Advice on Buying an HDTV

That looks like a great TV. Looks like it has everything but digital cable ready. I'm personally holding out until I can get my hands on a 1080p DCR for less than $1000. My parents bought a 42" Westinghouse 1080p that looks almost as good as a CRT. they got their TV for $999.99 no tax and free shipping. It was a pretty good deal for a 42". I dont think I will invest in HD-DVD or Blueray until either one dies or they really start to get cheap and take off. Maybe another year or two wait for me. Good luck on your TV shopping.

 

Think dual setup

Don't go with Sony, no matter how tempting.

Samsung & Toshiba are nice. Get same brand TV & DVD player, and BUY THE CABLES FROM EBAY, not from the store !!!

I get for about 10$ cables that the store sells, Monster, for 150$. Not worth the 0.0001% quality improvement, especially with digital cables.

Consider that every year, price drops by half. Last year I got a Samsung LCD 32" for the same price today the 42" sells.

With that in mind, underbuy. LCD or Plasma will still halve in price 2 or 3 times more before stabilizing.

The best setup IMHO :
32 or 42 lcd for TV viewing
108" screen you pull from ceiling
HDTV projector
A single sound system for both

Keep in mind the hours of the lamp life, and replacement cost.

Often you can get a great quality projector, screen, and 32" LCD for the same price as a 58+ inch plasma.

The 32" has a nice 5' viewing area, the 42" requires 7' viewing area.

Nothing beats a 108" + project for watching movies.

 

I saw 1 post in there that caught my eye. you can get a decent 42 inch 1080p for about a grand. my friend picked one up recently from cosco. good deal.

my old 32 goes up to 1080i (one step below 1080p) and cost me 2300 new.

 

just curious, what's wrong with sony? we have had good luck with them in the past- except that one speaker we blew (my fault ) and our camera needed a switch replaced under warranty.

is it just the price factor? because we've never had a problem paying a few bucks extra to have something that lasts longer.

or is there something i'm not aware of? i admit to knowing nothing of HDTVs since it's way out of our price range right now.

 

1080p

Just for the record, 1080p is not available on any broadcast source. So in my opinion, it is essentially useless UNLESS you invest in an HD-DVD or BluRay player. Both of these devices render out a nice 1080p picture. But if you aren't going to buy one, there's no reason to spend more to get 1080p, cause nothing you receive on cable, satellite or over the air will ever be 1080p.

 

The consumer sees compressed versions

http://alvyray.com/DigitalTV/Naming_Proposal.htm

Finally, all of the above arguments omit a very important consideration: The consumer sees compressed versions of any of the proposed formats. Nobody demonstrates the quality loss inherent in compression to Congressmen or consumers (or even to themselves). The "high definition" formats, 540I (aka 1080I) and 720P, have to be compressed by about 50:1 to fit them in the alloted digital channel. Yes, that's right: Compressed to 1/50th their original size (as seen in the production studio, say)! But 480P has to be compressed by the much smaller 18:1. And 240I (current digital TV, "D1"), has to be compressed by only 9:1. The point is: After compression - which is required for broadcast - the differences between formats even out. 480P and 240I are much better fits to the allotted channels. This is another reason they are so affordable. Consumers will be blown away by them.

 

good general rule

<33" get lcd
>33" get a plasma

also dont get a larger tv then you can see from where your sitting, the larger the tv the further away you have to be sitting to appreciate it. See table on this site:

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-7608_7-1016109-2.html

 

i would wager a million dollars your wrong in a few years...in fact id put my life on it

 

I have a 32" (the largest that would fit in a built in cabinet) Sharp Aquos 720p. It is a terrific set.

Costco has the 52" Sharp Aquos 1080p for $2,500. The advantages of buying from Costco are that you get a 2 year extended warranty and you can return it within 90 days of purchase, for any reason, to any Costco warehouse. Try returning a TV set to Amazon, should you be dissatisfied with it for any reason.

