New TV

Why in the world would you want to contaminate your home with a television???

 

I'm curious as to which is better, too.

While we don't have "television", that is, cable or broadcast TV, we do use our TV to watch movies from Netflix (and our own DVD library).

 

I usually watch stuff on the computer. Big comfy chair, clear, detailed screen right up close, and awesome sound from aftermarket speakers.

 

deceptive marketing: they're both LCDs and differ by back or sidelighting

Unless the TV is OLED or AMOLED (there are none in large sizes on the mass market), a "LED" TV is actually a LCD with LED side or backlighting. It's stupid deceptive marketing started a few years ago by Samsung.

If you wanted to call TVs by their lighting, then non-LED lit LCD TVs should be called fluorescent TVs or CCFL TVs.

LED TVs: 10 things you need to know | Fully Equipped - CNET Reviews and many other places talk about this.

An OLED TV (does not use any LCDs at all) was Sony kills XEL-1 OLED TV production in Japan, cites 'sluggish demand' -- Engadget. Problem was, it was almost $2000 for an 11 inch.

edit: At least Samsung admits to this confusing naming via http://www.samsung.com/us/article/lcd-led-or-plasma-

 

I moved up from an old CRT to a Samsung "LED" over the summer. Been very happy with it. I went for the 46" in the Ultraslim series. There were two main reasons: 1. Very low power usage. 2. It sits extremely close to the wall and where I have it mounted that makes a difference.

Vidiophiles complain about the picture a bit, something to do with the blacks, but for my untrained eyes it looks great. Baseball playoffs in HD have been awesome, Go Giants.

Jeff

 

Where would be the fun in that? Anyhow, I wasn't forcing. Just asking. Hard to force anybody to do anything over the internet.

 

Now if there was only something good to watch on TV.

Get a plasma dude!

 

If your room is very bright or has windows behind where you will be sitting to watch the TV, I'd stay away from plasma. The reflections in the screen can bother some people. (you see the reflections and not the picture) Plasma looks awesome in a dim room though. LCD/LED does a much better job at reducing screen glare for other light sources around the TV. Check this out by going to a store that has both plasma and LCD next to each other and walk side to side and watch for reflections in the screen. You'll see what I mean.

Spend some time reading at the AVS Forum site. Don't let it overwhelm you though. There are some seriously smart people there regarding everything audio visual but don't expect an answer to "what's the best TV?" Do some leg work, use the screen size calculator and enjoy you new TV.

 

Plasma tends to give better color rendition at a cheaper price then LCD, but it also tends to be a technology for larger screens. If you're looking at 36" TVs, then I think it's only LCD at this size. LCD, OLED, LED are all technologies for adding improved contrast ranges. Instead of focusing on technology, the best thing to do is demo TVs. Go to your local Best Buy or TV store, and see if you can adjust the color of the TVs they have (sometimes, TVs are defaulty set at "vivid"...which cuts down on the contrast range to give oversaturated colors). For reliability, I'd rate Panasonic and Samsung as being high. Sony, IMO, is overhyped: my dad once got a Sony Wega TV that only lasted 2 years. My pany plasma is going strong, as well as all the Samsung plasma/LCDs that my family has.

 

I have both a plasma and a LCD, and honestly can't tell a difference in picture quality (they're in different rooms, so can't compare side-by-side). The plasma does use more electricity, depending on brightness setting and what's on the screen. The Samsung 46" LCD actually uses less energy than our old 29" CRT, but that can vary from model to model - we also have a Best Buy store brand LCD model (32" I think) that uses more electricity than the 46" Samsung. (More electricity = more heat = more A/C usage in the summer). Plasmas are also heavier and harder to hang on a wall if that's your intention.

But I'd say go for the 3D TV, and skip the whole 2D flat TV stage. Then you'd be the coolest people on the block and could laugh at the early adopters stuck with an old TV.

 

BTW - a 46" wide-screen TV will fit flat in the back of the Prius with the back seats down. A 50" TV probably fits, but would be the hairy edge, depending on speaker placement, etc. Go bigger than that and you need to carry it propped up in the back seat or something, a little scarier on the bumps and any sudden stops.

 

I would recommend against the "dynamic" LED backgrounds that allow bragging about a higher contrast ratio vs the LED TVs that just have a constant backlight. The dynamic LED versions have a very mottled background that looks ugly once your brain starts detecting it. Go to a store, find a TV with dynamic backlighting, defocus your gaze on the screen and look for the "splotches" moving around. Also, if you are actually looking at any LCD TV, have them turn off the over saturated "display" mode. That's the TV version of selling stereos with the bass too loud.

 

i have my heart set on a new led. 1/2" thick. i'm going to cut out the plaster and mount it flush on the wall. fantastic! who care about the picture?

 

and you will have to pony up for an HD converter box to enjoy it. cost me and extra $8./mo. but my wife loves the redsox when they were playing.

 

Enjoy your new TV.