New tv shopping

[hookjunior]

I am in the market for a new tv and I am looking for suggestions. I currently have a 50" samsung DLP rear projection. I would like to new one to be at least 60". I have been doing some research and I like the picture quality and viewing angles that plasmas offer but I am a little concerned about glare and image retention on them. On the flip side I like the brightness, reduced glare, and lower price of the LCDs but I am worried about picture quality and viewing angles on them. So what does everyone have experience with? Anybody have a model that they would reccomend? I have been looking at the Panasonic ST series plasmas, Sharp 640U series LCDs and the Vizio E series LCDs, anyone have experience with these?

[Scott K]

I have a 42" Samsung LCD, I dont have any problem with viewing angles at all. Honestly, if I were in the market right now, I would be buying LED

[mrklean]

i have 2 plasmas i like them but if you are in a area where you have a lot of windows the glare will stink

[leechlake]

we just got a Panasonic 65 Plasma VT50 Series. We got it to replace our older TV in our basement home theater. It cost almost $3000 which didn't exactly make me happy.

I don't know the details and I was surprised a plasma was recommended but the picture is amazing and it has a glare feature where it has been zero issue. We do watch that tv mainly at night especially since the sun goes down at 5pm.

Lots of good tv's out there but since you mentioned Panasonic I thought I'd pass on what I've learned.

[Alagnak]

We just picked up a 60" Visio (sp?) at target this week for like 850 after a 5% coupon and 5% off by using target card. It says 'smart' tv, built in wi-fi and a bunch of stuff on the box. I can't tell you anything more than that as I don't pay much attention to anthing besides price. 5-6 years ago I bought a 42" and said to myself WHEN those 60" get under a grand I'm gonna get one. Well, now to wall mount and run wires in the wall.I should be good to go watching from any seat in the room. :-)

[brian6715]

We just picked up a 60" Visio (sp?) at target this week for like 850 after a 5% coupon and 5% off by using target card. It says 'smart' tv, built in wi-fi and a bunch of stuff on the box. I can't tell you anything more than that as I don't pay much attention to anthing besides price. 5-6 years ago I bought a 42" and said to myself WHEN those 60" get under a grand I'm gonna get one. Well, now to wall mount and run wires in the wall.I should be good to go watching from any seat in the room. :-)

I have the same TV, got it for $1,000 on black friday (it was $699 at walmart but they were sold out!).

It has been a very nice TV so far! I would for sure go LED, I have a 42 inch plasma that I can heat the room with when it's on, and it weighs 50lbs. This 60 inch TV is light, doesn't heat up, is super thin... and according the energy savers guide it will cost $27 a year if I leave it on 5 hours a day! The picture and color is just as good as my plasma (plus not as dark and less glare!)

[Alagnak]

That's awesome Brian! Yeah I'm just waiting for a mount I ordered and it's go time. Can't wait to get it up on the wall. Glad to hear your happy with it- I was a little worried it may be on the lower side of quality for a 60" but it's all relative to what you're use to. I'm not a huge TV user, don't game, don't watch many movies but I don't like to put my glasses on to watch football. This should fit the bill nicely for that. :-)

[Whoaru99]

Another plug for Panasonic plasma. Mine is a 2006 model, has 6570 hours of use, has been turned on 1787 times, and has performed flawlessly all the while.

Been thinking of upgrading to a bigger screen and it would take a lot to sway me from the brand based on my experience with this one.

[hookjunior]

Thanks for all the opinions so far and please keep them coming. So far I'm gathering that either way I go will probably be an improvement from what I have, and the extra money to go with a plasma may not be worth it? My living room isn't super bright but there are windows that face north and my wife will usually have at least one lamp on while reading a reading a book. Not real concerned about having 3D, smart tv would be nice but not a deal breaker since I can get most of that stuff through my xbox.

[Nick Kuhn]

Go buy an old display model and pay less than those Black Friday prices for a new TV. You get everything but the box.

[Kyhl]

I would recommend against a display model. The displays are usually run hard with all the settings cranked plus they have lots of hours on them.

Definitely LED. If picture is really important to you then dig into the menus to see what is adjustable, how the contrast works, picture level, gama settings, etc.

Learn about how to set up your TV. It will help you decide which options are more important to you.

If glare is an issue then as others have pointed out, screen finish will make a difference. Plasmas are usually the worst in a high glare setting but they are usually the best with a room with high ambiant light. Go figure.

Sony usually uses a matte finish for their screens which helps diffuse glare.

[SkunkedAgain]

I've got two Panasonic Viera's - a 38" LED bought in 2010 and a 50" plasma bought in 2011.

The LED is used in our living room that gets lots of natural light and the picture is fantastic. The plasma is used in our dark basement with recessed ceiling lights. The weight and heat don't bother me because it's hung on a wall and it's in my cold basement.

As others have said, you'll get your best picture with the LED. I expected that with the higher refresh rates of plasma that football/NASCAR would look better but I think that LED is just better in many respects, but would not shy away from another plasma. The difference was minuscule - I noticed but had to try persuading my wife and friends that there was a perceptible difference!

As for floor models, I wouldn't be worried about them having "hard lives." Unless someone can show me data to the contrary, you'll be swapping out the new TV for an even newer one before anything fails. We don't use these things for twenty years anymore, let alone five or ten!

[hookjunior]

Right now I am leaning towards a 60" Vizio. I'm a little skeptical about the brand but it has gotten really good reviews and the price is hard to beat.

[Whoaru99]

I disagree with led/lcd having the better picture. Plasma to me has a more natural/realistic look.

And, about not using these things for 20, let alone 5 or 10 years, I'm in year 7 with my plasma and while I'd like an even bigger screen than 50, there isn't any technical reason to replace it. No reason it shouldn't go 10 years or more.

