Upgrading to Flat screen HD TV ?'s

[mauiSRT/10]

Well I think I might as well get on board with everybody else and finally upgrade my tv. I am thinking LCD, 46 inches or larger. What else is a must have option on these tv's? Only options to buy from is Sears and Costco. I am thinking more upscale brands, Sony, Samsung, Sharp, Pioneer etc... I am not sold on Vizio.

Any tips you have for me would be appreciated.

thanks, patrick

 

[OCBob]

Not sure what Philips has out these days, but I have a Philips 65" HD that is about 6 years old. It's been on pretty much since the day we bought it hehehe. Never one problem, great picture.

If you aren't in too much of a hurry keep your eye on Woot. They had a 65" last week for $2299 that sold at Costco for $6999 I think.

 

[jtsdad13]

just got a 47 inch 1080P LCD vizio and the picture is really good. not as good as my parents pioneer though, but i paid a WHOLE lot less for mine. i have heard good things about them. all depends on how/where you plan to use it. i will probably get a plasma for a room i plan on finishing in the basement, because it will be very dark and i will be watching sports. as opposed to the living room with the vizio which is very well lit. just make sure you have HD channels or your picture wont be much better than a normal tv.

 

[jrangel]

just got a 47 inch 1080P LCD vizio and the picture is really good. not as good as my parents pioneer though, but i paid a WHOLE lot less for mine. i have heard good things about them. all depends on how/where you plan to use it. i will probably get a plasma for a room i plan on finishing in the basement, because it will be very dark and i will be watching sports. as opposed to the living room with the vizio which is very well lit. just make sure you have HD channels or your picture wont be much better than a normal tv.

1080P is a must and HDMI, plasma sets are going to be phased out as LCD technology gets better. I love the DLP. Triple DLP is best and is also used in theaters. Ken Kranes over here has them. Sony Bravias are nice LCD's and so are the Mitsu's. Stay away from Phillips and the Visios. Early Samsungs where junk but they are getting better. Panasonic are nice sets.

I went the route of the triple DLP projector. It is just inputs and I can use my choice of components. SAT is great and blue ray thru the Playstation 3 is fantastic.

In my previuous life I was a TV repairman for 20 years.

 

[Black1]

You picked a good time to change-out to new tech. The prices on LCD Flat-screens and Plasmas has dropped dramatically in the last few months. :rock:

I have a 42" Plasma made by Toshiba. I bought it about 3 years ago, and it's on about 20hrs/day. I've never had one single issue with it. The screen is still just as bright as the day I bought it. I really like the contrast on the plasmas much better than LCDs. They say plasma doesn't last as long... But Dad has had to replace his 46" LCD (one Sony and one Samsung) twice, because the screen took a shit. He doesn't have his running nearly as much as we do. :dontknow: I buy a lot of Toshiba stuff because I've never had issues. :rock:

 

[moparracing]

interesting thread........ i, like patrick, am getting ready to make the move too....

 

[jrangel]

You picked a good time to change-out to new tech. The prices on LCD Flat-screens and Plasmas has dropped dramatically in the last few months. :rock:

I have a 42" Plasma made by Toshiba. I bought it about 3 years ago, and it's on about 20hrs/day. I've never had one single issue with it. The screen is still just as bright as the day I bought it. I really like the contrast on the plasmas much better than LCDs. They say plasma doesn't last as long... But Dad has had to replace his 46" LCD (one Sony and one Samsung) twice, because the screen took a shit. He doesn't have his running nearly as much as we do. :dontknow: I buy a lot of Toshiba stuff because I've never had issues. :rock:

The Plama is the like the old vacumm tube crt. With age they just get flat and the pictures are washed out. You can see that in bars and pizza house's. The next evolution of the LCD is going to fix the delay or the spreed of the way the LCD reacts to movement and is going to be great. I was in Vegas at the consumer electronic show and these sets where there and they looked incredible. Last year is where I saw the triple DLP and it just was like WOW. I had to get that. If you have the room like the basement you cannot beat up to 100" clear picture.

 

[wheredwhogo?]

i have a 60 inch vizio that is great, had it 2 years, i have a 55 inch LG LCD that is also good, and I have two 42 inch LG LCD's that I mainly use for gaming, but they are good as well. If you are looking bang for buck, VIZIO is the way to go. They also have great customer service. I bought the 60 inch plasma when it first came out, and thier wall mount was designed wrong and couldnt really hold the 60 inch, I pointed it out to them and they bought and shipped me a different wall mount, and returned my money on thiers. So there ya go.

