HDTV help

O

Ocho Cinco

< 25 Posts
well, after a long marriage with my DLP, I have had enough. I am going to upgrade this weekend to a LCD or Plasma, but I know very little about either. What does everyone around here like? Do plasmas still get burn ins / did they ever? What gives the better picture on HD channels and regular channels? What are the top brands for plasma and LCD? I am loking to get either a 46 or 50 inch if that makes any difference at all. Any information that you can provide would be a great help. Also, I don't really plan on going over $4,000. Thanks for the help guys.
 
I don't think plasmas suffer the burn-in that they used to. And LCDs have much better blacks than they used to. Both techs have come a good way over the last couple years.

For plasmas I've always heard to go with the 'P' brands, Pioneer and Panasonic.

For LCDs the 'S' brands Sony and Samsung. Now days though I think most the panels are probably made by the same chinese workers, so who knows.

I have a samsung lcd and I'm very happy with it. I will say that Vizio TVs have gone from being complete crap to pretty good TVs in a short time.

Just be sure to mess with the settings as they usually won't be what you want right out of the box. avsforums.com is a good resource to see others' opinions.
 
If you're willing to spend 3 grand, look no further: the link. Probably the best TV for 3 grand.

That being said, you can get a decent 50" 1080p set for a little over $2k, but the Kuro should blow it away.
 
Are plasma/LCD a step up from DLP?

I'm also looking into buying one. I've been told by numerous people to buy from amazon.com - the price is usually 15 - 25% and they deliver it for free. A couple of my friends have done this and it worked out great.
 
For the tech novices out there, if you order from Amazon can you also purchase an "complete installation" option?
 
Let me second the amazon recommendation. Go to Best Buy, Circuit City, whatever, and check out the TVs to see which one you like best. Write down the model number, go home, and look it up on amazon, and it will probably be at least 20% cheaper (plus no tax and free delivery). It would be borderline sooner-ish not to do it this way.

Also, and this applies no matter where you buy your tv, put it on your AMEX card, as they double (up to a year) the manufacturer's warranty. Your neat little one-year warranty thus becomes a two-year warranty for free.
 
If I was going to buy a rear projection, a LED DLP would be what I would get. Does anybody other than Samsung make these?
 
So you are trying to keep it under 4k which opens your budget up to almost anything in a 46-50" size. Unless you have huge amount of light facing straight into the set and you are sitting right infront of it, I would have to say plasma is your best set, weather it is sitting on a stand or on the wall. I believe you won't find anything that gives a better black more accurate color and better with fast motion than a Pioneer unit. If you are worried about glare off of the screen and you are going to go to an lcd panel, take a look at the new Sharp special addition series and or the Sony xbr4 or there new w4100, I have been very impressed with how these sets have performed as well. Becareful if you go after one of the upper samsung units if you are worried about glare. Their sets use a plastic screen on them to help bring up brightness and contrast but also will act just like a plasma with glare. Yes rear projection is a very inexpensive route to go but don't be surprised that if you only see 65" and larger on the market by this time next year. The manufactures are not making a lot off of them so they are dropping them. Take a look at what Toshiba, Sony and Phillips have done. They all have pulled the plug on it late last year. Walk around most stores and you will see fewer and fewer of these sets on the floor. Hope this helped you out. If you want pm me and I would be more then happy to give you additional help or deal if you are in Austin.
 
Plasma. IMO, side-by-side, plasma blows away any other format (I had a Samsung DLP (too much pixelating and crush), Pioneer 720p plasma, and currently a Panny 1080p plasma). There just is not that "pop" with other technologies. The suggestion above on the Pio 1080p plasma is dead on. It will give you all the "blacks" you need and blow away other sets with a true 1080p source. Pio has some future tech that they call ultra black or somesuch and the comparisons are incredible. This is when I will upgrade.
 
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