Flat screen TVs

[ScotO]

Again . . . when I was looking it was several years back so things could have changed . . . but the Sharp Aquos line up did quite well with both professional and consumer reviews . . . if I had gone with a LCD TV it would have been the Sharp Aquos line up.

We really like the picture on them. Our local Best Buy has the 70", 80", and 90" all on display to get a really good feel as to the quality, and I like them! Kinda funny though, the salesman told us to shy away from the 90" for some reason....

The $9999.00 price tag already had me convinced NOT to buy that one!!

 

[jharkin]

I would spend time reading reviews at sites like CNET and on amazon, etc before buying. For big purchases like that i m leery of just picking up whatever is on black Friday sale... It might be a slow selling model they are trying to offload.

 

[Highbeam]

Yikes, when you get super huge isn't there a time when the projector makes more sense?

 

[ScotO]

Yikes, when you get super huge isn't there a time when the projector makes more sense?

If you have an ideal situation, yes. But we have to slightly 'angle' the TV in the corner (I built custom brackets IN the wall to accomodate an articulating mount), projector just won't work in our install. I think we're going to go with the 70"........it'll be 'just right' in relation to size and the space we are using.

 

[firefighterjake]

We really like the picture on them. Our local Best Buy has the 70", 80", and 90" all on display to get a really good feel as to the quality, and I like them! Kinda funny though, the salesman told us to shy away from the 90" for some reason....

The $9999.00 price tag already had me convinced NOT to buy that one!!

One thing a lot of folks forget though when looking at floor models in the store is that the look can be quite different when you go from a brightly lit store with florescent lights to a "normal" home . . . that said . . . as mentioned this line up was getting good reviews from actual users and professional reviews . . . and the ones I saw in the store looked good as well.

 

[ScotO]

I'm pretty much sold on the 70"......I'm just waiting til the Superbowl to buy it.....

Waiting 'til the last second to try and get the best deal.....

 

[luv2byte]

If you do any gaming then go plasma. It's ideal for the graphics due to refresh rate & lighting. Plasma has nice viewing from all angles & uniform brightness. Otherwise it depends on your preference. Go to a place like Best Buy that has the sMe model tv set up side by side of an LCD & plasma so you can see the differences best. All of us here at home prefer plasma, we have 3 plasma & 1LCD. no issues w any of them but the picture on our plasma Samsung is superior to the other tvs we have. No burn in issues & looks fantastic in all lighting, bright to dark room.

 

[SlyFerret]

What ever you buy, take about half an hour to calibrate it. You can get DVD or bluray disks with the test patterns and blue filter glasses pretty cheap online. You would be amazed how far off you will be just by eyeballing the settings.

-SF

 

[begreen]

We have a 37" Panasonic that just fits into our 36" TV cabinet. Prior to that we had a 32" Panny in there. The new tv is LED lit with a super fast refresh rate. It has an excellent picture under all the conditions we thrown at it. The older set would blur with some motion and it up-rezzed older broadcast tv somewhat poorly. The new one is flawless. We love it.

 

[drizler]

"LED" TV's are just LCD panels with LED back lights. Lots of individual LED's can give the electronics in the TV better control over the back light. For instance, dark parts of the picture can be dimmed locally to help improve contrast. LED is going to be the most power efficient and produce the least amount of heat.

LCD TVs have fluorescent backlights. There are tons of LCD panels out there, so they may be a little cheaper than an LED panel. The fluorescent back light will use a little more power and generate a little more heat than LED.

Plasma is another technology completely. It is the least power efficient of the flat panel TV types and generates the most heat. Older plasma TVs used to need to be recharged ever ~5 years or so, but I think they got that worked out. Plasma will suffer from burn-in even worse than a traditional old tube TV would. Plasmas are cheap because there is less demand for them and the technology in general has come down in price.

LCD/LED TVs are great in bright rooms, and plasma excels in a darkened home theater environment where the lighting is very controlled.

Plasma has a very high refresh rate and response time, so motion is usually very smooth and clear.

