my husband and I might climb out of the dark ages and get a new television.
and cable.
our tv is about 14 years old, i have no idea what to look for, there are so many products out there.
if the budget is about a thousand bucks, or maybe 1,500.00, what’s recommendable?
Unfortunately there is no 1 answer.
You will have the Sony guys telling you to go with Sony, Samsung guys to go with Samsung, etc…
At least make sure that there are some decent amount of threads (obviously on the positive side) on the AVS forum for the TV you end up buying. That is usually a good indication.
That being said I was in the same boat about 2 months ago you are now. Previsous TV was from 1998 (Sony) and died! so I did a bit of research also considering what the stores locally were offering. First I add to think about:
I decided NOT to go with LED simply because while it was maybe better quality that LCD it was more expensive that LCD for a “similar model”
I decided NOT to go with Plasma because the only Plasma I would have considered would have been the Pioneer Kuro… and I was not 100% about Plasma (not question the technology).
So I was with LCD and then I ended up getting the LG 55LK520 (I believe). I went with 55 because I have a pretty big and long room and it was on sale and very close to the 46 price (there were no 50 version) and ended paying ~$1000 CAD. Based on the threads on AVS forum it seemed a good TV and collect some useful to make sure I got the “correct version” for the screen.
Am I happy with it? yes.
I only have HD cable and do not have yet a Blueray.
Fred.
You’ve picked a great time to buy a new TV - prices are as low as they’ve ever been… if you hunt around a bit, you can find a really, really nice 55" LCD for well under $1500. Case in point:
or
http://dealnews.com/features/best-tv-deals.html
I’ve got several flat screens:
All have been absolutely flawless - I’ve had the Maxent since 2006 and it’s going strong. The only television I’ve ever had problems is was with a 46" Sony LCD - the logic board failed on it and thankfully it was under warranty… shortly after the repair, the power supply failed, so I replaced it with the 42" Panasonic.
As mentioned, the brand isn’t quite as important as picking the right size and type. I find that I love the picture that the Plasma delivers the best. All of our TVs are in non-light-controlled rooms (i.e., there’s a lot of windows), and the Plasma seems to have the best contrast and blackest blacks. Plasma also has the least amount of ghosting (in general). However, Plasmas are heavier and can be subject to burn-in, however, after nearly 6 years of continual use, our Plasma has zero signs of burn-in anywhere…
I wouldn’t worry about 3D right now; it’ll be several years before that technology really matures, and by then - for now, it’s not really worth the price delta.
So… I’d suggest you visit a local home theater store (preferably not a big box), watch some of the TVs, discover what you like, and go from there. It’s really hard to make a wrong decision with the way these things are right now - it’s sort of like the “discussions” on the main forum about the benefits of going with a P4 instead of a Shiv instead of a SC - they’re all pretty stellar…
Having looked at a bunch this morning, Samsung is the way to go. Top-notch picture quality at reasonable prices. If you want all the bells and whistles (internet access, Pandora streaming, Netflix built-in, etc), excellent HD picture quality, and aren’t looking for a movie theater-size screen, you’ll easily meet your budget with a 40-47" model. From what I saw today, nothing else really comes close.
I’ve found the 40" model available online for $775, shipping included. I’m guessing it’ll pop up online somewhere in the $600 range the day after Christmas.
go to bjs or sam’s
pick the tv you like the most and is in your price range
take it home and enjoy
keep it simple, keep it stupid is what you want to do
tv technology changes very fast, the tv will be obsolete in few months.
all the 720 1080 and whole soup of silly things is rubbish because most of cable/satelite providers do not send strong enough signal for the TV to really show off its full capabilities (unless you want to use it for blueray)
secondly, you seem not to be overly concern about tv technology (14yr old??? 125lbs, little dresser, was it B&W?) you will not appreciate all the bells and whistles, most people really neither…why stress yourself?
I’ve been shopping around for a while now as we have a few CRT tv’s that we need to eventually replace.
Plasma typically is in the bigger models, earlier models used a lot of energy and could produce a lot of heat. The upside is really clear movement and more realistic colors and true blacks. The downside is in the older models burn in would be an issue. This has been fixed to a degree but still can be an issue.
LCD, older LCD’s were lit with florescent lights so they couldn’t get a true black. Light from the florescent tubes would leak and have a kind of halo effect. The upside is that they use less energy and have a decent picture. The downside is that they can be hard to see in a bright room and if you really like a crisp clean image it may not be for you.
LED / LCDs are similar to the older LCD except they’re being lit by LED’s instead of florescent tubes. They can get a better black and better colors than the florescent lit models at mostly the same energy expenditure and work better in a room that may get more light.
Some of the things you should look for is the refresh rate. Try to get the highest you can afford as this will dictate how well fast moving pictures will look. The lower refresh rate = more chance a fast moving picture, say a close up of a fast moving football play could look jumpy or blurry. If you don’t have cable/satellite, you may want to look at a smart TV that connect to netflicks or some other provider so you can download directly to your TV instead of having to pay cable/satellite.
None.
We just picked up a 51" 3D Plasma 1080p Samsung @ Best Buy for $899. Absolutely love it.
I really like the streaming feature (Netflix, Pandora, whatever pay per view movie services a partular brand offers). These days this is on most TVs in your price range though.
