Help me pick a TV.

[pickardracing]

Under 1k, biggest possible, preferably flat panel.

I know exactly **** about this new TV stuff.

[05caddyext]

Here. I will be nice to you for once since I know quite a bit about tv's.

First you need to answer a few questions.

A. Do you plan on using it for video games as well as tv?
B. Do you care about brand names?

[jbiscuit]

http://z.about.com/d/tv/1/7/V/2/Alisha-Jones2.jpg

[05caddyext]

108 inches? thats nothin haha.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22540733/

:wooo

[Poncho]

http://z.about.com/d/tv/1/7/V/2/Alisha-Jones2.jpg

how much for her?

[jbiscuit]

she comes with the TV!

[Poncho]

two questions.

a. how long does she stay?

b. is she any good at Video games?

[pickardracing]

Here. I will be nice to you for once since I know quite a bit about tv's.


:rolleyes:



First you need to answer a few questions.

A. Do you plan on using it for video games as well as tv?
B. Do you care about brand names?

1. Yes.
2. Not especially, but would take a brand name over a no name.

[jbiscuit]

two questions.

a. how long does she stay?

b. is she any good at Video games?


a. as long as it takes

b. video games? no. Sex? yes.

[pickardracing]

On topic please.

[Want_Notch]

Get a DLP, I have a Plasma, LCD and DLP at home.

The dlp has the best refresh rate, the screen doesn't ghost and I think the picture is better than the others too.

[HITMAN]

On topic please.

Say's BCM's biggest thread crapper...:rolf

[Heat Seeker WS6]

do a search for the eleventybillion threads on this stuff. Its the same Q's & answers each time. 1K isnt alot and prob wont get you anything good.

[BoosTT]

Unless you can settle for a 42" or smaller, your going to need to spend $1500 ish. Pretty much anything with 1080p is good. If you go dlp, get the extended warranty ~18.5% of dlp's break.

[05caddyext]

That is definetly not true about spending around $1500. Best Buy has a 1080p 56" Panasonic lcd hdtv in their ad this week for $996. That is an excellent deal. Since you said you plan to play games, do NOT get a plasma. They get ghosting on the screen and it does not go away. LCD tv's are not suseptable to ghosting like the plasmas. As far as the numbers there are 720p, 720i.
1080p and 1080i. The i stands for interlaced, the p stands for progressive. Unless you are a rocket scientist you will not be able to tell the difference between the 2. Also, I would be willing to bet that if you put a good 720 next to a decent 1080, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between them either.

You have to rememebr this also. At a store that sells a lot of TV's like American or Best Buy, any electronics store in general. They will make the picture look a lot better on the more expensive tvs. They effectively "tune-up" the expensive tvs, and "dumb-down" the picture on the cheaper tvs. There are only about 5 tv manufacturers in the world right now, they all produce the cheaper tvs under hte umbrella of the big brand.

One concern that you might want to address when looking is the rate at which channels change. On an HDTV receiving an HD signal, some tv's take more than 4 seconds to change channels. If you are a person that changes channels a lot, you would want a tv that changes quickly. For example, my dad bought an Insignia tv from Best Buy. (their store brand) It takes forever to change channels, its literally 5 or 6 seconds between channels. But as I stated before another example of what they do is this. They also sell Samsung. They make the picture on those look incredible. They go through and adjust the colors, the inputs, all that stuff. They just hook up the Insignias without changing any settings. And then they market them smartly also. They will place a few "tuned-up" tvs around and inbetween them they will put an Insignia. Your eye is like wow there is a huge difference. When in fact the Samsung and the Insignia have the identical LCD engine.

There is also another thing to consider. If you use the tv a lot, you may want to get a LED light tv. LCD tv's can burn out relatively quickly (4 years or so) where an LED lit tv virtually lasts "forever."

The bottom line is that you have to go to the store and look at tons of tv's. It's an excellent time to buy a tv right now, most stores are offering 36 months no interest financing on tv's. If the Packers make the Superbowl there will be even better deals. Also, the new models are coming in now, so there will a lot of clearance deals to make room for the new ones. If you want an excellent education on tv's go to Flanner's Home Audio and Video in Brookfield (right across from the mall.) They have hundreds of different tv's there and they are by far the most knowledgable people in the area. American works on comission so they will sell you what they make the most on. Best Buy has a feature brand each month that they make "comission" on so they will try to sell you whatever is that months deal. Flanner's just doesn't care. They'll tell you whats what.

Walmart actually sells a lot of quality tv's, however they do not sell any 1080 tv's. There entire selection is 720. But they also have great customer service. Easier to deal with that Best Buy or places like that.

If you want the best deal, wait until American's Family Sale. They have some excellent deals during those events, you just have to be fast.

Hopefully this helps.

