OT.. flat panel tv.

I really dont want to turn this into a consumer reports topic, but... I am thinking about getting a new large flat panel tv, I currently know absolutly nothing about any of them,, do any of you guys have any pros or cons on what you currently own.. Brands? something to stay away from.. My living room is 22' by about 30' and the viewing distance would be about 17' or so.

I bought a new TV last month. Use Google and you will find many sites that compare/review the sets, give information and advice, and let buyers vent about how bad or good their choices turned out.

My final decision was to pay several hundred dollars more than the lowest mailorder price in order to get a local store to deliver, assemble and lift it onto the stand and to be there in case I needed to return it. So far, I am pleased with it.

Larry

I bought a new one on 02/05/07. I bought a VIZIO 42" LCD for my livingroom from Sams Club for $1,097.00 item #194374. They come with a 1yr warranty which you can extent to 4yrs for $200.00 more. I searched and could not find a better deal. We have been real happy with it, especially the "over the air" HD content available here. ABC, NBC, CBS, and PBS all have HD here + several others.

I installed the TV with a wallmount and ran all the wires in the wall to a kitchen cabinet on the backside. This way the TV is pretty much a picture on the wall. We had a 35" console before so this swap is a huge improvement. My room is 18x14 so you might opt for a 46" or 50" tv but I would go LCD for sure.

I have no affiliation with Sams (other than a membership) of course blah, blah, blah.

I think I saw those also at Walmart, they seemed to have a real good picture quality, I can say I never even heard of Vizio before that. And no I would not buy one from walmart. I would get one delivered also..

I've had a 42" AKAI for about 3 years. I have nothing to compare it to, but I've had no problems at all. I bought it at a good price, as it was a floor demo model. It probably had a bunch of hours on it when I bought it, and it has had a lot more since I bought it.

Corm

At a viewing distance of 17' you are looking at a screen size in the 50-60" range diagonally so a
projector set might be a consideration. If you are looking for HDTV only display the 1080p sets
are beginning to appear in good numbers for the smaller size displays, not so sure about 60" size
as I disregard the articles on these. PC Mag and PC World both had recent issue articles on 30-40" size sets but these would be a bit small for you.
LCD are generally recommended over plasma but are
sparser at the 60" size range. The newer LCD are better looking than equivalent size plasma, but making them for 60" is still difficult, being done, but difficult.

Why not a projector? I have an Infocus Screen Play 5000 and its great! It is 16:9 720p HiDef and can handle 1080i input. I have mine about 12' from the wall hanging from the ceiling and I get about a 95" picture. Anyone that comes over just loves it. I dont use a screen, just a white wall. A screen would give me more brightness but I am OK with it.

Its quiet, small, has all sorts of inputs. I have a Mac Mini connected to it permanently and watch movies off of that. It has DVI, VGA, Component, S-Video, and Composite inputs.

Lamp price is around $300 for 2000 hours. I have almost 3000 on the lamp I have and its still going strong.

I can say after owning a projector I will NEVER buy any other type of TV.

Just my opinion, BUT (!), I would look seriously at projectors in a room that size. We just bought one ( Hitachi TX300 ), and as Macona said, we can't see us EVER going back to a "conventional" telly. Having said that, the only downside with our pj is that the room has to be nearly blacked out for a really good picture - but its way more than worth it - like being at the cinema without the "interuptions" !!
We tried it without the screen, too, but its better with, and not just the brightness, colours seem more vivid - worth the extra IMHO.

One less box to dust too

Do you have that in normal mode or quiet. That projectors puts out the same as mine and I can watch mine all day no problem with light.

Hi Macona
Normal mode, I think, but hey, we only just bought it - like you expect me to have read the instructions or something? Yeah right!

Re:- "I can watch mine all day" Yeah, but aren't you supposed to be WORKING !!??

ATB

Sim

I've been happy with my Samsung DLP. Don't confuse this creature with the old "rear projection" TV's of a dozen or so years ago.

I read tons of reviews and did much research before buying my 42" plasma, the top rated 42" was and is PANASONIC, absolutely stunning picture.

I'd get an LCD over a DLP/Plasma just for the convenience of having a relatively lightweight unit.

I work in a plant that builds those wonderful new television sets. This is only my opinion. I will not mention my employer's name.

We once set up a little in house test. Some wise guy wanted to show how good our sets looked, and sounded. Black boxes were placed around each set and it was impossible to tell the brand, or type, of set being evaluated. The ten top sets were bought, retail, and set side by side. Everyone was given a score sheet and given a chance to pick the best set. The results made a lot of red faces. There was no winner. The results were a random spread. Remember; just who has perfect vision and is not a little color blind?

Today's television sets are a box adjusted by a computer. In the old days the picture quality was determined by the skill of the person adjusting the set. Today a bank of computers adjusts your TV. A series of computers keeps removing error and makes the set picture' closer to perfect'. For our setup; every time the machine adjusts the set, the picture loses about half of the flaws. To get a picture that is twice as good as the rest, we just remove the set from the line and run it through the adjustment process twice. Imagine if we would run the set through four, or five, times.

Sorry to burst a lot of bubbles, here is where everyone can throw the rotten fruit and rocks. Today's TV sets are trash. Five years ago we built sets that had those heavy picture tubes and they were almost too thick to go through a door. We also build the new sets with all the alphabet soup names and designs. We were the premeire development plant for our brand. I was always pinged to get someone a TV set for someone's family, for Christmas. Our facility has a discount store for employees and special guests. I always steered people to the old technology and glass picture tube sets. Every picture tube set that freinds purchased got rave reviews at home. The new gee golly wiz bang sets get yawns after the new toy effect wore off.

