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Choosing an HDTV for the folks...
Iriah
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
With Christmas coming up, our family is allotting itself $2500(AUD) to get ourselves a nifty new HDTV.
The trouble is, I'm the only one who knows anything about HDTVs, and that means I know you should look for a low response time. I say that we should only get LCDs, but for some reason the rest of the mob think plasma screens are better.
That's not the point.
We're only going to get a decent HDTV through you, H/A. What do you reccomend?
Must:
I've been looking at this and the Sony Bravia range for a while, but something about the Bravia line just puts me off... they're selling a 55 inch hdtv for around $2,600.... it looks a little too good to be true.
The trouble is, I'm the only one who knows anything about HDTVs, and that means I know you should look for a low response time. I say that we should only get LCDs, but for some reason the rest of the mob think plasma screens are better.
That's not the point.
We're only going to get a decent HDTV through you, H/A. What do you reccomend?
Must:
-
Be below 40 inches OR easily wall mountable (no drills?)
I'd prefer 720p to 1080i from what I've heard, but what looks better? Can you switch between the two?
Have a decent brightness/contrast ratio
I've been looking at this and the Sony Bravia range for a while, but something about the Bravia line just puts me off... they're selling a 55 inch hdtv for around $2,600.... it looks a little too good to be true.
Iriah on
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That said, if you're going for a <40" TV, 720p is fine for the resolution. 1080p would look nicer of course, but the difference won't be anywhere near as noticeable as it would be if you were buying a 60" TV. My advice would honestly be to go to a place such as Best Buy or Circuit City, or whatever the equivalent in Australia, and stand in the TV section watching the TVs. All the reviews in the world won't make a bit of difference if you're not actually standing in front of the TV, looking at the picture. I looked at dozens of plasmas, LCDs, and DLPs over the past few weeks, and chose the 1080p DLP based on watching it in the store, not on the reviews LCDs and plasmas get. Plus it's very, very, very hard to find a quality LCD or plasma over 40 inches that displays in 1080p for under $4000 USD.
As for the two you looked at, $3000 (or, $2600 on sale) AUS for the Bravia does look a little low, considering it's a lower resolution than the Viewsonic. The Sony XBR's are quite nice though and top of the line, but you pay for it. Samsung makes surprisingly excellent TVs, (Their LCD panels are the best in the industry at the moment), and they're slightly more reasonably priced.
The best place to see a TV for its picture quality is a store that specializes in home theaters as they will have the correct picture settings and lighting that will more likely match that of a living room.
You can certainly buy the TV from a big box store, but plz plz plz make sure it looks right under the conditions you'll be setting it up in.
In the end, I suggest any Sony Rear Projection model. For the money, the picture quality is better than DLP, and it's way way way cheaper than a same size LCD or plasma.
My brother just bought one of these recently and it's beautiful, but then I don't really know anything much about TVs. I'm pretty sure their RRP is wrong, as my brother paid AU$2,500(ish) for his.
http://www.sharp.net.au/catalogue/catalogue.asp
Sharp reckons RRP$2,799, but what would they know :P
This is the weird thing. The LC32 AX3X looks glorious on Smash Brothers, no lag at all, perfect on Mario Tennis and many other games, but Mario Golf has varying amounts of lag on the shot bar. It makes it almost unplayable. Sometimes the hit is instant, other times it seems like 100ms or so before the button registers. Very frustrating! Could it have something to do with the shot bar being red? Don't LCDs have some issues with certain colours, or am I pulling that out of my arse?