Help buying a new TV...

So I\'m looking to finally upgrade to an HDTV.  I\'m trying to sort through everything I\'m reading and figure out what makes the most sense.

I\'m looking for something in the 42-46" range, at 1080p.  Beyond that, I really don\'t know what I\'m doing that well.  LCD vs. Plasma, which brands I should be looking at, all of that I\'m really unsure about.  Any advice?

[GmanJoe]

LCDs doesn\'t have the refection of plasmas which I now find annoying whenever I visite friends how own them. Be sure to get one with 2 HDMI ports. One for your cable/satellite and the other for your PS3.

i\'m looking at 42" LCDs now... make sure you get one with more than one HDMI port.  A lot of the newest sets have more than one, but a lot of the older sets that a lot of places have on sale only have one.

As far as brands i\'m not sure whats best... i\'m sorta in the same boat as you

What scared me about LCD\'s when reading up on them is the idea of motion blurring.  Has that mostly been fixed at this point?  Or is that more of a case of you get what you pay for?

What about a SXRD back projection set, or whatever it\'s called. Aren\'t they supposed to be pretty sweet?

To be honest I find both LCD\'s and plasmas still lacking in picture quality. I\'d rather get a projector.

[Paul2]

...I\'m looking for something in the 42-46" range, at 1080p.  Beyond that, I really don\'t know what I\'m doing that well.  LCD vs. Plasma, which brands I should be looking at, all of that I\'m really unsure about.  Any advice?

For plasma, I think Panasonic makes the best plasma.  For LCD, I don\'t know.  But I just recently noticed how much better the viewing angel the LCD had improve when I checked them out in the store.  I also mistaken them plasma because of no noticable viewing angle problem.  And I don\'t think I notice any motion blur either.  But of course, I only gave it a quick look, so I didn\'t really know for sure how much better it\'s compare to plasma.

So, I guess from what I had seen in a short time, you can\'t go wrong with either plasma or LCD nowaday as they have improve so much.

Stick with brand names LCD if you are concern with motion blur and viewing angle problems as brand names latest LCD doesn\'t seem to have those problems from my limited viewing.

I got a 46" Samsung DLP 1080i/720p a few months back, looks very good IMO.

What sort of setup would likely give me the best picture quality?  Or are the differences at this point negligible as long as I stick to a good brand?

[Paul2]

Video connection from best to worst:

- HDMI or DVI for older HDTV sets
- Component Video - analog
- S-Video - analog
- Composite Video - analog
- RF Connection - analog



and these two are consider best too since its digital but is mostly from streaming video and audio data:

- Firewire
- USB 2
- RF connection which is use for receiving digital over the air broadcast

pretty much any cable that are for transferring digital data should give best result than analog.



If you have an antennae for your old analog tv, you can still use it for your new digital hdtv and plug it in the RF connection for digital broadcast.  Some broadcasts now are in high def too.  There are more hd broadcasts now than they used to be.  the ota broadcasts should look better than digital broadcast from direct tv or cable because ota broadcasts have lesser video compression than direct tv and cable.  But of course, direct tv or cable have more channels selection...

I meant more in terms of what type of TV tends to get the best looking picture.  Like, is either Plasma or LCD generally considered a better look, or is there something else I should be looking at?

[Paul2]

well, the best type of tv are CRTs since they give the best black level and contrast ratio.

plasma generally looks better than LCD, especially that it doesn\'t have motion blur and viewing angle problems.  But now, that seem to not be the case for newer generation LCDs.  So, yeah, stick with brand names if you want quality picture, especially if you are planning on getting LCD type display.

To put it short:  if you planning on watching tv on a control room lighting, than get plasma because plasma generally have better black level and contrast ratio than LCD.  If you are planning on watching tv on a bright sunny day where plenty of light can enter the screen, get LCD as LCD screen doesn\'t reflect light as much.  Since viewing plasma on a bright environment reflect light and gives reflection on screen.

I hope that help.

[videoholic]

I just bought a new 40 inch LCD for over my fridge.  I really think at 1080p you don\'t have much of a choice other than LCD if you want someting thin.

Did I read that right? You bought a 40inch LCD just for over your fridge? Do you really spend that much time infront of your fridge?

[videoholic]

well it\'s a kitchen/ bar/ daily eating area.  It will eventually be all tiled in and centered in the area.  That was when I first set it up there.  I have to get the tile guy to come back out and do it.

[Paul2]

^^^^
ridiculously rich guy there.  how the heck did you get that rich?  I wouldn\'t dare live in a house like that because i am used to live in an apartment since i am poor.  Just that picture of the kitchen makes me think, wow...just how much money did he just spent there alone?