So I have a bit of a quandry. I am replacing the SDTV in my living room with a new HDTV. Unfortunetly, the way the room is setup I need to deal with glare AND I need a wide viewing angle... .
Any advice?
The particulars:
Size limit (about 45' horizontal, vertical is not a problem)
Price: $1500
Well, I am more interested in getting the best TV for the money. Our tax return is going to be about 1700 I think. We will move several times in the next few years. At least twice, to a new apartment some time soon, and then hopefully into a house. So the viewing layout will change several times as well. I try to not sit any closer than 5 feet, and much prefer about somewhere between 7 and 10 feet.
Wanting the best for your money isn't a new purchasing idea. For the most part, if you can spend more money you can get a better TV. It's a matter of you determining the range you want to spend in (maybe you say $1700 is your limit, but $2000 might get you a better TV), and determining your needs.
Yea, is hard to determine your needs if you plan to move. You don't know how much glare you will deal with, how much light, how far you will sit, etc.
IMHO the best bang for the buck is one of Samsungs LED based DLPs. http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-HL67A750-67-Inch-1080p-Powered/dp/B001413DWQ/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1235574875&sr=8-1
Thats a 67-inch TV for under $2000 with excellent picture quality. It's not as thing as an LCD or plasma (its a little over a foot deep). I think its the best value hands down in your range, but you might disagree. Thus proving how much personal preference goes into this.
No matter what you choose to buy, make sure to calibrate it to where you set it up. Its how you will get the best out of it. Because of the calibration begin pretty much required, looking at TVs in most stores is almost pointless because of the settings they use. If you want to see a TV looking the best it can, you need to see it in some sort of home theatre dealers layout.
If you want to start narrowing TVs down, check out Amazon and Cnet and check out what the best reviewed TVs are that fit what you want/need.
Things to consider.
LCD, plasma, or DLP
How you want to display the TV (affected by size, weight, and heat)
How much light/glare it will be exposed to
Energy consumption
The viewing angle
The amount of inputs
Built in speaker quality if you don't have a dedicated sound system.
Price
Refresh rate
60hz/120hz
Do you want ambient light? That narrows it down tremendously.
Does the TV have to look pretty/have a nice design element?
Improvolone on
Voice actor for hire. My time is free if your project is!
No. There are really only three main buying groups. At the high end, you have the av-philes. These are the audiophiles willing to spend upwards of 5-figures on speakers. The group that will buy that $4000+ receiver to go with their $5000-7000 TV. Then there is the discerning-customer group. This group doesn't want cheap crap, but doesn't want to spend that 30% price premium for the extra 2% in performance. This is the group that will buy the "normal" high-end stuff...the $2000 receiver, the $2500-3000 TV. This group will buy the brand name speakers, but won't get the premium line.
Then there is the budget group. This is what most people fall under. That's been borne out since I started following this thread a few months ago when people in here get irritated with advice telling them their tastes aren't good enough. Get outside this forum into the general population, and it's even more obvious. MOST people have absolutely no problem picking the size of their TV and then saying "I want the cheapest one". The offbrand Home-Theater-in-a-Box people. And who can blame them? Look at the most popular TV shows right now...do you really need a $6000 Sony to watch Biggest Loser? Do black levels really matter when your primary TV use is Scrubs and Wii Sports? Pioneers (particularly the Elites) are just about the undisputed kings of displays, but they had no low or middle offerings so when the market crashed they were gone. Vizios are pieces of shit, but they're cheap, FUNCTIONAL pieces of shit.
I agree with almost everything you said. Except.
Vizios aren't really pieces of shit. They're low-end televisions, but for low-end they're fairly decent. I would recommend an LG or a Westinghouse at that price point over a Vizio, but they beat the shit out of, say, Magnavox. Magnavoxes are pieces of shit.
ElJeffe on
I submitted an entry to Lego Ideas, and if 10,000 people support me, it'll be turned into an actual Lego set!If you'd like to see and support my submission, follow this link.
So I have a bit of a quandry. I am replacing the SDTV in my living room with a new HDTV. Unfortunetly, the way the room is setup I need to deal with glare AND I need a wide viewing angle... .
Any advice?
The particulars:
Size limit (about 45' horizontal, vertical is not a problem)
Price: $1500
Everything else is negotiable.
How wide a viewing angle do you need? LCDs aren't as good as plasmas, but it's not like you have to be seated right in front of the TV or else it goes completely dark.
ElJeffe on
I submitted an entry to Lego Ideas, and if 10,000 people support me, it'll be turned into an actual Lego set!If you'd like to see and support my submission, follow this link.
We are looking at spending around 1000 dollars. Inches wise, we want something between 32 and 42. So that Pioneer screen and the Samsung LN46a850 is about twice what we are looking to spend. So I guess I am the kind of lowly plebeian who buys TVs from department stores or something, God forbid. An off-the-racks and racks buying member of the proletariat.
We watch movies, cable and play vidja games, but we are not "videophiles" and we do not have a huge amount of disposable income. I currently have a ps2, and a Wii that get regular use. At some point, I want to get a 360 or ps3, but that is several months off at least. We will upgrade to Blu-ray at some point, but again that is some time away. I want to get a TV that would be good for quite some time. I am not one for rash purchases or who disposes of those purchases and buys a replacement 2 or 3 years later.