To really judge a TV, get a few things. Get a pattern generator and put a gridwork of fine white lines on a black screen. Suddenly all those great sets look like crap. Put up a color bar generator and see if a color card against the screen disappears. If a set can pass these two tests; you will think you are looking out an open window. Very few TVs can come close to passing a real test that does not involve the human 'subjective' factors.

Stop looking at the price tag, brand name, and new technology factor. My bench grinder costs more than my TV set. Why should your TV cost more than a Taiwan milling machine?

Some will now cast stones. I will throw the first. The phrase,"the cobbler's children have no shoes" exists for a good reason.

Professional rant is now concluded.

Now Charlie, I had a 35" picture tube TV in excellent working condition in the livingroom of my house and a 32" HD TV at the same time in another room for about 6 months. For the last straw we watched the first half of the Super Bowl on the picture tube and couldn't stand it any longer and watched the second half on the HD. That was Feb 4th and the next day I went and bought the 42" HD set for the livingroom. Sorry, but I had 41 people here for a party last weekend and everybody seemed impressed with the HD picture. I've had 2 phone calls specifically about the TV since. The tube is officially dead I'm afraid. No stones though, thats just an opinion.

I had the 35" RCA picture tube set for 16yrs. Interesting fact: My dad bought the first available RCA transistor based TV in 1969 and it lasted a whopping 25yrs! At the end, the mechanical tuner had to be propped up with a broom stick to make good connection.

Don’t get me started on RCA televisions, I now have 3 dead ones, all have been repaired multiple times. Two years ago we purchased a Sony 32” tube HD and the picture is fantastic and no problems so far. Last week I purchased our first LCD flat panel, a 26” widescreen “Sharp”, to replace one of those RCA’s in our bedroom. I’ll take the tube over the LCD any day. The Sony tube has a much faster refresh rate so sporting events or fast moving objects don’t blur like they do on the LCD. Also, LCDs look awful in analog, so you need to have the high end cable or satalite "digital" box to get a decent picture.

What do you do with old tube tv's any way?

Charlie,

You don't have to mention the name. I think it starts with S and ends in Y.. I think they are about 15 miles east of you and 15 miles west of me. Mebbe could have formerly been a soon to be Chrysler plant, eventually a VW plant, and now a you work there plant, with a moonshiner to come across the road in the near future.

(OT, THEY are going to make BILLIONS of dollars, with 4.35 a bushel corn and E85 going for a buck 90.)

Anyhow, my kids have a panny 42 and an LG 36 Plasma, (the s'in law's dad bought them before he passed away) and they both look pretty good, though I don't need anything like that.

I think you have quit the tube type business, so what do you reccommend for a 20 inch LCD, bedroom type set? I'd go buy a 20 inch flatscreen tube type, but I have a bad back, don't know if I could carry it up the stairs.

Mebbe, since I bought a 19 inch LG monitor, LCD, which I like a bunch, I should just buy another of them, 8 pounds or so, and take one of my computers, with a video capture card in it up there, too.

I know it is subjective but the 19 inch LCD looks to be twice the size of the 17 inch tube type monitor. 8 feet closer than the 25 inch Sanyo, but looks close in size. That one's an oldy, too. Worn out 5 DVD players on it so far, it keeps on ticking.

Cheers,

George

edit,

The LG brags about a 4 ms refresh rate, so the post above me should look to see what it was on his. They go 8 and above. Yes, you will see blockiness and the like with slow refresh. One reason I bought this model.

You gots to read and UNDERSTAND the advertising.
Price has little to do with it. You can buy a 1000 buck monitor with a slow rate, or a 300 buck monitor, OR TV, with a fast refresh rate. You can't bitch after the warranty expires.

Read, read, and read more. You will NEVER learn too much, especially when you are spending big dollars on such a trifling thing as a TV set, whether a 5000 buck plasma, who in the hell really needs that, unless you are such a narcisist that you HAVE to have the best, or a hundred buck 20 inch tube type.

I'm happy with my 10 or more year old 25 inch Sanyo. So sorry you are unhappy with yours.

If you want to go to a forum that is a doppelganger of this one, but instead of machining, it's all TV's and electronics (Audio/Video)...go here: AV Science Forums. Look for the link to the display devices sub-board along the left hand side, all sorts of info about every type of display tech.

Well, this is the hot topic here. I'm still using the 35" Mitsubishi TV that I bought at a great discount for having been a floor model in 1988. Model 3505 I think it is. I thought I was nuts to pay $900. for a TV but pretty smart to get one that retailed for $2999. for $900. I had to spend another $100. to order a remote and control panel door for it though.
Now I know that the HD picture is better and I like the bigger lighter screens but I haven't been able to come up with any flaw in the Mitsu that would justify replacing it. It looks as good now as it looked 19 years ago. My wife would say that it's weight justifies getting rid of it though. The big black box comes in at about 150 lbs.

Does anyone live under the illusion that ANY new TV set will last like the old ones did?

I just went the projector route. Paid $450 for it after rebate, and for that its an 800x600 DLP projector. Not quite HDTV, but neither is any of my source material.

I also figure it'll be handy to have around if I need to make any kind of silly presentation to a customer.

At a 17 foot viewing distance, a very bight projector is a slam dunk.

In terms of bang for the buck, its hard to beat a sub-$1000 projector. Yes you may need the room to be semi-dark, but if its light outside you shouldn't be watching TV.