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

ducki wrote:

@pol - semantics, yep. we're clear now.

I think you mean chum there bro

Thin_J wrote:

check out the AVSforum. Those guys are nuts.

yeah nuts to the point I feel like I have to set up a tent in the corner if I plan on learning anything. Thanks for the breakdown...useful stuff.

I'm planning on getting a 37" or 42" Vizio LCD right after my wedding. They're $999 and $1299 at Costco.

Might get something else depending on sales, since the time I'll be buying will be in that week leading up to the Super Bowl, so there should be TV sales aplenty.

This one just popped up. The brightness probably won't work for your situation though.

http://www.woot.com/Forums/ViewPost....

The panel is by by Fujitsu/Hitachi.

Buy.com has a "cyber monday" deal: Philips 42" Plasma HD TV: $1230 Shipped (free shipping). This has 1024 x 768 resolution, HDMI input and a built-in HD tuner.

This is just the type of thing thats scares me.

re: Buy.com - says the aspect ratio is 15:9 (wtf?), and the resolution is 1024x768 (which is a 4:3 res)....does that mean the pixels arent square?

re: Sanyo deal - This screen is 16:9 and 1024x1024? (specs copied from here)

Knowing that deals like this are out there, and admittedly not understanding what they are trying to sell, really makes me paranoid about any "feature" that I don't totally understand. Can anyone shed some light on the resolution quirkiness?

The pixels aren't square, some screens use rectangular pixels.

Also just to note, Sharp is a huge manufacturer of LCDs screen. They have manufactured screens for most laptop makers for a decade. Their LCDs like on their own line of laptops and TVs are supposed to be superb because they supposedly have the pick of the supply line. The new line of Sharp Aquos LCD TVs are supposed to be great, I'm waiting for the 46" to go down in price (currently about $3k).

I've pretty much decided on the 37" Vizio at BJs. The only thing that weirds me out about it is it has a 600:1 aspect ratio. It looks good compared to the other TVs, has both ATSC and HDTV tuners, and all sorts of cables and connectors that will work with crap that I have.

We're going to drive around a bit and check all of the other stores. See if there's anything a bit better , but we're bringing SOMETHING home.

Vizio is one of those newer companies I don't know much about, but there's tons of positive impressions and reviews of their sets and they're all priced extremely well. I can't imagine page after page of positive mention can all be internet BS

Should be a good set if that's what you end up with.

And Leaping speaks truth about Sharp.

Let us know what you end up with!

The pixels aren't square, some screens use rectangular pixels.

thats insane...so basically the image is permanently stretched?

Very much enjoying this thread. I've been thinking that it might be time to start thinking about a widescreen TV. I bought a 36" Sony Wega 4:3 HDTV with my tax return in 2003, reasoning at the time that I watched and played far more 4:3 content than 16:9 (which is still mostly true). However, I'm starting to think that I should have future-proofed myself better. My 360, for instance, could do 720p if I had a widescreen TV (my Sony does do 720p, or 1080i, but then it's letterbox and I'm not utilizing a ton of the screen).

I'm surprised we haven't heard from any projector people on this thread. I know TheWalt has a new media room with a projector in it. My parents have a projector, and after watching The Bourne Identity on it this weekend I was thinking that it would be VERY easy to get used to a 60" (or whatever it was) image.

pol wrote:
The pixels aren't square, some screens use rectangular pixels.

thats insane...so basically the image is permanently stretched?

It doesn't really work that way, but I don't know how to explain it. I'll just make it more confusing

Thin_J wrote:

Vizio is one of those newer companies I don't know much about, but there's tons of positive impressions and reviews of their sets and they're all priced extremely well. I can't imagine page after page of positive mention can all be internet BS :D

The thing that pushed me over the top with Vizio (besides seeing some myself) was listening to Major Nelson's podcast and hearing one of those Microsoft guys with killer home A/V setups talk about how thrilled he was with the Vizios he bought for his secondary rooms. I don't remember who exactly the guest was but he was clearly someone that knew WTF he was talking about when it came to A/V stuff.

