Best TV for ~$1000??

wvjohn · Post by **wvjohn** » Wed May 14, 2008 8:04 am

thinking about buying one of those big tvs. did some research which confused me because there was so much

questions: any real difference between 720 and 1080?

plasma or lcd?

what is the best size for value?

how many inputs?

whatever else?

TIA

eGoCeNTRoNiX · Post by **eGoCeNTRoNiX** » Wed May 14, 2008 8:16 am

I have a 32" HD LCD from Vizio. I Love It! I would definatly go with an LCD over Plasma. The 42" seems to be the sweet spot right now for cost vs. size of TV. Just my .02

eGo

nitro237 · Post by **nitro237** » Wed May 14, 2008 10:27 am

I bought a 47" Vizio 1080 from Sam's for $1300, I think the 42" was ~ $850

darcy · Post by **darcy** » Wed May 14, 2008 4:49 pm

hubby is hot to get 1 of those, too.

wvjohn · Post by **wvjohn** » Wed May 14, 2008 8:46 pm

The more i read about it the more confused i get....guess i'll just have to go to Sam's or someplace and look at them up close and see what I like

ZYFER · Post by **ZYFER** » Thu May 15, 2008 1:17 am

It takes some shopping and viewing really. Some TVs look bad on full screen stretch (something you deal with for Fullscreen DVDs and standard definition channels). It is best to get one with 3 HDMI, you will likely need them.

wvjohn · Post by **wvjohn** » Fri May 16, 2008 8:27 am

decision #1 - looks like a plasma because of the viewing angle issue. consumer reports says that panasonics seem to have the best repair record.

nitro237 · Post by **nitro237** » Fri May 16, 2008 8:32 am

Hey John, look at the LCD's for yourself, I don't think you will find a viewing angle problem unless it's an extreme angle.

eGoCeNTRoNiX · Post by **eGoCeNTRoNiX** » Fri May 16, 2008 8:34 am

wvjohn wrote:decision #1 - looks like a plasma because of the viewing angle issue. consumer reports says that panasonics seem to have the best repair record.

Yah, anybody that's reporting a viewing angle issue is wacko.. Unless you saw one for yourself. My LCD TV I can see it from any angle left/right up/down.. No issues what so ever.

nexus_7 · Post by **nexus_7** » Fri May 16, 2008 10:29 am

eGoCeNTRoNiX wrote:Yah, anybody that's reporting a viewing angle issue is wacko.. Unless you saw one for yourself. My LCD TV I can see it from any angle left/right up/down.. No issues what so ever.

Or you are getting a super generic/cheap one.

smb · Post by **smb** » Fri May 16, 2008 6:34 pm

as someone mentioned, you really need to go see for yourself. panasonic has good pq but pq is subjective.

good sights to snoop around at are
HDTV Voice
HighDef Forum
AVS Forum

ZYFER · Post by **ZYFER** » Sat May 17, 2008 12:39 am

No viewing angle issues at all with LCD. The early models had issues, but unless you are looking at it from an angle which you would have issues on any TV seeing a picture, everything is fine. Plasmas are certainly good to avoid with people and higher elevations, as it tends to affect the gases in it. The burn-in effect of Plasmas is something you can always be worried about, though they generally have solved those problems. Simply, you didn't want to be an early adopter of either one.

My brand TV was about the cheapest ones out there and it works pretty nicely. Olevia though is kind of disappointing in the universal remote department though.

normalicy · Post by **normalicy** » Sat May 17, 2008 2:49 am

I still can't take the off angle viewing on LCD's (any brand & not too extreme of an angle either, though admittedly better than the early sets). The contrast just suffers too much for me. But that's my opinion. Burn-in is pretty much solved for plasma, though it seems that they aren't going anywere with it for some reason (maybe they margins are too slim).

wvjohn · Post by **wvjohn** » Sun May 18, 2008 1:51 pm

and I got one of these ---Panasonic Viera TH-46PZ85U 46-inch 1080p Plasma HDTV

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... /ref=nosim

the picture is completely totally awesome in HD.....after I got it set up I kept watching pirates of the caribbean because it looked so cool.

regular DVD is not as good as the hd obviously, but is still very nice.

standard broadcast is not that great, but I bought it for movies anyway and I watch almost no SB anyway.

set-up was pretty easy once I figured it out. Came in a bundle with the low end panasonic home theatre package with an upconverting 5 disk dvd player, and the sound is just fine. I have a bunch of much higher end component stuff which I will probably just sell, no need.

this bad boy is HEAVY - if you're going to set it up yourself think every step through carefully. you don't want a whoops! here. of course they hide the pieces you need for the stand under the tv in the box

bought it at circus city and got pretty close to the amazon price when all was said and done...there is a $100 rebate for upgrading to comcast HD...when I told theguy I wanted the free HT package he actually looked it up on our internet and not some in house thingy

also got a comcast dvr b/c I wasn't sure if my old replay could handle HD

it has a vga/audio in to hook up a puter but I haven't tried that yet. Will report back as I figure stuff out.

darcy · Post by **darcy** » Sun May 18, 2008 5:08 pm

mile

i be right o'er

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Best TV for ~$1000??

Best TV for ~$1000??

As usual, my battleship mind overwhelmed my rowboat budget