I hope mine lasts 10 years. Consider getting a paid warranty, just in case. As a quality professional (what I do for a living for 35+years) I hate paying someone to guaratee the quality of what they make, but that is business these days.

edited - Oh sorry - be sure you know the vewing angles in your room and look at the set from those angles. Almost all of them look good from straight on.

edit again - I have been tod that x-box has the best blue ray on the market

 

[colodawg]

I have two Samsungs and a Vizio. Get a Samsung.

Also to note, if you ever plan to move, don't get a plasma. They don't move well. I had a friend who moved from GA to CO and had to trash his plasma and it was only one year old. It seemed crossing the mountains messed it up permanently.

 

[Duckmandawg]

Don't go LCD. If you are dead set against plasma go LED. Samsung probably makes the best one for the money. I have owned in my house or in my offices almost every brand imaginable of LCD, LED, and plasma and for home use the Panasonic plasma is my favorite. Now if your room as a lot of natural light that shines in on where the TV will be then you might not want a plasma go with LED.

 

[Dawgzilla]

I have a 7 year old Pioneer Plasma that is still churning along nicely. Allegedly should have lost some of its brightness by now, but I think the picture is still amazing.

Panny's are the best plasmas on the market now, but the story is their black levels will reduce drastically after 1500 to 2000 hours of viewing. No one else makes a plasma worth a ****.

Last year I wanted a larger screen and got a 55" LCD. It's nice and all, but the picture is not as good as my Plasma (which is now in the bedroom). Occasional pixillation, and it doesn't handle fast motion all that well. Golf balls and baseballs have ghost images following them across my screen - not so much with footballs.

Its just hard to get a great picture on a budget. You can do very well, but GREAT pictures are hard to come by. If only CRT's were still available.....

 

[NashvilleBulldawg]

and its pic is fantastic. My Toshiba LCD is a POS and I will never own another. I'll be looking to replace it soon so I'm glad you got this thread going.<div>Personally, I could care less about it lasting 6+yrs as technology will change so much that the point will be moot.</div><div>I'm guessing everyone on here isn't interested in 3D, huh? No mentions. I don't blame any of you either.</div>

 

[NashvilleBulldawg]

Just a thought. I trust them a lot and I don't believe there's any tax (BONUS!).

 

[olemissbydamn]

well, until Sam's had a 47" LED with built in wireless internet for $700. I'm sure there's a newer model now because I got mine about a year ago, but for your stated price range, I give Vizio's LED tvs two thumbs up. It has a great picture, loads of inputs, and the built in wireless is great for Netflix, amazon movies, etc. Yeah, you can get to all of that through an Xbox or whatever, but it's nice not having to even deal with that.

My dad bought a 55" Panasonic plasma for about $1,200 9 months ago and it has been extremely impressive also. The screen did malfunction a few weeks ago and he had to get it fixed under warranty, but that's just going to happen every now and then. Plus, Panasonic provided him with a 42" plasma to use while his was getting fixed which I thought was pretty cool.

Vizio's are disposable pieces of ****.

They cannot be repaired. The company buys parts and assembles them. Therefore they do not stock replacement parts. Buy one and find out for yourself.

I've got a LCD and a plasma. Both are Panasonic. Great tvs. Samsungs and Sonys are nice also.

Where the cheaper versions 17 you (Phillips, Vizio, Sanyo, etc) is on the warranty.

http://hdguru.com/vizio-d...hey-have-your-back/5596/

http://hdguru.com/disposa...-are-un-repairable/5485/

http://hdguru.com/your-ne...ble-flat-panel-hdtv/107/

 

[Sterling Archer.nafoom]

at least for me. I may have to buy a new tv because of it. It was bad in my last house, but now I have windows behind me where I sit, so even with the blinds shut they totally glare off the screen. And even lights at night. It has an awesome picture at night, but the glare is an issue. I think the glare is worse for some people than others (similar to other eye issues) but it is a problem. Right now my LCD is set up right next to it, and has almost zero glare problem.

That's the one biggest drawback of plasma. LEDs don't have near as bad of a problem. Now if you're room is pretty dark or no light coming from an angle towards the TV, yes, the plasma rules, and is cheaper.

 

[olemissbydamn]

viewed from an angle.

 

[boomboommsu]

i'm moving soon, and my plasma getting f'd up is my biggest worry.

 

[BadDawg.sixpack]

The first one I got was a Zenith 50" Plasma....Sears had a deal I couldn't refuse and the picture looked great. A few weeks ago, I bought a 51" Samsung Plasma with 3D. The 3D is amazing! Both sets show awesome pictures, I agree the Plasmas can show a glare, so you'll need controlled lighting, but if your into gaming and watching sports on TV, plasma is the way to go.

 

[Conman90]

XBOX doesn't have BluRay. Playstation3 has BluRay.


To the original poster

Plasma's have deeper blacks and better viewing angles, but suffer from glare issues in bright rooms. LCD's don't have any image retention/burn in issues, and are more suited to a bright room, but suffer from off angle viewing. All of the newer Plasmas's have almost zero burn-in and very little image retention issues (if you don't know the difference then do a little research). Plasma's deliver a better (smoother) picture in action (sports) images. Watch the football as it is thrown downfield on a plasma vs an LCD, you can see the difference.

LED's are the same technology as LCD's, don't be fooled by the name change. Panasonic and Samsung are the two primary players in plasma TV's, there are pro's and con's for each. Both have incorporated most of the Pioneer (who was the plasma king) technology into their newest sets.

