What are your Television Options?

I've heard great things about OLED, but that would involve spending a lot extra, not just a little.

Have you checked Consumer Reports? The reviews are boring, but informative. Knowing repair rates and that sort of thing can be useful.

 

I bought a 50" Panasonic plasma TV in 2005 which is still working. In late 2011 I replaced it in the main viewing area with an LG 55" LCD/LED 3D TV, which I've been very pleased with (I'm a 3D photographer and can show my pix directly on the TV). I know you said you don't want 3D, but they're pretty well identical to the 2D versions in all other respects.

You also said 45" screen size - if you have any more room than this, I'd recommend buying the biggest screen that will fit the space. As hyo notes, the OLED TVs are fabulous quality, but with a price tag to match; his point about checking reliability at Consumer Reports is also a good suggestion.

I'd recommend looking at LCD/LED sets, which have much lower power consumption than plasma. If you can, view different models in a store and check the picture quality when you move off-axis, both horizontally and vertically.

Before buying both the Panny and the LG I spent quite a bit of time on the AVS forums, where there are a lot of very knowledgeable users - kind of like here.

 

The stores will largely push you towards LED but people who are really into the tech seem to still really like plasma. LED will have an advantage in a bright room for daytime viewing, plasma is generally a good choice for darker rooms or night viewing.

The store is a relatively poor place to judge picture quality, as none of them have been calibrated and they are almost all set to maximum brightness and 'vivid' settings for the showroom floor. That's not what you'll want at home.

Our 5 year old plasma reasonably calibrated still gets comments from people, even those who have brand new TV's. It's not super bright, but blacks are excellent, it looks very lifelike, and plasma has none of the motion artifacts that plague LCD/LED. (Google 'soap opera effect).

I would consider using an AppleTV/Roku or similar rather than the built-in internet features. Those devices tend to be more complete with better interfaces and more frequent updates.

 

Agreed, but where else can you get *any* kind of comparison, unless you happen to have a high-end specialist nearby?

 

Oh I agree. I guess I would try to find reviews online from reputable sites that do real attempts at calibration first and give something more than a subjective review. I know I couldn't trust my eyes when faced with a wall of televisions.

 

4K Ultra HD is the new Standard in High Def.
Not sure if programing caught up.
LED use less electric.
Any TV with upscalling helps improve picture quality.
Connecting your TV to a Pioneer Elite Receiver with a better quality speakers and a Blue Ray may be the cats pajamas but it may set you back many grand.

 

How many hours a week of use, and how bright a screen ?
Think green for the environment, and also consider the money cost of energy.

We have a 50" Panasonic plasma from some 4 years ago that still looks fantastic. It is an energy pig at ~ 250 watts, but I turn down the brightness and only use it for an hour or two a week which let me prioritize price and picture quality.

 

Many of the Plasma's are still drinking Electric although the TV is off. You can purchase a mid quality line current conditioner than can shut the TV and add on components completely off.

 

Our 43" plasma uses about 150 watts on. 1-2w at idle. For viewing, that's less than $40/year at 6 hours/day. I can live with that.

 

I replaced my Toshiba Plasma 45" with a Sony LCD 50" about 2-3 years ago. It is hooked up to a Pioneer Elite VSX-84txsi top of the line receiver, Sony Blue Ray, and a 7.1 Surround Sound Martin Logan Front and Center speakers and Sony side and rear and sub woofer. No complaints. The set up costs about 7-8K albeit it is a about 8 years old except the TV. It was all state of the art than and still impressive now. The other evening my wife was watching the X factor and you can enjoy the music on a completely different level.

However if your just want a nice TV many of the name brands will do.

My Toshiba Plasma when I bought I purchased the Best Buy extended contract. The Plasma died after many years of daily use by my kids, wife, me etc. I called Best Buy and they took the TV away. 2 weeks later they called and said the TV parts are not available come to the store. They looked up the SPECS of the TV and said pick any 45" new plasma and if you want to upgrade you pay the difference. Prices of plasma dropped a lot since I made the first purchase but it did save my butt and I got my money worth on that service contract. I got the LCD cause I can get a bigger screen, 1080P, many inputs and outputs USB, HDMI etc, and lower power consumption. I tend to not purchase Support contracts but at the time the Audio Rags were suggesting it sine Plasma was fairly new and unproven. Most of the big guys are migrating away from Plasma now a days.

Just for the record the TV in my living room can be on 5-7 hours any day of the week, and the receiver playing music on a few hours. Don't ask me why it is just on and many times just with passive listening or viewing. Geez.

My Sony Blue Ray was updated about 2 years ago for one with a wireless network capability and enhanced audio standards. It is Netflix ready etc.

 

Since we got an AppleTV and set the screen saver to our photostream, we end up leaving it on a lot. It's been a great way to see all the pictures we take that used to get lost on a computer and tiny phone screen.

 

Well it's time for someone who works in TV to chime in!
ME!

