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

Swat and GG - how are the Panasonics on SD TV? We still watch a lot of it unfortunately.

Vizio's 32" LCD panel is selling for $638 at Sam's Club. I think I have found the bedroom/gaming PC TV.

TheGameguru wrote:

Just buy an LCD at 30" or 24" and run it with DVI through your cable box.

I already have a 32" for games and movies though?

This would be purely a computer display. That's why I need it to be a 1080p set. The resolution just isn't there for desktop use on a 720p set. And the 24 and 30 inch dedicated computer displays are either outrageously priced or they don't do certain things as far as TV features that I'd like to have available to use. One friend of mine brings his 360 over all the time, so ideally said monitor would support all HDTV resolutions, have component video, all that jazz. The only big computer monitors that do that are all crazy priced.

I hooked my laptop up to my 32" and played Half-Life 2 and some Dawn of War on it. That was pretty cool, but I really want that 1920x1080 resolution before I bother upgrading from the 22" PC monitor I have now.

Thin_J wrote:
TheGameguru wrote:

Just buy an LCD at 30" or 24" and run it with DVI through your cable box.

I already have a 32" for games and movies though?

This would be purely a computer display. That's why I need it to be a 1080p set. The resolution just isn't there for desktop use on a 720p set. And the 24 and 30 inch dedicated computer displays are either outrageously priced or they don't do certain things as far as TV features that I'd like to have available to use. One friend of mine brings his 360 over all the time, so ideally said monitor would support all HDTV resolutions, have component video, all that jazz. The only big computer monitors that do that are all crazy priced.

I hooked my laptop up to my 32" and played Half-Life 2 and some Dawn of War on it. That was pretty cool, but I really want that 1920x1080 resolution before I bother upgrading from the 22" PC monitor I have now.

Ahh I cant help you there.. your going to have to realize that manufactures like to keep a certain premium (right now) on 30" LCD's since they are 2560X1600 panels.. it may be that Dell 27" LCD thats long rumored will be more along the lines of something that will be reasonably priced and a good size.

I believe Westinghouse will eventually release a 1080P 32" LCD

TheGameguru wrote:

I believe Westinghouse will eventually release a 1080P 32" LCD

And I will be there in store with my wallet in hand.

Thin_J wrote:
TheGameguru wrote:

I believe Westinghouse will eventually release a 1080P 32" LCD

And I will be there in store with my wallet in hand.

And I'll be there, laying in wait to steal your wallet! Foolish mortal, carrying your wallet in hand!

Sweet wounded Jesus. Resolution wars!

"Mr. President, we cannot allow a resolution gap!"

Slick wrote:

2160p Foolish mortals

You sonsofbeetches!

I was looking to get another car with my tax return, looks like I will have to save it to get one of those monstrosities.

Tyrian wrote:
Thin_J wrote:
TheGameguru wrote:

I believe Westinghouse will eventually release a 1080P 32" LCD

And I will be there in store with my wallet in hand.

And I'll be there, laying in wait to steal your wallet! Foolish mortal, carrying your wallet in hand!

I laughed out loud at work. Awesome.

This resolution thing is kind of getting out of hand though. When it comes to perceiving high def images, many more things like black levels, accurate colors, hardware scaling and such are just as or more important than straight out resolution.

Don't get me wrong, I love me some 1080p for gaming and surfing when my nose is close to my laptop, but the further away I sit from a 1080p device, the less relevant it becomes, and the more relevant the things I described above become.

For me, 720p/1080i is the sweet spot from 6+ feet away on a 50" set. I was able to pause King Kong HD-DVD and see individual strands of hair, cracks in his skin, and the subtle moisture glistening off of his face. I don't know how my eyes could perceive anything more from that distance, but who knows?

Oh and Leap - the Pannys seem to do rather well with SD signals. Granted, there's only so much you can do with em, but they seem pretty clean in general.

Oh and Leap - the Pannys seem to do rather well with SD signals. Granted, there's only so much you can do with em, but they seem pretty clean in general.

Thanks Swat.

CNet has a really great article on the "other guys" in the LCD/plasma TV business. Mostly they focus on Vizio, who one analyst brands as the "poster child of the new TV manufacturer generation". They also compared the company's "high efficiency" setup to how Sony broke into the TV business years back, and talk about some measures the company uses to keep costs low (that don't involve slashing product quality or service).

It's not really new news, and it's not a discussion on the minutiae of picture quality, just a neat short article on the business side of things. It's hard not to respect the way Vizio has carved their niche, even if you're a high-end video enthusiast and aren't inclined to go with a Vizio TV yourself.