I guess 1080 is the way to go, right? What is the difference between 1080p and 1080i? I think p is better right?
I guess plasma is ruled out. LCD seems to have a higher resolution for the same price.
Let me be absolutely clear here...I was NOT venturing an opinion that you're "another dumb fuck who'll buy a shitty TV." Some people want an awesome TV. Some people want an affordable TV. I would make diff recommendations to those people. Note that the Pio Elites, the best TV on the market, are sold at dept stores.
1080p is better, but it doesn't really come into play until you start talking about TVs bigger than 50". I'm not so sure I would rule out the plasmas...again, the higher resolution isn't going to matter at the sizes you are talking about. As far as the Samsung you referenced, I'm more familiar with looking at the 50s but I'm sure that 530 will be solid. Also, on Improv's recommendation on the DLP, while the value is good I cannot recommend a 67" DLP to someone who knows they are going to move a few times.
So I have a bit of a quandry. I am replacing the SDTV in my living room with a new HDTV. Unfortunetly, the way the room is setup I need to deal with glare AND I need a wide viewing angle... .
Any advice?
The particulars:
Size limit (about 45' horizontal, vertical is not a problem)
Price: $1500
Everything else is negotiable.
How wide a viewing angle do you need? LCDs aren't as good as plasmas, but it's not like you have to be seated right in front of the TV or else it goes completely dark.
I'm at work so I can't get an exact measurement, but I'd say 45 degrees, maybe a little more. The room is not designed around the TV, it is really a secondary usage thing. Also, the TV does need to pass the wife test as far as looks goes, but I'm not to worried about that since most new TV's have a relatively standard "look"
1080p is better, but it doesn't really come into play until you start talking about TVs bigger than 50". I'm not so sure I would rule out the plasmas...again, the higher resolution isn't going to matter at the sizes you are talking about. As far as the Samsung you referenced, I'm more familiar with looking at the 50s but I'm sure that 530 will be solid. Also, on Improv's recommendation on the DLP, while the value is good I cannot recommend a 67" DLP to someone who knows they are going to move a few times.
The physical size of a panel has no bearing on anyone's ability to perceive a difference between the amount of detail resolved by an interlaced signal and that of a progressive signal. Provided they're both 1920 x 1080, the frame buffer is the same size, either resolution can be perfectly pixel mapped to a 1920 x 1080 display, and any difference, whether it's flicker or motion, is equally evident at any size.
With regards to current gen videogame consoles, it almost unequivocally is a sham. Aside from a very select few exceptions, virtually all games render at resolutions far below 1920 x 1080, and many of them don't even blanket the discrepancy with scaling. A couple first-gen PS3 titles could afford to run natively in 1080p when resources didn't need to be spent elsewhere, but as graphical fidelity inevitably rises in a static hardware environment, the trend is away from higher resolutions, not toward them.
With regards to everything else (cable TV, streaming media, your non-blu-ray media collection, et cetera), 1080p is just mostly a sham, but it won't always be that way. 1080p will become a widely embraced reality once 1440p becomes the sham.
on Improv's recommendation on the DLP, while the value is good I cannot recommend a 67" DLP to someone who knows they are going to move a few times.
A 90 lb tv is not so bad to move, it'll be more bulky than heavy but you can move it with 2 people. Moving a 300 lb, 65" CRT-based RPTV is annoying and different tv should be purchased, but I don't think they make those anymore. When you get used to a very large screen as your primary screen, smaller screens look dinkier, so you'll likely be married to getting another large screen when you need to upgrade/replace.
Assuming the viewing area width restriction in 45", you're going to hit that limit with a widescreen 46-48" diagonal panel.
If you change your viewing distance based on what you're watching you might want to consider that. As I sit 4' from a 65" tv when playing SF4, but usually at least twice that distance when watching movies/tv.
I've got a question about image retention on an LCD.
Last week I got a Samsung 22" LCD and I really don't like watching 4:3 content stretched, but I don't have an HD box (yet, but hopefully soon), so unless I'm watching an HD show streamed through my 360 or playing a game, all of my watching is SD content. I prefer watching in 4:3 with the black bars on the sides, but I've been doing a lot of googling and I'm really not sure what my risk of image retention is. Some sites say there's little risk, some say there's great risk. Most mention not watching with the bars for a long time but no one defines how long "long" is. If I were to watch, say, five hours at a time each day, is that too much? If I alternate between 4:3 and stretched, say every hour, would that help? I can live with stretched if I have to but I'd really rather not.
I've got a question about image retention on an LCD.
Last week I got a Samsung 22" LCD and I really don't like watching 4:3 content stretched, but I don't have an HD box (yet, but hopefully soon), so unless I'm watching an HD show streamed through my 360 or playing a game, all of my watching is SD content. I prefer watching in 4:3 with the black bars on the sides, but I've been doing a lot of googling and I'm really not sure what my risk of image retention is. Some sites say there's little risk, some say there's great risk. Most mention not watching with the bars for a long time but no one defines how long "long" is. If I were to watch, say, five hours at a time each day, is that too much? If I alternate between 4:3 and stretched, say every hour, would that help? I can live with stretched if I have to but I'd really rather not.
Its only a "problem" on plasmas. Otherwise a windows task bar would be burned into 90% of monitors out there.
Improvolone on
Voice actor for hire. My time is free if your project is!
