Ready to buy a new TV. What type?

[jdurg]

Hey All. As of about 4 hours ago, I officially became the owner of a house! I signed all the paperwork and received the keys to my own home. It feels REALLY good. Even better is that I have $9,000 left in my bank account after all the massive payments and am ready to furnish the place. Granted, I need to get myself a dryer, a new bed/mattress, and some furniture, but I figure that I have enough money to spend about $1,400 MAXIMUM on a new TV.

I don't have the room for a projector so something about 42" maximum would fit great in my new living room. I just don't know if I should go with a plasma TV, an LCD TV, or something else. I'd like it to be something I can hang on a wall, so Projection TVs and CRTs are out of the question. It's just that technology has changed so much recently that I have no idea what's best.

I'd appreciate any advice on model and manufacturer for this new TV that I want to purchase.

[limacharliewhiskey]

You will generally get a better quality image from plasma than you would from LCD. However, if your living room is brightly lit up, reflections may be a problem from the glass on the plasma.

Other reasons to consider LCD: playing video games (less burn-in risk than plasma), 1080p cheaper if you have HD-DVD or Blu-Ray.

I went with the plasma because of the better video quality.

[rixrex]

Congrats on the house, you will not regret it I am sure.

How big is the living room? You have no other room you'd set up for viewing?

I personally prefer the Pioneer Elite series, but they are pricey and not readily available at discount stores. My second choice is Mitsubishi, which you can find at discount stores.

I have a viewing room, so-called home theater room, that is approx 12x14 and have my 64" Pioneer widescreen in there. It's an older Elite rear-proj model, but is still great for the room and not too big. I wouldn't go bigger however for that room. Are you certain you cannot go for a larger set and perhaps a rear-proj model? I think you can get more for the limited money you have. If they aren't CRT, they are really pretty lightweight, and not too deep.

I relegated my older Mitsubishi 52" standard screen TV to the living room. It's one of those nice wood cabinet models with closing doors and is used to watch TV broadcasts and football, etc. I was always pleased with the superb quality this Mitsu had even though it has standard video inputs, and all newer Mitsus I've seen are superb too.

We are lucky here in So Cal area in that there are many, many discount stores where big TV sets go for low prices. Nearby here there is a Sony outlet store that has some fine Sony models for cheap, and there's the typical big box stores, plus lots of independent discount places that sell overstock and b-stock or demo or slightly damaged items.

That's how I got my Pioneer Elite, it was a $6000 retail set that had a broken mirror that was marked $1200. The mirror cost about $120 from Pioneer parts store and was such an easy mounting that I did it myself. A little bit of adjustment and the set was good to go. Now it's the movie viewing set, and the Mitsu handles the rest.

[sub780lime]

I know you said 42", but you are really going to find suggestions for bigger sets. Is it mandatory that you mount it. I have seen my TV on sale for as low as $1799 if can stretch yourself. It puts out a beautiful picture and I loved it so far.

[rixrex]

Originally Posted by sub780lime

I know you said 42", but you are really going to find suggestions for bigger sets.

Right, the measuring system used for widescreen TVs is the same as for standard TVs, meaning that it is the diagonal measure in inches. This often results in a misassumption of image size on the part of the buyer. Often a buyer will assume that the widescreen set has more image area even if the same stated size is used, whereas the opposite is true. That is, they'll assume a 42" widescreen is naturally bigger than a 42" standard, and this isn't so.

For example, a widescreen TV with 42" size means that the screen is about 21" tall x 36" wide, and a overall screen size would be approx 756 square inches viewing area. Conversely, a standard 4:3 apect ratio screen of 42" diagonal has screen size of about 25" tall x 33.5" wide, and is approx 838 square inches viewing area.

This sometimes leads to folks picking a screen that's smaller than they really could use and enjoy. If you were to view a standard 4:3 image on a widescreen TV of a 42" diagonal measure, with correct sidebars, the image would be basically the equivalent of watching it on a 34" standard TV, or midway between a 32" and 36" set, since 34" isn't made.

Now if you are used to a 42" standard TV, the equivalent of that set in widescreen would be 52", and if you are used to a 52" standard TV, the widescreen equivalent would be 64", meaning equivalency in having the same size set with the extended area for widescreen images. It will still be comfortable for viewing. This is why I got a 64" widescreen since I'd been use to watching a 52" standard set.

Of course if your only experience has been with 25" or 27" sets, then 42" will be a jump up for you regardless, but at some point you'll wish you went bigger if your room is larger than an average 9x12 bedroom. You'll never know unless the set is in the home because looking at them all together in the big store is misleading.

