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What TV you got?

post #1 of 60
1/19/10 at 1:12pm
Thread Starter 
I bought a Samsung 8000 and I have to return it due to some flaws so now I need a new plan of attack. Looking HD, 46 inch or so.
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post #2 of 60
1/19/10 at 1:15pm
I was thinking of buying that model, what happened?

Also that's a 55-inch TV, you're going with a smaller model now?
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post #3 of 60
1/19/10 at 1:17pm
Hey Kirby. I know it can be overwhelming, but I really recommend avsforum.com for help with a TV choice.

LCD forum: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=166
Plasma forum: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=167
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post #4 of 60
1/19/10 at 1:19pm
I have a Samsung, I believe it's a 50" or 52" LCD. 1080P. All the fancy stuff. I bought it two years ago now, not sure the model on it, but I love it. My only complaint is the volume can really fluctuate between extremely loud at low volume to inaudible at a high volume depending on the input source.
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post #5 of 60
1/19/10 at 1:19pm
We bought a Sharp 40" LED (1080/120) tv last month. I would have preferred a 46", but we got such a fantastic deal on this TV ($1089 from Ultimate Electronics) that we couldn't pass it up. We love it.
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post #6 of 60
1/19/10 at 1:24pm
Toshiba - REGZA / 46" Class / 1080p / 120Hz / LCD HDTV

Great TV for the price, got it in December when Best Buy was doing the whole PS3 bundle. Very happy with it.
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post #7 of 60
1/19/10 at 1:34pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by ElCapitanAmerica View Post
I was thinking of buying that model, what happened?

Also that's a 55-inch TV, you're going with a smaller model now?
It comes in 46 and 55.

It's a beautiful TV. Picture is great. Looks super cool because it's so thin.

But there's uniformity issues. Most apparent when watching letter-boxed films. There's clouding or flashlighting in the bars in certain scenes -- dark films like Alien or Assass of Jesse James or The Prestige. Not all the time and not really for cable shows, but movies it's annoying.

There's some auto-dimming nonsense too.

Also: they've been discontinued already. Look on Samsung site --- gone. No one is sure why but perhaps lawsuit by Sharp or that they realize all these issues.

Sad, I really like a good amount about it but at the price point tough to live with these flaws.
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post #8 of 60
1/19/10 at 1:35pm
Good as place as any for a general question: In terms of picture pros and cons, what does the LED bring to the table?
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post #9 of 60
1/19/10 at 1:39pm
27" RCA analog TV. I'm old school. This whole home theater thing? Just a fad.
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post #10 of 60
1/19/10 at 1:43pm
Thread Starter 
Jonathan -- I'm no expert but "LED" mostly seems like a fancy marketing term. The TVs are still LCDs.
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post #11 of 60
1/19/10 at 1:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jonathan Banks is my hero View Post
Good as place as any for a general question: In terms of picture pros and cons, what does the LED bring to the table?
I'm not a pro on the issue, but my wife and I spent a good chunk of time looking at a ton of TVs before we settled on that Sharp LED.

Bottom line, the picture was PERFECT. It didn't matter if you were across the room or inches away from it...it was PERFECT. Most of the LCDs that we looked at had some kind of blurring issue to them, especially if you were watching them closer than 10 feet away.

Ours is also supposed to be a lot more energy efficient.
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post #12 of 60
1/19/10 at 1:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jonathan Banks is my hero View Post
Good as place as any for a general question: In terms of picture pros and cons, what does the LED bring to the table?
As stated, the LED is in the same family as a LCD

http://www.lcdtvbuyingguide.com/hdtv/led-vs-lcd.html
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post #13 of 60
1/19/10 at 1:51pm
Living Room: LG 50PG10, 720P 50" Plasma --> When I went shopping for this one, it beat every LCD in its price range for image quality. We sit over 10 feet from the TV in the living room so the image is as sharp as a 1080P imho. PS3 games and blurays look amazing on this.

Man Room: Sony 32" 720p LCD --> I bought this about a month ago for a sweet deal on boxing day... $399! It has 3X HDMI inputs which is perfect for my HD-DVD and Blu-Ray players as well as plenty of inputs for an HTPC, PS2 and XBOX.
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post #14 of 60
1/19/10 at 1:55pm
LED is a different backlight tech. "Normal" LCDs use a flourescent backlight that provides a uniform level of light across the entire screen. Even on "black" areas of screen, there's backlight bleeding through from the flourescent.

With LED backlighting, hundreds of LEDs are used instead of a flourescent bulb. They are further broken down into clusters. Each cluster can be individually dimmed, or even switched completely off to provide absolute, true blacks.