Hey, how are the 22" Samsungs? I've been thinking of one for a second TV.
It's a really nice TV. The picture is great, 360 looks fantastic. It's small, but I have a small room so it's a good size. I haven't watched much HD content on it like I mentioned, but what I have watched looks really good.
I've got a question about image retention on an LCD.
Last week I got a Samsung 22" LCD and I really don't like watching 4:3 content stretched, but I don't have an HD box (yet, but hopefully soon), so unless I'm watching an HD show streamed through my 360 or playing a game, all of my watching is SD content. I prefer watching in 4:3 with the black bars on the sides, but I've been doing a lot of googling and I'm really not sure what my risk of image retention is. Some sites say there's little risk, some say there's great risk. Most mention not watching with the bars for a long time but no one defines how long "long" is. If I were to watch, say, five hours at a time each day, is that too much? If I alternate between 4:3 and stretched, say every hour, would that help? I can live with stretched if I have to but I'd really rather not.
Its only a "problem" on plasmas. Otherwise a windows task bar would be burned into 90% of monitors out there.
That's what I was thinking, but in the manual it says "displaying stationary graphics and images on screen, such as the dark side bars on nonexpanded standard format television and video programming, should be limited to no more than 5% of the total television viewing per week." But I'm wondering if this is just copypasta'd from a plasma manual to cover their ass just in case.
Hey, how are the 22" Samsungs? I've been thinking of one for a second TV.
It's a really nice TV. The picture is great, 360 looks fantastic. It's small, but I have a small room so it's a good size. I haven't watched much HD content on it like I mentioned, but what I have watched looks really good.
I've got a question about image retention on an LCD.
Last week I got a Samsung 22" LCD and I really don't like watching 4:3 content stretched, but I don't have an HD box (yet, but hopefully soon), so unless I'm watching an HD show streamed through my 360 or playing a game, all of my watching is SD content. I prefer watching in 4:3 with the black bars on the sides, but I've been doing a lot of googling and I'm really not sure what my risk of image retention is. Some sites say there's little risk, some say there's great risk. Most mention not watching with the bars for a long time but no one defines how long "long" is. If I were to watch, say, five hours at a time each day, is that too much? If I alternate between 4:3 and stretched, say every hour, would that help? I can live with stretched if I have to but I'd really rather not.
Its only a "problem" on plasmas. Otherwise a windows task bar would be burned into 90% of monitors out there.
That's what I was thinking, but in the manual it says "displaying stationary graphics and images on screen, such as the dark side bars on nonexpanded standard format television and video programming, should be limited to no more than 5% of the total television viewing per week." But I'm wondering if this is just copypasta'd from a plasma manual to cover their ass just in case.
I would not worry about it. Just turn the TV off when you don't use it.
Improvolone on
Voice actor for hire. My time is free if your project is!
I've got a question about image retention on an LCD.
Last week I got a Samsung 22" LCD and I really don't like watching 4:3 content stretched, but I don't have an HD box (yet, but hopefully soon), so unless I'm watching an HD show streamed through my 360 or playing a game, all of my watching is SD content. I prefer watching in 4:3 with the black bars on the sides, but I've been doing a lot of googling and I'm really not sure what my risk of image retention is. Some sites say there's little risk, some say there's great risk. Most mention not watching with the bars for a long time but no one defines how long "long" is. If I were to watch, say, five hours at a time each day, is that too much? If I alternate between 4:3 and stretched, say every hour, would that help? I can live with stretched if I have to but I'd really rather not.
It is actually possible for an LCD to suffer this kind of problem. In LCDs I have heard it referred to as "image persistence." I have personal experience with this; a 32" Vizio LCD that I own, which was used for viewing 4:3 SD cable every day, developed black lines at the edges of the black bars. It took about 4-5 months for them to go away once I noticed and switched the TV to stretched 16:9 mode. They were really ingrained and extremely noticeably, not just faint outlines. It also retained the graphics on the Wii menu that pops up when you hit the home button, which I had left up for a mere half hour or so. There was a faint ghost of the menu stuck in the screen for a couple hours afterwards.
I have also seen some older Apple Cinema displays at school with the same problem; they DO have the menu bars and stuff burned into them. Having researched this when it happened to my Vizio, it sounds like it may or may not go away.
Keep in mind that it is very rare, though, and my Vizio is about 2 years old, so maybe the problem has been completely eradicated in newer models.
EDIT: Don't want to double post so I'll just add on to this one:
I just asked about this TV in this thread a couple weeks ago and went ahead and decided to get it. Now that I have had it for a little while, I can safely say that it is spectacular. It is monstrous and after some minor calibrations (AVSforum has tons of great info on this set) it has an incredible picture, probably the best picture I have seen on an HDTV. Vertical viewing angles can be a bit of a problem but I have found no trouble with horizontal viewing angles; everyone on the couch enjoys the same picture, which was not true for my old LCD. If you go too far off to the side it does fall apart, but otherwise it has very reasonable horizontal viewing angles. I have the couch about 9.5-10 feet back which seems just about right.
There's also the 61 inch version of this TV, which is pretty much the exact same thing except for screen size. I believe people are snagging those for around $1200 now.
So overall I am very satisfied, and I love that I will be able to view 3D content on this TV in the near future when the technology matures a little bit more. 3D blu ray movies, anyone?
