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

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-PN51E5...
What are peoples thoughts on this TV?

NathanialG wrote:

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-PN51E5...
What are peoples thoughts on this TV?

10 left? just buy it

you may want to take some time to calibrate it but seriously that is a great price.

Happened to pass by Sony's flagship(?) store here today, and they had their mothership 84" 4k TV on display. It's a gorgeous set, and the image was sharp as hell, but it's also $25,000 (probably a lot more in China) and not as dramatic a step up as going from SD to HD. Their smallest 4K set, 55" I think, is supposed to go for $5,000, which is starting to enter the atmosphere of affordability, but 4k on a 55" set seems pretty useless to me.

Accoring to Cnet and Tested The Best TV to Buy Today is the Panasonic ST60

That is one thin plasma tv!

TempestBlayze wrote:

Accoring to Cnet and Tested The Best TV to Buy Today is the Panasonic ST60

That is one thin plasma tv!

HDguru.com concurs, saying it's basically as good as the VT50 (last year's top end model) and a lot cheaper. What I love about it is that it offers 24p playback at 96hz. I'm totally getting this.

Anyone else have any input on what they did with sharpness?

I don't even know what TV you have, and even if I did, it wouldn't help, but I can give you at least a general hint: look for any automatic image-adjustment features in the TV, and turn them off. This may mean that you'll need to change major mode on the TV, perhaps from Normal to Cinematic or Video Game, something like that.

Since you're actively calibrating it, you want the TV to be as stupid as you can make it, because you're serving as the brain.

Malor wrote:
Anyone else have any input on what they did with sharpness?

I don't even know what TV you have, and even if I did, it wouldn't help, but I can give you at least a general hint: look for any automatic image-adjustment features in the TV, and turn them off. This may mean that you'll need to change major mode on the TV, perhaps from Normal to Cinematic or Video Game, something like that.

Since you're actively calibrating it, you want the TV to be as stupid as you can make it, because you're serving as the brain.

Yeah, you missed quite a bit when trying to answer that question. You would need to go back quite a bit further when I started discussing my calibration experience. Also, the question was actually literal. I was just curious as to how you all set your sharpness on your TVs since it's an artificial enhancement of the image.

I'm happy with where I ended up with my sharpness setting, so I'm not really looking for help. I only use a little bit (maybe 15 or 20/100), and it didn't distort the sharpness test patterns. It definitely wasn't great at zero, though. You could tell, especially with animated films that a bit of sharpness helps since the resolution is so low at 1920x1080 on a 51" screen.

Oh yeah, I did all the "dumbing down" stuff right away and went through a couple calibration discs (had to actually buy the second one because I needed the color filter). The Disney one is what I purchased and it is a fantastic calibration disc. I highly recommend it over the Digital Video Essentials one. Actually, the Samsung plasma that I have made it really, really easy. It seems they actually figured out who would be buying them, so the initial settings were quite good when you throw it in movie mode.

As a side note, I've been happy enough with it. I never felt like a got the contrast in perfect, but it's definitely close enough. I feel like I would understand what was going on a little better if I could go through and fully calibrate 5 TVs just to get a little more experience with how the settings play together. I haven't really worried to much about it since, though. I've just enjoyed it... immensely.

It does kind of suck that there is an HBO Go app for Samsung Smart TV's like mine but Comcast blocks it. Still, I can plug in my laptop for that just fine.

Oops, I quoted the wrong sentence, I was thinking more about the contrast issues -- I was just suggesting doing anything in your power to defeat anything resembling intelligence in your television, as it could help quite a bit.

Just as an aside: the best TV I've ever seen was a Sony CRT HDTV. Small, and ungodly, insanely heavy, but when I went through calibration on mine, I set it to Pro mode, and didn't have to change anything. The sole issue I saw with the television was a tiny bit of barrel distortion, and that was only visible with test patterns. Everything else was perfect; brightness, contrast, color, sharpness, everything. Pro mode really and truly was Pro mode.

It only did 720p, but it was beautiful.

an HBO Go app for Samsung Smart TV's like mine but Comcast blocks it.

You should definitely register a strong complaint with both Comcast and the FCC. That is grossly uncompetitive behavior, and it absolutely should not be tolerated.

Be LOUD about this, it's bullsh*t.

Malor wrote:

Oops, I quoted the wrong sentence, I was thinking more about the contrast issues -- I was just suggesting doing anything in your power to defeat anything resembling intelligence in your television, as it could help quite a bit.