[Kyhl]

I disagree with led/lcd having the better picture. Plasma to me has a more natural/realistic look.

I'm with you. The latency of of LCD is very noticable to me.

Maybe the newer 240hz models have narrowed the gap enough to make them similar.

Try to find the hockey puck on a high latency screen. It's nearly impossible. Plasma has none of this issue because the speed of plasma is about the equivelant of a 600hz refresh rate on an LCD.

A quick look on the net finds that all manufacturers are dropping the real refresh rate from their boxes and replacing them with maketing terms. And each manufacturer has their own marketing term.

A Vizio example that I found was on model UN46EH6050 they claim "Clear Motion Rate 120" when the actual refresh rate is 60hz. They could achieve this by inserting a black screen for half of the resolution or they could turn off the back light for half of the cycle. What they do is up to them and they don't have to explain it because it is a marketing term instead of a true measurement.

My advice is do some digging and don't just buy based on size and price point.

[aanderud]

Plasma is king with picture quality, but they do have more issues with glare and lower brighness. For this reason alone, I like to buy things like TVs locally, where at least you have an option of returning it if it doesn't work out in your room, with your lighting conditions. They all look great in the store, but your windows, room lighting, position of your seating, etc. all have an impact on how it'll look at home.

[Shack]

Yeah, even still today Plasma does have a lifespan but the limit of time it will consume itself or "burnout" is way out their. I would suspect a $400 component would blow causing the need to just update to a new one before this becomes and issue.

I have a 65" LCD/LED Insignia downstairs and recently installed a VIZIO:

47” Class Razor LED™

Smart TV with Theater 3D®

(46.96" Diag.)

MODEL NUMBER: M3D470KD Model Features:

Theater 3D™ Crystal clear and flicker-free 3D

VIZIO Internet Apps® with built-in WiFi

Edge Lit Razor LED™ with smart dimming

Enhanced 2-sided remote with keyboard

Includes 4 pairs of Theater 3D™ glasses

240Hz effective refresh rate for smoother, fast-action scenes

10 million to 1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio

1080p Full HD

for upstairs and mounted on an articulating wall mount. This TV for being a 47" on an articulating wall mount outshines my stationary flush wall mounted 65" downstairs. You would almost swear it's the same size or maybe even bigger when watching it, although downstairs you are a little further away. The mount brings it out almost 2' straight forward from the wall and pivots folds back like a flush mount within an inch or so.

[CJH]

Plasma for the basement, LED/LCD's everywhere else. I prefer Panasonics and Samsung's. Sony's are good also.

Vizio's are a "value" brand, so just know that going into it. The colors always seem off to me on them.

[Kyhl]

47” Class Razor LED™

Smart TV with Theater 3D®

(46.96" Diag.)

MODEL NUMBER: M3D470KD Model Features:

Theater 3D™ Crystal clear and flicker-free 3D

VIZIO Internet Apps® with built-in WiFi

Edge Lit Razor LED™ with smart dimming

Enhanced 2-sided remote with keyboard

Includes 4 pairs of Theater 3D™ glasses

240Hz effective refresh rate for smoother, fast-action scenes

10 million to 1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio

1080p Full HD

[delcecchi]

If you are watching broadcast TV the highest frame rate is 60Hz.

[Kyhl]

If you are watching broadcast TV the highest frame rate is 60Hz.

And standard film frame rates are 24 frames per second, less than half of that 60hz peak. Measuring frames per second is looking at leading turn on time for a pixel.

Latency is the measure of the amount of time that it takes for the pixel to turn off after it has been lit. LCD has issues with continued glowing after the pixel is supposed to be turned off. The affect of this is when something moves across the screen it becomes elongated because the pixel does not turn off as fast as it should.

One description that made me chuckle in the early days of LCD's that was as if a football thrown across the screen turns into a hot dog. Or my example of a hockey puck earlier.

Another example of this can be seen on LCD computer monitors. Although computer monitors have become very fast compared to TV's. To test it, go to best buy and compare similar screens with different prices. Assuming they even have a variety to choose from anymore.

To test them, scroll the screens with text on them and try to read the text while it's moving. The cheaper screen will blur out under motion, "motion blur". A higher quality screen will be easier to read. Old CRT's were easiest to read when in motion.

What manufacturers discovered was that they could force the pixel off by sending a reset command on the next refresh. 30fps interlaced wasn't fast enough so they started bumping LCD refresh rates to 120hz and 240hz to compensate.

As I stated earlier, plasma doesn't have this latency issue. An equivalent LCD refresh rate to simulate plasma's lack of latency would be close to 600hz.

What I was getting to earlier was that manufacturers are turning pixels off on every other refresh instead of sending an updated color command to the pixel and they call it a marketing term that sounds like twice the refresh rate. Technically, it is not though it may be better than standard 60hz LCD pictures.

[delcecchi]

I guess it must be my old geezer eyes. I can't see any motion blur even on my cheapo insignia 50 inch which is a 60 Hz. But I also can't see the flicker from old school fluorescent tubes either and I know some people can.

[upnorth]

After working 14 yrs in the computer fields and working with people and their monitors the biggest things for those that are sensitive is to have the refresh rate slightly higher than the cycle on the lights nearby.

I can't see the refresh rates either and never have been, but I would say about 25% of people are a bit sensitive to it.

[Whoaru99]

I'm one that can, especially on computer monitors for some reason. Although it's not really my job I have fixed just about everyone in my office. Even though most of these folks didn't notice anything, almost all of them have later told me they seem to have less eye strain and such.

It just boggles my mind how many people (although it's less these days) that had no idea you can adjust the computer settings so the full extent of the display is used, or not flickering, or not having huge block icons or that they're too small, etc.