So the TV budget might be 800 dollars rather than 1600. Hmm.
Have you looked at Amazon warehousedeals.com? The TVs are open box or refurbished but they're priced pretty well. Right now they have the Samsung LN46A550 for a little over $900 and the LN40A550 for $738, which is right around your price range. I was eyeing the LN40A650 for a while and they have that one for $1100ish. The 61" Samsung A750 DLP is $1250.
You have to be comfortable with buying an open box or refurbished TV though. From the reviews it sounds like people are pretty happy overall, but you never know if you're going to get a bad one.
So the TV budget might be 800 dollars rather than 1600. Hmm.
Have you looked at Amazon warehousedeals.com? The TVs are open box or refurbished but they're priced pretty well. Right now they have the Samsung LN46A550 for a little over $900 and the LN40A550 for $738, which is right around your price range. I was eyeing the LN40A650 for a while and they have that one for $1100ish. The 61" Samsung A750 DLP is $1250.
You have to be comfortable with buying an open box or refurbished TV though. From the reviews it sounds like people are pretty happy overall, but you never know if you're going to get a bad one.
Always check the selling price of a new TV before buying the refurb. Take the case of that LN46A550. That is only a $200 discount for buying refurb. Think about how long you're going to own the TV, and ask yourself if that $200 is really going to make a difference 6 months down the road. Now some of those refurbs are much better deals. This philosophy holds double-true for Best Buy, whose in-store open box deals are often hilarious.
Hm. I will check those out. It seems I can still get a pretty sweet deal for 800, going by Amazon anyway. I can even get 1080p in a decent size for that price.
We have also decided that 40 inches is plenty large.
Also, we didn't even think about our lack of HD cable. I haven't even looked into that. We have Comcast, we might already have the option for some HD, but I have no idea how much it would cost. What would non-HD stuff look like?
My primary gaming system is the Wii, but I plan on getting a ps3 or 360 at some point. Is there anything I should pay attention to?
I have charter for cable, so not sure how this relates, but we get the local broadcast HD channels plus a few more through cable. You'll most likely be able to hook up an HD antenna and get the local broadcast stuff, too (just switch between cable and air). Depending on the set, SD stuff should look good to great, depends on the upscaler... the Samsung's are really good at making SD look not so bad.
I have my 360 hooked up to my 40" (Samsung LN40A650) with component, but VGA might also be an option. If you are getting a new 360, I believe there's an HDMI version - most tv's have a ton of inputs though so those are all options.
Dedian on
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Madpandasuburbs west of chicagoRegistered Userregular
Hm. I will check those out. It seems I can still get a pretty sweet deal for 800, going by Amazon anyway. I can even get 1080p in a decent size for that price.
We have also decided that 40 inches is plenty large.
Also, we didn't even think about our lack of HD cable. I haven't even looked into that. We have Comcast, we might already have the option for some HD, but I have no idea how much it would cost. What would non-HD stuff look like?
My primary gaming system is the Wii, but I plan on getting a ps3 or 360 at some point. Is there anything I should pay attention to?
Just make sure the tv has HDMI inputs, I think you would be hard pressed to find one without multiple these days.
Also for cables (hdmi and wii component) monoprice.com can save you some cash.
Hmmm.
I just started looking for a new TV... Its quite interesting - some of the 720p TV's have fallen in price in the face of the newer 1080p's.
I want something between 40-50" - and I'm noticing some pretty sweet deals on 50" 720p's... I Guess I'll have to see how far away I normally sit, but according to the graph on the OP - I'd need to be sitting closer than 10ft from a 50" and closer than 7" for a 40" for the 1080 to start becoming noticeable.
More of a technicall thing but I have a 2 month old Sony Bravia 42 inch V Series. Sometimes while watching tv or playing a game for a while the sound will fizzle and cut out, if I change the channel or input it comes back fine. It doesn't happen that often, what could be causing this? Cables? Should I contact sony?
More of a technicall thing but I have a 2 month old Sony Bravia 42 inch V Series. Sometimes while watching tv or playing a game for a while the sound will fizzle and cut out, if I change the channel or input it comes back fine. It doesn't happen that often, what could be causing this? Cables? Should I contact sony?
Next time it happens, DON'T change anything to make sure it isn't just your reception dying on you. Assuming that isn't the issue, what is the cable connection you're unsure of? Is the sound running from a cable box to your TV, and if so what type of cable are you using?
More of a technicall thing but I have a 2 month old Sony Bravia 42 inch V Series. Sometimes while watching tv or playing a game for a while the sound will fizzle and cut out, if I change the channel or input it comes back fine. It doesn't happen that often, what could be causing this? Cables? Should I contact sony?
Next time it happens, DON'T change anything to make sure it isn't just your reception dying on you. Assuming that isn't the issue, what is the cable connection you're unsure of? Is the sound running from a cable box to your TV, and if so what type of cable are you using?
HDMI from digital cable box to TV. If I wait long enough... ~3 minutes it corrects sometimes, other times it may have corrected if I waited longer but I didn't experiment. By reception you mean the picture as well? I use the same type of HDMI cable from my cable company for videogames and TV, so I thought maybe that had some bearing on it, that was all I was unsure of.
I hadn't noticed you said you were playing games when this happened. If it's happening on different cables it's extremely unlikely it's the cable. The only common thing here seems to be the TV so yes you should probably get your TV looked at.
