I'm in the market to buy a television & need assistance.

Started by Mad-Lad, November 29, 2005, 02:29:57 PM

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Wingspan

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MURP


Cerevant

Quote from: Wingspan on November 29, 2005, 04:38:11 PM
Quote from: Cerevant on November 29, 2005, 04:30:48 PM

AVS Forum

ya know...they should really considering having a few forum choices.
Normally I'd agree - most new forums start up with way too many sub-forums, and you end up with 1 post per week per forum.  Half the sub-forums at this place have no posts less than a month old.  But AVS is really justified - look at the thread volume on some of those sub-forums - 11k threads with 145k posts in the plasma/LCD forum.
An ad hominem fallacy consists of asserting that someone's argument is wrong and/or he is wrong to argue at all purely because of something discreditable/not-authoritative about the person or those persons cited by him rather than addressing the soundness of the argument itself.

Wingspan

Quote from: Cerevant on November 29, 2005, 04:47:27 PM
Quote from: Wingspan on November 29, 2005, 04:38:11 PM
Quote from: Cerevant on November 29, 2005, 04:30:48 PM

AVS Forum

ya know...they should really considering having a few forum choices.
Normally I'd agree - most new forums start up with way too many sub-forums, and you end up with 1 post per week per forum.  Half the sub-forums at this place have no posts less than a month old.  But AVS is really justified - look at the thread volume on some of those sub-forums - 11k threads with 145k posts in the plasma/LCD forum.

someone missed the sacracsm

(i do agree though, and i am on the verge of getting a 42" samsung DLP...i use the site very frequently.

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Wingspan

i bet BigEd76 has 5000 posts on both of those boards though :-o :splat
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hbionic

I just wanted to give this thread an official  :CF stamp of approval as far as important sites for me to reference back to. I was at best buy the other day and for the first time actually started thinking about televisions. I quickly found I needed to be fluent in another language(tv)....so this will help alot. Mad-lad...I will learn from your mistakes.
I said watch the game and you will see my spirit manifest.-ILLEAGLE 02/04/05


Sgt PSN

I bought a 42" Sony Vega last year and I love it.  It's a flat screen tv and only about 18" deep so it doesn't take up half of the room.  Good picture, great sound and HD channels have a flawless picture.  Non-HD channels are good quality.  Cost me about $2500.  Now you can probably get one for a few hundred less. 

I did recently notice a Panasonic plasma screen flat panel tv (the kind you mount on a wall) for about $1800 at Wal Mart.  I'm not a huge Panasonic fan but it is a decent brand.  The picture for every channel was superb though since it was a plasma screen.  I forget the exact size but it was 30some inches so it was a decent size tv and for $1800 I thought it was a pretty decent buy. 

As others have suggested though, you definately want to make sure that your TV is HD compatible.  Right now there are only a dozen or so channels available in HD but that will change. 

If you've got satallite tv (directv or dish network) you're going to want to upgrade your reciever to and HD receiver so that you can actually watch the HD channels.  I'm not sure if cable requires you to upgrade your box or not but if you've got cable then you should definately check on that. 

Here's the basic things to remember when it comes to tv's.

Projection TV's are available with a flat screen.  These are the televisions that look just like any other tv except they've got a flat screen instead of a curved one.  They take up the most space going from the wall to the front of your tv and can be purchased relatively cheap.  I've seen then available in 30+ inches for around $300.  The picture quality on them is excellent, probably the best you'll find other than a plasma screen.  The big drawback with them is that they take up a lot of room and are heavy and the sound on them is usually pretty weak.  Projection tv's usually don't have much by way of speakers or anything. 

Flat Screen TV's are like the Sony Vega I've got.  They are available in widescreen format and don't weigh very much.  My 42" tv only weighs about 70 lbs.  There's also not much depth to it as it only sticks out about 2 feet from the wall.  The picture quality on regular channels is somewhat diminished though when compared to projection tv's.  But if anything broadcast in HD has a beautiful picture.  The sound quality is also much improved over a projection tv.  There is also an internal bulb that needs to be replaced every few years and that costs about $300 but can be done on your own and doesn't require you to pay someone to do it for you.

Plasma TV's are the best thing going in terms of picture quality.  Even standard channels have a clear, bright, beautiful picture.  You can put them on a tv stand or mount them on the wall.  Most of them are less than 6 inches deep.  I'm not sure about how they sound but I'm sure they've got a quality sound to them.  The problem with them of course is that the plasma screen is extremely fragile and it wouldn't take much to do any damage to it.  Obviously, these are the most expensive tv's out there but depending on what you're in to, they may be the right thing for you.  One of the great benefits to one of these tv's is having the ability to wall mount it, especially if you are short on space to begin with. 