(No, I am not a plant. )

OK, I went to get the Vizio 32" LCD, but neither Costco nor Sam's Club will accept the Visa Gift Cards I wanted to use.

So, my backup plan was the similarly priced Westinghouse 32" LCD at Best Buy.

Got one, it had a single stuck pixel. Returned it, Best Buy accepted it without any hassle, brought the new one home, and it's great.

I can see how a 1080p display would be preferable if I were going to use this for regular desktop use, but it's still plenty enjoyable to use for browsing and stuff.

For PC games though, which is its primary job (that and being a bedroom TV), it kicks ass.

I picked up the LVM-42w2 on Friday. We moved Saturday morning, and I put together the new TV stand and got everything hooked up about 15 minutes before the Gears game on Saturday.

Holy crap, do I love this TV. Even my wife, who generally doesn't care about any of my electronics purchases, really enjoyed watching the space shuttle scene from Superman Returns on HD-DVD. She commented about how she felt like, "She was in the in the movie."

Nice. Time for other people to resume HDTV talk!

My dad took me TV shopping this past weekend, since he needed to replace his ancient Proscan 36" NON-FLAT SCREEN 12 year old CRT. After spending 2-3 hrs at a local best buy, he ended up with a Sharp AQUOS 46" LCD 1080p model. It was positioned next to a Sony Bravia XBR2 46" and a Samsung 46". We looked at the Westinghouse models, and a couple of plasmas, but after adjusting the pictures on all the TVs, he liked that one the best.

Reading online has led me to complaints about "bands" of color that mainly seem to show up on solid color (grey) screens... we'll see if his unit has the problem (I hope not!).

The best buy here has an open box model of the 42w2 on sale for $1300.

I was sorely tempted to sell an organ or two to buy it.

Been playing the 360 on the 32" Westy, pretty damn impressed.

I think I am just an LCD fan. I recognize the detail in the blacks doesn't match the HD CRT that Logan bought off me, or the Panasonic plasmas I have been considering for the living room TV. But I love the way LCDs look, especially the lack of a glossy screen between me and the picture. A good LCD picture almost looks like the image is painted right onto the surface. It's like a barrier between me and the picture has been removed.

If I had a dark movie room I would consider putting a plasma in there. But for rooms with variable lighting, and the triple duty of gaming, PC, and TV use, it's all LCD for me.

To answer Ulairi's post from the Everything Else board:

Have any of you purchased a WestingHouse? They are on the cheap end. They have a 27" for $700 at BestBuy.

Best Buy has the 32" Westinghouse on sale for the exact same price as the 27" - $699.

I bought it last week. It has excellent overall picture quality, don't be fooled by gimped demo units in the store. The remote is very nice with direct access to each input, and the TV auto-detects new signals on unused inputs and can auto-switch to them.

Also, if you have a Costco or Sam's Club card, go check out the 32" Vizio which sells for $699 (normally, not on sale). Also a fantastic TV and it would be what I own now if Costco took the Visa gift cards I got for Christmas.

*Legion* wrote:

To answer Ulairi's post from the Everything Else board:

Have any of you purchased a WestingHouse? They are on the cheap end. They have a 27" for $700 at BestBuy.

Best Buy has the 32" Westinghouse on sale for the exact same price as the 27" - $699.

I bought it last week. It has excellent overall picture quality, don't be fooled by gimped demo units in the store. The remote is very nice with direct access to each input, and the TV auto-detects new signals on unused inputs and can auto-switch to them.

Also, if you have a Costco or Sam's Club card, go check out the 32" Vizio which sells for $699 (normally, not on sale). Also a fantastic TV and it would be what I own now if Costco took the Visa gift cards I got for Christmas.

Cool. We do have a Costco, so I'll check them out too. Tahnks for the help.

Ulairi wrote:

Cool. We do have a Costco, so I'll check them out too. Tahnks for the help.

Let us know what you get and how you like it.

Congrats on the purchase Legion!

Everyone here knows about Avia and Digital Video Essentials right? If not, make sure you run to your nearest store and get a copy stat. DVE is a bit more hardcore, Avia is a bit easier to use. Either way, it's highly recommended to tune your new display with them to get the most out of your black levels and color saturation. DVE actually comes with a color decoder, so that's worth it alone.

I have DVE, and everything you've said is true.

Only thing to keep in mind is that SD doesn't match HD's color range, so using an old DVD copy of DVE isn't perfect, although it is still quite good and better than nothing. Anyone with an HD-DVD drive should get the HD DVE. Right now I don't have one and have just used my old copy of DVE.