Okay, seriously retarded question, but it was sparked off by reading the top of this page.
If I was to get a BenQ 24 inch monitor and wanted to use it to play my 360 on, how would I get sound?
Hrm, while I'm at it, has anyone got any qualms about the following being put together as a system?
ASUS P5Q Motherboard $225.00
Intel Core2 Duo E8400 $283.00
Antec Three Hundred Case $109.00
Antec TruePower Trio 430 $79.00
HIS Hightech Radeon HD4850 IceQ 4 1GB $305.00
Samsung 1TB 7200rpm SATA II HD103UJ $165.00
BenQ G2400WD 24in Widescreen LCD Monitor $325.00
Corsair TWIN2X4096-6400C5 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 $94.00
Prices are in Australian dollars. Total is AUD$1585
Almost your entire question pretty much belongs in the PC Build Thread, and will get more complete answers there. That being said (and that I'm underwhelmed by both that monitor and that site), the only way you will get sound is if you run the 360 into a receiver first, and run the video out from the receiver to the monitor. This either means you have an HDMI XBox 360, or you have a receiver that will take an analog signal (either composite or component) and upconvert it to HDMI. I focus on HDMI because that's the only real input your monitor will take here.
As far as your build, I personally can't recommend buying a Core 2 Duo when you can get a Core i7 920 for $280. Especially when you've quoted out a $225 motherboard. But again, this is a subject for the build thread.
Edit: From grrarg's below post apparently your cable may have a connection. I don't own a 360. I know that typically you plug computer speakers into something...not the other way around. So make sure whatever sound setup you have can accept a connection from the 360 before you buy.
And I guess I didn't read that post at all because he's talking AUD. I need to get rid of these 5AM workouts...
Okay, seriously retarded question, but it was sparked off by reading the top of this page.
If I was to get a BenQ 24 inch monitor and wanted to use it to play my 360 on, how would I get sound?
The 360 VGA cable comes with a RCA to 3.5mm adapter to plug into computer speakers or a line-in port.
For HDMI, the standard AV cable covers the HDMI connector so you cannot plug in a regular HDMI cable for video and the regular 360 AV cable for audio at the same time. You either have to get the official 360 HDMI cable with audio adapter or mod your AV cable a bit so you can plug both in at the same time.
Edit: Or you could use a receiver like Scrublet posted while I went afk.
Oh jesus, I'm sorry. I managed to post this in entirely the wrong thread. I had two windows open and didn't realise it until I looked in the PC build thread this morning and wondered why I couldn't find my post. Sorry.
Scrublet; I think you must have missed that the prices are in Australian dollars because I cannot for the life of me find an i7 processor for $280AUD. The cheapest I can find is $458. But in any case, I've shifted all that stuff to the build thread.
My sights keep lingering on the Pioneer 6020 while it's still available new and reasonably priced.
To be honest, I'd either save yourself some money and stick with the 5020, or spend the extra money on the Elite instead of the extra size...you have very few calibration options on the 5020/6020. And the 50" Elite will generally run you a few hundred less than the 6020. I'll be interested to see how Panny's two high-end 2009 lines will stack up against these things.
My sights keep lingering on the Pioneer 6020 while it's still available new and reasonably priced.
To be honest, I'd either save yourself some money and stick with the 5020, or spend the extra money on the Elite instead of the extra size...you have very few calibration options on the 5020/6020. And the 50" Elite will generally run you a few hundred less than the 6020. I'll be interested to see how Panny's two high-end 2009 lines will stack up against these things.
Not that what you've proposed isn't apt, but I've already got a 50" plasma, and both my girlfriend and I are perfectly satisfied with it, even though it's a mid-tier 1080p panel. Sure, it would be nice to get something much more refined at 50", but ours is moving into the bedroom, and the executive variable for the new purchase is size. I could very easily go with a current 58" flagship Panasonic for significantly less than the 6020, and the quality gap between the two is not so big as it was last generation (varyingly so, depending on whose advice you seek, of course), but I just mean to say that the recent drop in the 6020's price tempts me to go for the extra two inches and the signature Kuro aesthetic.
And yes, it will be interesting to see how the soon-to-arrive generation of top-tier Panasonics will match up to last year’s “king”. Having a full 1,080 lines of motion resolution is an exciting prospect, but, aside from that, I’m skeptical in this economy of incentive for them to push resources at developing technology to surpass their now dead (or just sleeping? O_O;) sturdiest competitor for PQ as the manufacturer’s sweet spot inches ever closer toward mass produced 50” 1080p panels. Even when people were spending shitloads of money they didn’t have on shit they didn’t need, Pioneer still wasn’t able to convince a critical mass of consumers that PQ matters, but marketing can change everything, so we’ll see.
Comprehensive user-level access to picture control is a nice feature, and I enjoy it with my Samsung, but I already know that I actually really like the way the XX20s look in at least two of their preset modes, even though they're admittedly not too terribly accurate right out of the box. If I were really concerned with user-level picture controls, I'd probably go with a 6010, honestly, as a skilled hand can achieve picture quality and black levels nearly selfsame to those of the 6020, but they are rare and expensive anyway, and I take comfort in the idea that if my tastes ever evolve, I can always either pay someone to calibrate it or spend the time to research service-level manipulation and do it myself.