In my opinion, an LED TV's strike a great balance balance with high contrast ratios so they can be used in bright rooms or dark home theaters. Any TV will need to be adjusted differently for each environment though. I also like the lack of burn-in on LED and LCD panels. There are many LCD or LED panels out there with 120Hz or higher refresh rates. 120Hz is the key because it is a multiple of 24, 30, and 60 frames per second. These are the three frame rates that you'll find in TV, DVD, online videos, video games, and blu-ray content. 24 frame per second content on a 60Hz panel will have to go through some funky frame rate conversion where some frames are shown longer than others. This causes judder that drives me nuts personally, but many people don't even notice it.

There are a lot of TVs with "240Hz" refresh rates advertized. These sets have some active processing that take the incoming 24/30/60 frame per second signal and interpolate or synthesize new frames to go between the actual frames. This helps to smooth out and sharpen the video. It works well for some types of content. For other types of content, it may actually make a film source like a blue ray movie look like a soap opera shot on video. This is sometimes referred to as the "soap opera" effect. I turn all of this active processing off because I don't like the effect. My parents on the other hand don't seem to mind it though and like the extra smooth picture.

I love Samsung TV's. They are my pick. Samsung makes panels for a lot of other company's TV sets and computer monitors. I would also consider Sharp, Sony, Visio, and LG. Panasonic has been known for really nice Plasma TV's.

You can check out the reviews on cnet.com. If they don't review the exact model you're looking at, they usually have one in the same family of models that might give you an idea of quality.

For a bedroom TV though, this may all be way too much info. Even a cheap TVs made today will look as good as high end models from 5 years ago.

-SF

I got a 55 inch Samsung 6ooo last Christmas and couldn;t be happier. The space saving alone just hanging on the wall can be amazing in itself. Mine is an HD 3D LED, all sorts of D's there but it looks fantastic and I have yet to have a single issue. This is the time of year to buy one. Lot's of super deals on high end models ect, ship to store ect. I got mine that way sent to Sams Club. I'll bet you can find something really good with Boxing Day rolling around.......................... if you haven't already. Of course get you a high quality surge protector and even then unplugging when lightning storms threaten.

 

[SlyFerret]

One other note. The difference in a cheap TV vs. an expensive TV has more to do with the video processing/electronics than it does the actual panel. The secret sauce is in the chips. The panels themselves are really only made by a few manufacturers and used in many different brands of TVs.

-SF

 

[Don2222]

Hello

I bought a 46" TV and they said it would look best above the fireplace but I did not have a fireplace! So I put one in!

 

[ScotO]

Hello

I bought a 46" TV and they said it would look best above the fireplace but I did not have a fireplace! So I put one in!

Hey, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do....looks great, Don!

 

[Don2222]

Hey, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do....looks great, Don!

I purchased the vent pipes to go straight thru the roof and when I got them home, I said Oh No the TV is in the way. LOL

So I went straight out the back!

 

[ScotO]

What ever you buy, take about half an hour to calibrate it. You can get DVD or bluray disks with the test patterns and blue filter glasses pretty cheap online. You would be amazed how far off you will be just by eyeballing the settings.

-SF

Looks like I'll be PM'ing you when I get my TV, Slyferret. You seem to know your stuff with these TV's.

They aren't my forte. Now give me a pile of rocks and some mortar and I'll amaze ya.

 

[Lumber-Jack]

I have a 50 something inch Samsung plasma. Has a great picture, and as others have pointed out, plasma has very fast refresh rates and good viewing angles. Plasma use to outclass LCD by a long margin in these things, but new technologies and the advent of LED screens, that gap has diminished.
The down side of plasma is they are more power hungry, so if you are planning on leaving your TV on a lot you might want to consider the other options. For us we only seldom use the big TV so it wasn't a concern. Also plasma screens for some reason don't have as good a anti-glare as LED/LCD screens, so with lights on or bright windows in the room you tend to get more reflections on the screen, this is why they work better in dim rooms. It's not that the picture isn't bright enough, because it is, it's just the screen glare becomes an issue if you have lots of other light sources in the room. Again, we don't have that issue in our TV room, so for us it wasn't a problem, in fact we were originally going to set up a projector in the room, but changed our minds at the last moment because we decided we wanted the 3D feature which would have cost a lot more with a projector at the time.
I ended up getting a 3D video camera and now have lots of 3D home videos kayaking, flying, hiking and other activities. Even if you weren't interested in home videos with more and more new movies coming out in 3D you might want to consider looking for that feature in a new TV.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Just got a 32" LED for the kids room $199. It weighs only 12 LBs. I like the LEDS cuz they use less power and are thinner. Our Samsung 55" LCD however still has a dazzling picture at 3 years old.

