Looking for a HDTV

The 7th Number

The 7th Number

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Can anyone recommend a good HDTV to me? Im looking for a 40+ inch around 500-700 that would be great for everything including video games. Not sure id want plasma because i read about burn in, but i also have no idea what LED is. I have an LCD samsung now, but my sister is looking for a new set. Ive looked around but i really cant find one where i feel like thats the one she should get. So any help would be great.
 
Hello,

I bought a 42in tv last summer on a college budget so I will give you what knowledge I have.

First off, there is some hard truth to the phrase "you get what you pay for". If you want a TV of that size, you're going to make some concessions. A lot of the cheap TV's in that size range (as a rule of thumb) just won't have the image quality of their more expensive counterparts. Should you find one that does have a superb picture, it will probably come with limited features. For example, I found a really nice plasma, but part of the price tag was that it has a very limited set of input options.

Samsung's cheaper tv's are very nice looking. However, what I would recommend doing is research some Insignia models. Insignia, Best Buy's in-house brand, operates by buying out unused parts from the major brands (Samsung, LG, etc) and building Frankenstein tv's with them. Sometimes the results are terrible, but, in my case, I found a tv that I was very happy with. The particular Insignia I purchased is effectively a Samsung plasma tv with a different casing. It even says "Samsung TV" when you plug a Mac into it. The picture is gorgeous (other than some screen glare issues) and the built in speakers are surprisingly rich.

Once again, RESEARCH the particular tv models you are interested in. This goes especially for Insignia, but you should do the same for any tv you're looking at. The details on the box are basically worthless. The AVS forums are you best resource for this.

Happy Hunting!
 
I would recommend looking around at return/discount stores...a lot of times you'll find steals there.

I got my 55" Sony HX800 3D tv (the guy even threw in a 3D blu-ray player, a 3D movie, and the transmitter) for $950, and I got a $400 stand for $125. Very, VERY happy with my purchase.

Also, amazon warehouse deals...you can get some good stuff. My dad got a Samsung 8000 series, $3000 at best buy (at the time) for $1200. That is out of your price range, but they have cheaper stuff as well.
 
I was in the same situation as you last fall. Looking for something around 42" that was good tv but at a good price. I wanted to add a squaretrade warranty. Because there a lot cheaper then the store extended warranties. I ended up with a 50" 1080p Zenith Plasma. I know Zenith, but LG owns Zenith and the LG 50" plasma was 200 bucks more and has the exact same specs. The tv was less then 500 bucks without the warranty.

When I went into the local sears to check it out. The colors were off. The LG model next to it looked 100 times better. I asked the salesperson for the remote and played with the colors for a while. After about 15 minutes the colors looked exactly like the LG model. Even the salesperson was impressed.

The next day when I picked up the tv. I noticed they changed the colors on the Zenith back to the way it was before.
 
Plasma is better for gaming because of the hz rating (almost always 600hz) this is the input lag. On lcd you usually see 60hz, 120hz, 240hz, or 480hz. You also see "ms" response times on lcd after the hz. For the average person if a tv is under 5ms you will not see ghosting or lag. But some people can see it lower then that and some can't see it at all. Plasma's biggest problem is there heavy and the glass screen shows a lot of reflection on them.

Led is a type of lcd tv that uses a different backlight to make the tv thinner. Most of the newer plasma's don't have burn in problems like the old ones did. Plus you can download a program to run for the first 100 or so hours that changes colors on the tv to help it avoid those problems.
 
Oops, sorry. I meant motion blur. I was half asleep when I wrote that.

Input lag is a whole different can of worms. And one you should google information on and hope the tv you get doesn't have it.
 
I've had this dilemma as well. I have a 42" 240 hz lcd in the living room and had a 32 " sony led 120 hz in the bedroom. Both are great but I recently upgraded the bedroom to a samsung 43" plasma and am blown away. The colors and blacks are incredibly deep and vivid. Easily the best tv i have owned. Apparently screen burn in is not an issue anymore as the technology has improved so much. Anyhow, the 43" was only $400 at best buy and I feel I got a hell of a deal for the quality and size. Do the research and you will find that plasmas are far and away the best value. There can be an issue with glare, but I keep it pretty dark in my house anyway so no big deal. Idk about u, but $400 for an awesome
and big tv is a steal to me.
 
[quote name='The 7th Number']hmmm interesting, wish i had a copy of rockband 2 to test for input lag.[/QUOTE]

Don't test with Rockband 2 it's not 100% accurate. Use that link I posted for a list of TVs with 1 frame or less.
 
I tried to look at that link but it didnt look like they had that many models listed, at least in the first post.

I have a samsung LNT4061F model. I really dont think i have any input lag, and if there is some its really small.
 
hmmm my sister got a visio, 47 inch i think. i tried playing xbox 360 using composite cables and it seems like there was a little input lag. She ordered an HDMI cord, do you think this would help the lag? I read how people put their xbox at 720p and it helped, or a couple other tv settings. But im not sure. Right now with the composite cable i cant even adjust the screen resolution.
 
[quote name='The 7th Number']hmmm my sister got a visio, 47 inch i think. i tried playing xbox 360 using composite cables and it seems like there was a little input lag. She ordered an HDMI cord, do you think this would help the lag? I read how people put their xbox at 720p and it helped, or a couple other tv settings. But im not sure. Right now with the composite cable i cant even adjust the screen resolution.[/QUOTE]

If you run your 360 in its native resolution with an HDMI cable it will not only look a lot better but reduce the lag too.
 
[quote name='The 7th Number']hmmm my sister got a visio, 47 inch i think. i tried playing xbox 360 using composite cables and it seems like there was a little input lag. She ordered an HDMI cord, do you think this would help the lag? I read how people put their xbox at 720p and it helped, or a couple other tv settings. But im not sure. Right now with the composite cable i cant even adjust the screen resolution.[/QUOTE]Why is she using a composite cable rather than component cables or HDMI? Composite is pretty crappy and she won't even get HD. The reason you can't adjust the screen resolution or go higher than 480P is because of the composite cable. Definitely switch that out.
 
[quote name='The 7th Number']how can you tell what the tvs native resolution is?

she had to use composite because thats what came with the xbox, but she has an hdmi cord now.[/QUOTE]Best way to know the native resolution would be to look up the model online and check out the specs.

I had no idea that the 360 comes with a composite cable. I had a first generation and currently have an elite (120GB) but neither came with a composite cable.
 
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