So I just got myself a new 47 inch hd tv. What else do I need to fully take advantage? I have cable through Time Warner, so I also got an HD DVR with component cables. Does HDMI really make a difference? What about for my 360, I just have the component cables that came with the system, any others that I shoudl think about?
If the 360 supports HDMI, then yes. Otherwise component will do - just hope that your TV accepts 1080p signals via component. I think that's more standard now, but a short while ago it was uncommon.
ElJeffe on
I submitted an entry to Lego Ideas, and if 10,000 people support me, it'll be turned into an actual Lego set!If you'd like to see and support my submission, follow this link.
So any horror stories about the Sony 46inch S4100. I can get one from my local BestBuy for a grand before taxes. Will be using HDMI cables for PS3, 360, and Cable.
Hurrah for my new Westinghouse LVN-37w3se exploding and emiting smoke in less than 1 month after buying.
I guess what I'm telling you guys is don't buy from buy.com because of a pitiful 14 day return policy and don't buy Westinghouse. Fuck this.
Well my new TV came in the mail today. Westinghouse was kind enough to upgrade my broken 37 inch TV to a broken 42 inch TV.
Maybe the next one will take less than 3 months turnaround on Westinghouse.
I repeat, don't buy a Westinghouse TV regardless of some supposed name brand recognition. Thier customer service is terrible. It took an entire month since they'd recieved my old broken tv for them to enter it into their database as recieved. It then took them another month to tell me I was going to be getting a 42" replacement. It then took them another half a month to send me the broken replacement TV.
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Any advice?
The particulars:
Size limit (about 45' horizontal, vertical is not a problem)
Price: $1500
Everything else is negotiable.
Yea, is hard to determine your needs if you plan to move. You don't know how much glare you will deal with, how much light, how far you will sit, etc.
IMHO the best bang for the buck is one of Samsungs LED based DLPs.
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-HL67A750-67-Inch-1080p-Powered/dp/B001413DWQ/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1235574875&sr=8-1
Thats a 67-inch TV for under $2000 with excellent picture quality. It's not as thing as an LCD or plasma (its a little over a foot deep). I think its the best value hands down in your range, but you might disagree. Thus proving how much personal preference goes into this.
No matter what you choose to buy, make sure to calibrate it to where you set it up. Its how you will get the best out of it. Because of the calibration begin pretty much required, looking at TVs in most stores is almost pointless because of the settings they use. If you want to see a TV looking the best it can, you need to see it in some sort of home theatre dealers layout.
If you want to start narrowing TVs down, check out Amazon and Cnet and check out what the best reviewed TVs are that fit what you want/need.
Things to consider.
LCD, plasma, or DLP
How you want to display the TV (affected by size, weight, and heat)
How much light/glare it will be exposed to
Energy consumption
The viewing angle
The amount of inputs
Built in speaker quality if you don't have a dedicated sound system.
Price
Refresh rate
60hz/120hz
Do you want ambient light? That narrows it down tremendously.
Does the TV have to look pretty/have a nice design element?
I agree with almost everything you said. Except.
Vizios aren't really pieces of shit. They're low-end televisions, but for low-end they're fairly decent. I would recommend an LG or a Westinghouse at that price point over a Vizio, but they beat the shit out of, say, Magnavox. Magnavoxes are pieces of shit.
How wide a viewing angle do you need? LCDs aren't as good as plasmas, but it's not like you have to be seated right in front of the TV or else it goes completely dark.
No, just run a search. I'm just trying to spare the 40-50 page thread ANOTHER discussion on the topic.
Let me be absolutely clear here...I was NOT venturing an opinion that you're "another dumb fuck who'll buy a shitty TV." Some people want an awesome TV. Some people want an affordable TV. I would make diff recommendations to those people. Note that the Pio Elites, the best TV on the market, are sold at dept stores.
1080p is better, but it doesn't really come into play until you start talking about TVs bigger than 50". I'm not so sure I would rule out the plasmas...again, the higher resolution isn't going to matter at the sizes you are talking about. As far as the Samsung you referenced, I'm more familiar with looking at the 50s but I'm sure that 530 will be solid. Also, on Improv's recommendation on the DLP, while the value is good I cannot recommend a 67" DLP to someone who knows they are going to move a few times.
PSN: TheScrublet
I'm at work so I can't get an exact measurement, but I'd say 45 degrees, maybe a little more. The room is not designed around the TV, it is really a secondary usage thing. Also, the TV does need to pass the wife test as far as looks goes, but I'm not to worried about that since most new TV's have a relatively standard "look"
The physical size of a panel has no bearing on anyone's ability to perceive a difference between the amount of detail resolved by an interlaced signal and that of a progressive signal. Provided they're both 1920 x 1080, the frame buffer is the same size, either resolution can be perfectly pixel mapped to a 1920 x 1080 display, and any difference, whether it's flicker or motion, is equally evident at any size.
With regards to current gen videogame consoles, it almost unequivocally is a sham. Aside from a very select few exceptions, virtually all games render at resolutions far below 1920 x 1080, and many of them don't even blanket the discrepancy with scaling. A couple first-gen PS3 titles could afford to run natively in 1080p when resources didn't need to be spent elsewhere, but as graphical fidelity inevitably rises in a static hardware environment, the trend is away from higher resolutions, not toward them.