So the main advantages you get with LED are a better contrast ratio and true, deep blacks. The most recent models approach or surpass Plasmas in terms of contrast and blacks.

Plasmas still win on motion resolution and have a more CRT-like image that some people prefer.
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post #15 of 60
1/19/10 at 1:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kirby Drummond View Post
Jonathan -- I'm no expert but "LED" mostly seems like a fancy marketing term. The TVs are still LCDs.
Ah. Many thanks. Thanks to all for the info and sorry for the short derail.
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post #16 of 60
1/19/10 at 1:59pm
Thread Starter 
And I think the tech works in the case of running television. Best picture I've seen non-plasma. Of sports in particular.

It's just the movie thing that's a sticking point and obviously that's a big sticking point round these parts.
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post #17 of 60
1/19/10 at 2:01pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Eyeball Kid View Post
So the main advantages you get with LED are a better contrast ratio and true, deep blacks. The most recent models approach or surpass Plasmas in terms of contrast and blacks.
That was our other main issue with the LCDs that we were checking out. We were looking at LEDs and LCDs side by side, and there was a noticeable quality difference on the blacks/darker colors.
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post #18 of 60
1/19/10 at 2:02pm
Thread Starter 
And Eyeball, I did use AVS. Well, after I bought it, haha. I considered the Samsung 750 too. Gets good reviews. Problem is that it seems there's something wrong with every TV. At least LCD. I guess Plasmas you can just say that they are not "green" as they run a lot of electricity.

So not sure what's next unless I want to double my expenditure and step up to a Pioneer. Or run back to Sony. Samsung scares me now.
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post #19 of 60
1/19/10 at 2:05pm
Just to further clarify, LED *is* LCD. The LED designation just describes the backlight tech. It's still an LCD panel that those LEDs are lighting up.

So you've got:
LED-backlit LCD
CCF (flourescent)-backlit LCD (or "regular" LCD)
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post #20 of 60
1/19/10 at 2:09pm
Kirby: if movies are your main thing, then Plasma is probably the way to go. You can grab a near top of the line Panasonic for half of the cost of a Pioneer. After the break-in period (the image should look better and better as the phosphors get used) you'd never know the difference. My dad replaced a failing old Pioneer with a mid-range Panasonic and he loves it.

They do get hot and suck electricity though, you're right.
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post #21 of 60
1/19/10 at 2:14pm
65" Mitsubishi DLP 837 series HDTV for main movie watching \ gaming - 37" Vizio 1080i for the bedroom.

These worked pretty well for out east, however now that I've moved and in the process of purchasing a new home.. I'm probably going to upgrade to the 82" Mitsubishi and creating some sort of home theater with the new Mitsubishi projector that has gotten some decent reviews.
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post #22 of 60
1/19/10 at 2:14pm
Thread Starter 
Not my main thing, but certainly tied.

The reason I went with LED/LCD is the greener aspects of it while it approached plasma quality. Plus, I live in NYC so the last thing I need is to pay more for electricity.

I also saw that Pioneer is done making TVs. And they were supposedly so rockin' at it too.
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post #23 of 60
1/19/10 at 2:30pm
I liked that Samsung LED because the screen is so thin! But I couldn't tell a big difference between it and comparable LCDs (like from Sony).

Plasmas look good, but it sucks that they waste so much power.
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post #24 of 60
1/19/10 at 2:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Eyeball Kid View Post
Kirby: if movies are your main thing, then Plasma is probably the way to go. You can grab a near top of the line Panasonic for half of the cost of a Pioneer. After the break-in period (the image should look better and better as the phosphors get used) you'd never know the difference. My dad replaced a failing old Pioneer with a mid-range Panasonic and he loves it.
That's exactly what I have in my living room (42" 1080i/720p plasma) and it's great. We just recently updated to blu-ray and I was worried the picture wouldn't improve drastically at that size and with that resolution, but man oh man was I proven wrong. Looks gorgeous.
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post #25 of 60
1/19/10 at 5:00pm
Pioneer Kuro Pro-151FD in the living room with the Oppo BD-83.

Keeps the rest of the family out of my hair so I can work/post on CHUD.
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post #26 of 60
1/19/10 at 6:41pm
50" Panasonic 1080P plasma that is about 2 years old. Dead sexy picture. Zero regrets on the purchase.

