Getting ready to buy a new television; suggestions?

It’s hard to say, because it generally boils down to personal preference. I’m not a fan of plasma TVs, because they tend to have a little more glare than LCD or LED TVs. Plasma TVs also have somewhat of a larger carbon footprint – not huge, especially not with the constant advancements in technology, but it’s there.

LED tends to be slightly brighter and also consumes the least amount of power. They’re as eco-friendly as you can get right now – but they’re around $2,000 for a 52”. Cheaper as you downsize, obviously.

Because you say price isn’t a problem, I suggest buying an LED TV with 1080p. (Not 1080i). If you plan on getting a huge TV you might want to consider buying a blu-ray player if you plan on watching movies. If you don’t get one for a TV that large, the quality of movies is compromised. You’ll also need an HDMI cable.

LCD, preferably Samsung, Sony or LG, IMO. More importantly, get a DVD to help you calibrate your set. You don’t want the colours over-saturated or the blacks too black or you lose details. Also, if the TV you pick has a 120/240Hz refresh rate, make sure you can shut that off. Having a refresh rate that high is only good for watching sports.

I don’t like plasmas. The little bulbs burn out and the image isn’t as sharp as with LCDs. This site seems to have good metrics for rating LCD sets.

The very best on the market right now is Samsung. wife and i compared each HD television to great links. overall, the Samsung came out the winner. i love the fact you can watch the screen from any angle and the picture quality never changes. we bought ours at WalMart and have been completely satisfied. Samsung is now No. 2 in America in just about all their products. if you want to save yourself some money, buy last years model. its basically the same, except for the stand it sits on and WalMart has them at a really good price. you will love your Samsung HD tv. we do.

My brother JUST bought a Samsung, 42(or 40)inch, 1080p, LED side-lite TV. (cost around $1,300) He researched TV’s for over 2 months & he is very picky about choosing the best there is. I helped him set it up & we played with it. It is stunning! Amazing picture quality, best I have seen. Very very low power consumption (because of LED). Amazing features, ranging from power consumption meter, to ambient light sensor (at night, in dark room, the tv dims itself). I am getting a TV soon & it will definitely be a samsung, they are rated number 1 in television sets & their models are all fantastic. I don’t even bother looking at plasma, the pixels have a higher rate of burning out, because of the ionized gas that is used & the problem of ‘burn in’ images is a constant worry. Plasma has way too many problems to be considered a runner in the best tv’s category.

Not plasma. Plasmas are REALLY heavy and they draw a lot of power. Almost twice the weight as LCD, that really sucks if you want to re-arrange the furniture or simply move it for cleaning.

Some sets are definitely sharper than others, it’s best to compare in person.

I haven’t seen a really bad HD TV, but I have seen a huge difference in how they handle standard def. You can test that by playing a DVD movie (no blu-ray).

I’m watching a 37” Panasonic and it’s fantastic: more than I ever imagined a TV could be. It’s 720p, which is more than almost anyone would ever need.

I highly recommend the XKCD coverage of the “link” http://xkcd.com/732/: HD issue

do you actually need it?

If you really want to go plasma, the best on the market was Pioneer’s Elite Kuro, nothing was within a generation of it, it was the best, may still be. But that was before Pioneer left the market and handed it over to Panasonic – I haven’t kept up with it to see how their handling it but there’s a model launching this year (called Viera I think), and it’s definitely worth a look. The other issue with plasma is burn in (yes, it happens on LCD’s too), I’m sure plenty of people would say oh it’s not a big deal, hardly an issue any more, that’s a bunch of BS once it happens (and I’ve seen it happen), if you’re going to drop that kind of cash on a TV think about your viewing habits before you do so. Leave it on a “ticker” channel all day, yeah, you and burn in are going to be friends.

For LCD, it’s all shifting to LED now, the difference is mainly how the LED’s are arranged. Samsung’s 8500 series was the best on the market last year (they’re now doing 9 series sets and they look beautiful), LG came fairly close though (and had a better viewing angle) and Sony’s Bravia got a lot of press too, I’ve heard some people rag on them but the couple I’ve seen consistently are pretty. In the end, there isn’t a whole lot that separates them, a lot comes down to how much of a videophile you are.