Don't let the manufacturer's suggested screen size for room size charts at the stores fool you, they always seem to suggest a smaller size than you can really handle. I can view my 64" set from a distance of between 8 to 12 ft without problem. It just looks like a movie theater screen when you're closer.

One way to figure it out is to put up posters the sizes of the various screen sizes and sit back and see what you think. Or even use a slide projector where you can crop the slide with black tape for widescreen sizing.

[Rileydog]

I guess I am mooching off of this already started post. A friend is buying the tv in the below link. As usual, the sales person tried to take advantage and sell her a $220 gold plated monster cable HDMI 1.3.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1169512521864

My question- how do you know what version of HDMI you can use or should use?

where is the best place online to buy cables, obviously looking for cheaper?

what kind should she get?

what do the cables do and what are the differences between the .1, .2, .3 cables?

[chlngr1970]

A couple places that I have heard of are Bettercables.com, and Blujeanscables.com. Personaly, if I didn't get such a good discount, there would be no Monster Cable in my HT.

j

[PunkMunkey]

Originally Posted by Rileydog

what do the cables do and what are the differences between the .1, .2, .3 cables?

To the best of my knowledge, there is no difference in a 1.1, 1.2 or 1.3 cable. HDMI cable is HDMI cable as far as the version is concerned...it's only the hardware that is governed by the 1.X spec.

[Toefur]

Try Monoprice.com. I haven't tried out their HDMI cables yet, but thier other ones are great.

[Sehnzeleid]

Originally Posted by Toefur

Try Monoprice.com. I haven't tried out their HDMI cables yet, but thier other ones are great.

Yep, only place to get HDMI cables IMO. Though all their cables are very solid for their relatively low price. Also just to note, HDMI cables are pretty much all the same, if you get a signal, you're good. If HDMI has a problem, you'll either get no signal or extremely obvious signal drop outs. The only real time for concern over HDMI cable quality is over long runs, like 25+ feet.

I like Blue Jeans Cable too, very nice analog cables and speedy service.

[Ruined]

I would go with rear projection LCOS (Sony SXRD, JVC HDILA), flat panel LCD (Toshiba REGZA, Sony Bravia, Sharp AQUOS), or rear projection LED DLP (Samsung LED-based DLP). Any of these should satisfy, it just depends which you like both the external looks of best as well as have the most comfort viewing for extended periods of time.

[sub780lime]

Cablesforless.com is a great place to get cables at discounted price. I own quite a few cables from them and they are of a good quality and sound great.

[jdurg]

Thanks for all the input everyone. My furniture was delivered this past Wednesday, so once the Living Room was set up I decided to start looking at TVs. Both the furniture delivery guys and the cable hook-up person suggested a local discount appliance store since I needed a dryer AND a television. I went to the store and saw a wide array of TVs. First things first, however, and I needed to get my dryer. Thankfully, the dryer I got was on sale for about $300 cheaper than I anticipated and so I was able to put that extra money on a TV.

I looked around the TV area at the store which was actually fairly well lit. When deciding between plasma and LCD, I went with LCD since I plan on watching a LOT of SD TV and don't like stretching the image to fill the screen. Therefore, the bars on the side of the image could present issues and I don't want to deal with burn-in. Plus, the energy savings from using an LCD, while not monumental, are something I noticed.

Anyway, I went down one aisle and they had some LG TVs out there which looked great. I was mezmorized by one 42" TV and then turned around to see the same TV but with 1080p capabilities. I was amazed. I decided to pick that one up and bought the LG L42LB5D model. It was delivered today, and sadly I have a slight tear in my left quad muscle and so my movement is limited. I need to wait until probably next weekend to get it set up and ready for viewing. Still, the TV is the perfect size for my living room. My living room is about 12x14 and the screen will be the perfect distance from where my couch resides and everything will look good for me. I'm psyched to get this TV, and in doing so it also gave me the motivation to do some wiring in my house. (I'm not handy at all, so I decided to start out by installing a new Coaxial jack as well as a CAT5e jack on one wall since it seemed pretty simple. I'm now in the process of networking my entire house. )

I'll try and get some photos up once my meager home theatre is set up. It won't be anywhere near as nice as some people's, but for a 27 year old who just bought his first house, it's the best home theatre out there in my eyes.

[rixrex]

Sounds good! I also cannot stand stretching the 4:3 (fullscreen) images, but even though I have a CRT projector set which is more sensitive to that, my DVDO has built in gray scale sidebar choices to stop any constant image effects. The dark gray sidebar is great and does the job, and gives the video image more apparent contrast than the black sidebar.

