HDTV recommendations

[jersey_emt]

I'm going to be buying a new television soon, and wanted to know if anybody had any recommendations. The seating position is about 9 feet away, so I am looking for a 37" - 46" screen.

It must have 1080p capability. The absolute budget cap is $2,000, but I am looking / hoping to spend around $1,200 - $1,400. Space is not excessively limited, so I do not need an LCD or other 'flat' screen technology (although being able to hang the TV on the wall would of course be cool).

Any recommendations? Picture quality is of course the most important decision factor -- I would rather pay the same price (or maybe even more) for a 37" screen with a great picture over a 42" with lesser quality.

Thanks!

 

[mountjonas]

i love my samsung dlp. 1080p, 50" for 1600 2 years ago, so i don't think you'll have a problem staying in your budget. the new ones are even better from what I hear/read.

 

[slo03.5msp]

see if this works. http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8500936&type=product&id=1186004962867
sharp is the best when it comes to lcd.

 

[1sty]

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665401978

Keep a few things in mind about 1080P though.

1. Unless you are at 5 feet or closure, you will not see a difference between 1080 and 720.HOWEVER, this assumes that the 720p set converting a 1080p signal (and vice versa) have little to no artifacts.

2. There are only 3 sources that actually put out 1080p. Computers, Blueray players, and over the air antenna broadcasts (maybe). Sat and cable provided are not going to be doing 1080p for a long time to come. I beleive Fios is the closest to delivering true HD content, at least 720p uncompressed.

Another thing, projection TVs are being killed off completely. Within a few years they should be pretty much gone. LCD and plasma TVs are cheap enough now and easily best projection TVs quailty. Especialy for those not directly on axis of the screen.

As for plasma vs LCD, for a living room where 9/10 times you have lighting and/or windows to cast reflections...I go with LCD. Plasma reflects alot, even the low glare ones.

I have been doing alot of testing in the shop lately with many plasmas and LCDs. NEC and Sonys LCDs are the best PERIOD! Sharp and LG SUCK!
Panasonics plasmas (about the only maker left) are ok considering they are 10-30% cheap then the same size LCD. The picture quality with a various sources/formats is good but the reflection issue is one that is often a deal breaker.

 

[1sty]

see if this works. http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8500936&type=product&id=1186004962867
sharp is the best when it comes to lcd.

They are actually one of the worst(notcool)

Their projectors however are very nice

 

[mountjonas]

how about this one

samsung LN46A650 - 1749 shipped at amazon.

https://www.amazon.com (commissions earned)

 

[geomatics_tech]

Panasonic.

 

[KzA]

I've got a Sony Bravia 32 inch in my room, and my parents have one as well in their room. My best friend also has a 46 inch.

I love them. They are the absolute s***. Def go with an LCD, make sure you have 2-3 hdmi ports so that you can plug in any HD stuff you get in the future (a la PS3, blu-ray, tivo etc)

Most tvs you get now will have 1080p, and most people say 1080p doesnt matter until you get above 46 inch TVs. Just rememebr dude, HD tvs are growin fast as hell, so try to get something with the most options in your price range so your tv isnt outdated in 2 years. I bought my Bravia 3 or 4 years ago ,and compared to my parents recently purchased Bravia it can still hang. The new one has a few newer features obviously and some more ports, but my Bravia definately looks very nearly as good.

 

[knowledge007]

Wow, 1sty that is crazy. Sharp and Samsung are the leaders in my opinion when it comes to lcd's. They have more expericence with lcd technology. I have three Samys in my house 46, 32, and a 19 lcd and they are bar none have the best picture I have seen yet. All 1080p full hd capable. I would have to reccommend SAMSUNG and or SHARP. 46 would be a great buy especially for your distance in particular. Although the 42 and or 37 are not bad at all.


with all that said, you really want to be looking at CONTRAST RATIO... I would recommend anything above 15000:1 atleast. There is where you will be able to tell the difference in price range. But you can still get good deals out there...just have to look.

Good luck.

 

[shane02pro5]

Don't forget you'll need another $100 for cables and $100 wall mount kit if you go that route.

