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Help me buy a new TV, and a gaming system to go with it
ChopperDave
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I just moved to Boston for grad school and am living, for the first time, in an apartment that isn't full of furniture belonging to my roommates. Progress!
Anyway, I have some savings accrued and there's a sales tax holiday this weekend in Massachusetts so I figured what the hell, it's high time I get a legit TV.
I've read the tech forum topic on this and have browsed online a bit, so I'm not totally illiterate on the subject. But I do have some questions:
1) What are some good models/brands to look out for in general? I'm looking for something nice, big (50"+?), and HD, probably plasma. I'm willing to drop some dough to get a good mid-range model, though I would of course appreciate good deals and lower prices. Don't really care about 3D.
2) What are some good stores to shop in? I'm looking for some brick and mortar in Massachusetts to take advantage of the tax holiday preferably, but I'll happily order online too if it saves more money.
Another related question: I already have a Wii, but my girlfriend and I are thinking we should get an xbox360 or PS3 for its entertainment capabilities. Basically, we're looking for a good device for playing HD Netflix, hulu+, YouTube, DVDs, downloaded videos, etc. (I'm also interested in the games of course, but amusingly enough that's actually a secondary concern here.)
What are the pros and cons of an xbox360 vs a PS3, at least as far as non-gaming entertainment is concerned? Is one clearly better than the other in this regard? Or is neither superior, meaning I should get the system whose games interest me the most?
Anyway, I have some savings accrued and there's a sales tax holiday this weekend in Massachusetts so I figured what the hell, it's high time I get a legit TV.
I've read the tech forum topic on this and have browsed online a bit, so I'm not totally illiterate on the subject. But I do have some questions:
1) What are some good models/brands to look out for in general? I'm looking for something nice, big (50"+?), and HD, probably plasma. I'm willing to drop some dough to get a good mid-range model, though I would of course appreciate good deals and lower prices. Don't really care about 3D.
2) What are some good stores to shop in? I'm looking for some brick and mortar in Massachusetts to take advantage of the tax holiday preferably, but I'll happily order online too if it saves more money.
Another related question: I already have a Wii, but my girlfriend and I are thinking we should get an xbox360 or PS3 for its entertainment capabilities. Basically, we're looking for a good device for playing HD Netflix, hulu+, YouTube, DVDs, downloaded videos, etc. (I'm also interested in the games of course, but amusingly enough that's actually a secondary concern here.)
What are the pros and cons of an xbox360 vs a PS3, at least as far as non-gaming entertainment is concerned? Is one clearly better than the other in this regard? Or is neither superior, meaning I should get the system whose games interest me the most?
3DS code: 3007-8077-4055
ChopperDave on
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There've been quite a few TV threads lately in H/A. I'd poke around in them. Here's one that we just had.
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/146362/new-tv-search#Item_9
I can attest that the PS3 is whisper quiet when playing movies.
Since the 360's latest hardware revision you can't really go wrong with either as far as fan noise goes. Both the 360 Slim and the PS3 Slim are very quiet.
xbox live | playstation network | steam | last.fm | flickr
So just go with the games you like unless there's some feature you're just dying to have on one. You can use programs like tversity to stream just about anything to either, so it really doesn't matter quite as much. Both do netflix, and some TV's will have netflix built in as well.
Aside from that you're looking at panasonic and samsung sets. I personally went for a panny plasma. The power use on it isn't a big deal for me, but it may be something you are concerned with.
As for stores, all depends on area.
You can either do some research on a few models you are interested in and then go to look at them in person, or go find any close to you that have them on display to give you a good idea, then shop around for prices for those models that you picked out.
One of your local stores may or may not offer comparable prices, but at least they will have given you something to look at.
I wound up getting mine from a place called the big screen store, and it was $50 cheaper than the cheapest prices I found online from reputable dealers for a new one. The place was def no frills, and offered a lot of BS "sell it" answers, but I went in knowing what I was looking for so all I cared about was the fact that they had them powered on and would change to different types of movies so I could see color, contract, black levels, etc.
As for gaming, more and more companies are releasing games on all the consoles. Depending on what you like to play, I'd choose a console that way but since you are looking for a more media console, I'd stick to the PS3.
Out of curiosity, what are some of the better models of LCD currently on the market? After giving this some thought I'm starting to consider those, as well.
I have a Sony Bravia and it's pretty great.
Plasma is going to be cheaper at the get go, but in the long run you pay more due to the power bills.
Yeah, that's the main concern I have. Dollar for dollar the plasma seems to be a better purchase as far as picture quality, deeper blacks, viewing angle, etc goes, and I don't want to mount the TV so I'm not terribly concerned about that. But the power drain is a real con for me, and I'm also not going to have very good light-control in our common space, so reflections are an issue too. I'm starting to think an LCD might be the better purchase as far as long-term cost-benefit goes.
I have a 51" Samsung plasma that I just got about a month ago. The energy use sticker on it when it arrived had an estimated power cost of $23/year based on 5 hours of use per day.
Electricity costs are pretty negligible when you're talking newer, energy-efficient models of plasma tvs.
Unless things have changed in less than 2 years (I had a 50" Panasonic that was "green"), that's a really misleading sticker. My power bill literally tripled from $30 a month to $90. My math may be off, but that's saying that it only costs you 6 cents a day to run for that period of time. That can't be right. Have you actually had a chance to compare power bills yet?