Sidebars themselves don't create burn-in but do effect the screen in that there can eventually be a visible difference between the sidebar area and the rest of the screen due to "less use" of that area. However, it is not going to happen if you regularly watch both widescreen and fullscreen, just as when there use to be black bars at top and bottom on fullscreen sets when viewing widescreen. You'd pretty much have to watch fullscreen with sidebars almost exclusively to get the effect.

Glad 42" will work out for you. I don't think I could go down to that size now that I'm used to the 64" set. 1080 HD is great but the difference is less noticable on a smaller set than a larger set. Also don't think a muscle tear would stop me from getting somebody to help set it up immediately.

I just buy 2cnd hand Maytag washers/dryers. Last set I had cost $150 for both and lasted 12 yrs, and just last year I got another set for cheap. But my TV has got to be GOOD!

[Derb]

grats on the new tv.

With LCD, theres no worry about burn-in. You could watch fullscreen content on it (black mattes on the sides) all day without worry.

One thing which I have seen with practically every LCD based display is a few pixels become dead within the first week of viewing so don't be alarmed if you see some pixels stuck on a certain color. From proper viewing distances, (even if you know where the pixel is) it is impossible to see or point out. Also they in no way interfere with overall picture performance.

1080p nice. My eyes are used to a 60" display so on one of my tv tests, I decided to try a 46" display. Gave me headaches within only an hour. Funny thing is this happens if you go from a smaller to larger set as well. If your previous tv was around the same size (42) than I wouldn't worry about that. I'd first turn the contrast & brightness way down. Them factory settings are killer.

Enjoy your new HDTV.

[Iguana Man]

Congrats on the new TV (and house) Jdurg!

If you don't already have one, I'd suggest getting a calibration dvd for your new tv. Avia or the new DVD Essentials.

[sub780lime]

Originally Posted by Iguana Man

Congrats on the new TV (and house) Jdurg!

If you don't already have one, I'd suggest getting a calibration dvd for your new tv. Avia or the new DVD Essentials.

Dvd essentials is great, if you can understand it.

[jdurg]

Originally Posted by Derb

1080p nice. My eyes are used to a 60" display so on one of my tv tests, I decided to try a 46" display. Gave me headaches within only an hour. Funny thing is this happens if you go from a smaller to larger set as well. If your previous tv was around the same size (42) than I wouldn't worry about that. I'd first turn the contrast & brightness way down. Them factory settings are killer.

Enjoy your new HDTV.

I noticed that when I hooked it all up today. I've been so used to looking at a 25" 15 year-old CRT Television that the new 1080p LCD was making my eyes feel weird and my head hurt just a tiny bit. I popped in my T2 Ultimate Edition DVD and used the calibration set-up it has which made things better. Thankfully, each of the different inputs can be configured in different ways, so I have my regular TV viewing setup with MUCH lower contrast and brightness. It made it much easier on the eyes.

I've learned a few things today from hooking up my new TV;

1): I love 1080p set-ups.
2): My cable company used the cheapest digital receiver ever. It only outputs an analog signal which looks HORRIBLE on my TV. It basically looks like watching a low-res MPEG movie on a high resolution screen. I'm calling them tomorrow and demanding a receiver with digital output because that is what they advertised on their "package offer".
3): An X-Box will play a DVD, but god is it pretty bad quality. I have a regular X-Box and have been using it as my DVD player since I used to watch DVDs on my tiny, 17" LCD computer monitor. It looked great there. On a 42" screen, however, the fact that it's a bare-minimum DVD player shows. I need to get me a nicer DVD player with component outputs and good conversion for the resolution.
4): With a High-Def Television, tiny flaws in DVDs that I never noticed before are now VERY noticeable.
5): I can't wait to hook-up my meager surround-sound speakers and pop in LoTR.

[rixrex]

Report back on the cable company's response, please. Interested to hear what they do.

Yeah, you've got to have a stand-alone DVD player if you want to get the best image, and you'll probably find that you'll want a top quality model too that you can't get at a walmart, like Pioneer or such. I have used on my HD set with good results these models: Pioneer, Panasonic, and a Philips industrial use model. Also found JVC a good one, I tried the model that had the HDMI output with variable HD settings options and it was fine.

The DVD flaws you'll notice are irritating which is why I kept all my LDs, as they don't have the same type of irritating flaws that DVD has, and also why I went with a DVDO unit to enhance my video devices to HD format. Best purchase I ever made.

[dugpa]

Originally Posted by jdurg

2): My cable company used the cheapest digital receiver ever. It only outputs an analog signal which looks HORRIBLE on my TV. It basically looks like watching a low-res MPEG movie on a high resolution screen. I'm calling them tomorrow and demanding a receiver with digital output because that is what they advertised on their "package offer".

With most cable companies to get a box with a digital out (HDMI or DVI) you have to get one of the HD boxes as they are the only ones that have them. So if you don't subscribe to any HD channels on cable, you probably won't get a box with a digital out.

[chlngr1970]

And, since an HD DVD player can be had for a song more than a good upcon ( or a LOT cheeper than a GREAT upcon ***cough***Denon***cough*** ), you might want to at least consider a nice Toshiba HD-A2, or HD-A3

That said, if you get an upcon, make sure it has an HDMI output as CSS limmits DVD output over component to 480p. HDMI, however can go all the way to 1080P with current technology.

j

[sub780lime]

Originally Posted by jdurg

4): With a High-Def Television, tiny flaws in DVDs that I never noticed before are now VERY noticeable.

Unfortunately that is just one of the trade-offs. I have noticed a significant difference with my Upconvert 1080p DVD player. Puts out a better image then my old 720p player or my HD-DVD Add-on Drive for my 360.

[jdurg]

Originally Posted by rixrex

Report back on the cable company's response, please. Interested to hear what they do.

Yeah, you've got to have a stand-alone DVD player if you want to get the best image, and you'll probably find that you'll want a top quality model too that you can't get at a walmart, like Pioneer or such. I have used on my HD set with good results these models: Pioneer, Panasonic, and a Philips industrial use model. Also found JVC a good one, I tried the model that had the HDMI output with variable HD settings options and it was fine.

The DVD flaws you'll notice are irritating which is why I kept all my LDs, as they don't have the same type of irritating flaws that DVD has, and also why I went with a DVDO unit to enhance my video devices to HD format. Best purchase I ever made.

Well, I talked with a cable company representative at Metrocast and she said that I'd probably need to get an HD package to get the receiver with a digital output. She said she felt bad that the advertising made it seem as though I would get a digital receiver. I asked her why they couldn't just give me the HD box and not give me the channels so that I could at LEAST get the digital output. I was then told I'd still need to pay the extra $11 each month. Finally, I just mentioned that I might be better off going with a Satellite company, and before I could finish speaking, she set up an appointment with a Technician this Saturday who will bring an HD box and see if something can be worked out. They sound desperate to keep me as a customer. Next year, if I can get the promotion at work I'm hoping for, I'll be able to afford the HD package easily. Or, I could always just rent out a room in my house for $600 flat each month and that would give me the funds I need.

For a DVD Player, I'm looking into a brand called "Oppo" as I read that their upconversion hardware is incredible and the image coming out of the SD player is nearly as good as some HD players. So I'll be looking into that a bit more. Trouble is, those players cost near $200 but at least it's not the $300-$400 that the HD/Blue-Ray players cost. (I'm not getting one of those until the format war has long since died).

[SilentBob]

Originally Posted by jdurg

For a DVD Player, I'm looking into a brand called "Oppo" as I read that their upconversion hardware is incredible and the image coming out of the SD player is nearly as good as some HD players. So I'll be looking into that a bit more. Trouble is, those players cost near $200 but at least it's not the $300-$400 that the HD/Blue-Ray players cost. (I'm not getting one of those until the format war has long since died).

Or for the same price as the Oppo you can get the Toshiba HD-A2 High Def player with the Upconversion hardware and 7 free HD-DVD movies from Amazon.com 5 are mail in and 2 you get to pick right away from Amazon.com

So really you get the player and join the new format wars for under $100 with all the free movies you get.

[jdurg]

Originally Posted by SilentBob

Or for the same price as the Oppo you can get the Toshiba HD-A2 High Def player with the Upconversion hardware and 7 free HD-DVD movies from Amazon.com 5 are mail in and 2 you get to pick right away from Amazon.com

So really you get the player and join the new format wars for under $100 with all the free movies you get.

That's not a bad idea. Right now, watching my TV with a Hi-Def feed and my surround speakers hooked up, I'm in heaven. I can't believe how good it looks. This "newer" model receiver the cable company gave me looks GREAT! I can only cringe when I think of what the bill is going to be at the end of the month. On the bright side, the technician who came over felt my pain and knew I understood what all the differences were. He mentioned that the company doesn't do a count on his cables at the end of the day, and since I was his last stop to just go into his van and pick out any cables I could want. So I was able to get a few HDMI cables, and three or four Component cables of different lengths for nothing. Probably over $100 worth of cables for free. Not too bad.