Alrighty, I delayed as long as possible but I have to buy a new TV.

Now I almost had my sights on what I believed to be a good deal, then I realized it was only 700 something dpi instead of 1080 resolution.

I got out a calculator and was finding the cheapest TV, $ per inch. (Is that weird?) But then after realizing there are some differences between them (700 and 1080) I was wondering if there is any actual difference after that.

If I buy a no name brand, is it going to be any different than the big name? Like with power tools you can look at the box and see that motor parts etc are cheaper and stuff, but as far as I can tell there is no way to tell the difference between what TVs are made of. Or do they all have the same parts from japan.

yes the cheap no-name tvs will be different from the more expensive models... especially in the black levels

too many variables to consider when buying a tv

size of the room, viewing distance, ambient lighting, video sources you have now and video sources you may intend to buy later (bluray? if so a 1080p24 capable tv is a good idea)

the key is to take a look at the tvs... find stores that will hand you the remote and won't get pissy if you fiddle with the settings

I suggest going to a electronic store (i.e. Best Buy) and stand in front of the wall of LCD TVs. At a quick glance, you can spot which one is quality and which isn't (but don't buy impulsively).

Oh, yes, black levels, contrast ratio (mostly the same thing), response time, scaling, color reproduction, connectivity, ect. There are a lot of things.



They are usually running off of composite cables with a million splitters, so they tend to all look pretty crappy.

not to mention they are usually running in some out of the box overly bright settings

Unless you are getting 60+", 1080P is not worth spending the money for on a TV, especially since 95% of all sources are 720p/1080i (TV, most all PS3/360 games, some bluray movies).

I've also found that (if this matters at all to you) the picture quality of the TV alone is a small factor in the potential picture quality of a TV "system" as a whole. My first encounter with this was seeing a sony flatpannel in a local TV store hooked up to what they called a "High def harddrive". TV's have harddrives now? I said. Either way it looked effing gorgeous. The same screen was displayed in another room hooked up regularly to a cable box and looked like ****.

Just something to chew on, I for one am not up to the latest with the whole TV mumbo jumbo. Probably because I simply do not watch enough TV, nor have enough money to buy anything decent.

DEPENDS GREATLY ON VIEWING DISTANCE

Black levels?

Last I checked theres only one shade of black.

And for that reason my point stands. I don't know about you, but I don't know of many people who sit 3-5 feet from a 30+" TV. Oh, and let's not forget the other half of my post, thanks.

Response time... is that what you mean by flipping through channels? My grandmother bought a cheapo LCD and it takes almost a second before the next channel comes in.

some tvs blacks are blacker than others

you'd be surprised at some people's viewing distances and look at the chart 30 inches you're looking at ~6' viewing distance where a person with good vision might begin to see a difference

the other half of your post is entirely irrelevant if the person buying the tv has any intention of hooking up a bluray player to that tv plus some services are starting to offer 1080p VOD

but if you do go with a 720p tv many of which are actually 768p (1366x768) check to see what resolutions it will accept 768p tvs tend to accept 1080i some accept 1080p on these the quality of the scaling is important because either way it's either going to upscale the 720p to 768p or downscale the 1080i/p to 768p

I'm glad this thread came up. Can anyone tell me if this is a good tv/good deal? It's $879.00 shipped to my door.

http://www.pricemad.com/productdetail.asp?level=45&catid=48&productid=8418

My bed is 6 feet, and my TV does not sit at the edge of my bed. Fail.



Very, very few services, and not all bluray movies are even 1080p. Even more are just upscales of lower-res videos, which usually look like trash. And of course, the games still stand. They have a hard enough time keeping it at 720p on the 360 (see also: CoD4, Halo 3).

I would say all blu-ray movies release these days are 1080p.

your setup != everyone else's... epic fail




more services than you probably realize and then there is the future... more will offer 1080p as time goes on

a very small percentage of blurays are not 1080p (those that aren't are mostly made for tv releases at 1080i and i think there are a handful of 1080i and 720p pornos) and the upscaled bit... that's way off sure there are some that show less detail than 1080p allows but they aren't upscaled lower resolution but either a poor transfer, hit with excessive digital noise reduction, or in a very small number of releases an older 1080i master

Quit playing as if you're the only one who knows anything about this--CM's right. You're like an audiophile claiming that the 50 dollar gold plated cord is necessary...only more annoying.

Honestly, 42" 720p is the sweetspot. At 10+' you may START to notice a difference, but then you have to take into account the extra $500 to a grand you'll spend on the minute difference. If you wanna drop that kinda cash, feel free, but otherwise I'd stick to a good Samsung 720p TV. Also, look into it to see if you can find one with dynamic contrast ratio and/or LED backlighting. Allows for better, truer blacks and less chance of backlight bleeds.

For those of you deal hunting, I would recommend you browse Slickdeals, as TV deals are one of the more frequently-posted ones there.

Also, Sellout.woot had a TV Sell-off a few weeks ago... but they were all refurb


Edit: Speaking of 42" 1080ps...

http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?t=911501

Plasma TVs are still seriously worth considering. They still tend to beat LCDs on black levels in particular.