Just as an aside: the best TV I've ever seen was a Sony CRT HDTV. Small, and ungodly, insanely heavy, but when I went through calibration on mine, I set it to Pro mode, and didn't have to change anything. The sole issue I saw with the television was a tiny bit of barrel distortion, and that was only visible with test patterns. Everything else was perfect; brightness, contrast, color, sharpness, everything. Pro mode really and truly was Pro mode.

It only did 720p, but it was beautiful.

My wife had that TV when we met. Sweet widescreen, but I think it weighed 300 lbs.

Yeah, it was insanely heavy. Getting it into my entertainment center was more of an engineering project than anything.

Malor wrote:
an HBO Go app for Samsung Smart TV's like mine but Comcast blocks it.

You should definitely register a strong complaint with both Comcast and the FCC. That is grossly uncompetitive behavior, and it absolutely should not be tolerated.

Be LOUD about this, it's bullsh*t.

Yeah, it is, however, I'm piggybacking off a friend's account, so I'm not in a very good spot to complain.

LOL, well, in that case, you kind of deserve to suffer.

So I had decided to buy the Panasonic ST50. but now that we've gotten serious about making the jump to HDTV, we come to realize we have 43" maximum width available (dumb thing to discover at this point, I know). With this limitation, I still have the same budget I was going to have for the ST50. I want the best dang 43" total width TV I can buy. I would really like it to have Amazon Prime and Netflix capability too. I doubt plasma will be an option at this size, but if someone has a recommendation or two, I would appreciate hearing it. It's very slow going searching for TV's on a parameter that, while reported in the details, is not typically a searchable field.

sheared wrote:

So I had decided to buy the Panasonic ST50. but now that we've gotten serious about making the jump to HDTV, we come to realize we have 43" maximum width available (dumb thing to discover at this point, I know). With this limitation, I still have the same budget I was going to have for the ST50. I want the best dang 43" total width TV I can buy. I would really like it to have Amazon Prime and Netflix capability too. I doubt plasma will be an option at this size, but if someone has a recommendation or two, I would appreciate hearing it. It's very slow going searching for TV's on a parameter that, while reported in the details, is not typically a searchable field.

Do you need 3D? If not you could wait for the new S60, which should be launching soon.

Chairman_Mao wrote:
sheared wrote:

So I had decided to buy the Panasonic ST50. but now that we've gotten serious about making the jump to HDTV, we come to realize we have 43" maximum width available (dumb thing to discover at this point, I know). With this limitation, I still have the same budget I was going to have for the ST50. I want the best dang 43" total width TV I can buy. I would really like it to have Amazon Prime and Netflix capability too. I doubt plasma will be an option at this size, but if someone has a recommendation or two, I would appreciate hearing it. It's very slow going searching for TV's on a parameter that, while reported in the details, is not typically a searchable field.

Do you need 3D? If not you could wait for the new S60, which should be launching soon.

I do not. This looks like the best option for the space we have.

TempestBlayze wrote:

Accoring to Cnet and Tested The Best TV to Buy Today is the Panasonic ST60

That is one thin plasma tv!

I bought this one this weekend and after calibrating it, I got lost in the couch for hours. It is a pretty amazing television. It is beautiful. Watching sports on it is pretty amazing as well as watching movies. Didn't try the 3d function yet.

tundra wrote:
TempestBlayze wrote:

Accoring to Cnet and Tested The Best TV to Buy Today is the Panasonic ST60

That is one thin plasma tv!

I bought this one this weekend and after calibrating it, I got lost in the couch for hours. It is a pretty amazing television. It is beautiful. Watching sports on it is pretty amazing as well as watching movies. Didn't try the 3d function yet.

What did you have before, if I may ask? I've been thinking about a plasma for a long time.

Fedaykin98 wrote:
tundra wrote:
TempestBlayze wrote:

Accoring to Cnet and Tested The Best TV to Buy Today is the Panasonic ST60

That is one thin plasma tv!

I bought this one this weekend and after calibrating it, I got lost in the couch for hours. It is a pretty amazing television. It is beautiful. Watching sports on it is pretty amazing as well as watching movies. Didn't try the 3d function yet.

What did you have before, if I may ask? I've been thinking about a plasma for a long time.

The other model I upgraded from was a Philips 120 mhz 46" lcd tv which is 3 years old. The tv was actually pretty good at the time I bought it, but I'd get some ghosting or studdering during rapid movement (like sports events or intense action scenes) that bothered the hell out of me. The new plasma is so smoothe. The darks are really amazing after calibration. I didn't think I'd see much of a difference, was hoping the studder was corrected,but I am very impressed by the Panasonic ST60. I got a better product than I thought I would. I am much more impressed with it after watching it for a few days now. I glad I made the purchase.

