plasma / lcd / DLP? In the market for a BIG tv

7960 · 01-23-2008, 11:23 AM

Considerations:

I watch some sports but am not a fanatic.
It will not have a gaming system hooked to it, ever.
Couch will be about 12' to 14' away.
Chairs on the sides of couch so TV must have a wide viewing angle.
The room is very big so it probably needs to be at least 60".

Other stuff:

I've never seen a rear projection or DLP that didn't look like crap from angle.
I'd like it to be wall mounted.
Plasma / LCD .......... don't care. I'd even get projection or DLP if it looked good from the side
I don't want the absolute best but the picture should be decent quality.

I haven't checked out TVs for 2 years. Help?

Scrum · 01-23-2008, 11:34 AM

Will there be a lot of light coming into the room?

Plasma doesn't handle glare as well as LCD.

Stylerod · 01-23-2008, 11:46 AM

It is seeming like LCD is coming out the winner of the standards. Plasma had better blacks and DLP was cheap. But now LCD's blacks are just as black as Plasma, they "may" have a longer life and they don't cost any more than a DLP.

At this point I think you need to look at the size and features you want. Read the reviews and go for the best price. Plasma and LCD will probably be your best bet. I don't think you can go wrong with either.

7960 · 01-23-2008, 11:47 AM

It will be light, but there will be light but no direct light.

But you did make me think about it...there's a big window behind the couch that won't have curtains and for people at one end of the couch it's probably going to reflect off the TV.

Hmm...

ballz2wallz · 01-23-2008, 12:50 PM

I just got this one:

Pioneer - KURO 50" 720p Flat-Panel Plasma HDTV - PDP-5080HD

I've never been happier. To get the 1080i it's 2k more, and it's just not worth it. HD looks damn awesome.

7960 · 01-23-2008, 01:09 PM

thanks

Originally Posted by ballz2wallz

To get the 1080i it's 2k more, and it's just not worth it.

See this is what I'm talking about. If you put a 720p and 1080i next to each other I could probably pick which is which, but in regular everyday use...........$2k isn't worth it.

did you get your free massage chair?

Free Massage Chair with Purchase of Select TVs $999 & Up

Stylerod · 01-23-2008, 01:16 PM

Originally Posted by 7960

thanks
See this is what I'm talking about. If you put a 720p and 1080i next to each other I could probably pick which is which, but in regular everyday use...........$2k isn't worth it.

did you get your free massage chair?

Free Massage Chair with Purchase of Select TVs $999 & Up

I don't think you could. Some home theater website did a blind test with all the people that worked for them and put 1080p and 720p TV's side by side and had them pick which was which. None of them could tell a difference.

Some OT'er had a link to it before Christmas when everyone was looking to get TV's. It was pretty damn interesting.

ballz2wallz · 01-23-2008, 01:21 PM

Originally Posted by 7960

thanks
See this is what I'm talking about. If you put a 720p and 1080i next to each other I could probably pick which is which, but in regular everyday use...........$2k isn't worth it.

did you get your free massage chair?

Free Massage Chair with Purchase of Select TVs $999 & Up

The only way to tell is if you had Blue Ray DVDs playing, and you got up close to see the clarity of hte lines on the screen. Other than that, watching it through normal watching distances, it's impossible to see. Maybe a $500 difference, but not 2k for sure.

Either way, HD looks badass.

Linzyhop · 01-23-2008, 01:31 PM

or you could just win a 37" Sharp Aquos 1080p LCD HDTV like the all cool kids are doing these days.......

Roonie · 01-23-2008, 01:39 PM

I have both Plasma and LCD big screen tv's. They both do their jobs well. I would buy plasma today if I had to do it again. The plasma is a little more sharp and crisper picture when running HD movies but other then that much much difference.

motivez · 01-23-2008, 01:57 PM

Me and 6 talk about this often, I went with LCD awhile back and he's been mulling over the model I got, one similar (but newer), or a plasma

Personally, LCD won out for me for several reasons

1) If I'm paying 2k for a television, I don't want any risk of burnin. Plasma has it, even if it's not as bad as when the technology was new, it's still there.

That, and don't buy into the "white wash" shit they feed you about being able to get rid of it. All it does is burn-in all your pixels to the same level so you don't notice whatever mark was left.. and shortens the life of the set

2) The shiny screen is nice (crisper colors) if you have a room where there's absolutely no light, but anyone with a glossy screen laptop can tell you how annoying it is to try to use it anywhere there's a light near by..

I have lights on in the area of the television often, and since LCD doesn't suffer the same effect, it went better for the room the TV is in

3) Sony. Sony LCD's are amazing, and putting it side by side with the other Plasma sets (including the pioneer), I went back to it every single time as the best picture

4) Space saving.. Don't go with DLP, you can use that space for a ton of storage through some sort of furniture for dvd's, your DVR or TiVo, and the dvd player instead of a big bulky set with far more limited storage

5) DLP sucks at an angle, and the picture isn't as sharp as plasma or LCD

6) Black levels are only marginally better on plasma IMO, especially if you get a quality LCD, they've come a long way..

I have a LCD monitor that has shit black levels compared to my Sony, and honestly, it's not that big of a deal. I watch TV shows and movies on here all the time, and it took me less than a week to adjust to it being different (and slightly worse) than my CRT.

With any new set you'll have some adjusting to do, but the marginally better black levels don't offset the other downsides associated with Plasma.

JaJae · 01-23-2008, 02:05 PM

I was recently helping my mother purchase a new TV. She wanted something nice and like the Aquos line. We ended up with a 1080p 42" Aquos. It's very nice. We got an amazing deal on it so that basically made our choice.

Prior to getting the deal I was looking at Samsungs for price/quality. Samsung, Sony and Sharp probably make the best LCDs. You really can't go wrong with any of them.

Roonie · 01-23-2008, 02:11 PM

I have the Pioneer Elite plasma and I have had no problems with burn in. I have left the same image for four hours once by accident and sure it was there when you turned it off but when I turned it back on and watched other shows it disappeared completely. I have no residual images on my screen what so ever.

Also I have the Samsung LCD and I recommend it. Basically any of the "s" brands like Samsung, Sony, Sharp you can't go wrong with.

7960 · 01-23-2008, 02:31 PM

thanks

Originally Posted by motivez

... the model I got,

which was??

btw, I have a 42" panasonic plasma and it's very nice. But I'm not tied to panasonic. I'm actually checking out the vizio p-50 because it's inexpensive and has come out around the top of a bunch of "best plasma tv" lists.

But now I'm a bit concerned about the light situation.

brb