Jimbo's Drinker Posted September 16, 2008 Share Posted September 16, 2008 Back from honeymoon and with a good amount of wedding money. We are going to invest in a new TV. I have a few questions for the distinguished opinions of this board. 1. LCD or Plasma 2. Opinions on Quality TV's on Market. 3. Where to purchase for best deals Thank you all!!!! jimbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 I thought this was going to be "did anyone catch the phone number to call for ShamWow?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rex Hudler Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 QUOTE (Jimbo's Drinker @ Sep 16, 2008 -> 05:42 PM) Back from honeymoon and with a good amount of wedding money. We are going to invest in a new TV. I have a few questions for the distinguished opinions of this board. 1. LCD or Plasma 2. Opinions on Quality TV's on Market. 3. Where to purchase for best deals Thank you all!!!! jimbo Right up my alley brotha! I just went through this process. 1. Depends on your setup. Honestly, either will be enjoyable. LCD is better if you have a lot of natural light in the room or bright lights that will shine around the TV. Plasma gives you a slightly sharper picture with blacker blacks. Personally, I went with a plasma after making 6 trips to different stores checking out different TV's. 2. I narrowed my choices to Panasonic, Samsung & LG. I think Samsung LCD's are better than their plasmas. I really liked the Pioneer Kuro's but those are damned expensive. I ended up with a Panasonic that has an unbelievable picture. After a couple visits the Panasonic's stood out to me, but other people may be drawn to different tv's. Keep in mind that stores typically have TV's set on Vivid mode, which is the brightest possible and not likely the one you will want to choose when you have it in your living room. I've read vivid mode is not recommended for long term viewing. The bottom line is go look at some and write down some model #'s. Then go online and do some price shopping. 3. I used pricegrabber.com. I bought a Panasonic TH-50PZ80U and found an unbelievable deal online. You have to decide if you are willing to purchase online. If you do, return policies are limited or costly and there is inherent risk dealing with someone in another state and having it shipped. If you are okay with that, then the deals can be very good. For example, Best Buy wanted $2099 for my TV. HH Gregg wanted $1879. Sales tax in my area is 9%. I found the same exact TV on buydig.com for $1488 delivered (no sales tax). It arrived exactly when they said it would, in perfect condition and I had no problems at all. Buydig.com wasn't the actual cheapest, but they have more than 25,000 reviews on price grabber, 95% positive. I was willing to take the chance. I have heard online companies sometimes make you call to verify the order and then try to pressure you into buying accessories. I did not have that issue at all. Just insert the model # of your choice into the search field at price grabber and it will give you a list of vendors and prices. 4. Size - what size are you looking at getting? 4a. Research - avsforum.com is a good resource if you don't mind reading a bit. Try these links: AVS Forum: Plasma TV's AVS Forum: LCD TV's AVS Forum: Flat Panel General 4b. 720p vs 1080p - Personally, I would go 1080p simply because it is the newest technology. If you have an XBox or PS3 or if you ever want to consider going to Blue Ray (HD DVD's) then 1080p is a must. If not, you can save some good money going 720p and not tell a ton of a difference. 4c. FWIW, a friend came over Saturday to watch football and said my TV looked much better than his. He bought a Sony 50" 1080p LCD less than a year ago. PM me if want any other info or thoughts. Happy hunting and remember, the best advice for you is to go with what looks best to you. Second best, is that value brands such as Vizio are good values, but the picture quality is not as good. Remember they have it on vivid in the stores to brighten up the picture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vandy125 Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 (edited) From what I have seen with TVs lately, Panasonic and Samsung are the ways to go. The big money saver can be whether or not you go with 720p or 1080p. I went with a 720p because it saved me $500-$600 on my Plasma and I knew I would mostly be using it from HD broadcasts. It will be a long time still before networks switch over to 1080p due to bandwidth issues. So, the only reason for a 1080p was due to the PS3 with BluRay that I just bought. I would say (IMO) that unless you are planning on watching a lot of Blu-Ray movies and you have a screen large enough (> 40 inches or so), 1080p is not really necessary. Here is a good chart on viewing distances where the difference between 720p and 1080p is noticeable. Remember BluRay is about the only thing out there that can do this so far (I think DISH may have a couple of premium movie channels as well). http://s3.carltonbale.com/resolution_chart.html Edited September 17, 2008 by vandy125 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve9347 Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 (edited) Jimbo, I've answered this question for countless soxtalkers (its kind of funny, you're like me 2 years ago, everything you do mirrors my life two years ago)... Anyway, here's all you need to know. 40" Samsung LCD Get the 720p, the human eye cannot see a difference between 1080 and 720 on screens 42" or smaller. You'll be throwing your money away. Trust me, this is the best television you can get, and I've turned at least 20 people onto it, and all are extremely happy. Edited September 17, 2008 by Steve9347 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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