[Cryptic]

~18.5% of dlp's break.

wow... that's almost as bad as DSMs

[Car Guy]

Awesome write up 05caddyext...!!! :headbang

So do you own one of these TV making companies...??? :goof







:3gears::3gears::3gears:

[Heat Seeker WS6]

You have to rememebr this also. At a store that sells a lot of TV's like American or Best Buy, any electronics store in general. They will make the picture look a lot better on the more expensive tvs. They effectively "tune-up" the expensive tvs, and "dumb-down" the picture on the cheaper tvs.


And how they they/we have done that? Im curious to as to how this is done.

They get set up on a shelf right out of the boxes and use the same HDMI, comp or whatever wire was used by the previous tv set up in that spot
TVs have a basic calibration from the factory. If anyone really messes w/ the sets, its customers futzing with stuff themseves.

2nd- Now find a person in a store who actually has a clue on HOW to actually set up a proper TV picture- especially to ISF standards. Brighter is better right?


nice redo of my previous post in another thread.

[Heat Seeker WS6]

Not really digging your conspriracy theory on the 'purposeful' TV setups. Im calling you out on that assumption.


OK, time for my candid thoughts....

My problem with Flanners is that they lost thier focus and they comprimised themselves. They used to be revered in the market as 'the place to go'. But because of the market/industry trend with the manufactures making good stuff at competetive prices, now the average family can get cutting edge technology. That gave flanners the choice to now cater to the 'common' person and enter the retail price war, or stay with higher end & pricier things. From what I saw, theyre trying to do both and trying very hard at it. Youve got the die hard customers that knows the value of what they're buying and are willing to spend more to get it that have only boughten from flanners NOW mixed in with the guy w/ the Sunday ad from 'best' or Circuit, Sears or etc that wants it 'even cheaper' AND financed. You have the old schoolers that've been there for years & years (some have been around since the wheel was invented) and then you have the kids who got 'too smart' for best buy or american. yet still have TONS to learn- American alumni.

Best Buy- kids (highschoolers & college kids) masqurading as real theatre (<-proper spelling) profesionals. Sales & management included. That Magnolia name has gotten to too many heads there, and they sure as hell can't live up to it. They sell some decent product- however, good luck getting the right combination of it to your home. I can only name 2 or 3 people from best Id actually recommend to talk to.

Jerkit City- Dont know, never bought anything from there or worked there. What I do know is that they don't have thier own installation fleet like others do. They go through a 3rd party company out of New York that subs routesthier installs to 1 of 2 local install places.

American- Kudos to them for trying to do the right thing in pretty much all aspects of theatre. Although thier BIG weakness is knowlegable sales staff. When you go in there your going to have either a good sales person who knows thier shit, or one who really should go back to where they came from- best buy alumni/college kids. They are commision, so they are numbers & margin driven and are trained to sell whats in stock. Installation services are very good & reliable.

[05caddyext]

nice redo of my previous post in another thread.

Never saw your post. That is from my own knowledge from research and talking to people about tv's.


And how they they/we have done that? Im curious to as to how this is done

Best Buy sells a service that costs between $300-400. They will send someone from Magnolia Home Theater Services to your house to "tune-up" the tv. They go through all the settings with what they claim to be a very expensive piece of equip, can't think of the name off-hand. They do this to their better tvs in the store also. Where do I get this? A friend of mine is a General Manager of a Best Buy store. He told me what they do when I was looking to buy a tv from there.


So do you own one of these TV making companies...???

No, I wish.

[Heat Seeker WS6]

Ive done more installs and calibrations than I care to remember- install, troubleshoot & design is pretty much what I do. Knowing people and talking to people does not substitute for DOING it.

What the REAL A/V background of the manager? chances are he has none

[05caddyext]

Ive done more installs and calibrations than I care to remember- install, troubleshoot & design is pretty much what I do. Knowing people and talking to people does not substitute for DOING it.
Today 02:00 PM


Well I am sorry for offending you if I did, which it seems I did somehow. I said nothing about you personally, or your work, so I am not sure what the issue is. I was simply giving my honest .02 about what I "knew/heard/read." I am sure you do excellent work, have no reason to believe otherwise. What I do know for a fact is that anywhere that sells tv's is in the business of making $$. That is it. The bottom line is the $$. And it is a fact that the more expensive stuff you sell, the more $$ you make. And to that extent, it is my honest belief that a store will do "whatever" it takes to make the more expensive equipment look better.

Again. I am sorry for offending you if I did.

[Beagle]

go with an lcd if you plan to play video games.

[pickardracing]

Well, from what I'm seeing I'll probably go with a 42" variety.

So that narrows things down a bit.

[Korndogg]

well I have a 42" Panasonic plasma and I love it. I play games all the time and havent had a problem yet.