 

I think that whatever LCD set that you get, you should view it first at the store with a decent signal.

Three things that LCDs generally do worse than plasmas and CRTs, and that I would want to check out:

1. Viewing Angle - lots of manufacturers claim a 170 degree viewing angle, but a lot of those claims are BS. I see no point in getting an HD set if the true viewing angle only lets you see the best picture if your eyes are spot on 90 degrees to the screen. So go to the store, crouch and then rise slowly in front of the screen, and then walk slowly to the side of the screen.

2. Black Level Retention - try to see how black the blacks are. I think this affects the overall picture a lot (not just in the reproduction of black items).

3. Response Time - try to see/confirm how fast the response time is (lots of manufacturers BS about this too). You probably won't be able to hook up a video game in the store, but you might be able to see a sporting event.

From my experience, Consumer Reports' tests and ratings of HDTVs seem very accurate.

 

I love 50" Panasonic plasma.If you turn down brightness it uses less energy.With LCD it always uses max energy.So in actual usage consumption should be similar.
Also I turn it completely off when not in use.
Black levels are a big difference between LCD and plasma.With plasma having a noticeably better picture.
Im using 1080i and its plenty sharp.If you wanted to save even more money get a 1080i model .
Im not upgrading anytime soon.

 

Well, I sure wouldn't. I worked on digital cable and satellite receivers for a couple years, and while the transmission was digital, at that time it was still all NTSC (or PAL/Secam, depending on the intended marketplace).

Cacti is correct in that the signals are compressed for broadcasting, although I don't know the ratios that will are/will be used. Each old-fashioned analog channel takes up 6 MHz of bandwidth, to be replaced by a 6MHz digital signal (early 2009 for terrestrial broadcast). That's enough for one HDTV signal at 1080i, but to provide more content (channels), they're likely to produce lower quality transmissions and fit more channels on each 6MHz signal. While they're certainly capable of sending a 1080i signal digitally, the pressure will be to provide multiple content channels instead.

And notice I said 1080i. DanWolfe said 1080p isn't available on a broadcast source. So far the rule is broadcast is interlaced, progressive (p) scan is from PCs or possibly DVD players, etc. So I think Dan wins on two counts.
Sorry about your future life and all that.

 

I know what you mean. For me too, even though LCDs have improved, lower line Panasonic plasmas still have a better picture than the best LCDs. And the price can't be beat. E.g., on the most recent Black Friday, you could buy the lower line Panasonic 42" plasma for $699!!! (Really an astoundingly low price ... 3 years ago it would have been around $2500.) My brother ended up buying 2 ... at that price, his sister-in-law is driving from Toronto to New York City to pick up the 2nd set.

 

Interesting link. I was under the assumption that LCDs consume considerably less power than Plasma, but it's a little more complicated than that (in general it's true), but really rear-projection beats them both.
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6475_7-6400401-3.html?tag=arw

If you want to save power, turn off the quick-start feature, and on LCDs turn down the backlight (you get a better picture that way too, but it can depend on how bright the lights typically are in your room). Not only will this save money directly, the A/C will need to run less in the summer, since you're reducing a heat source in the room you probably spend the most time in.

LCDs have improved their deep black and response time lately, and the trade-off point between LCD and plasma has crept up over time, I would put it at about 46" now.

Edit: Did some more reading at c-net. Seems they put the price break between LCD and plasma at 42 inches, although this is a moving target. Also something to keep in mind - plasmas are better for home theater rooms that can be kept dark, LCD is better for rooms that can get brighter. Also, LCD screens are lighter and thinner, so they're better for mounting on the wall.

 

ABC and ESPN broadcast in 720p. NBC is 1080i. I don't remember what FOX and CBS use.

 

OK, I went and checked. FOX uses 720p. CBS, HBO and Showtime use 1080i.

 

It is most likely 480p. 480i is standard definition analog TV signal. HD Ready means it did not come with a built in ATSC digital tuner.