For those of you worried about the energy usage of a plasma, they have cut just about in half since I got mine.
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post #27 of 60
1/19/10 at 8:10pm
LCD TV discussions begin and end with Vizio in my opinion. They look fantastic, are cheapest and are workhorses. I have a 37" pulling DVD and laptop monitor duty in the bedroom and a 47" 120mHz still sitting in the box waiting for a BluRay player for the living room.
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post #28 of 60
1/19/10 at 8:21pm
Yup, I've heard good things about the Vizios so far. I'm really licking this one in particular;

http://reviews.cnet.com/flat-panel-t...-33770094.html

Quote:
* LED backlight with local dimming (47- and 55-inch models only)
* 240Hz processing
* Bluetooth remote with full QWERTY keyboard
* Integrated 802.11(n) Wi-Fi
* Support for Adobe Flash for the Digital Home
* Yahoo widgets engine
* 42-inch SV422XVT: $1,199 MSRP | 47-inch SV472XVT: $1,699 | 55-inch XV552XVT: $2,199
* Available in January
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post #29 of 60
1/19/10 at 9:26pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ElCapitanAmerica View Post
Yup, I've heard good things about the Vizios so far. I'm really licking this one in particular;

http://reviews.cnet.com/flat-panel-t...-33770094.html
You just have to watch out where you buy it from; some places have slight model number differences and it means all the world.
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post #30 of 60
1/19/10 at 10:16pm
I'm all about Samsung LCDs. I have a Sharp and a column of pixels died on me right after the warranty expired. So i entertain the notion of getting a new TV all the time. I think the new tech is nice but too pricey and untested. So, I'd go with a 60mhz (maybe 120 but that's not as important), 1080p, non-LED LCD with as wide a static contrast ratio as possible and at least 4 (latest spec) HDMI inputs. Unless you're routing everything through an HDMI capable receiver in which case the orgy of multi-channel audio pass-through inputs won't matter as much.
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post #31 of 60
2/3/10 at 10:24pm
I have 51" Toshiba rear projo:



1080i
1 DVI
2 Component
2 S-Video
3 Composite
4 wheels for easy mobility

Oh yeah.

Actually it's a pretty decent TV and has held up quite nicely since we got it back in 2003. Blu-Rays look nice on it but dark scenes are a bit of a problem. Batman Begins is horrible to watch on it in Blu-Ray. You can't even see Batman at times. The XBox can be fine for bright games (NHL 10) but games like GTA IV are a hit and miss. Though oddly enough Gears of War 2 looked great.

Anyways, I wanted to get the new 46" 1080p 120hz Insignia LCD. Insignia is Best Buy's house brand. They're Insignia line have gotten better the past two years (they want to try and compete now) and it's cheap to get. I figure I'd get it just get a better TV and then sell it to my parents when they want to upgrade TV's and I'd get myself a 52" Samsung LCD.
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post #32 of 60
2/3/10 at 11:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ElCapitanAmerica View Post
Plasmas look good, but it sucks that they waste so much power.
The newer energy star rated Plasmas are much improved in power usage.

Also, Plasmas power use is dynamic due to the nature of the tech.

LCDs draw constant power.

With that being said, I have two Panasonic Plasmas and they rock my socks.
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post #33 of 60
2/3/10 at 11:55pm
Got a Samsung PN50B550 50 inch 1080p plasma this past December for just over a thousand bucks, and I never go out anymore!!! It's ruined my life!

I have it hooked up to my PS3 as a blu-ray player and it's booooootiful! I have to keep on my toes so that it doesn't ghost images to the point of burn-in, but I don't mind. It's just so damned pretty.
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post #34 of 60
2/4/10 at 1:46am
Sony 46" XBR6. Calibrated it is a thing of utter beauty. And no reflective screen like (many of) its Samsung brethren in the LCD world so you can watch it beautifully in full daylight as well as night.
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post #35 of 60
2/4/10 at 11:51am
I have a Philips 46" (or is it 47"?) LCD that I got from Costco about 2 years ago. Picture still looks great and I have had virtually no problems with it. Every now and then I'll change inputs to another HDMI input, and the screen will be black so that I have to change inputs again for it to work or turn off the TV and turn it back on, but from what I've read, that's more of an HDMI issue than an issue with the TV.
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post #36 of 60
2/13/10 at 2:00am
Don't want to start a new TV thread, so I hope you don't mind my butting in Kirby ---

Where should I be looking for deals? I'm looking for a 46"-48" for a good price. Will do some research, but also don't want to drive myself nuts -- as Kirby said, there's something wrong with all of these sets, it seems.