With regards to everything else (cable TV, streaming media, your non-blu-ray media collection, et cetera), 1080p is just mostly a sham, but it won't always be that way. 1080p will become a widely embraced reality once 1440p becomes the sham.
A 90 lb tv is not so bad to move, it'll be more bulky than heavy but you can move it with 2 people. Moving a 300 lb, 65" CRT-based RPTV is annoying and different tv should be purchased, but I don't think they make those anymore. When you get used to a very large screen as your primary screen, smaller screens look dinkier, so you'll likely be married to getting another large screen when you need to upgrade/replace.
Assuming the viewing area width restriction in 45", you're going to hit that limit with a widescreen 46-48" diagonal panel.
If you change your viewing distance based on what you're watching you might want to consider that. As I sit 4' from a 65" tv when playing SF4, but usually at least twice that distance when watching movies/tv.
Last week I got a Samsung 22" LCD and I really don't like watching 4:3 content stretched, but I don't have an HD box (yet, but hopefully soon), so unless I'm watching an HD show streamed through my 360 or playing a game, all of my watching is SD content. I prefer watching in 4:3 with the black bars on the sides, but I've been doing a lot of googling and I'm really not sure what my risk of image retention is. Some sites say there's little risk, some say there's great risk. Most mention not watching with the bars for a long time but no one defines how long "long" is. If I were to watch, say, five hours at a time each day, is that too much? If I alternate between 4:3 and stretched, say every hour, would that help? I can live with stretched if I have to but I'd really rather not.
XBL |Steam | PSN | last.fm
Its only a "problem" on plasmas. Otherwise a windows task bar would be burned into 90% of monitors out there.
It's a really nice TV. The picture is great, 360 looks fantastic. It's small, but I have a small room so it's a good size. I haven't watched much HD content on it like I mentioned, but what I have watched looks really good.
That's what I was thinking, but in the manual it says "displaying stationary graphics and images on screen, such as the dark side bars on nonexpanded standard format television and video programming, should be limited to no more than 5% of the total television viewing per week." But I'm wondering if this is just copypasta'd from a plasma manual to cover their ass just in case.
XBL |Steam | PSN | last.fm
I would not worry about it. Just turn the TV off when you don't use it.
It is actually possible for an LCD to suffer this kind of problem. In LCDs I have heard it referred to as "image persistence." I have personal experience with this; a 32" Vizio LCD that I own, which was used for viewing 4:3 SD cable every day, developed black lines at the edges of the black bars. It took about 4-5 months for them to go away once I noticed and switched the TV to stretched 16:9 mode. They were really ingrained and extremely noticeably, not just faint outlines. It also retained the graphics on the Wii menu that pops up when you hit the home button, which I had left up for a mere half hour or so. There was a faint ghost of the menu stuck in the screen for a couple hours afterwards.
I have also seen some older Apple Cinema displays at school with the same problem; they DO have the menu bars and stuff burned into them. Having researched this when it happened to my Vizio, it sounds like it may or may not go away.
Keep in mind that it is very rare, though, and my Vizio is about 2 years old, so maybe the problem has been completely eradicated in newer models.
EDIT: Don't want to double post so I'll just add on to this one:
I just asked about this TV in this thread a couple weeks ago and went ahead and decided to get it. Now that I have had it for a little while, I can safely say that it is spectacular. It is monstrous and after some minor calibrations (AVSforum has tons of great info on this set) it has an incredible picture, probably the best picture I have seen on an HDTV. Vertical viewing angles can be a bit of a problem but I have found no trouble with horizontal viewing angles; everyone on the couch enjoys the same picture, which was not true for my old LCD. If you go too far off to the side it does fall apart, but otherwise it has very reasonable horizontal viewing angles. I have the couch about 9.5-10 feet back which seems just about right.
There's also the 61 inch version of this TV, which is pretty much the exact same thing except for screen size. I believe people are snagging those for around $1200 now.
So overall I am very satisfied, and I love that I will be able to view 3D content on this TV in the near future when the technology matures a little bit more. 3D blu ray movies, anyone?
Have you looked at Amazon warehousedeals.com? The TVs are open box or refurbished but they're priced pretty well. Right now they have the Samsung LN46A550 for a little over $900 and the LN40A550 for $738, which is right around your price range. I was eyeing the LN40A650 for a while and they have that one for $1100ish. The 61" Samsung A750 DLP is $1250.
You have to be comfortable with buying an open box or refurbished TV though. From the reviews it sounds like people are pretty happy overall, but you never know if you're going to get a bad one.
Always check the selling price of a new TV before buying the refurb. Take the case of that LN46A550. That is only a $200 discount for buying refurb. Think about how long you're going to own the TV, and ask yourself if that $200 is really going to make a difference 6 months down the road. Now some of those refurbs are much better deals. This philosophy holds double-true for Best Buy, whose in-store open box deals are often hilarious.
PSN: TheScrublet
We have also decided that 40 inches is plenty large.
Also, we didn't even think about our lack of HD cable. I haven't even looked into that. We have Comcast, we might already have the option for some HD, but I have no idea how much it would cost. What would non-HD stuff look like?
My primary gaming system is the Wii, but I plan on getting a ps3 or 360 at some point. Is there anything I should pay attention to?