That, along with tons of random Internet review and what I've seen myself, has sold me on the Vizios (given my price restrictions)

Mmm burritos wrote:

The only thing that weirds me out about it is it has a 600:1 aspect ratio.

Obviously you mean contrast ratio.

Normally I wouldn't bother pointing this out, because everyone knows what you really meant, but the idea of a 600:1 aspect ratio made me LOL.

*Legion* wrote:

Normally I wouldn't bother pointing this out, because everyone knows what you really meant, but the idea of a 600:1 aspect ratio made me LOL.

That'd be some serious widescreen.

Thin_J wrote:

First thing: Toshiba is no longer as good a name as it once was. Their last gen CRT sets and some of their current LCD and Plasma sets are extremely mediocre.

You know, I came to this conclusion after buying a 20-inch Toshiba standard CRT last year. I'd always had good luck with the sets before, but this one has serious sound issues. It looked good on the shelf at Best Buy, too.

Funkenpants wrote:

You know, I came to this conclusion after buying a 20-inch Toshiba standard CRT last year. I'd always had good luck with the sets before, but this one has serious sound issues. It looked good on the shelf at Best Buy, too.

It's not that everything they make is bad, it's just that you should really dig in and do some in depth research on any particular sets you look at before deciding on what to buy.

Thin_J wrote:
*Legion* wrote:

Normally I wouldn't bother pointing this out, because everyone knows what you really meant, but the idea of a 600:1 aspect ratio made me LOL.

That'd be some serious widescreen.

Would that be like those "ribbon screens" that all the stadiums are getting these days? I swear, going to a professional sporting event gets more and more like Vegas every day.

it means if it were an inch tall it would be 50ft wide.

It doesn't really work that way, but I don't know how to explain it. I'll just make it more confusing

do you remember what the process was called? remember where you might have come across it?

The rectangular pixel is a newish tech is called ALIS (alternate lighting of something or other), it's supposed to help extend the life of plasma displays and help prevent burn-in if I remember right, both of which were concerns with early plasmas.

Gnome is correct. Plasmas normally have all pixels lighted up at all times. ALIS has only the necessary pixels lit up (or alternate rows lit up, I forgot which) to extend the life. This isn't the same as interlaced.

Thanks for the term Leaping....now I know why Thin_J didnt want to get into it. Looks like one to check out in person with the "look and see" test

Just a quick update.. picked up an Akai 42" plasma TV. All of the neat new stuff. Burn in protection and the such.

Looked great at the store.. beating out even Samsungs and Westinghouse LCDs. I'll give initial impressions after a bit of MNF and 360 play.

Mmm burritos wrote:

Just a quick update.. picked up an Akai 42" plasma TV. All of the neat new stuff. Burn in protection and the such.

Looked great at the store.. beating out even Samsungs and Westinghouse LCDs. I'll give initial impressions after a bit of MNF and 360 play.

I'm pretty sure Bagga has an Akai plasma set that he really likes too. Is yours actual HD or is it an ED that handles HD input? Just curious. The last time i went to look at Akai I discovered the one in the ad was part of one of those classic retail bait & switch plans where they have one of the TV's in the ad and a bunch of slightly lesser models they try to sell for the same price.

Mmm burritos wrote:

Looked great at the store.. beating out even Samsungs and Westinghouse LCDs.

You have to be seriously careful about judging TVs by their in-store display. You never know if a customer has tinkered with the settings on one, or if the people at the store chose a particular preset that isn't flattering (be it unintentionally or otherwise), or if one just happens to be less optimally tuned than another based on pure chance.

Checking out the TVs at Best Buy is basically comparing screens that are varying degrees of improperly tuned, but you don't know which are more or less out of whack.

But it's a very subjective thing. If you bring something home and you really like it, you chose right.

Thin_J wrote:

I'm pretty sure Bagga has an Akai plasma set that he really likes too. Is yours actual HD or is it an ED that handles HD input? Just curious. The last time i went to look at Akai I discovered the one in the ad was part of one of those classic retail bait & switch plans where they have one of the TV's in the ad and a bunch of slightly lesser models they try to sell for the same price.

