Topic: tskb: televisions

[saxophoner]

my parents are looking into getting a new television.  the old one is fading in and out, gets blurry, and takes a minute for the picture to arrive on the screen when you power on.  don't know much about the HD/Lcd/Flatscreen so any info would be great.  it's going in the living room so 30in minimum.  something around the $500-700 range.  any tips or advice on what to NOT get?

[cheshirecat]

check out www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com lots of info there.  Sorry I don't have more info in your price range, but that side has a ton of info that I found useful when I was in the market for a new tele.

[kingfish]

just a couple of what not to do's here:

the vizios from circuit city, walmart, stc, are terrible lcd's.  dont be suckered by the prices, which are great.  see it in person.  no depth, washed out color, tiling, etc.  good for bars, bad for hd home setups.

at micro center, they have the akai plasma.  i think the picture looks pretty good, and the price is awesome.  but i have heard, and done just a little bit of research, that the electronics are inferior.  the lowest quality build coming from the far east.

we got a phillips, tube based 36" hdtv.  the screen is flat, with a 16:9 ratio, is not as "sexy" as a flat panel, but does 1080i really well, and it was 600 on closeout at circuit city.  i love that tv, but it weighs a ton.  with no additional hd tuner to buy.

as with alot of things, you get what you pay for.  ymmv

my totally unedumacted .02

hth

[John Kelly]

Disagree completely about the Vizios.  Are they going to have the best picture?  Hell no.  But they have a very good picture and the prices are fantastic.  They consistently get "good" ratings whenever they're reviewed.

Depending on the amount of light in your room, I'd look at Panasonic plasma TVs.  I think costco still carries the 60U TV's in their stores, which are the 720p models and you can get a 42" for under $100 now.  The 1080p models are out too, but they're considerably more expensive.

[cheshirecat]

Disagree completely about the Vizios.  Are they going to have the best picture?  Hell no.  But they have a very good picture and the prices are fantastic.  They consistently get "good" ratings whenever they're reviewed.

Depending on the amount of light in your room, I'd look at Panasonic plasma TVs.  I think costco still carries the 60U TV's in their stores, which are the 720p models and you can get a 42" for under $100 now.  The 1080p models are out too, but they're considerably more expensive.

I have a 42" 600U and I'm very happy with it.  The new models are the 75U and 700U respectively (700U has cablecard input, and a few extra bells and whistles) and will do 1080p (but they also lowered the contrast spec to 5000:1 from 10000:1 for the 60U series panel).

Anyway, the one thing I've noticed is the algorithms that different manufacturers use to stretch the picture from SD to full screen vary a lot.  I'm very happy with the way the Panasonic does this (using 'FULL' mode most of the time).  Some Mfgs tend to stretch the picture and it looks pretty distorted.  Definately something to play with in the store and see what you like.

[John Kelly]

I much prefer the "Just" mode - it takes a bit of getting used to but people don't appear as stretched as on the Full mode.

[cheshirecat]

I much prefer the "Just" mode - it takes a bit of getting used to but people don't appear as stretched as on the Full mode.

Damn, you're right, Just was what I was thinking of.  Full just shows you what the original signal was.