 

[avmech]

I don't know if you play video games or if you have grand children that play video games but a plasma TV will get images burnt into the screen as where a LCD will not. Also for a cheaper alternitave and in my opinion has a better quality picture DLP is the way to go. They are getting thinner all the time and will last longer then the plasma.

 

[Alberta-SRT]

interesting thread........ i, like patrick, am getting ready to make the move too....

Me too, just finished my basement and will be getting one soon as well, good advice guys...keep it coming.
A lot of the hotels I stay in now have flat screens and the delay on some of them when changing or especially scrolling thru the channels on them drives me nuts.
Right now all we have at home is cable, no HD, no PPV. I have been holding out because so many of the sets I've seen look shitty with just cable. And of course in the stores they all have digital TV and they all look great.
So what do you guys reccomend for cable only?

And please don't just say "Get digital"

 

[kyle's srt10]

I have had a vizio 50'' plasma for over a year now and love it:rock: :rock: I wanted a samsung but didn't want to shell out an extra 1k for it

 

[CrazyUSMarine]

my plasma has the amblilight and its nice in the dark watching tv. dont get anything less than 1080i. 1080p is the new generation but you will pay for it. stay with the higher end models.

Yeah, mines got amblilight also. And its a Plasma. Has a bulb life of 16,000 hours. So if you do have it on for just 10 hours a day, you have years left on the tv. Its nont as bead as some people percieve. Phillips has been a pretty great brand to me. But if you compare, sometimes the knockoff brands are the excact same thing as the pricier brands. Just like Ford, Mazda, and now Jaguar...

 

[ChrisAZ]

I have a Panasonic Plasma that has been great for two years now. I paid a lot more than what they go for now. I also have a Sony Plasma that is newer but the Panasonic looks better visually. I was afraid to buy a lesser brand when spending this kind of money.

 

[Black1]

....
So what do you guys reccomend for cable only?

And please don't just say "Get digital"

I've had great luck with Brighthouse Digital Cable. Their programming is good, and they have lots of packages to choose from. Their cable internet is VERY good too.

I've heard Direct TV and Dish Network have changed their ways lately, and now offer good service. I have personal experience with Direct TV from years ago, and I will never use them again. But, folks that I know that have Satellite TV now tell me they love it. :dontknow: I think it's pretty unanimous, however, that the Satellite internet SUCKS.

 

[jrangel]

Me too, just finished my basement and will be getting one soon as well, good advice guys...keep it coming.
A lot of the hotels I stay in now have flat screens and the delay on some of them when changing or especially scrolling thru the channels on them drives me nuts.
Right now all we have at home is cable, no HD, no PPV. I have been holding out because so many of the sets I've seen look shitty with just cable. And of course in the stores they all have digital TV and they all look great.
So what do you guys reccomend for cable only?

And please don't just say "Get digital"

Directv HD is the only way to go. I had the Dish Network and it was not as good and Cable just sucks. Go DLP or LCD.

 

[OCBob]

I had some pretty bad dealings with Directv, I'll never have it again. And I was one of the very first customers they ever had. I had it within 30 days of it being offered in California, they still thought nothing of trying to screw me over good years later.

 

[Soapy]

I have had a 65 inch Sony DLP for about 4 years and no problems. I have a 50 inch Pioneer plasma for 2 years and it is probably the best overall picture of any I have. Panasonic bought pioneer and sharp this year. I like the DLP TVs since they are so light and easy to move around. I just got a panasonic 42 inch and too early to tell how it will hold up but it is a good picture right now. I bought a Nexxus for my mom and it is going bad in less than 2 year. Get a Tv with at least 2 or more HDMI inputs and 1080i like said before.

 

[mauiSRT/10]

Thanks guys. I appreciate the tips. Gonna go look later today.

patrick

 

[OCBob]

You know what would be really cool? A tv will built in wireless networking. Have some software that would allow you to use it as a computer monitor so that you could watch stuff right off your laptop. Hell, just have a browser on it and you could surf the net on it. Could even hook up your game system wireless.

I don't think there is anything out there, at least I've never seen it.

 

[Alberta-SRT]

Directv HD is the only way to go. I had the Dish Network and it was not as good and Cable just sucks. Go DLP or LCD.

For my wife, cable is just fine. I'm not home that much and when I am I hardly watch any TV. She does not want another remote and we don't have room in our stand for anymore hardware, plus I would still like my Picture in Picture to work. We may upgrade in the future when I stop travelling, but for now we have plenty of channels and 1 remote from our BOSE home theater that runs everything. Even that took her way to long to figure out. At the farm we have a dish and she finds it too complicated. So what type of Flatscreen would be the best for basic cable?