Ok, so that's basically the differences between the 3.  There's probably a bunch of technical mumbo jumbo that needs to be included but I think you get the jist of it.  If any of you techies can add anything to it please do or if I got something wrong then correct it. 

The one thing I'll say to anyone considering a new tv, especiall a a high end flat panel/plasma is to stay away from "generic" tv's.  I've got a couple of regular tv's made by off the wall companies and they've worked fine for me but when it comes to the high end stuff I just think it's best to stay with the proven companies.  Sony, Phillips, RCA, Panasonic, Sanyo, etc.  Also, I've never been a big fan of buying extended warranties or anything for electronic equipment but I did when I bought my Vega.  It cost me $300 for 5 years and will cover the cost of the replacement bulb I'm going to need to buy so I figure I'm going to break even on it at the very least.  But if my tv ever does need some type of service then it will have saved me a few bucks. 

MDS

Zero hour, Michael. It's the end of the line. I'm the firstborn. I'm sick of playing second fiddle. I'm always third in line for everything. I'm tired of finishing fourth. Being the fifth wheel. There are six things I'm mad about, and I'm taking over.

Susquehanna Birder

Nice post, Sarge. As a plasma owner, I'm particularly touchy about the people who perpetuate the anti-plasma myths...and you stuck with the facts.

BTW, I have my screen on a cabinet, a foot or so away from the wall. I didn't want to screw with the wall mounting, and since I have pedestal mounted speakers, I kind of wanted the screen a little more forward.

Sgt PSN

#24
Quote from: Susquehanna Birder on November 29, 2005, 08:45:52 PM
Nice post, Sarge. As a plasma owner, I'm particularly touchy about the people who perpetuate the anti-plasma myths...and you stuck with the facts.

Just out of curiosity, what kind of myths are you talking about?  I've got a couple of friends who have plasmas and they all love them.  I think they're cool as hell too and probably would have bought one myself if it wasn't for the fact that for the money I spent on my Vega, I would have gotten a plasma about half the size.  I opted for the bigger tv because that's mainly what I was looking for. 

Quote
BTW, I have my screen on a cabinet, a foot or so away from the wall. I didn't want to screw with the wall mounting, and since I have pedestal mounted speakers, I kind of wanted the screen a little more forward.

A buddy of mine did something similar to that.  When he bought his plasma he was replacing the projection tv in his living room.  He had a really nice corner piece entertainment stand and wanted to keep his tv in that particular corner.  The entertainment stand was like an armoir so all he did was use a bracket to keep the doors closed and then mounted the tv onto the front of them and it still allowed him to utilize the remaining shelves and cabinets to hold his dvd player, vcr, etc.  It turned out well imo and also saved him the hassle of having to rearrange his living room.  :D 

PoopyfaceMcGee

Plasma owners like to deny that their televisions have shorter lives and are more fragile.

Plasma TV's are BMW/Mercedes of TV's.  That's both good and bad.

Diomedes

There is considerable overlap between the intelligence of the smartest bears and the dumbest tourists." - Yosemite Park Ranger

Sgt PSN

I knew about them being fragile but I didn't know about them supposedly having shorter lives than most other tv's.  Maybe the couple of people I know that have them are in denial about it too.  :paranoid

When I went tv shopping last year I checked out a couple of them but given the price I didn't even inquire about any of them because I knew it wasn't what I was looking for at the time. 

So what is it about them that might give them a shorter life?  Is it something related directly to the screen?  And what kind of life span are we talking about with them? 

General_Failure

Life expectancy isn't really a good reason to buy or not buy a tv anymore. Something will be along in 4 or 5 years that your current model can't do, and you'll want a new one.

The man. The myth. The legend.

Sgt PSN

Quote from: General_Failure on November 29, 2005, 09:22:59 PM
Life expectancy isn't really a good reason to buy or not buy a tv anymore. Something will be along in 4 or 5 years that your current model can't do, and you'll want a new one.

That's pretty much why I was asking about it.  Between the improvements that will be made over the next few years and the fact that you can always buy a 'not quite so high tech' tv for hundreds of dollars less than the top of the line model so if you get a few years out of it you can alway replace it with a better tv for about the same cost as the current one.