OT: What type of HDTV do you have?

Sorry -- I have a small cheap-o [$300] that sits nearly at ceiling height, and I can sit in my Relax-the-Back recliner, watch TV and fall asleep.

I wouldn't know what to do with a big-un!

~ B

I have a Hitachi 52" that had 2' of water in it from Hurricane Katrina. Funny thing about it is we lost everthing in the flood and had totally gutted the house and it ended up in the back yard. One day we saw the power company working on power lines down the block and decided to plug it into and extension cord.This was about four weeks after the storm and Zanadu it came on, it was the biggest laugh we had in quite sometime. Anyway it is still working today. Don't know if that qualifies as a testimonial or not.

Jimmy
Come visit NOLA

AlwaysGolf,

Last year, about this time, I did a bunch of research on this subject because my old projection TV (about 12 years old) was starting to fail (just shut off all of a sudden). Besides, the picture had pretty much s****ed for several years.

I found that the "best" choice depends on your needs.

It used to be simple to buy a TV. About the only question was, "how big". But these days, there are a number of competing issues to consider.

First, there's the LCD or Plasma question. LCD systems tend to be a bit less expensive, but they don't perform as well in some ways, and, a bit better in others. E.g. LCDs don't do as well viewing "off axis", but they do a bit better viewing in well lit areas (e.g. daylight viewing in a room with lots of windows). Plasmas tend to be better off axis (especially the Pioneers, which is what I have in my LR, which look good all the way to 179.9 degrees).

Plasma's also tend to have a bit better color depth because each "pixel" can be any color -- LCD's still use the three dots, red/green/blue, very close together strategy to make color. Plasmas also tend to have a bit better "black levels" which affects the overall clarity and contrast of the image. Plasmas also still have a "burn in" issue, especially the less expensive models. But this is not nearly so bad as it was when they were new technology.

-- If your viewing area is well lit, the an LCD is probably the best choice (unless you can close the blinds when watching during the day).

-- If your viewing is "off axis", i.e. not all seats in your room are directly in front of the TV, then a Plasma would be a better choice.

-- If you want to play games, then an LCD is a better choice (because games often have static images, like scores, that might "burn in" a Plasma screen).

-- If you are particular about right colors and the deepest possible black levels, then a Plasma is probably the best choice.

Even a year ago, these differences were sometimes hard to perceive; so, now the two technologies are probably even closer to six of one, half dozen of the other. LCDs are a getting better off-axis, and Plasmas have much less problems with burn-in than the early models (I've not noticed it at all on my Pioneer).

I have a Panasonic plasma in BR, much cheaper than the Pioneer, but not nearly the same quality either -- but just fine for falling asleep while watching .

Lastly, there's the resolution question: 1080p or 1080i/720p. As of a year ago, the only 1080p sources available were HDDVD players (e.g. BlueRay) and some video games. HDTV (like DirecTV and I think cable is the same) doesn't provide 1080p resolution and isn't likely to in the near future (at least I don't think so -- because of the bandwidth required). So, unless you have, or intend to acquire, a BlueRay movie collection, or want to play the latest X-Box games in "full HD", you won't get much opportunity to see 1080p pictures, even if your new TV can do it. Since I pretty much watch DirecTV, I decided to go with the less expensive 1080i/720p models -- but that depends on your requirements.

Like I said, it used to be simple to buy a TV....

Big Easy Egg,

That's about the way I felt. I went to the store first, and found that I knew nothing about all this 1080p and other stuff. Then bought several magazines and spent some time reading them and other stuff on the web. It's just crazy how many choices there are these days.

I didn't even mention the "DLP" option because it isn't really "flat". But DLP is the least expensive of all. You can get a "gigantic" DLP/1080p set for half the price of smaller Plasma or LCD. But the picture really isn't as good -- it just depends on individual requirements and taste.

It used to be so simple...

I have a 32 inch Samsung that I bought 2 years ago about a month after I got it we had a problem with the picture I called Samsung, no hassle they sent a technician out he installed a newer motherboard and said they will ship the old one back to Korea for analysis. No problems since. I have a 26 ILO that is 1080i Very Nice picture no problems except I can't find the program code for the comcast remote.

I have an Aquos 37". It's old, and there's no HDMI inputs to it. It has a great picture, however. It fits perfectly in this piece of furniture she wants to keep it in. I would just like to have the picture quality and brightness of plazma. Had my eye on a 42" Pioneer for a while. I guess they still make that size.

Tom,

I have Time Warner cable here in Texas, but my brother-in-law's Comcast remote in Louisiana was very familiar--it seems that their box is also made by Scientific Atlanta you may be able to find the remote codes for your TV from their site...

Fidel,

I have both Pioneer and Panasonic plasma. The only complaint I have with the Panasonic, at least with my 40" model, is that I noticed off-axis reflections (e.g. can see double image of scrolling movie credits when viewing off-axis). To a lesser extent, the edge of anything on dark background appears blurred when viewing off axis.

For me, this doesn't actually happen in practice because it's in the bedroom; so, only when entering or leaving the room with the TV on is it noticeable. On the other hand, even when viewing straight on, the reflections that are visible off axis have to still be present and must reduce the overall image contrast and clarity, at least theoretically, but it still looks just fine to me anyway.

After noticing this, I bounced a laser pointer off the screen onto the wall or ceiling and found that it breaks up into 8-12 dots bouncing of the Panasonic. But doing the same with the Pioneer produces a crisp dot on the wall with almost no scattering at all. Of course, how well your TV reflects laser pointers is not a major criteria, but it did confirm the scattering in the Panasonic screen which I see absolutely no trace of in the Pioneer.

Like I said, in practice, I don't really notice it. I could have returned it if it had been a big deal, since I noticed it within minutes of installing it -- but I didn't.

I have Sony 55" 3LCD with the WEGA Engine. It's about 3 yrs old so only has one HDMI input, but I got a switcher for that and n/p..I have it serviced yearly and although it doesnt need it, I have the bulb replaced annually and the picture is brilliant...I have direct tv, playstation 3, and of course blue ray and use it for all 3 all the time..I own 300+ dvds and am an amateur movie buff, I have absolutely no problems with the 1080i v 1080p argument or the plasma v lcd argument..just get a Sony..even the repair guy that comes to service it talks about how much better a tv it is than the others he services...good luck with your search..it's a pain buying a tv anymore! :blink: :blink: