The big "How do I choose an HDTV?" thread.

Strangeblades wrote:

Is it safe to fiddle with the hertz on my 50" plasma? I'm using it for my PC's gaming monitor but the screen seems to flicker a teeny bit. I can use my video card to change the hertz thing right?

Your video card can only change to refresh rates supported by your TV, so whatever refresh rates show up on the menu, as long as it is only showing compatible framerates (which it does by default), will be safe. However it probably doesn't support anything higher than 60hz. If it's at that and you're still seeing flicker, there's probably not much you can do.

So I'm looking to get a 32 inch TV sometime soon. And I was curious if there was any significant difference between LCD and Plasma? Are the viewing angles better with one or the other? This will be our new living room and gaming TV, so I'm kind of excited for something shiny and that doesn't have the colors changing in the corners.

Dominic Knight wrote:

So I'm looking to get a 32 inch TV sometime soon. And I was curious if there was any significant difference between LCD and Plasma? Are the viewing angles better with one or the other? This will be our new living room and gaming TV, so I'm kind of excited for something shiny and that doesn't have the colors changing in the corners.

You won't find any 32 inch plasmas. They tend to start in the high 40 and low 50 inch range.

Thin_J wrote:
Dominic Knight wrote:

So I'm looking to get a 32 inch TV sometime soon. And I was curious if there was any significant difference between LCD and Plasma? Are the viewing angles better with one or the other? This will be our new living room and gaming TV, so I'm kind of excited for something shiny and that doesn't have the colors changing in the corners.

You won't find any 32 inch plasmas. They tend to start in the high 40 and low 50 inch range.

Yeah, the smallest are 40-42". Domenic it sounds like you would want a plasma though, as they definitely are superior in viewing angles. Can you possibly fit a 42" TV?

But also consider whether brightness is an issue. If your room gets a significant amount of ambient light, especially daylight, you may prefer an LCD because they tend to have greater brightness and less glare (matte screen vs. plasma's glass) than plasmas.

Panasonic once made a 32" Plasma as did Vizio..but good luck finding them now

Thin_J wrote:
Dominic Knight wrote:

So I'm looking to get a 32 inch TV sometime soon. And I was curious if there was any significant difference between LCD and Plasma? Are the viewing angles better with one or the other? This will be our new living room and gaming TV, so I'm kind of excited for something shiny and that doesn't have the colors changing in the corners.

You won't find any 32 inch plasmas. They tend to start in the high 40 and low 50 inch range.

I thought to see the benefits a plasma TV offers you would need it to be bigger. That's why I went to a 50".

Not necessarily. One of the more commonly cited advantages to Plasma is clearly better viewing angles, which would be a positive at any screen size.

Strangeblades wrote:
Thin_J wrote:
Dominic Knight wrote:

So I'm looking to get a 32 inch TV sometime soon. And I was curious if there was any significant difference between LCD and Plasma? Are the viewing angles better with one or the other? This will be our new living room and gaming TV, so I'm kind of excited for something shiny and that doesn't have the colors changing in the corners.

You won't find any 32 inch plasmas. They tend to start in the high 40 and low 50 inch range.

I thought to see the benefits a plasma TV offers you would need it to be bigger. That's why I went to a 50".

You go 50" (or more) because bigger is better, my friend.

The only place I've really found a 32" plasma is Wal-Mart. So, I've decided to throw that idea out. Thinking about it, this TV is going back on our entertainment center, which means it would be centered with the couch. Our present CRT TV is in the corner of the living room on two dining room chairs - it's too heavy for the entertainment center - so thinking back, viewing angles wouldn't be so much of an issue.

So, on to 32" LCD tvs... any suggestions on brands that are decently priced? This TV will be for gaming, cable, movies and probably on occasion, hooking up my laptop to it.

I can say that the Toshiba I've had for the last five years or so has been fantastic. Best Buy as a 32" Toshiba for $250 now.

Otherwise, you are going to be happy with any LG, Samsung, Sony, or Panasonic. I wouldn't overthink it. Look for one that matches your budget and has the inputs you think you will need. Extra inputs come in surprisingly handy over time.

At that size, 720p is all you need, so don't pay extra for 1080p. You won't see the difference.

Sony's sets still tend to be overpriced. Samsung, Toshiba, and Vizio tend to be the most oft recommended 32 inch sets from what I've looked at the last couple days. Equivalent (or in some cases better) picture quality than the Sony sets without the price premium.

The Samsung UN32EH4003 seems to be most popular. It's 720p, but down at that size range, eh, whatever. If you're not going to use it as a main PC monitor don't worry about it.

Unless you're going to be sitting really close.

Awesome. Any thoughts on the difference between LCD vs LED? I've found a few at the size I'm wanting, and just curious what the goojer hive mind thinks.

LED is not ready yet. And it's actually a form of LCD. I'd go LCD for sure.

Dominic Knight wrote:

Awesome. Any thoughts on the difference between LCD vs LED? I've found a few at the size I'm wanting, and just curious what the goojer hive mind thinks.

yeah this is marketing bs. any tv you can buy today labeled led only means it is an led back or edge lit lcd tv. image quality compared to a normal lcd (ccfl backlit) is more or less the same, but led backlit will be thinner, lighter, more energy efficient and environmentally friendly. however at 32" most of those benefits will be small.

only other thing i would keep in mind is if your crt is also 32", a 32" hdtv will actually be a smaller screen size when watching non-hd 4:3 content. just something to consider if you have space for a larger set.

It can be a pain, but if you go for LCD I would look for a model built with an IPS panel. It often means checking serial numbers, but the advantages are worth it. IPS panels generally have better black levels and and far superior viewing angles than other LCD panel types. I am very happy with my 42" LG IPS panel.

And like what has been said, traditional LCD lighting seems to have far less uniformity problems than LED backlights.

I was at Best Buy yesterday, and all the plasmas had way, way lower brightness than the LCDs. Now, I know it's Best Buy, I know it's bright in there, and I know the TVs are calibrated by untrained chimpanzees...but the contrast was still glaring.

I've been considering a Panasonic plasma for a long time, but I'm wondering if possibly my living room will be too bright to enjoy a plasma, at least during daytime hours.

Chairman_Mao wrote:
Dominic Knight wrote:

Awesome. Any thoughts on the difference between LCD vs LED? I've found a few at the size I'm wanting, and just curious what the goojer hive mind thinks.

yeah this is marketing bs. any tv you can buy today labeled led only means it is an led back or edge lit lcd tv. image quality compared to a normal lcd (ccfl backlit) is more or less the same, but led backlit will be thinner, lighter, more energy efficient and environmentally friendly. however at 32" most of those benefits will be small.

only other thing i would keep in mind is if your crt is also 32", a 32" hdtv will actually be a smaller screen size when watching non-hd 4:3 content. just something to consider if you have space for a larger set.

I disagree vehemently with the idea that any edge-lit LED set is equivalent to a good quality CCFL LCD set. I have never yet seen or fiddled with an edge lit set that didn't have massively noticeable backlight/brightness uniformity issues. Blacks and contrast always suffer as a result and you end up with a worse picture and you paid more to get it.

CCFL or LED Backlit all the way if you have to go LCD.

But then it's been made very clear recently that I care about a lot of things picture quality wise that some people don't care about in the slightest, so do what makes you happy I guess.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

I was at Best Buy yesterday, and all the plasmas had way, way lower brightness than the LCDs. Now, I know it's Best Buy, I know it's bright in there, and I know the TVs are calibrated by untrained chimpanzees...but the contrast was still glaring.

I've been considering a Panasonic plasma for a long time, but I'm wondering if possibly my living room will be too bright to enjoy a plasma, at least during daytime hours.

short answer.. no. Don't confuse Plasma with some dimly light projector that only works in light controlled rooms.. you can run a Plasma in a bright and very sunny room just as well as any LCD.. Best Buy sucks a selling TV's.

Ditto that on the Plasma thing. They're plenty bright at this point.

The only real worry IMO is glare. If you can't orient the TV so you won't see reflections in the glass you might have issues, but you'd have those same issues with a lot of LCD sets that use glossy coatings.

very true...glare is a totally different animal..but with many LCD's using glass or glossy coatings you have that exact issue on the LCD side as well..

Yeah, my Samsung LCD is glossy and has glare issues. The problem is that it's directly opposite from a kitchen window where my wife has put some plants.

Maybe I need to beg her to buy a window box or something.

Thin_J wrote:

I disagree vehemently with the idea that any edge-lit LED set is equivalent to a good quality CCFL LCD set. I have never yet seen or fiddled with an edge lit set that didn't have massively noticeable backlight/brightness uniformity issues. Blacks and contrast always suffer as a result and you end up with a worse picture and you paid more to get it.

CCFL or LED Backlit all the way if you have to go LCD.

But then it's been made very clear recently that I care about a lot of things picture quality wise that some people don't care about in the slightest, so do what makes you happy I guess.

oh yeah I totally agree, I forgot about that. avoid edge-lit models at any cost unless you absolutely need a super slim profile. At 32" though i wonder if they are almost all edge-lit.

regarding brightness, today's plasmas are bright enough but in torch mode lcds are still substantially brighter, and that's what they are set to in Best Buy. In your home it would probably cause burn-in on your retinas

Fedaykin98 wrote:

I was at Best Buy yesterday, and all the plasmas had way, way lower brightness than the LCDs. Now, I know it's Best Buy, I know it's bright in there, and I know the TVs are calibrated by untrained chimpanzees...but the contrast was still glaring.

I've been considering a Panasonic plasma for a long time, but I'm wondering if possibly my living room will be too bright to enjoy a plasma, at least during daytime hours.

I agree with the other posts. Unless it's a Magnolia department with closer to home lighting than the very bright retail lighting, you can't really see things like you would in your home. And you'll also probably lose out on some of the superior black levels and contrasts that the plasma will most times bring to the table.

I've been a plasma evangelist for years based on my brother's and father's sets, but this trip to BB made me wonder about brightness.

The plasmas in the Magnolia area looked delicious.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

The plasmas in the Magnolia area looked delicious. :)

It's because the environmental lighting is more appropriate to the real use case.

Yeah, it looks the same at Costco -- the LCDs really pop, on the sales floor. But they're all in torch mode, and you can't see the accuracy of the colors or the depth of the blacks that plasma offers. That super brightness is really only useful on the sales floor, not in your house, unless you have a very unusual house -- and you're trading away stuff that you actually CAN use.

It's not like the LCDs are going to look sh*tty, but the plasmas will give you give you a better picture for cheaper, because so many people don't understand that they're better.

But -- if you already have glare issues, hmm. That could be a problem. An LCD might be better if you don't have reasonable light control. You don't need pitch darkness, but if you've got beams of sunlight into the room in question, you might not like plasma too well.

Malor wrote:

But -- if you already have glare issues, hmm. That could be a problem. An LCD might be better if you don't have reasonable light control. You don't need pitch darkness, but if you've got beams of sunlight into the room in question, you might not like plasma too well.

As said above, many LCDs are often just as reflective as the plasmas, so that's not so clear cut any more. Also, plasmas can get much brighter than they used to, which offsets it as well.

Both techs are getting better and better at their weaknesses.

I've also heard (not sure if this is true) that stores will calibrate the sets that make them the most profit so they look better then the sets that have lower profit margins. As with all things do your research and go in knowing what you want instead of trying to make a decision on the fly.

We just got a free Samsung 60" Plasma PN60E530 with our furniture purchase at rooms to go. I think scrolling through the last few pages that it wasn't a bad choice. The other I was looking at was the Panasonic VIERA TC-P55ST50 55". Seems we lost 3D (which I don't give a damn about) and gained 5". We also lost the wifi capability stuff but we don't need that either since we use the PS3 for all the media stuff.

What say the great goodjer mind meld?

Can't beat free.