I own two plasmas and one LCD. Love them all and each has it's own pro's and con's.

Research what you want in a TV, how much sunlight is in the room, biggest size for your room, viewing distance. Get what meets your needs and get the biggest you can for the money. No such thing as too much tv.

And lastly get it calibrated, whether you pay someone or do it yourself (if your into that kind of stuff). Read the AVS forums for info if you don't know about it. If you choose not to calibrate at least use Movie Mode or something besides the eye-searing mode most are displayed in at the store.

 

[Dawgzilla]

As I posted above, I have a 7 year old Pioneer. It used to be in my Den, which has two big skylights and plenty of windows. Never a problem viewing it. Sure, it looked better at night with the lights off, but it was fine in the daytime.

It is currently in my bedroom, on a wall opposite what is essentially a glass wall; floor to ceiling windows all the way across. Still not a single problem viewing it. Of course, I rarely watch it during the daytime in there, but we do sometimes have TV scheduling disputes that wind up with me banished to the bedroom TV.

 

[patdog]

For some people it's not a problem, and for them a plasma would be a good choice.

To respond to olemissbydamn, asfar as viewing an LCD TV from an angle, mine looks fine well past a 45 degree angle, and I wouldn't want to watch much of any TV much past about 45 degrees anyway. </p>

Bottom line is, it's all a personal preference as to what type of TV you get. All of them have some inherent limitations and none of them deliver as good of a picture as a CRT. But the size requirements for a CRT make it real hard to get bigger than about 27" (although my dad does have a 37" CRT HD TV - that thing is a monster).</p>

 

[Sterling Archer.nafoom]

like some people see more glare at night than others. Personally, I can see things others say they can't. Kind of weird.

 

[Sterling Archer.nafoom]

yes, there are angles I can see better on the plasma, but the TV looks goofy sitting that far to the side anyway, looks more like a trapezoid than a rectangle. And I agree, I think the glare thing differs from person to person. Love the plasma at night, but even then I have to be aware of what lamps are on to avoid the reflection.

 

[Dawgzilla]

The Pioneers were awesome. All others suck.

 

[eurotrash]

unless you have way too much light in the room, it shouldn't matter. Great for sports and movies and prior problems with plasmas have largely been eliminated. Beats my Sony LCD which was much more expensive. Got mine from Amazon--free two day delivery and set up in home. Not a gamer so can't help you there.

But, Pioneer plasmas are (were) the best TV's. But man they were expensive.

 

[Indndawg]

Got one in 05, nary a problem and always a grt picture..even 720 p looks better than many 1080i or p sets.

 

[57stratdawg]

Logo or image getting burned into a plasma?

Thanks for everyone's input.

 

[saltslugs]

slickdeals.net <div>
</div><div>Seems like a good deal to me.</div>

 

[fleabittenmonkey]

and I believe you can get a larger plasma than you can led for the money as well.

My panasonic plasma only 2 years old just went out requiring a 400 dollar repair. I know it happens to alot of tvs but I have a hard time pulling the trigger on another panasonic.

 

[bsquared24]

my advice is:

1. plasma doesn't hold a candle to LCD, the transitional movement on it is just funky and ruins the grandeur of HD (nothing is better than a snowy football game in HD)
2. measure your wall, distance from screen to where you sit 90% of the time and buy an appropriate screen for that, its pretty easy to stay in the brackets - http://www.amazon.com/gp/...e=UTF8&docId=1000021501, but be aware of them
3. for me personally paying extra to get the 120 Hz instead of the 60 Hz I would do 100 times again without thinking. I made the store move 2 46" sonys next to each other, one with 60, one with 120 and you can tell a difference during action (think football, very quick fighting scenes, saving private ryan). There is a hint of drag you can see with the 60 during HD fast action.
4. consider sound quality, if you like your surround sound and having to turn it on everytime then dont worry with a tv's sound. If you dont want that hastle don't buy a cheaper tv because sound is one of the first places they cut and it can sound "tinny"
5. Big Tv's fall into my basic money philosophy, your spending over $500, spend extra and get better quality, bells and whistles, basically don't cheap out when you are laying out that much cash anyway. Plus remember you'll be staring at this thing for the next 4 to 6 years, get quality

 

[OneNationUnderDog]

I think we're beating a dead horse honestly. The LCD v Plasma argument is similar to PC v Mac, it comes down to your individual eyes and what you are using it for.

As I mentioned earlier, I highly vote for the Panny Plasma. I have a 6 y/o Hitachi plasma that is nice, but my 2 y/o Panny Plasma blows it away.

Deep blacks, nice viewing angles and the ability to handle speed -- sports and high action movies -- are where the Plasmas excel.

IF you do go LCD, do whatever you can to get the highest HZ as possible.. DON'T get 120 HZ if you can afford 240.!

The difference in sports and action movies is dramatic. You'll need to processing power to avoid the ghosting effect (think Fox Sport's old "glowing hockey puck" that they tried five years ago).

 

[bsquared24]

I would also add I would not typically buy an open box item unless I knew how long it had been sitting there. I worked at circuit city for about a year and half in the late 90s and saw hundreds of kids come in and push any button, on/off, channels, remotes, for as long as they wanted. Parents dont care, they were just happy the kid wasn't yelling and running around. That being said if they put the item on display last week and I knew that, I might take the discount, make friends with the TV guy if you think you can trust him

 

[saltslugs]

I've owned both a Vizio LCD and a Samsung Plasma. Both were great. Do yourself a favor and wait for a good deal, though. You can save a couple-hundred bucks just by waiting.<div>
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