What are your Television Options?

In our life times TV's will be replaced by Hologram Technology. We will view movies in our living rooms as if the people were in our presence.

 

As to the TV, the thing you will be "using" the most with a TV is the screen itself, the actual crystal or plasma matrix. To me that means buy the TV with the absolute best LCD (talking about the actual display itself) and then find the feature set within those options.

Samsung has the best displays, this is not an opinion but a fact. Their process is superior in almost every way. You know how much Apple hates Samsung? Well Samsung supplies Apple with all of their IPS displays (marketing term "retina") and non-IPS displays for all consumer products like the macbooks, iTampons, iPhones, etc.

Samsung's hardware is also top notch. There will always be some problems somewhere. I believe it was already mentioned there was a "batch" with cap problems. Samsung corrected the problem rather readily. I have 3 Samsung TV's all of which are beautiful images. I have other lesser TV's for the guests or overflow, but they are generally unplugged.

As to plasma vs. crystal, it depends what you want. If you need a fast response time, you can't beat plasma as of right now. Otherwise, the benefits of good crystal I feel outweigh any benefits of plasma in general. For instance, I have a Samsung Plasma screen connected to my video games console. When I play a game with coordination like DDR it requires synchronization between input, sound, and video or it doesn't work. On even the best crystal displays, that "lag" is a problem. What comes out of the console at T-0 displays on the TV at time T-200ms or so, and comes out of the speakers at T-30ms abouts. Plasmas have refresh rates about 3X greater than the best crystal sets at 240Hz. Having said that, this is a true minority difference and most people won't care. The fix for movies and videos (that most TV's build in now) is to lag the audio with the video. So what you are seeing and hearing actually left your AV source a few hundred milliseconds ago, but you are not interacting with it so it is not a problem or even noticeable.

Another plasma benefit is that blacks are black because they are not being backlit. Think of a bright light shining in the background, and then you block out the light with coloured paper to make colour. A black cover over a bright light in a dark room will still show the light around the edges and the black will be really really dark gray, not pitch black. To fix this manufacturers like Samsung use lots of backlit LEDs (not just 4 tubes around the edges) and they turn off or dim the LEDs in the back and change the colour of the crystal to make darks darker. But still, plasma will win. OLED has the same benefit of plasma, but also has burn-in and lifetime issues.

Another quick plasma tip that doesn't apply to you, but maybe others, is that at above 7000ft or so plasma screens hiss unless specially designed for high elevation. Most manufactures make high elevation displays, rarely are they sold to consumers because the big box stores buy the normal version to a central warehouse and then out. Plasma screens cannot take the elevation I am at and do fail earlier and emit an audible whine when turned on.

The 240Hz update refresh is a must have on any new TV. It makes things look real. As if you are watching a play in a tiny frame on your wall. This will blow your mind on a good screen with a good video input if you haven't seen it before.

1080 is essentially a given at the medium or above price range in that size.

The WiFi is not too important. If not built in, usually each manufacturer makes a USB adapter that works with their TV to make it wireless. If it only has an RJ45 jack, then you can get an RJ45 to wireless adapter that will work with anything.
Built in apps are OK, but in a few years it might not be current. Yes they auto-update, but most manufacturers are slow to introduce the change. Probably best to get an external device like an IPTV box or Roku or GoogleTV or AppleTV or whatever that the updates come daily and it does all the app-ing for you. Or at least leave it as an option in the future.

I would buy the newest and greatest Samsung TV you can. But I wouldn't buy one now. It is too close to Christmas meaning Black Friday. I am not saying the deals are super cheap on black friday, but rather prices increase up until that time and then drop down to what they were a few weeks ago in the summer. Ontop of that, sometimes you can get a great deal. I got my $4500 Samsung TV 3 years ago for $2200 out the door shipped to my house white glove freight. Cheapest in the stores all year was close to $3500 on sale. This is not the time to buy electronics unless you want refurbs that the stores want to clear out of to make room for new XMas stock.

 

Gamers will talk about refresh rate.

I tend to like Sony. Sony HQ for TV is in San Diego and they do some assembly in America. They are a major employer in a California and NJ. The Sony company store is in the local mall and you can see the latest technology and speak with product experts.

Rady School: Sony Electronic Case Competition Location

 

Thanks for the information on the faulty capacitors. That was the only major item I've had problems with in such a short time.

 

As tv's have become technically better with larger screens and high resolutions, the content appears to be getting worse.

 

Walking Dead is good. Season1, 2 & 3 is on Netflix . Season 4 starts in 2 weeks.

The main actor and a gal are British.

Mad Men is good . This is the last season.

You always can rent movies

 

FWIW, I have various Sony, Samsung, and Panasonic equipment with so called smart TV features, and also Apple TV, DirecTV (3400), and a mid range Marantz receiver. I've also had Roku boxes in the past. Among all those, only the Apple TV and Roku boxes have anything approaching a decent user interface for Smart TV functions, although the DirecTV is not bad for the main guide and DVR functions. I agree with those saying to rely on Apple TV or Roku (or both) for your online smart TV functions.

Another point I would make is that despite having a high end Sony LED, the picture quality is much better, with much more accurate color, since I started using the Marantz receiver. I'm also enjoying the better sound from my 5.1 speaker setup.

For those recommending Samsung, I say it depends on the model, so read the reviews, and/or see it in person before buying, with the standard or natural settings, rather than the hyper settings most TVs are set at in the stores. My small samsung is good, but too harsh.

The experts always recommend Panasonic plasma for best contrast, widest viewing angles, color accuracy, and fast motion handling. They are also very cost competitive at the high end. However there are possible issues with burn in (supposedly not an issue anymore) and with fading picture quality over time (again, not clear whether this is a real issue). They are also never as bright as LED, which is probably the main reason I've never gotten one (besides never really trusting them). If you go LED, the direct backlighting on the latest high end models is worth the extra cash, IMHO.

 

Looks good. So you can get a 55in TV then which is the perfect size for large but not outrageously expensive since it is a major panel size.

 

Is it used to hold your audio visual equipmemt?

 

Beautiful wood work!
We leaped into HDTV last Black Friday with a Panasonic Palsma 55ST50 3D.
We wanted the wide view angle and I felt the LED was not going cut it, also the Panny has some glare reduction.
Last year's Consumer Reports was great HDTV article around November, but of course the models change so fast.
CNET is a must. Believe the new Panny plasma (ST60) is great reviews but I am not following. One thing you can get in LED set is passive 3D which is nice theater-style glasses. We like having the 3d option for but don't use it too much. Actually we don't use TV too much. Error on the side of bigger HDTV up to 55-inch in your case.

 

Now that IS pretty Bra.

 

Wonder if you still need glasses to watch the new 3D sets? To me that was annoying.

 

The only 3D displays that don't need glasses are a few tablets, up to about 10" size.
As I wear eyeglasses all the time anyway, I find it no burden to use clip-on 3D glasses to watch on my TV or at the movies.

 

With direct cortical stimulation following along shortly....

 

Who's to say we don't already have it!!!

 

...sounds like you have the LG passive 3D LED set...I thought pretty hard about it too

 

I believe the 3D TV manufacturers are surprised by the low consumer adoption rate.

Any speculation why?

 

I've had a 55" LG passive 3D set for two years and been very pleased with it. We watched a lot of the London Olympics in 3D in 2012, and I just got the Blu-ray 3D versions of House of Wax (classic horror film which started the early 1950s 3D boom) and the re-mastered 3D conversion of Wizard of Oz. I also do 3D slide shows of my own photos.