LCD/Plasma/LED

Ron, the best plasmas are made by Panasonic and Samsung.

Pioneer quit making plasmas a couple of years ago.

LG is coming on strong with theirs, not a bad choice, either.

There has FINALLY been an LED/LCD (does everyone know that "LED's" are really just LED-lit LCD's?) that beat the top Sammy/Panny plasmas out, just barely. The Sony XBR, I believe it was.

Problem is, you can expect to scare 3 grand to death with one, whereas you can buy the Sammy/Panny plasma that is 99.9% of what the XBR is for about 1600 in a 3D version, even. (60" version, I'm talking here)

Bang for the buck, Plasma is still unbeatable, even if the very top of the line LED/LCD has finally squeaked by it.

Oh, and one other thing, about the power consumption of Plasma....it's a bit overstated. I think at least in the case of Panasonic, that "450-500 watts" you read about is the MAX....and the only time it's at max is when the entire screen is white. And how often is that? I think the "real world" is about half that, so it's not as bad as the advertising of LCD's would have you believe, but it IS a bit more.


Here's a great chart to see at what distance you can discern all the common resolutions:

aimg831.imageshack.us_img831_9748_resolutionchart.png
 
One note on the "can you see 1080 over 720" issue.

While there are definitely limits to where the difference is visible for human perception (ahem, it's not just "the eye" but i won't get into that), keep in mind that if teh native resolution of your TV dosn't match the incoming signal, it has to be uponverted/downconverted.
This is no big deal, b/c all TVs will do the conversion.
But, b/c the pixels don't match, lines and everything in the image has to be interpolated across the display pixels in order to fit. Squeezing the data for 4 pixels into 3 etc. B/c it dosn't really match, it creates a slight blur - "dithering" effect.
Same effect as setting your computer monitor resolution to anything other than its max.

So the net effect is that you actually lose some quality and CAN see the difference at times, at least when running non-matching resolutions.

IMO, at this point the price difference between 720 and 1080 is so small there's no reason to bother w/ 720. Also, most "HD" is 1080 anyway so if you get 720 you're more likely to get downconversion dithering etc.
 
Personal preference, I really can't stand the look of 1080p. It makes the image look like a cheap grade B movie. This may sound contradictory, but the image is so crisp and clear that it looks too real. There's a certain level of separation that TV has always given us the the absolute realism of the 1080p image is annoying to me.

Raise your hand if you understand, or just a WTF is you don't understand. :D
 
mbalbritton said:
Personal preference, I really can't stand the look of 1080p. It makes the image look like a cheap grade B movie. This may sound contradictory, but the image is so crisp and clear that it looks too real. There's a certain level of separation that TV has always given us the the absolute realism of the 1080p image is annoying to me.

Raise your hand if you understand, or just a WTF is you don't understand. :D
Click to expand...

I understand. Kinda like how I usually prefer the "warmth" of a vinyl record over the sterility of a CD or digital music file.
 
I just replaced my Vizio 50" plasma with a new Sharp 60" 1080p LED..... That lasted all of 5 days in my house. It was horrible, and this from a model that was rated as one of the best LEDs you can get right now. The picture was so "weird" that you couldn't enjoy anything. I used the custom settings that people suggest online and it didn't make much of a difference. Everything looks 3d, cgi looks like clay-mation, football had ghosting, and the colors were so vibrant that both my wife and I got headaches 3 days in a row. I readjusted my living room furniture for what was considered ideal for a 60" screen and that didn't make any difference. It looks like everyone from News anchors to quarterbacks to movie characters would literally step off of the screen and into my room.

I hated it.


So I returned it and bought a 60" LG 1080p plasma (slim line). No comparison. 100 times better. Color is more realistic, blacks look better, and the UFC fight last night was the best visual experience I have ever had on a tv.

I got suckered by the latest industry marketing telling me I should like LED because it was the newest, latest, what ever. Fortunately it was an easy mistake to correct.
 
I think the real take-home messege from all this here is...

walk into a Best Buy, Sears, HHGregg, and wherever and just look at them. Find what actually just looks best your your eyes. Just be sure to look at them at about the viewing distance it'll be at home.

Then go home and find where you can buy it from.
 
Nah, the problem is that you can't tell the difference with them up on the wall. Most of the time, they've got them on stock, out of the box settings, or they're jacked up on some 'vivid' mode. The light's all wrong, the viewing angles are wrong, etc.

The Magnolia room at Best Buy is a little better for evaluating... but they only put the pricey stuff in there.

And as I said at the top, there's functionally no difference between an edge-lit LED and a backlit CCFL. The high end stuff with localized dimming capability should be better from an objective perspective, but anything else is just jumping on the marketing bandwagon.
 
eh. I'll just close my eyes, spin in a circle and where I stop, thats the one I'll buy...

seems to me that is just as reliable as analyzing everything...
 
Well I have been really researching for a new TV for me and the wife since we are moving back home in about a month and getting a house(getting out of the military :)) Anyways Redlyner you got me thinking now because I was pretty set on a new LED but after reading these 4 pages im lost loL!

I do have a few ?s has anyone messed with the smart TVs? I found a 46" samsung for a sweet but supposedly its not Wi-fi ready BUT this "sellsman" wanted to go on telling me how it wasnt Wi-fi ready BUT there was an adapter or something you could get for it?? Just not sure about all this,especially after reading all your guys opinions on how yall like LCDs and Plasmas......I just thought LEDs were the way to go now and man the pictures on the LEDs in stores seem to look soooo much better but I can see where you guys are saying just because the brightness and such they have them turned up could make a big difference......

Also what about energy ratings what should I be looking for??
 
Re: "energy saving", unless you run your TV 18 hrs a day, the annual difference in real $$ is pretty minimal, IMO while thats something everybody should be concerned about, I wouldn't put it at the top of priorities....

re: WiFi built in - if it has a network plug you can always run a wire (but who wants to do that?). The "smart TV"/network access bit is nice if you want to direct stream movies etc right to the device, or be able to get mfr firmware patches easily.
however... most blue-ray players now also have these same services, so if you get one of those... or a PS3?... you can do the same thing anyway.
 
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