So if you guys have some good sites worth checking out, and some general brand tips, I'd appreciate it.
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post #37 of 60
2/19/10 at 5:16pm
slickdeals.net has TVs on there, and so does Deals2Buy.com, probably more so than slickdeals.net.

I agree on the different issues on different TVs. For example, Toshiba is constantly rated as one of the better laptops for the value, etc., but every person I've known with a Toshiba laptop has had it completely fail on them after about 3 years, and every time for the same reason--overheating. But it still gets high marks in reports.
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post #38 of 60
2/19/10 at 5:37pm
I've got a Samsung 32" tv. It kind of burns me that when I bought it in 2008 I paid a pretty penny for it, and now the same model goes for less than $500 now. It's still a damn great tv. I've always trusted Samsung when it comes to TV's.
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post #39 of 60
2/19/10 at 5:57pm

26"
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post #40 of 60
2/21/10 at 11:57pm
I've had my 42" 1080p 60hz Bravia for over two years now and it has served me really well, and I certainly abuse the hell out of it. The only slight downside might be what one calls the slight "clouding" issue during intense blacks, but to be honest, it was so minuscule I don't even notice it, especially now. I just watched LOLA MONTES on it last weekend, and watching at least a movie a day on it hasn't diminished its quality by any means - it still looked fantastic. It's survived two small earthquakes (both under 4.5 on the richter scale) and I kind of dig it for that.

Not sure how people feel about the Bravias, but I went from a Trinitron to an LCD without any problems.
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post #41 of 60
2/22/10 at 10:44am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rene (Mr.Eko) View Post
I've got a Samsung 32" tv. It kind of burns me that when I bought it in 2008 I paid a pretty penny for it, and now the same model goes for less than $500 now. It's still a damn great tv. I've always trusted Samsung when it comes to TV's.
I wanted to get a Samsung so badly, but just couldn't afford it at the time. Now for the price I paid for my Philips 2 years ago, I could buy the new Samsung OLED LCD TV. Argh.
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post #42 of 60
2/22/10 at 11:11am
I've got a Samsung 42" plasma and am getting a 32" Bravia LCD for my room soon.

LEDs look amazing, but the prices on the bigger models are a bit steep. Also, I hear that once one of the LED lights are gone, they're gone for good.
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post #43 of 60
2/26/10 at 12:23pm
I was on Amazon and noticed some 40 inch plus 1080P TV's were on sale for under 1000 bucks. Has there been a price drop on LCD TV's or something?
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post #44 of 60
2/26/10 at 1:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rourkefan View Post
I was on Amazon and noticed some 40 inch plus 1080P TV's were on sale for under 1000 bucks. Has there been a price drop on LCD TV's or something?
I got a 47" Vizio with 6 ft HDMI cable I'll sell for $950. Never been out of the box.
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post #45 of 60
3/1/10 at 8:20am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Princess Kate View Post

26"
I have that exact TV in my bedroom. It's a great little TV.

I have a 37'' 720p Olevia I bought a couple of years ago. I'm either going to get a 42'' 1080p Vizio or a 40'' Samsung.

Concerning Blu-Ray, how much of a difference is there between 720 and
1080p?
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post #46 of 60
3/1/10 at 9:39am
My old big-ass tube gave up and I got the chance to buy a new TV. I got a 37" LG 37LH3000 for dirt cheap and it seems pretty sweet so far. The sound especially, since I haven't had time to try some good HD video on it to judge image quality.
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post #47 of 60
3/23/10 at 2:23pm
I just got the Samsung 37B 550 and the entry level Sony Blu Ray, sorry I dont know the ref #. The Sammy is great but it does have poor speakers so ive hooked it through a Cambridge Audio amp and some old Sony speakers I have, which is fine for now till I can save up the £ for the latest Onkyo amp.

Consider me delighted. Ive only watched a couple of Blu Rays (MOON, CORALINE, TOY STORY) but the quality is just an immense step up from DVD.
Ive held off on Blu Ray for a while but im glad ive taken the plunge.
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post #48 of 60
3/23/10 at 2:26pm
Got my Samsung 40" LCD B550 on Saturday. A complete delight.
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post #49 of 60
3/23/10 at 2:28pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tati View Post
Got my Samsung 40" LCD B550 on Saturday. A complete delight.
Great isnt it? I havent even scrapped the surface of all the settings yet either so im sure it can do better. And im confident its future proof with all the HDMI slots - at least it will be for my needs.
If I fiddle about with the settings this week ill post here and let you know if it makes a radical difference.
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post #50 of 60
3/23/10 at 2:33pm
52" Pioneer Elite Pro KURO.

Quite possibly my single most prized possession.
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