Picked up the w4207 (720p version) today (blame it on the Saints) for $880 after sale and 12% coupon with the full intent of replacing it with something >50" and 1080p once I can meet those specs for less than 2k. At that point the w4207 will be mine, all mine, in the office/gaming dungeon.

Edit: and I also snagged the HD360DVD and A Perfect Storm HDDVD. I'm so looking forward to getting the HT set up in the new house we're moving into this weekend.

Nice grab on the W4207, I was considering that for my living room TV, and that's a great price. I'm surprised the 12% coupon was allowed to be applied to the sale item.

Costco has a coupon knocking $250 off of the brand new Vizio 47" 1080p LCD, reducing its price to $1649.99

My parents are taking my money and picking it up for me while the new wife and I are on our honeymoon (coupon would run out before we got back).

Needless to say, I'm pretty pumped about getting that TV.

Nice grab on the W4207, I was considering that for my living room TV, and that's a great price. I'm surprised the 12% coupon was allowed to be applied to the sale item.

When I asked about this at Best Buy, the salesman said they give you whichever ends up being the better price. The 12% coupon will only come off of a normal price, but they rarely discount a TV more than 10%, so the coupon is usually still better.

Tyrian wrote:
Nice grab on the W4207, I was considering that for my living room TV, and that's a great price. I'm surprised the 12% coupon was allowed to be applied to the sale item.

When I asked about this at Best Buy, the salesman said they give you whichever ends up being the better price. The 12% coupon will only come off of a normal price, but they rarely discount a TV more than 10%, so the coupon is usually still better.

Yeah, I didn't ask, I just presented it at checkout. Of course, I was somewhat prepared as there had already been a couple posts on this very topic over at the AVS Forum. It looks like results are mixed. I was lucky enough that an associate with whom I'd established a repartee over the holidays was working and he didn't even flinch when I handed it to him. As a matter of fact, I realize now that I might have been doubly lucky that the cash register in the TV section was occupied so we went over to one by the games/movies (away from potentially prying eyes of his co-workers) to ring it up.

I spent about 1 1/2 years researching the TV I wanted to own before I bought one. My first advice is to really consider your budget. I feel you should really try and fit the most amount of money in your TV budget as possible. I figured my TV would last for around 8 years. A $1000 TV comes to about .35 a day, a $2000 TV comes to about .70 a day, and a $4000 TV comes to about $1.40 a day. A $4000 TV would equate to $42 a month. Most people cable bills cost much more then that. The way I see things is a TV provides a ton of entertainment. It is something most people use every single day and brings a lot of joy to people. I wasn't afraid to spend a lot of extra money on a TV, because it really is the best return for my money, and I feel it is money well spent.

I read this thread last night and it took me quite a while. I heard many names thrown around, but one name I didn't hear mentioned was Pioneer. I purchased a 50 inch Pioneer Elite pro1120hd in July 2005. I can tell you I still get chills while watching this TV. I think someone in a post above mentioned about being in a lit room. The Pioneer Elite uses some type of special glass and it absorbs unwanted light unbelievably. We use to have a 36 inch Sony in the living room, and we could barely see the screen in the day time, even with our shades down. Now we can watch the Pioneer in the day with the shades open.
Another amazing thing is you can stand directly to the side of this plasma and it will not distort at all.

My TV is only 1080i. Since July 05 Pioneer has released the Pro1130hd and the pro1140hd and the Pro FHD1 which is the 1080p model. These are all the 50 inch models. The have a few Elite 43 inch and 60 inch models also. If you simply want an outstanding TV, You can't go wrong here with Pioneer Elite. The pro1130 and pro1140 are about $3000. Those are steals compared to what the 1120 was selling for 18 months ago. The FHD1 is about $5000.00 and that is also a good price compared to my purchase 18 months ago.

The Elite models may not be for everyone. It was fine for me because I am in the video business, and movies are a big hobby of mine, so the extra money is well woth it for me. For lower budgets Pioneer makes some models that are not under the Elite name.
I think Best Buy does carry a few of these TV's. Some of these 50 inch models are probably breaking the $2000 barrier and the 43 inch ones are probably $1100-$1500 dollars. The whole point here if your thinking about getting a HD TV, I feel you should include Pioneer and Pioneer Elite into your comparisons. There are websites that review TV's, and message boards that you should look around at. Read the reviews, and read what the owners have to say about their HD TV. Don't take buying a TV lightly, because you enjoy it everyday.http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pna/v3/pg/album/compare/0,,2076_310069729,00.html

*Legion* wrote:
Ulairi wrote:

Cool. We do have a Costco, so I'll check them out too. Tahnks for the help.

Let us know what you get and how you like it.

I ended up going with the 32" Vizio .