[05caddyext]

http://bestbuy.shoplocal.com/bestbuy/default.aspx?action=detail&flashbrowse=y&storeid=2413604&rapid=503740&pagenumber=6&listingid=-2092150110&ref=%2fbestbuy%2fdefault.aspx%3faction%3dbrowsepag eflash%26storeid%3d2413604%26pagenumber%3d6%26rapi d%3d503740%26prvid%3d011308BA

[Heat Seeker WS6]

No personal offense was taken, so its cool. BUT professional offense taken since I know that industry quite well. I have places I recommend & others I dont so much, but that comes off of knowing thm 1sthand- not based upon hearsay. Its you saying the stores do stuff to the TVs purposely that they absolutely dont. Vendors and reps frequent the stores and if there was any word of 'doctoring' really happening- you'd read about it in the news.

A good way to test a TV in a store while removing the in-store variables- - take in a DVD you like that has good color and ask to see the same scene on the TVs you like. If they wont cooperate find a different salesperson or manager- this does work. and this way your not relying on thier in-store feeds.
Also it may not hurt to go into the TVs menu & reset it vid settings back to default. It'll still look differently anyways once in your home and you'll prob tweak it a bit once home, but at least you can compare the TVs at thier 'baseline'.

[Car Guy]

Great info HeatSeeker ...!!!

I think I've learned everything I need to know about buying a TV from this one thread, and I know this topic has been discussed numerous times but I've never read them.....:durr

I will say from occasionally looking at TV prices the link for the Panasonic TV at BestBuy seems like a super deal. Are there any drawbacks to that specific TV, and/or how does it rate compared to other brands...???






:3gears::3gears::3gears:

[badass88gt]

I'm in the minority I guess. I play video games on my 42" 1080 Plasma and have NO problems. Makes me wonder if the people saying to buy an LCD for gaming know what theyre talking about. I do know I could see definate blurring on the 42" LCD that was on the shelf next to mine on the same picture.

I dont buy the whole "Plasma are bad for games" thing one bit. 5 years ago, maybe. Today, Nope.

Anything over 46"-ish I wouldnt even bother with an LCD. Go watch them, you'll see.

[Korndogg]

well look at my previous post. your not the only minority in this thread lol :thumbsup

[badass88gt]

I missed that one. Im with ya brother!

[Heat Seeker WS6]

panasonics info on it- Linky (http://www2.panasonic.com/consumer-electronics/shop/Televisions/LIFI-Projection-HDTVs/model.PT-56LCZ70_11002_7000000000000005702)

and for the price BBY is seling it for thats def a great deal & seems fine. Make sure you get the extended warranty!

For LCD's Im a fan of the new Sharp D64 series. Those have 120Hz processors, not the standard 60Hz so watching fast action movement you dont have the jagged adges or the 'pixelization effect' like you normally would with LCD's. But, youd be paying more for that though.


http://www.sharpusa.com/products/ModelLanding/0,1058,1922,00.html

[Car Guy]

panasonics info on it- Linky (http://www2.panasonic.com/consumer-electronics/shop/Televisions/LIFI-Projection-HDTVs/model.PT-56LCZ70_11002_7000000000000005702)

and for the price BBY is seling it for thats def a great deal & seems fine. Make sure you get the extended warranty!

For LCD's Im a fan of the new Sharp D64 series. Those have 120Hz processors, not the standard 60Hz so watching fast action movement you dont have the jagged adges or the 'pixelization effect' like you normally would with LCD's. But, youd be paying more for that though.


http://www.sharpusa.com/products/ModelLanding/0,1058,1922,00.html


That is something I noticed when watching the newer TV's, and an improvement I would wait and/or pay more for. That along with the time delay between channels when flipping :chair: , that drives me insane...!!!

Why the X-tended warranty...???







:3gears::3gears::3gears:

[Lash]

http://bestbuy.shoplocal.com/bestbuy/default.aspx?action=detail&flashbrowse=y&storeid=2413604&rapid=503740&pagenumber=6&listingid=-2092150110&ref=%2fbestbuy%2fdefault.aspx%3faction%3dbrowsepag eflash%26storeid%3d2413604%26pagenumber%3d6%26rapi d%3d503740%26prvid%3d011308BA

Go look at it in person. I went there specifically to get that T.V. .............



ended up coming home with my 46" Samsung LCD.

The picture was not that great on the Panasonic....and the viewing angle sucked.

[Heat Seeker WS6]

That is something I noticed when watching the newer TV's, and an improvement I would wait and/or pay more for. That along with the time delay between channels when flipping :chair: , that drives me insane...!!!

Why the X-tended warranty...???







:3gears::3gears::3gears:

Then the new Sharp is your solution for fast motion issue :thumbsup

The channel delay is a combo of incoming singnal and the TV's tuner. Digital tuners take a but longer to process the incoming signal compared to analog tuners- but they're getting quicker. Solution- cable or sat box.
Some TVs take foooorever just to switch between inputs. Sony's THE fastest! Some Samsungs are among the slooooooowest.

Its electronics and its only a matter of time before they puke. One of the guys for here bought an LCD last year and literally DAYS after the factory warranty ran up it died! Now he has to buy a new one. The manufacturer & place he bought it from wont do anything for him. nice eh?