 

[stee6043]

Quite a timely thread. I've been singing the praises of Samsung for a few years now. Well this morning, yes Christmas morning, our Samsung 50" plasma took a crap on us. It's only 5 years old. It's the oldest of three Samsung's I own so I hope this is not a typical life expectancy. Based on my google time this morning it appears the power supply is bad and that this is a common problem with Samsung plasmas.

I'm not saying Samsung isn't a good product. Just sharing my 2 hour old disappointment with my plasma. I highly doubt I'll be spending $300 to get it fixed (going rate per other forums). And based on how much heat my plasma kicked off I'd say I'm going to lean toward an LED/LCD when I replace it.

I knew I should have left a beer out for Santa last night. But noooo, my wife insisted on milk.

 

[ScotO]

I've read about the flare issues with the plasma screens, so that option is out altogether. We have a 9'x5' picture window in that room and that'd make watching that TV during the day miserable. I'm going with the Sharp Auqous 70"......just waiting for the right deal and I'm pulling the trigger.....

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Every plasma i have ever seen you can see lines in the picture. I guess if you are far enough away its not an issue. LED seems to be the future in TVs

 

[SlyFerret]

Looks like I'll be PM'ing you when I get my TV, Slyferret. You seem to know your stuff with these TV's.

They aren't my forte. Now give me a pile of rocks and some mortar and I'll amaze ya.

Sure thing! It is really pretty easy.

-SF

 

[Lumber-Jack]

Every plasma i have ever seen you can see lines in the picture. I guess if you are far enough away its not an issue. LED seems to be the future in TVs

Lines in the picture???
You must have found a broken batch of plasma TVs somewhere, I've never seen that before. With the high quality and resolution of TVs nowadays I think it would be pretty hard to sell any TVs that had lines in them. In 1952 maybe, but not now.
Seriously, I'm kinda into the high definition stuff, I have a few high definition cameras and do 3D and HD video editing, I have an eye for resolution and detail. I've never seen any flat screen TVs (plasma, LCD, LED) in the showroom, or else where, that had lines in the pictures.
If you look closely enough at any of those TVs you'll be able to see the individual pixels, the larger the screen the larger the pixels will be, and if you are looking at a 720p screen the pixels will be bigger than a 1080p screen of the same size, that's because there is fewer pixels on a 720p screen, and they end up being bigger. But if you see a new flat screen TV with discernible lines in it,,, then it's broken.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Lines in the picture???
Y.

Horizontal lines ,look close, you will see them. Especially visible in the white areas. Look at all the plasmas on display anywhere.Never saw a single plasma without. Im sure im not the only person that sees them. Very distracting to me,but if you dont see them i guess its not to you.

 

[begreen]

It's called the screen door effect. I see this on my friend's Samsung LED tv too. Don't get me wrong, it's a great set, but I love the Panny for this reason. I can get up close and there are no lines apparent. I notice this even more with their HD projector. You can go right up to the screen and it's smooth.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

It's called the screen door effect. I see this on my friend's Samsung LED tv too. Don't get me wrong, it's a great set, but I love the Panny for this reason. I can get close and there are no lines apparent. I notice this even more with their HD projector. You can go right up to the screen and it's smooth.

Different eyes see different things as well.im semi color blind,i may not see the same color as the next person,but my far vision is sharp. Of course at 56 my close vision (under 2 Ft) needs reading glasses. But i can see those plasma lines like stripes on a prison uniform. Next time im near one ill check what distance its most noticable.