Aspects of the TV to consider:

- Black levels (a good plasma beats a good LCD here)

- Colour accuracy (not just vibrance of colours. There's a difference! Again, a trend tends to be that plasmas are a little more accurate but LCDs look a bit more vibrant)

- Brightness (TV manufacturers compete on brightness in a big way, because it makes their TV stand out more in a big bright store. But when you get it home that brightness can be very over-the-top in "normal" lighting conditions)

- Viewing angles (most TVs quote near-180 degree viewing angles and it's often BS. And it's not just about whether you can see a picture at extreme angles, there's also the question of whether the colours stay the same at relatively small angles)

- Response time. This is the same issue you get with LCD monitors. Basically, does fast motion (a ball moving across the screen, for e.g.) leave a blur behind it that wasn't in the original image? Screens with high response time tend to suck for gaming (consoles) and fast-action films/sports etc. They used to say it was no good watching golf on LCD TVs, because on old LCDs the golf ball would vanish once it started moving.

- Quality of the image processors. Much of the content you view on the TV, whether it's a '720p' or '1080p' TV, will not be in the TV's native resolution. Therefore it's very important that the TV can scale the resolution well so that a non-native-res source looks as good as it can.

- Resolution. I sort of sympathise with those who say this is the single least important aspect of the TV. Of course, it depends on how big a TV you're getting and how far away you are sitting from it. Unfortunately the resolution is probably the detail that gets the most attention from buyers because it's the one with a simple number attached, and bigger=bettar! Also because the big LCD manufacturers hyped it up a lot in the past years (Sony in particular) because LCDs tended to have an advantage in resolution in the past. Nowadays plasmas can be either 720p or 1080p without any issues.

- '24p'. This is the feature that allows blu-ray video to be played at its native speed, without any skipping of frames/juddering motion. A surprisingly large number of TVs don't have this. Perhaps a 720p 24p TV would be nicer to watch blu ray on than a 1080p TV without it.

Those are all the important features I can think of right now. There might be others too.

As for plasma vs. LCD: Plasma tends to have more accurate colour, darker blacks, somewhat less brightness, less vivid colour (but, as I said, more accurate), and less issues with response time (though they get a different kind of response-time-style issue which I am not that well educated on). Better viewing angles too I think. But these are generalisations. It is all down to the model in question.

Look up reviews of the TV you are considering! Definitely advisable. Specs really don't tell you anything, you need to see one for yourself and/or read experts' (or other users') opinions.

If you're interested in a Plasma TV, the Pioneer Kuro range are the dogs bollocks while Panasonic make 90%-as-good-but-60%-as-expensive alternatives.

Here are a couple of useful forums you might want to browse:
http://www.avforums.com/forums/index.php (a UK forum I've lurked in a lot)
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/ (American forum, same sort of discussions but obviously a bit more relevant to the American market)

I've got a 42" 720p Panasonic that's really sweet. My PS3 games look nice and shiny and blu-rays are really awesome. I dropped $1500 after everything was said and done, but I feel it was worth it. (that was 5 months ago)

$1500? Does your bum hurt, because you seriously got jacked up the ***.

$500 to $1000 difference? not where i've been looking much smaller difference between 720p and 1080p in the end it's all up to his needs

also that dynamic contrast ratio thing is nothing more than a backlight that can go brighter/darker based on the overall brightness of the video...



this is true but you must keep in mind ambient lighting in the room plasmas tend to have more issues with glare in brightly lit rooms

and as far as viewing angles... LCD and plasma are equal for viewing angles these day... it's DLP TVs that can have problems with viewing angles though mostly at extreme angles

which is another thing... if you're not intending on mounting on a wall also consider DLP TVs... cheaper, weigh less, the lamp on the majority of them is inexpensive and user replaceable though DLP TVs are only really worth looking at if you are wanting to go big... 50+"

eh $1500 is a tad much for only 720p. I got a 46" Sharp 1080p for the same price. I haven't even had the luxury of bluray on it yet. But the x360 looks amazing on it.

I think I got mine around April.

Yeah, I think I remember my 40" Samsung 1080p being quite a bit less than that.

I never really saw the difference between 720p and 1080p in the stores, but my living room's very small and I'm finding it more noticeable switching between 1080p gaming and 720p cable.

Well, I did get the 5 year warranty, wall-mount, monster surge protector and HDMI cable in one bundle. The TV itself was 900 dollars. Oh, and it was Plasma. Looks nice in my living room mounted right above my piano.

Think I've decided on this..
http://www.jr.com/panasonic/pe/PAN_TC32LX85/

at 550 with free wall mount from some other site (but it didn't have any info this link does)

In the stores they jack up the brightness among many other factors which makes the TV's look like **** honestly.

Also, Jim, out of curiosity mind showing me some of those price differences? If the gap between 720p and 1080p is narrowing that much I might start considering buying a new TV.

well without giving specific examples the price difference can be as little as $100 for comparable tvs with the same screen size but yes it can also have larger price differences between 720p and 1080p models but usually there will be more than just the resolution jump when getting into the $500-1000 more for the same screen size

Contrast ratio, response time, and brightness usually improve too, but even in monitors that's usually the case anyway.