I have my 360 hooked up to my 40" (Samsung LN40A650) with component, but VGA might also be an option. If you are getting a new 360, I believe there's an HDMI version - most tv's have a ton of inputs though so those are all options.
Just make sure the tv has HDMI inputs, I think you would be hard pressed to find one without multiple these days.
Also for cables (hdmi and wii component) monoprice.com can save you some cash.
Steam/PSN/XBL/Minecraft / LoL / - Benevicious | WoW - Duckwood - Rajhek
I just started looking for a new TV... Its quite interesting - some of the 720p TV's have fallen in price in the face of the newer 1080p's.
I want something between 40-50" - and I'm noticing some pretty sweet deals on 50" 720p's... I Guess I'll have to see how far away I normally sit, but according to the graph on the OP - I'd need to be sitting closer than 10ft from a 50" and closer than 7" for a 40" for the 1080 to start becoming noticeable.
I guess I'll have to try looking for myself.
Next time it happens, DON'T change anything to make sure it isn't just your reception dying on you. Assuming that isn't the issue, what is the cable connection you're unsure of? Is the sound running from a cable box to your TV, and if so what type of cable are you using?
PSN: TheScrublet
HDMI from digital cable box to TV. If I wait long enough... ~3 minutes it corrects sometimes, other times it may have corrected if I waited longer but I didn't experiment. By reception you mean the picture as well? I use the same type of HDMI cable from my cable company for videogames and TV, so I thought maybe that had some bearing on it, that was all I was unsure of.
PSN: TheScrublet
If I was to get a BenQ 24 inch monitor and wanted to use it to play my 360 on, how would I get sound?
Almost your entire question pretty much belongs in the PC Build Thread, and will get more complete answers there. That being said (and that I'm underwhelmed by both that monitor and that site), the only way you will get sound is if you run the 360 into a receiver first, and run the video out from the receiver to the monitor. This either means you have an HDMI XBox 360, or you have a receiver that will take an analog signal (either composite or component) and upconvert it to HDMI. I focus on HDMI because that's the only real input your monitor will take here.
As far as your build, I personally can't recommend buying a Core 2 Duo when you can get a Core i7 920 for $280. Especially when you've quoted out a $225 motherboard. But again, this is a subject for the build thread.
Edit: From grrarg's below post apparently your cable may have a connection. I don't own a 360. I know that typically you plug computer speakers into something...not the other way around. So make sure whatever sound setup you have can accept a connection from the 360 before you buy.
And I guess I didn't read that post at all because he's talking AUD. I need to get rid of these 5AM workouts...
PSN: TheScrublet
The 360 VGA cable comes with a RCA to 3.5mm adapter to plug into computer speakers or a line-in port.
For HDMI, the standard AV cable covers the HDMI connector so you cannot plug in a regular HDMI cable for video and the regular 360 AV cable for audio at the same time. You either have to get the official 360 HDMI cable with audio adapter or mod your AV cable a bit so you can plug both in at the same time.
Edit: Or you could use a receiver like Scrublet posted while I went afk.
Scrublet; I think you must have missed that the prices are in Australian dollars because I cannot for the life of me find an i7 processor for $280AUD. The cheapest I can find is $458. But in any case, I've shifted all that stuff to the build thread.
To be honest, I'd either save yourself some money and stick with the 5020, or spend the extra money on the Elite instead of the extra size...you have very few calibration options on the 5020/6020. And the 50" Elite will generally run you a few hundred less than the 6020. I'll be interested to see how Panny's two high-end 2009 lines will stack up against these things.
PSN: TheScrublet
And yes, it will be interesting to see how the soon-to-arrive generation of top-tier Panasonics will match up to last year’s “king”. Having a full 1,080 lines of motion resolution is an exciting prospect, but, aside from that, I’m skeptical in this economy of incentive for them to push resources at developing technology to surpass their now dead (or just sleeping? O_O;) sturdiest competitor for PQ as the manufacturer’s sweet spot inches ever closer toward mass produced 50” 1080p panels. Even when people were spending shitloads of money they didn’t have on shit they didn’t need, Pioneer still wasn’t able to convince a critical mass of consumers that PQ matters, but marketing can change everything, so we’ll see.
Comprehensive user-level access to picture control is a nice feature, and I enjoy it with my Samsung, but I already know that I actually really like the way the XX20s look in at least two of their preset modes, even though they're admittedly not too terribly accurate right out of the box. If I were really concerned with user-level picture controls, I'd probably go with a 6010, honestly, as a skilled hand can achieve picture quality and black levels nearly selfsame to those of the 6020, but they are rare and expensive anyway, and I take comfort in the idea that if my tastes ever evolve, I can always either pay someone to calibrate it or spend the time to research service-level manipulation and do it myself.
Edit- Not sure if it matters, but it's 1080p
Steam/PSN/XBL/Minecraft / LoL / - Benevicious | WoW - Duckwood - Rajhek
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Well my new TV came in the mail today. Westinghouse was kind enough to upgrade my broken 37 inch TV to a broken 42 inch TV.
Maybe the next one will take less than 3 months turnaround on Westinghouse.
I repeat, don't buy a Westinghouse TV regardless of some supposed name brand recognition. Thier customer service is terrible. It took an entire month since they'd recieved my old broken tv for them to enter it into their database as recieved. It then took them another month to tell me I was going to be getting a 42" replacement. It then took them another half a month to send me the broken replacement TV.