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However, if a HTPC is not what you're looking for, then my expertise is at a close. I do have an XBox 360, but it is only for games as I would never use anything else for media playback other than my HTPC now that I've got one.
If media and streaming are your primary concerns, the PS3 will win out. It's got Blu-Ray and no subscription, and that alone will save you money in the long run.
Warframe: TheBaconDwarf
Actually, you can have voice chat parties on PS3. It's just not as easy as the 360.
Yes, I understand if you're all in the same game. But you can't join up across multiple titles to coordinate your gaming time. It's just the ease of use I'm talking about and that makes the 360 a joy to use with my friends of all tech levels.
But hairs are being split, as I've already recommended the PS3 like everybody else.
Warframe: TheBaconDwarf
It's highly unlikely he tripled the number of kilowatts (or kilowatthours?) consumed, however his bill could've gone up significantly due to electricity rates. For example where I live the 1st 500 kilowatts are charged at a rate that's less than a 3rd of the rate on killowatts over the first 500 (gotta love deregulation). If he's really concerned about power usage then he really should invest in a Kill A Watt, monitor usage, find out what his current tv power consumption is rated at (along with the tvs he's interested in), and using that data plus his electricity rates he ought to be able to find out how much it's going to cost him to operate whatever tv.
Your best bet is to find out the power consumption on the TV model you're looking at, decide how many hours a day you estimate it will be running, then cross reference that with your average cost per kWh in your state. Inflate the number you get by around 125% and that should be a rough idea of your yearly operating cost.
I'm no expert on this obviously, but I think part of the problem of a plasma TV is that they are still "on" even when you turn them off -- all plasmas have a "phantom" or "standby" mode so that they can turn on at a click of a button rather than having to warm up, which makes them super power-hungry even when you're not using them. LCDs do this too (all appliances do, really), but it isn't NEARLY as bad.
The point about NH is a pretty good one; we decided against getting a TV this weekend due to indecisiveness (got our console, though) so we may check out some stores elsewhere. I figured that our neighborhood TV stores might have put TVs on sale in order to move units during the tax holiday, but that doesn't seem to be the case. NH is pretty dang close!
I'm looking at a pretty sick deal on Amazon right now: buy a a LED 3DTV from Samsung's UND6400 or UND6500 series and get a free Blu-ray player and 2 3D glasses. If I go with the 46" 6400 model I can get the whole kit and keboodle for $1200. Yoink!
So, does anyone have any experience with TVs from these series? I was actually looking at TVs from the cheaper UND6000 series (BestBuy has a 46'' on sale at $1000), but a few of those reviews mentioned "flashlighting" at the edge (i.e. really bright and noticeable edgelighting when in the dark). Is that still a problem with the higher-end versions of the TV model?
Also, does anyone know the difference between the 6400 and 6500 models? As far as I can tell, it's just that one has built-in WiFi and the other doesn't.
Doesn't Mass have a tax free weekend coming up soon? Edit: No, nevermind, that was this past weekend. Ah well.
Also, we live in Vermont, right on the border with NH, so we've bought more than a few things in NH. If you buy a TV, just make sure you're handling the delivery yourself. If you have the shop you buy it from deliver, you will have to pay Mass taxes on it.
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197970666737/
but they're listening to every word I say
Sounds like that's what he went with since he's eyeballing that combo deal with the Blu-Ray player.
Yeah, we ended up getting a 360. I was leaning toward a PS3 thanks to this thread, but my girlfriend suddenly got strongly opinionated on the subject and told me that she really preferred the 360's controller, online interface, and games. We decided that the Blu-ray wasn't that important to us as we would probably never buy any discs (but hey, I'll take a separate player for free -- might turn around and sell it!). I also realized that most of the new TVs these days come with fancy, built-in wifi apps that do all the things we wanted in an entertainment center (streaming Netflix, hulu, Youtube, Pandora, etc...), so the decision boiled down to "Which console has the games we want and more of our friends in its online network?" Which, I suppose, is what it SHOULD have been about in the first place.
My old roommate had a DLP and it was pretty great. My new apartment, however, doesn't really have the space or the lighting for it, so the thinness of a LCD or a plasma is a definite plus.
Yeah, if you're never going to buy the discs it doesn't matter. Right now they look incredible though. We've got a few years it seems like before we're going to be streaming at that quality. And honestly, the 360 online experience blows Sony out of the water. I'm not sure why Sony's iteration of it is so terrible.
46" is a good size. Depending on the room, 50"+ can be overwhelming and not necessary.
I already owned an older, less efficient Panasonic plasma for the past 3 or 4 years and I never saw a power bill increase like yours. I think ours went up like $10/month with the older model.
The newer ones really are supposed to be that efficient now though. I can't make a fair judgment based on current electric bills, as we had a huge heat wave in Chicago and used the AC much more than previous months.
Here's an interesting chart from cnet though. Even the absolute least efficient television on there without calibrated settings has an estimated cost per year of $126.17. I don't even understand how you could possibly manage $60/month for a tv unless you were using it 20 hours a day in torch mode with a super rape power provider.
Read up a few posts to see what was probably happening. I have zero reason to come in here and lie and I'm pretty sure I'm not a shill for the LCD industry.
EDIT: Or am I?