Arise! I just moved and need help picking a new TV. I'd like something around 40", 1080p, and plenty of inputs. I'm not sure where to start looking.

S0LIDARITY wrote:

Arise! I just moved and need help picking a new TV. I'd like something around 40", 1080p, and plenty of inputs. I'm not sure where to start looking.

What room are you putting it in? What's your budget like? Do you primarily watch TV or movies, or use it for games and/or computing?

I'm a big fan of The Wirecutter and their ridiculously in-depth reviews/meta-reviews. They recommend the Panasonic ST60 as the best bang-for-your-buck, and this Samsung 42" for their mid-size pick.

And as you're shopping I'm obliged to recommend reading the Display Tech lessons from Vimeo Video School, written by a rather handsome looking gentleman.

T-Prime wrote:
S0LIDARITY wrote:

Arise! I just moved and need help picking a new TV. I'd like something around 40", 1080p, and plenty of inputs. I'm not sure where to start looking.

What room are you putting it in? What's your budget like? Do you primarily watch TV or movies, or use it for games and/or computing?

I'm a big fan of The Wirecutter and their ridiculously in-depth reviews/meta-reviews. They recommend the Panasonic ST60 as the best bang-for-your-buck, and this Samsung 42" for their mid-size pick.

And as you're shopping I'm obliged to recommend reading the Display Tech lessons from Vimeo Video School, written by a rather handsome looking gentleman.

I went ahead and bought a 42" Vizio over the weekend. I'm happy with it, but it might be too big for my tiny living room. I need to play around with the furniture arrangement before I know.

I'm thinking (have been for a couple years) of going plasma, and going big - 65".

Is the conventional wisdom still pointing to the Panasonic ST in that space, as well?

Fedaykin98 wrote:

I'm thinking (have been for a couple years) of going plasma, and going big - 65".

Is the conventional wisdom still pointing to the Panasonic ST in that space, as well?

I've been meaning to write up a review of mine, since I got the 50", but I'm lazy.

In a nutshell, it depends on what you're going to use it for. The picture quality is all kinds of great, BUT the input lag is noticeable in some scenarios, like if you have a PC attached to it. Unfortunately, even with game mode on, you just can't use this model to play PC games due to the lag.

I mostly use it with my PS3, and I have to say I don't notice the lag there. Some people might be more sensitive to it than I am, however.

And of course if you're watching movies, it's totally fine.

I do hate the chrome border around it though. I wish it was all black, like my previous Panasonic. And if you have a surround sound setup, it's hard to fit a center speaker below the bezel. On the 50" model there's only about 2.75" of clearance between the stand and where the screen begins.

The model one step down, the S60, has less smart TV crap and apparently less input lag as well. If you don't need 3D or 96hz playback, I'd save a hundreds of dollars and get the S60.

I thought plasmas generally had little lag?

Fedaykin98 wrote:

I thought plasmas generally had little lag?

Not necessarily little, but less than the majority of LCD's at least on average. Part of that is just numbers though. There's simply more LCD sets by a huge margin.

The late 2011 early 2012 model plasma sets from both Panasonic and Samsung were better than the vast majority of TV's for input lag, but that's not a thing you can rely on year to year from model to model regardless of brand.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

I thought plasmas generally had little lag?

I did too, but somehow Panasonic dropped the ball on the st60. Lot of angry people in the TV forums, AVS I think in particular. Speculation is that it is because of the added smart features and a weaker processor. The VT60 has a more powerful processor and should be better, if you can swing the cost.

Note we're talking about input lag, not the response time, which is what LCDs are slower on. Check out displaylag.com for a rundown of TVs and monitors' input lags.

Anyone have any good info/links on what current sets to consider, then? Thanks!

Edit: Simul-post with Mao. Thanks, I'll check that out!

I have the Samsung PN51E8000 (51") and love it. No complaints in the 6 months or so that I've had it. New models have come out at this point, though. I love the laminated brushed titanium-like bezel look.

Edit: While I don't have any advice on current models, I can offer advice on a TV calibration blu-ray. Definitely get the Disney WOW: World of Wonder calibration Blu-ray over the DVD Video Essentials: HD Basics.

It's half the price, still comes with a blue lens, has higher production values, and the basic tests are a bit easier to run. It still offer a great deal of depth with advanced test patterns if you want to really fine tune things.

You can't really just rent the discs off Netflix because you need the blue lens to do color calibration.