Keep in mind if you’re checking them out in the store all the levels are boosted to make the picture as clear and bright and contrasty as possible. Unless you want to be buying a new TV in a couple years you won’t be running it like that and unless you have a proper HT set up you won’t have room lighting like theirs either. You can take a demo quality blue ray that you know well (Planet Earth from BBC works pretty well for this) and have them pop it in and let you play around with the levels or have them adjust them down for you so it looks a little more realistic.

Don’t worry too much about OLED’s yet, they’re flat out gorgeous, but last I saw it’s going to be 2012 before the first 40+ sizes are released that don’t cost as much as a car, courtesy of LG.

Finally you’ll be looking at a lot of 3D tv’s coming out, if you want the latest and greatest, wait for your chosen line to release theirs if they haven’t already. If you don’t care about 3D (and I have to admit, I really don’t) you can probably cut a deal with them on the previous generations pricing.

Oh and for all that don’t forget to make sure you have a solid Blu-Ray player. Again Samsung and Sony (PS3 is actually still one of the best out there for the price) both make great boxes, you have to compare the options for yourself, I’m actually partial to Oppo myself. Though of course you could always go all out and get a Denon or Marantz flagship model. But then you might as well build and extention to your house specifically for your HT, why? Because you can!

@Jayy No we don’t actually need it, but we do watch movies quite often, so it will be a lot better in the place we’re almost finished rebuilding than will our current little 32” non-HD.

LOL @wonderingwhy No, this home is going to stay just like it is for a long, long time. I’m TIRED of building! Heh!

BTW… why Blu-Ray???

If you’re going to invest in an HDTV, blu-ray is the HD format standard for movies (usually, but sometimes less than, 1080p). Your standard definition DVD’s won’t appear as sharp or have the same depth of color or contrast as a quality blu-ray transfer, though a good upscaling player (such as oppo’s) can help with that. The audio quality tends to be a good deal sharper too.

If in the future you decide to upgrade your collection to blu-ray or are looking to pick up a new release I’ve found this site relatively helpful in terms of blu-ray transfer quality reviews as not all transfers are created equal.

So, if I understand everyone correctly, I would be well advised to get an LG LED television, and a Blu-Ray Player. I’ve already decided to get a Bose sound system. Is that right??

I’ll recommend again actually looking at the TV in person. Yes, you can get an excellent LG TV, but every brand has better and worse models, and higher price does not guarantee a better picture.

Blu-Ray, yes. All current HD DVD players are Blu-ray, you will want to see HD movies on your new HD TV.

Will I need to keep the CD/Videotape player I have now, or will a Blu-Ray player accept all three types. There’s no WAY I want to obsolece my Video movie collection!!

A tape player will plug right into the TV. The Blu-Ray player will play your current CDs and DVDs.

samsung big screen . Ours is faaaaab u lous!

I have a Samsung flatpanel LCD. My next will be a Samsung Flat LED.

I also like to mention Westinghouse Digital. They have AMAZING bang for the buck. In fact, if Westinghouse made an LED, I’d probably look into that one over a Samsung.

Comparing the two I’ve had (one being West one being Samsung) I’d say I couldn’t tell the difference. And I consider myself picky (but not a videophile)

I suggest at least looking at the brand Vizio. My friend went through numerous HD TVs with each having various problems, before they tried a Vizio (they stayed away because of the lower price, seemed like a cheap tv).

They now swear by it, and refuse to buy anything else. Just goes to show you that every brand has good and bad models (they had tried much more expesive Panasonic, Sony and Samsung tvs with terrible results).

And go LED if you have the option to. I saw you’re getting a Bose system, good choice!

@ShiningToast

Thank you. I have always enjoyed the Bose sound, and the smaller size of the speakers, so it was the logical choice for me.

Vizio, eh? Like the sound of that “lower price!” : ))