4K, while it's the new HD, you are not going see it anytime soon in the Broadcast world. The infrastructure was just upgraded to HD 1080I, it will be at least 2 years before OTA, Directv etc. will be going 4K!

OLED was mentioned, Crutchfield is currently has this offering..

LG 55EA9800 55" 1080p 3D OLED HDTV at Crutchfield.com
$9999.99 Way too much to spend for the average consumer. Give it a couple of years, prices will drop!

Standard LED. great choice, you can get a non 3D LED 65" for around $1000.00 or less. Great picture, low power consumption, it will last at least 4 years, no burns, and will serve you well! Since there is NO SMPTE Standard for 3D, you will not see OTA Network 3D! Espn is toying with it, but it is quirky!

Plasma, as good as Plasma looks, no mater what the dealer tells you PLASMA TV's WILL HAVE BURN IN! While we run our sets, some 24/7 over time every Plasma I have seen has burns. They typically cost about $500 - $1000 more than a LED, their chief advantage was they had better Black Level Control than earlier LED screens. Today, their are 2 manufacturers in China that make pretty much ALL the LED screens, so matter what brand of set you select, the screens are the same!

I personally run a 55" LG in the living room, it works great, and I bought a extended warranty for 3 years, so that set is covered for 5 years. Then technology will have made great leaps and a new HD set will be purchased to upgrade. In my bedroom I have a 37" Vizio, great pic, internet ready price was less than $400!

I don't use Blue Ray, my Sony DVD player works so well I don't need or want to upgrade.

The second part of the equation is make sure you have a good 5.1 Surround Receiver. I run Sony in both living room and bedroom, they run about $3 bills each, then you need good speakers! Since speaker selection is truly personal, I let you figure what sounds good to your ears. Having conducted several "Blind" speaker tests, it is surprising what results are obtained when listeners do not know what they are listening to, but judging on the sound alone!

 

I got a 46" Sony LED last year.

As a lot of people have said, LED is a lot more energy-efficient than Plasma, but even LED TVs usually use electricity when they're on standby, and a lot of TVs only have a standby button. My Sony LED has a proper physical off switch on the side that cuts off all electricity. I like that.

Be careful with your choice of apps. I don't know what the deal is in the US, but in Australia, there are wild differences in what's available. Samsung TVs offered the NRL app, which lets me watch all of the repeats of Rugby League games that I want. Which would be cool if I didn't hate Rugby League. Samsung didn't offer watch-again access to most of the free-to-air channels. Sony offered watch-again access to all the free-to-air channels, which was what I wanted, and I use this a lot.

I have young kids, and the Skype option on the Sony (available on lots of Smart TVs these days I think) is incredibly useful. We live 11,000 miles from my parents, so we Skype a lot, but the kids have always struggled to concentrate if they're huddled round a computer screen. With the TV, they can play on the floor in the living room and continue chatting to my parents, which is great.

 

If you look at a TV in a store, at least turn it on and off to see how long it takes to boot up. Otherwise the TV calibrates you after you buy it.

 

The phantom losses are not Plasma per se. In any case I shut off a switch when the TV is not being used.

Phantom losses are a no no in my home. In fact just this morning I disconnected the ceiling fan's remote control sensor until next summer

 

Per zhenyza, I'd be inclined to get something like a separate Apple TV, rather than bundle everything into the tv.

 

Interesting, mostly conservative choices. I held off for many years before purchasing a flat panel LCD TV. Purchased a 52" Samsung LCD in 2008. It went bad within eight months. I checked the internet and Samsung had problems with bad capacitors. I ordered the replacement capacitors off eBay, but never received them. Having a taste of a big screen LCD, I purchased another Samsung, 55" LED. Kept it for a year and then purchased a Sony 60" LED which we've had for about three years. I finally reordered the bad capacitors for the first Samsung, about five dollars, and it worked fine. Donated it to a family member. I watch about two hours of TV in the morning prior to work, and three to four at night. My wife watches more than I do. A nice TV, coupled with DirecTV, is cheap entertainment and is easily justified by me.

 

Yeah funny thing about that!
We had many of our Flat Screens, and Computer Monitors go bad with the same problem.
In reading on of the trade mags, I discovered a story that explains the problem.
It seems that the Japanese make some of the best Capacitors in the world. A Korean Manufacturer needed tons of caps for the Flat Screen power supplies they supplied to everyone, but did not want to pay the price set by the Japanese.
So they hired a Spy!
The Japanese Cap makers got wind that a spy was coming so they arranged to have him/her steal a formula that looked promising, but in the long run the caps failed in about 1 to 2 years tops! That's because the Japanese had left out one key ingredient that gave the Caps the great life they were known for. The spy made it back to Korea, tonnes of Caps were made wrong, and 2008 is about the time those Caps hit the market!
Even my 2008 42" Olevia TV went bad due to a power surge! I had to replace the power supply caps.
It now works great again!