It's a 1024x1024 HD. Supports everything up to 1080i. I played around with it for awhile, mainly switching between Just Cause, FN3, and Dead Rising, and after playing with the video settings a bit, it looks even better than it did in the store. I've only used it for a few hours now, but everything about it at this point is screaming high quality. In the store the PQ was a good clip worse than the higher end brands (say, the $2400 42" panasonic, or the $2100 42" samsung), but after I actually got it home and fixed the color balance and temperature, the quality went through the roof.

*Legion* wrote:

You have to be seriously careful about judging TVs by their in-store display. You never know if a customer has tinkered with the settings on one, or if the people at the store chose a particular preset that isn't flattering (be it unintentionally or otherwise), or if one just happens to be less optimally tuned than another based on pure chance

Checking out the TVs at Best Buy is basically comparing screens that are varying degrees of improperly tuned, but you don't know which are more or less out of whack.

But it's a very subjective thing. If you bring something home and you really like it, you chose right.

I did mess with the colors a little at the store. It actually looked pretty washed out in comparison to the *expensive* plasma TVs, but after goofing around in the settings for a minute or two, I realized that the color temperature was set to cool. When I raised it to warm, the colors were as vivid, if not more so, as the more expensive tvs. I kinda get the feeling that the Sam's Club guys drop the color temperature on the cheaper sets so they won't be close in PQ to the high end sets. I assume they make a larger profit off of the higher end sets, and the washed out colors would make a budget shopper think twice about buying a cheapie. After the fiddling about, the difference between the $999 Akai 42" that I brought home and the $2400 panasonic next to it was so small that the price gap seemed ludicrous.

I won't give it a solid recommendation for a few more weeks, but initial impressions are well above what I had expected them to be.. I went in expecting to pay around $1100 for a 37" Westinghouse LCD or something similar, and walked out spending less than that with a higher quality 42" plasma with a 3 year extended warranty and $200 off the final purchase (bringing my grand total payment to $999+60-200= $859). Thumbs up!

Thin_J wrote:

I'm pretty sure Bagga has an Akai plasma set that he really likes too.

Yup, I believe I have the same one. It's been fantastic as a dedicated 360 tv. I have it wall-mounted, with all cords going back through the wall (other side is the attic) and it looks sweeeeet. I got mine last year for $1200, so you got a sweet deal burritos. It was indeed the ol' Bait-n-Switch model at Circuit sh*tty but I was lucky enough to get there right as they put them in stock (only about 3 total in the store). I think I should mess with the color levels; outside some initial brightness tweaking, I've never done much with the balance. I bet I'm missing out on a lot.

Bagga - have you found a way to prevent the monitor from stretching 4:3 images to 16:9? A few of the guys on the avsforum have talked about switching the option from wide to normal, but I haven't been able to find it in the menu.

I love the stretch, I think it does an excellent job at maintaining image quality - better than most computer monitors - but the SO isn't a fan, and would rather watch her "shows" in 4:3.

I love the stretch, I think it does an excellent job at maintaining image quality - better than most computer monitors - but the SO isn't a fan, and would rather watch her "shows" in 4:3.

Some people (I among them) loathe stretched pictures, while some people dislike the 'bars' on the side of the screen more. You should have a button on your remote to change your aspect ratio - I've seemed them named anything from 'screen' to 'mode' to 'picture', so you could either wait for Bagga or go the man route and press every button to see what it does.

I've been pressing every button, to no avail. In fact, I actually asked for remotes to the three sets that I was considering buying at Sam's Club, and pressed em all at the store.

Anyways, there is a button that will let me switch screen size _manually_ but she's going to have a fit if it won't automatically resize when the input is reading a 4:3 picture. She loves the 16:9 on the X360, and 16:9 movies, but absolutely hates it when she switches over to cable. I guess I should have specified that I was looking for a setting that would automatically distinguish between the aspect ratios.

Most TVs you have to hit a button or hit a menu to change the screen size. Mine doesn't like it either, but she's gotten used to it. Give it a couple of months.