Topic: Help me buy a new TV!

[UncleBob]

With the new house, an extra nice check from Wal*Mart for really screwing up my pay a few years ago and Best Buy offering no interest on purchases $999 or up, my wife is actually excited about the idea of getting a new TV.

Unfortunatly, with all these new fangled TV options now-a-days, I'm not certian what to get.

So, I come to you asking for help.

I want big (42"-ish), I want a flat panel, I want to be able to use it for gaming (duh) and I'd like the option to hook my PC into it. Also, the upper price limit is going to be about $1500 (it was a nice check).

With these in mind, would anyone have some more reccomendations as to what I should get?

Since I'm stuck browsing on mobile web right now, it'd be wonderful if you are able to include a direct URL to a product on the BestBuy.com site.

Thanks in advance for your help.

[ShyGuy]

42 inch is really getting plasma sized, or maybe a rear projection?

[BigJim]

Just yesterday I ordered the 42" Panasonic TH-42PX60U Plasma.  Panny is very highly rated and is about the best you'll find in the price range. BB is selling it for $1600, though.  For what it's worth, Amazon's price is fluctuating between $1300 and $1400.

Best Buy Page | Amazon Link

It doesn't have a direct PC link, but there are cheap adapters/cables that should do the trick. The best prices for those are on monoprice.com.

As with most plasmas, you'll wanna give the panel a proper break-in period and then calibrate the settings to give you the best picture.

- Breaking in a Plasma
- Recommended Calibration Settings (Set AFTER break-in period) Tweak to your delight if you aren't happy with these settings.

You don't need to be too concerned about burn-in. It takes a long time to really burn the phosphors. *IF* you ever get any kind of image retention, it might look like burn-in at first but it goes away by changing the channel or putting on a cartoon or something that will wipe it out.    

[GoldenPhoenix]

OK here is my advice from personal experience, after ending up taking back 2 TVs, I finally found a great TV and one you may be interested in. I ended up with the Hitachi - UltraVision 42" Plasma HDTV, it costs around 1500$ and has a great picture. Not only that but it has burn-in protection features such as pixel orbiting and white wash, in addition to 3 HDMI hookups, instead of the normal 2.

Everything looks gorgeous, including the Wii to an extent. In regards to burn-in with all the protection features, you can also create a burn-in DVD which you let play in your TV when you are not watching it. It is recommended to run your TV at least 100hrs before you play anything with static images, though I've heard 200 is the optimal amount (which I did). That may sound like a long time but with the Burn-in dvd you can have it doing it while you are away or in bed for the night.

Hitachi is a trusted manufacturer and I can definately vouch for its screen quality (in addition it has a slightly higher resolution than most other Plasmas). With that said you may also want to look into LCD TVs, such as the Westinghouse or HP ones which can hit around 42 inches for under 1500$. Be warned though, if you are like me, you may be able to see a ever so slight "blur" when images are quickly moving on the screen, even with response times as low as 8ms or 6ms, but this depends on the person. In conclusion if you purchase a TV get one at a place like Best Buy or perhaps Circuit City which have a pretty no-hassle way to return your TV. Heck they let me return two TVs without the original boxes!

[oohhboy]

As an ex electronics saleman, I swear by Panasonic, especially the plasmas. Never see them come back to the store. The Toshiba LCDs are great, they look a little better than the Panny LCDs (Panasonic is far more invested in Plasmas) and cheaper than Sony. Sony quality wise is good, but over-priced, But the Sony TVs do have nicer user friendly front ends.

At 32 inch or below, go LCD. Above, go Plasma. Rear projection LCDs aren't that great. The brightness, colors, everything about it is sub-par. But they are much lighter than anything out there for it's size, but why would you want to move it after you have installed it.

Don't be tempted to go too "cheap" though, you will pay for it in the future. The cheap stuff lack any future proofing or long term reliablity.

Of course you could always go the projector route...

[Bubba]

Am I the only one reccomending a front projector?  You can pick up a pretty bright dlp projector with screen and mount for 1500.  I am not up to speed with the current models out there, but I know this is definitely a good option for you.  A 100 inch screen is certainly better than a 42 inch screen.

[BranDonk Kong]

Don't get a Plasma, they have the highest burn in rate. Buy this TV - it's a 1080p Samsung DLP, very high rated, and pretty damn cheap from this site (FACTORY refurbished and tested/inspected). It'll be $1400 after shipping, and only weighs about 75 pounds, IIRC, so it'll be easy to get in the house.
http://secondact.biz/product/HLS5087WRB
Actually, it's $1300 including delivery. I don't think you have to pay tax, either.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Quote
Originally posted by: Brandogg
Don't get a Plasma, they have the highest burn in rate. Buy this TV - it's a 1080p Samsung DLP, very high rated, and pretty damn cheap from this site (FACTORY refurbished and tested/inspected). It'll be $1400 after shipping, and only weighs about 75 pounds, IIRC, so it'll be easy to get in the house.
http://secondact.biz/product/HLS5087WRB
Actually, it's $1300 including delivery. I don't think you have to pay tax, either.

Burn-in is severely overrated, and is almost eliminated if you limit your viewing for 200 hrs to burn-in DVDs or moving pictures. The trouble with a DLP TV is that it doesn't have a very big viewing angle, so it is really dependend on where you want to put it.

[Caliban]

DLPs, considering their size, are very light. Before I bought mine (50"), I compared its weight with the weight of a LCD and a Plasma screen, and the DLP was lighter, but only by a difference of about 10Kg.

GoldenPhoenix: As for the viewing angle situation, and as far as I can tell from my own experience, it is the vertical viewing angle that has a problem, it darkens just a little bit but you can definitely still see everything on the screen, I played alot of WiiSports and Pangya while standing up and I have no complaints about it.

The only DLP downside? Light bulb replacement.

UncleBob, after you purchase a new TV there is one thing to take into account, calibration. You see, the TVs that you see on display at your local electronics store are calibrated so that they have an appealing image but when in fact they are not properly calibrated. All HDTVs come calibrated with factory settings, which are far from ideal.

Actually before you even buy a new TV there are many things you might learn that will just drive you insane and well you might just buy a TV on impulse.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Well I still think you should consider getting one from a place with no hassle returns so you can be certain, nothing is worse than spending 1000-1500$ for a TV that you are dissapointed in.