ITT we teach new guy about TV's (long)

muz

Hey H&A. I don't know any of you, really, though I have lurked here for a long time.

Basically, I know next to nothing about televisions. My whole life, I have watched televisions. I am vaguely cognizant that programs are broadcast to these mediums that people from time to time enjoy visually.

That's it.

So, the time has come where, as an independent adult male, I feel the need to upgrade the television stauts. As a consumer who is "tight with money" and "in constant paranoia of being ripped off," I figured I should get some edumacation from a group of strangers on the internet.

In regards to my purchase, I am looking to spend $600-800 initially, but I am willing to spend more as time goes on. I need a set which mixes the best possible picture quality with longevity; capable of probably a 720p output; and is not too burdensome to deliver and move myself. I am approximating a 28"-32" TV.

On to the questions--

1) Do you recommend plasma or LCD? I heard plasma is superior the higher in size you go, where the price becomes competitive with LCD. On smaller televisions, the price difference negates any visual superiority, really, and I'm fine with that--but could someone explain just how much of a difference I'll be seeing at 32"? Or could someone define the "rainbow effect"? The only big difference I'm aware of is that LCD picture quality declines sharply when outside a viewing angle.

2) What accessories must I have? As far as must haves, so far I have established I will need to purchase an HDMI cable, an HD receiver (we have DirecTV, the rebate should make this free if I purchase it in store), and component cables for my Wii (maybe the DVD player?). What else?

3) What accessories do you recommend? I am anticipating a very shitty audio system at first due to a low priced screen, so a home theater system in the long run. I also am thinking about an upscaling DVD player. Also, a receiver.

3a) What the hell is a receiver, and how easy is it to use? Will I need it to effectively use a home theater stereo system, or for more inputs for the upscaling DVD player (do these use HDMI cables?).

4) Service plans--worth it? I quickly lean toward no, but I would hate to be stuck paying monthly after something shit out on me 1 day after the 1 year limited warranty. Do these even cover anything other than the limited warranty, but longer? I can't think of any TV's in any family member's house that has EVER had a problem, but they're also older televisions.

5) High definition service--like I said above, I have DirecTV basic already free with my rent, and I can upgrade to a HD box free with an in-store rebate, but is it worth it to pay $9.99 a month for their channel package http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/packProg/channelChart2.jsp?assetId=1100084 Unfortunately, it seems as though local television channels aren't available in HD in my area--will this be a big deal, or what are some alternatives I can consider?

6) What are the brands you trust? I do most of my electronics shopping at Best Buy thanks to a relatives employee discount, but she is similarly lacking in knowledge about televisions, and I don't totally trust all of the employees in the home theater department. The cheapest model I like is the Insignia, but it's Best Buy's brand, so I have no idea in regards to the quality.

7) Suggestions, reviews: Thus far, I am looking at these

http://reviews.cnet.com/Insignia_NS_32LCD_LCD_TV_32/4505-6482_7-32154824.html

http://reviews.cnet.com/Westinghouse_LTV_32w6_HD_LCD_TV_32/4505-6482_7-32064858.html?tag=also

http://reviews.cnet.com/Samsung_LN_S3251D/4505-6482_7-31787622.html?tag=also

Any recommendations outside from these, or anecdotes in regards to brand names I can use as sound evidence to help me make these choices?

Help me, H&A. You're my only hope.

Heir

Not sure if this will help you, but I just bought my first HDTV a week ago. Here's the link to the thread in G&T where I got a lot of help and information on all the options available.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1073842446&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

I ended up buying an Olevia 32" LCD HDTV for $600 from Circuit City. So far I'm very happy with it.

IAmSoKawaii

I was going to make a thread about this. I've been looking to buy an HD for a while now, but didn't know what to get.

Orestes

Rainbowing is when your TV uses a single DLP chip to produce images. All it is, you see flashes of red, blue and green on bright colours produced onto a dark background. I notice it a fair amount in most Plasmas, but each to their own, so you should go down to Futureshop or Best-Buy and look at a lot of their T.V.'s so see if you can notice Rainbowing.

As for the LCD viewing angle, you can notice a degrade in picture in different angles, but I am watching my LCD from almost 90 degress and it's fine, but again, each to their own, so go down and look at T.V's and ask questions to the sales reps (most of them are morons, but you might find one that is smart).

I myself am a LCD kinda guy, I can't stand rainbowing, and I just don't like Plasmas in general for some reason.

Kismet

muz wrote:

3) What accessories do you recommend? I am anticipating a very shitty audio system at first due to a low priced screen, so a home theater system in the long run. I also am thinking about an upscaling DVD player. Also, a receiver.

3a) What the hell is a receiver, and how easy is it to use? Will I need it to effectively use a home theater stereo system, or for more inputs for the upscaling DVD player (do these use HDMI cables?).

The easiest way to think of a receiver is just as an A/V switcher that in the process provides surround sound.

For example, I have my Xbox 360, Wii, PS2, and HD DirecTV box hooked up to my receiver - the 360 and DircTV box are hooked up with digital audio connections (optical), and the Wii and PS2 both use regular old L/R RCA jacks. Pretty much any receiver you get these days that does at least 5.1 surround (Left, Right, Center, Rear Left, Rear Right, Sub) is going to use Pro Logic for the RCA connections and PCM and/or Dolby Digital/DTS for the digital connection(a digital connection can be either optical or a regular RCA jack).

So, what happens in the end is basically you hook up all of your equipment to the receiver, and then hook the video output up to your TV. Then, if you want to watch the dish, you just put the receiver on "Video 1" or "Digital Cable" or whatever your particular receiver named that input (some of them let you name the input yourself) and you will get surround sound to match whatever video input is selected. In this case, you don't actually get any sound from your display, you let the receiver handle all of the audio work.

muz wrote:

5) High definition service--like I said above, I have DirecTV basic already free with my rent, and I can upgrade to a HD box free with an in-store rebate, but is it worth it to pay $9.99 a month for their channel package http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/packProg/channelChart2.jsp?assetId=1100084 Unfortunately, it seems as though local television channels aren't available in HD in my area--will this be a big deal, or what are some alternatives I can consider?

I have their HD channel package and I would say it's worth it. It's even more worth it if you decide to get movie channels ever, as you get HD versions of HBO and Showtime with it, which are awesome.
Because local channels are not available in your area in HD, you will at least get an HD ABC and Fox (that's what I got anyway) and they will choose which station(East/West) based on where you are located.

Also, standards are changing so that all OTA(Over the Air) broadcasts are going to have to be digital within the next year or two. This doesn't necessarily mean that they will be in HD, but your HD receiver will at least be able to pick up any local channels that are currently broadcast in your area. They offerred an OTA antenna for $50 when I ordered my system, and I decided to get it, since it's yours forever and they set it up for you.

muz wrote:

6) What are the brands you trust? I do most of my electronics shopping at Best Buy thanks to a relatives employee discount, but she is similarly lacking in knowledge about televisions, and I don't totally trust all of the employees in the home theater department. The cheapest model I like is the Insignia, but it's Best Buy's brand, so I have no idea in regards to the quality.

I cannot recommend Westinghouse enough. My roomate owns a 27" LCD from them and it is fantastic - one of my friends has the same TV in the 42" version and it looks spectacular also - the picture was much better than the Best Buy brand(Insignia).

Zoolander

1) At this size, I would suggest LCD. Plasmas are techinically able to show deeper blacks and you can view them from a much wider angle than LCDs. But, from just looking at screens at BestBuy, I find LCDs simply look nicer. Your mileage may vary. The two important things to look for when judging the quality of an LCD are viewing angle and contrast ratio (how black the blacks are, a sign of a bad contrast ratio is if images look washed out).

As for viewing angle, I bought a 32" LCD (budget-level Sharp, not Aquos) a while back and if I just moved a couple feet off-center, the picture would start getting washed out. Now I have another 32" LCD (from a company called AOC) that has a much wider viewing angle. Check this out in-store, don't believe the numbers.

2) An HDMI cable for the HD receiver, component cables for your Wii and DVD player should do it for now. I suggest NOT buying cable from BestBuy, but looking online for much better prices for the exact same quality. monoprice.com is nice and cheap.

3) In the long run, you definitely want an audio system of some kind. Audio systems take sound from all the different sources (TV, DVD player, HD box, etc) and output them to the 5 or 6 speakers. There are two basic varieties - home theatre in a box and then true home theatre systems. Home theatre in a box (HTIB) is just that - they include a receiver (which often has DVD playback) and come with the required speakers. HTIBs tend to be much cheaper than real home theatre systems, and are convenient because they give you everything you need in one package. Here's an example of an HTIB

Real home theatre audio systems, on the other hand, offer higher quality but they cost a lot more and people generally buy the components seperately. The core of the home-theatre system is the receiver. The fancy new ones take gazillions of video and audio inputs and output them in a single HDMI cable. You set the TV to the HDMI input and use the receiver's remote to switch between the different sources. You also hook up speakers to them - sometimes the speakers come with the receiver but more often you buy them seperately. You can then add stuff to the receiver later on, like CD players or radio or what have you. If you look under "Components" on this page, it'll give you an idea of the various components you can add on to the receiver. You'll also have to buy the speakers seperately.

For your first system though, an HTIB is probably your best bet.

Upscaling DVD players are iffy. If your current DVD player is hooked up with a nice connection (component is fine), I don't know if you'll notice much difference on a 32" TV. Remember that your TV already upscales the video - when you buy an upconverting DVD player, it's because you believe the DVD player will do a much better job of it than the TV - which is not always the case.

4) Service plans are insurance - you will probably never use it, but you do get some peace of mind. Personally, buying one for a TV is a waste. TVs tend to sit there and either don't work well when you first turn it on or they work fine for years.

5) You definitely want an HD service. You can also get over-the-air HD, but it sounds like your area probably doesn't have any channels broadcasting HD over-the-air.

6) Don't buy the Insignia! You can't go wrong with a Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, LG, or Sharp Aquos. Westinghouse seems to be a good brand too, but I don't have much experience with them here in Canada. Keep in mind though that brand names are not everything - you can often get almost as good picture quality for couple hundred dollars less.