My next one will be Samsung preferably!

 

[hazeXban]

Rule # of 1 of fight Club:

Don't question 1sty on Audio Visuals

Also he didn't say Samsungs suck, and I would agree Sony and Samsung are the best in my opinion.

I love my 50'' Samsung DLP. It's 1080p and my PS3 looks amazing on it.

 

[jred321]

i did some research on this a little while ago and samsung and sony typically come out on top in comparisons. sharp is usually a good bang/buck option (i ended up with a sharp, looks good to me).

for that budget i'd look to get a 46" 120hz samsung set with the highest contrast ratio you can find and stay within budget. shop pricing a lot, there is a ton of variance, even from the same retailer, on a day to day basis. so the best advice is to be an active shopper.

for my tv i got cheap internet HDMI cables. like the $10 ones that are on special all the time. would the $100 cables provide better picture? probably. would i actually notice a difference on a regular basis? i doubt it. don't rule out at least trying the cheap cables. the worst thing that can happen is you pay a few bucks to ship them back. the best is that you save $100.

 

[jred321]

and i'd add the best places i found for reviews were amazon.com and the reviews on cnet.com, once you narrow down the model of course

 

[Gmac03]

I bought this Hitachi Plasma. Works great for me. Got it for 1300.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...tachi&lp=1&type=product&cp=1&id=1215818715742

Gmac

 

[hazeXban]

Also I was at a best buy in Rockaway, NJ over the weekend and they had 5 52'' Sony Bravia LCD's on sale for like 2000 dollars.

They were nasty!

 

[jred321]

how about this one

samsung LN46A650 - 1749 shipped at amazon.

https://www.amazon.com (commissions earned)

i was just checking that one out. probably your best bet for that price range. the 52" version (same except size) is a cnet editor's choice pick http://reviews.cnet.com/flat-panel-tvs/samsung-ln52a650/4505-6482_7-32887597.html?tag=txt

 

[Gmac03]

You actually got me interested in seeing how my TV faired against others...seems to be ok.

http://www.i4u.com/full-review-279.html
http://www.retrevo.com/s/Hitachi-P50S601-TVs-review-manual/id/3815bh248/t/1-2/
https://www.amazon.com (commissions earned)

And that power swivel base, you just can't beat that trick.

Gmac

 

[girth]

About all I can tell you is you can't shop by specs like contrast ratio -- best bet is to actually go and look at some sets. In reality they are all pretty darn good these days so it's hard to go wrong except for price.

 

[girth]

If a plasma would work in your room I'd go with this one - under 1600 for 50" 1080p Panasonic.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...rgains&cm_mmc=AFC-Bensbargains-_-NA-_-NA-_-NA

 

[1sty]

Rule # of 1 of fight Club:

Don't question 1sty on Audio Visuals

Truth

We are resellers of all of the brands we are talking about here.
Me and my staff test everything that comes in for a host of different abilities.
From those Test, for home AV, Sony is tops, though I dont really like anything less than the W line for my money.

Samsung is decent, they are a great option for us for hi-res computer displays and for pro level 1366x768.

NEC is MAJORLY overlooked set. They look great on everything from HDMI connections to PC connections. Also, they have the best scaler in them hands down. We use 7 different resolutions on the PC inputs to test and the NEC locks onto them the best, and the fastest.

Sharps scallers are the worst next to LG that I have tested. Sharp would only accept half of those signal and then require another fine adjustments to even get the image on the screen. When it comes to Sharp, go HDMI or dont bother. Analog wise, even there PRO series is a pain. I had some very large 65" Pros next to some other sets and the NEC and Sony were a much better picture.


In truth, Sharp is my last resort if a customer can not be reasoned with and just wants a large LCD for as cheap as they can get it. Spec to spec, size to size....Sony, NEC, and Samsung are more expensive than sharp for a reason and its because of what its connections are. Its a lack of internal processing power from our tests.

I have not tested most of the new panasonics but several of my friends in other companies have mentioned that they are not the image quality they used to be. The few I have seen have been decent for their price range.