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

It's a total bummer that that model doesn't have 3D. I was a huge skeptic until I saw 3D on a good plasma display. It sucks that I can write how awesome it is, but you really have to try it out in person on a good setup to fully appreciate it.

I think the reason 3D has failed is that there's no baseline. You really need some decent equipment to make it look good and be easy on the eyes. The theater baseline is awful and hard on your eyes, so that's the main reason the whole thing is a failure.

My absolute favorite thing in 3D is the Paperman short on Wreck it Ralph. It's just lovely. So, for the people with 3D TVs out there, have you been blown away by anything? I would like to check out more 3D content, and that content is now going to be laserdisc type accessible. Might as well start collecting the great 3D Blu-rays that exist.

Anyways, I'm bummed the 3D thing is dying now that I've experienced how incredible it can be. I believe buying a 2012 3D Plasma was a great and unique purchase that I don't regret.

http://hdguru.com/lgs-ultra-high-def...

So.. $7K for a 65" OLED 4K set with a lifespan similar to a Plasma TV. Massive downside though is it still a curved screen. Not that $7K is affordable but at least it is not $20K

In waiting till those 120" screens hit $2k. Come on sh*tty Chinese brand, you can do it!

Followup now that I've had a few weekends with my new Samsung. The pentile pixel layout of the H5000 is a non-factor in all situations except for when a PC tries to anti-alias small text. Picture quality is quite good, and the calibration options are more extensive than I've come to expect. Heat output and hum are both very low compared to older plasma screens that friends have had.

The one problem I have been struggling with is HDMI signal issues. It sometimes seems like it has problems holding onto a handshake or signal in some way, and can get stuck cycling between a brief moment of picture and no signal. It's had this trouble on both of its two HDMI ports with both the Wii U and a PS3. Any advice for these kinds of issues?

Any advice for these kinds of issues?

Firmware update?

Malor wrote:
Any advice for these kinds of issues?

Firmware update?

Good call. I will investigate.

Followup: Samsung seems to have no concept of firmware downloads on their website. I guess I'm just stuck with what I've got.

TheGameguru wrote:

http://hdguru.com/lgs-ultra-high-def...

So.. $7K for a 65" OLED 4K set with a lifespan similar to a Plasma TV. Massive downside though is it still a curved screen. Not that $7K is affordable but at least it is not $20K

I thought curved screens were the new hotness?

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/Y97564J.png)

Kurrelgyre wrote:
TheGameguru wrote:

http://hdguru.com/lgs-ultra-high-def...

So.. $7K for a 65" OLED 4K set with a lifespan similar to a Plasma TV. Massive downside though is it still a curved screen. Not that $7K is affordable but at least it is not $20K

I thought curved screens were the new hotness?

I think they are awful.. at least in anything under 120" where having a curved screen might actually do something.

Curved screens are right up there with motion smoothing (aka the soap opera effect) in terms of things that the proponents always scream will be something the average person will eventually get used to and that I pray to god doesn't turn out to be true. I don't want this to be a case where screens that aren't curved are as rare as plasmas in the store the next time I buy a new TV.

We plan on buying a new TV in a few months. My wife doesn't want to spend more then $500 due to kids potentially breaking it, although we do plan on mounting it to the wall.

What should we be looking at in that price range?

WizKid wrote:

We plan on buying a new TV in a few months. My wife doesn't want to spend more then $500 due to kids potentially breaking it, although we do plan on mounting it to the wall.

What should we be looking at in that price range?

Imho ignore marketing stuff like 3D and LED and get the biggest 1080p, *quality* TV you can. Read reviews; I like CNET, among others.

Yeah, focus on black levels and contrast and overall picture quality and avoid anything that spends a lot of time talking about SmartTV features or any of that unnecessary BS.

Are you gaming on it? If so look up the the numbers on input lag. I swear input is a much bigger issue than it was 2-3 years ago thanks to the rise of smart TVs

I will be hooking up a Blue/ray player, a Wii U, and my PC to it all via HDMI. So low input lag would be good. Where does one go to find out that info, can you trust the manufacture on that number?

WizKid wrote:

I will be hooking up a Blue/ray player, a Wii U, and my PC to it all via HDMI. So low input lag would be good. Where does one go to find out that info, can you trust the manufacture on that number?

manufacturer won't even provide it. Displaylag.com probably has the most complete list but it's run by one guy and he can't update that often, so it doesn't have a lot of 2014 models. You can also check avsforum.com when you have a model you're interested in.

Edit: since you're attaching a PC to it, input lag will be even more important. Sony probably scores best in input lag, but they tend to be more expensive

Cathadan wrote:

Followup now that I've had a few weekends with my new Samsung. The pentile pixel layout of the H5000 is a non-factor in all situations except for when a PC tries to anti-alias small text. Picture quality is quite good, and the calibration options are more extensive than I've come to expect. Heat output and hum are both very low compared to older plasma screens that friends have had.

