I don't know much about televisions & would appreciate it if you folks could help me out here. I'm looking for something in the 40" to 49" range. I'm guessing that 1080p is the standard. I'm a big fan of Samsung because I've never had a single problem with any of their products but would be open to another brand if the quality was the same & the savings were big. I'll be using this for gaming with the Xbox 360 as well as future consoles, streaming movies over Netflix, watching digital cable on occasion & plan to eventually get a Blu-Ray player (maybe soon now that the prices are low). I suppose that my biggest question here is what's the difference between 60Hz & 120Hz & should I be concerned about getting a 120Hz given the uses that I list above? I bought my current television (a 24" Samsung CRT) in the 1990s & still use it today so this is a big deal for me because I don't plan on buying another television anytime soon. Thanks in advance!

In my opinion, 120 Hz isn't worth the premium at all. Other people feel differently, but personally I think the interpolated frames in 120 Hz TVs just make motion look odd. If there were any actual 120 fps video sources out here in the real world, then yeah, it'd be awesome, but there aren't really, so you're just getting a lot of interpolated frames.

My parents just bought a 46" Samsung LED. It's 120hz. It's super badass.

I'm guessing they paid close to $2k for it too, when you can get a nice 46", CCFL-backlit (LED backlighting is nice, but it's still damn expensive) 60Hz (and even some 120 Hz) for under $1k.

Price range? I paid ~$580 for my 42" Vizio 1080P in September. Black levels aren't exactly the greatest, but overall for less than 6 bills, I am happy. I might be able to tweak settings a bit more than I have now, too.

the only reason anyone should bother with 120Hz is if they are fully interested in true 24fps from bluray

the interpolation features have never looked right to me even on the lower settings

that said i've never been a big fan of LCD and that's not likely to ever change

Consider plasma too, cause in that size range you will get a better picture for less money with plasma. The only major downside is the power consumption is higher than LCD. Don't let anyone try to convince you that burn-in is an issue anymore either, because it's not.

Samsung is great quality, but I still think thier price tags are a tad too high. I have a 46" Sharp Aquos, and I'm very happy with it. The response time is pretty good, I think my model had 5ms.

Sony had an AMAZING deal going a few days ago, I don't know if they sold out, or under priced, because now its $350 more.
The deal was a 46" Bravia 1080p 120hz, with a free PS3, for $1000.

What do you guys think of this deal? I just saw it on SlickDeals.

• LN46B550 Samsung 46" Series 5 LCD 1080p HDTV with Digital Tuner & ToC
• BD-P1600 Samsung Blu-Ray Disc Player with BD Live 2.0 & Streaming Netflix

Total = $869

That's not bad. That's the deal Best Buy has going right now, but $140 cheaper than they're selling it for.

I paid a bit more than the other brands for my Samsung, but it's been fantastic and trouble-free since then. I definitely consider it worth the money I spent.

Note: I got an outgoing model at Best Buy when they didn't even have it on their floor (I found it online). It's a good way to avoid shipping it from an online store but still get a good price.

A friend of mine mentioned that sale to me but it appears to be over.

I sure hope you can turn off frame interpolation for gaming, as it seems they would only add lag.

you can..

I love my plasma. I didn't have a noticeable change in energy usage between that and my previous CRT, and if anything, we watch it more. I have a hard time understanding why people choose LCD. The picture quality is lower, the viewing angles are less, and ghosting/artifacts seem to be a lot more common.

Well, your CRT would've used a lot more power than an LCD too.

The reasons people don't buy plasmas are simple though:

1: There are no "small" plasmas, 42" is pretty much the minimum, so you have to go LCD if you want anything under that size.
2: They're afraid of burn-in, even though it's not really an issue anymore.
3: They're afraid of the short lifetime of the display, even though it's not really an issue anymore.
4: Power consumption