Leave room in the budget for a wall mount if you are going that way. They are not cheap and it may require a pro to get your TV mounted if you go that way.
Many TVs these days are speced with internal speakers that assume you will not actually be using them but instead have some sort of home theater system. So, while almost any TV will look great to you, some may not sound super great. You may want to leave room in the budget for some speakers and a home theater receiver too if good sound is important to you (or figure out how to hook the TV up to whatever you already have).
Leave room in the budget for a wall mount if you are going that way. They are not cheap and it may require a pro to get your TV mounted if you go that way.
http://monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=109&cp_id=10828#1082801
Beg to differ - so long as you don’t buy the mount from the local big box store, they are quite inexpensive and super reliable/strong. They are also quite easy to install, provided you have very basic DIY skills and tools… stud finder, drill, wrench/socket, and a screwdriver.
I’ve used the monoprice mounts for years with zero issues; have recommended to dozens of friends and coworkers - none have ever had any issues with them, and they’re literally 1/10th the price of what you’ll buy from the local stores.
I’ve been using a set of desktop speakers and subwoofer as my home stereo system, streaming audio from my macbook via headphone jack only. Do you know if most HDTVs have headphone ports, or will I need to purchase a compatible audio system?
I really like the streaming feature (Netflix, Pandora, whatever pay per view movie services a partular brand offers). These days this is on most TVs in your price range though.
These features are also often included in dvd/blu-ray players, so if purchasing one of those is also in the OP’s plans then this allows some additional tradeoffs to be made between dvd player models and TV models.
I mounted mine myself but I was still in about $200 by the time I was done buying the full selection of 10’ cables I needed, getting a titlting mount of sufficient quality to feel comfortable hanging $1500 on it, the cool recessed box plug thing so I could have a plug box up on the wall behind the TV but mount my surge protector in a less visable spot down low, and a few other odds and ends. I also need to cut holes in my wall and do some electrical work which was not hard but something that many people might not be comfortable with or have the tools for so leaving aside a couple hundred bucks to get it done is not bad advice.
Its not a break the bank kind of thing but to do it right (or pay someone else to do it right), you need a bit more that just a $45 mount.
A coworker of mine paid $129 for a mount from Best Buy when he bought his 52" Sharp. Best Buy had to drop ship the item to him because they didn’t have a mount at the local store. When the mount arrived, it was a Monoprice mount - the exact same one that was listed for $21 on Monoprice’s site.
I also use only Monoprice cables - the most I’ve paid for an HDMI or optical cable is $15… don’t buy into the “Monster myth” or get suckered into paying 4-5x more for a television mount. Ask around and I think you’ll find the monoprice mounts and cables are as good as (if not better than) the stuff that they carry at the big box stores.
Edit: just noticed the comment about getting cable… I actually dropped cable in favor of OTA (over the air). I live within 10 miles of the local broadcast towers and am able to receive uncompressed HDTV via a cheap-o rabbit ear antenna set-up. Uncompressed HDTV is 1080p and is amazing - second only to the best Blu-Ray DVDs…
**None. **
x 2
Wished you lived closer. I’m thinking about selling my 42" LCD since it was origionally bought for gaming and isn’t being used for that anymore.
Reading the thread with interest as I might replace it with something between my 32" and it.
thanks for the samsung tip. netflix ready, streaming, all that stuff, my husband has mentioned that. personally, i just care about cooking shows and the NFL ticket.
good points about wall mounting. my husband is a gear head type, he can handle all that no problems.
there are so many choices, it’s stressful. i was never able to purchase a swiffer because there are too many to chose from, so i chose none. tv’s feel the same way for me. so i really appreciate all the advice!
and cute about having none. i’m a very low user of tv, i do wonder if we’ll actually follow through with upgrading. a new dining room set really sounds attractive as well, so we’ll see. 
the sales for TV’s are usually better closer to Super bowl time
.
After scouring the internets for reviews and deals, I found the 40" Samsung model for $728 shipped. Crazy good deal, lowest price you’re likely to find on a set that good at that size. Ours should arrive by Christmas.
LED, so there’s less glare than with plasma models. Lower energy consumption as well
Wi-Fi ready (can stream youtube, pandora, netflix, etc)1080p (sharpest resolution available; cheaper models use 720p, not as crisp an image)120Hz (smoother motions at high speed, so action movies, sports, and video games don’t go blurry as they tend to with lower Hz tv’s)Lots of other features: auto-adjustment of brightness for ambient light settings, screen that absorbs glare, numerous settings to optimize viewing for your preferences (smoothing out motion during movies so they don’t get that hand-held camera look, which can be distracting), etc.
Don’t forget to consider the size of the room, the distance from the couch, etc, when selecting the size of your set. We’ll never be more than 12’ from the set at any given time, so 40" is more than adequate.
The reviews are the most consistently positive I’ve found for any set in it’s class:
http://www.google.com/...&ved=0CHEQ8wIwAQ
Here’s your best price:
http://www.pcrichard.com/...sp?modelNo=UN40D6000
Yea, what sphere says…LG cust service sucks my kid just went through a real bad 2 months with them…He got a Samsung after it was all over BTW.