The one problem I have been struggling with is HDMI signal issues. It sometimes seems like it has problems holding onto a handshake or signal in some way, and can get stuck cycling between a brief moment of picture and no signal. It's had this trouble on both of its two HDMI ports with both the Wii U and a PS3. Any advice for these kinds of issues?

Do you have the hdmi control on or off on the tv? That might be causing your handshake issues.

Looks like LG is getting out of the plasma market soon, and that should be the last nail in the coffin.

JC wrote:
Cathadan wrote:

Followup now that I've had a few weekends with my new Samsung. The pentile pixel layout of the H5000 is a non-factor in all situations except for when a PC tries to anti-alias small text. Picture quality is quite good, and the calibration options are more extensive than I've come to expect. Heat output and hum are both very low compared to older plasma screens that friends have had.

The one problem I have been struggling with is HDMI signal issues. It sometimes seems like it has problems holding onto a handshake or signal in some way, and can get stuck cycling between a brief moment of picture and no signal. It's had this trouble on both of its two HDMI ports with both the Wii U and a PS3. Any advice for these kinds of issues?

Do you have the hdmi control on or off on the tv? That might be causing your handshake issues.

I don't think my TV supports HDMI control. No matter though, it has become more apparent after a month of living with it that it's only my PS3 having the handshake issues. The Wii U, PS4, and PC are all reliable. It's a shame too, since it really feels like a waste to have buy a third PS3 for what's left of the system's long tail.

Have you tried changing out the HDMI cable? I've had one go bad just kind of spontaneously and another one that started having issues after an extended period where there was pressure on the cable up near the connector.

I know in theory the cable should either work or not work but that hasn't been my experience. One of the two I had go bad started causing flickering and the other would just drop the signal entirely but then be fine for a while after rebooting the device in question.

The samsung cec is called anynet+ And is usually in the setting section of the menu. I am willing to bet your tv has it. If it's on, it can cause issues

Alternatively, what about this? Google to the rescue!

https://support.us.playstation.com/a...

I don't think it's the cable. Early on I was using a single HDMI for all my devices and just unplugging it from one and switching to another as needed, since the TV only has 2 HDMI inputs. I think the PS3 was the only one that regularly had issues. More recently I ordered a HDMI switcher and a bunch of new cables. I've had the same issue while trying multiple different cables from the brand new ones.

I've also had anynet+ enabled on my previous 24" samsung tv/monitor. It worked great with this very same PS3, day in and day out.

Perhaps it's worth explaining that the video out of the PS3 doesn't seem all-or-nothing. Occasionally there may be brief moments where the TV will display a picture with a lot of digital noise before reverting back to a "no signal" notice. I'm curious if the PS3 is just more susceptible to interference from the plasma display than my other devices. (Video out of my HTPC has a bit of digital noise in some situations as well, but I'm more inclined to blame it on the piece-of-trash motherboard I have in it at the moment than anything else.)

Cathadan, in rereading your old post from ages ago... it just occurred to me: check to see if the TV will do its own firmware update. My Panny does that.

Maybe you've got a hardware problem in the PS3, as well. Typically, the PS3 is just about first on the list of devices to test with, so I really, really doubt that a Samsung TV, at least from the last few years, would have any trouble with one. My suspicion is that either the TV or the PS3 is broken or malfunctioning in some way.

This TV model is not a smart one. It has no internet connectivity of any kind, so if I can't download updates from Samsung's site manually then I'm probably not getting any updates at all.

My money is still on an hdmi handshake issue or maybe a bad cable.

Did you try the ps3 reset?

Doesn't necessarily mean you can't update it.

My old Samsung TV has no internet access, but it has a USB port. I downloaded a firmware and give it a certain filename in the top folder of a USB thumbdrive, and it magically applied the firmware.

I've tried the reset functionality. It only seems to be a recovery mode if you had previously configured the system to output 1080 and then need to use it on a screen that only supports 720 or lower. It didn't seem to make output to my TV any more reliable. However, what has seemed to make a difference is taking the HDMI switcher out of the equation and going back to the first HDMI cable I was using (and having trouble with).

So far the situation seems to be:
PS3 -> switcher -> HDMI port 1 = no signal
PS3 -> single cable -> HDMI port 1 = unreliable signal

PS3 -> switcher -> HDMI port 2 = no signal
PS3 -> single cable -> HDMI port 2 = reliable signal

Ranger Rick wrote:

Doesn't necessarily mean you can't update it.

My old Samsung TV has no internet access, but it has a USB port. I downloaded a firmware and give it a certain filename in the top folder of a USB thumbdrive, and it magically applied the firmware.

True, but I can't even find a mention of firmware on Samsung's website, much less an actual file I could download.

Question for English / European types. I'm looking for new TV with component (ypbr stuff) and, ideally, scart. Any recommendations? I think I want a 1080p one.

It doesn't have to be fantastic quality, but decent. The TV that's just died was bought in a supermarket in 2007 so I don't have amazingly high standards. It'll just be used for gaming and Netflix.

This is what I'm leaning towards at the moment

EDIT

http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/news/kdl42...

It's got very good response time. Any experience with it?