Flat screen TV

[MIKE IN lINO III]

The wife wants to get a flat plasma TV for above the fireplace, anybody have any suggestions??

I am clueless on the Plasmas and don't have time to educate myself.

Not looking to spend a TON of dough either.

Thanks,

Mike

[Whoaru99]

There was a thread in this forum not more than a couple days ago. Maybe you want to start there...

[hoggs222]

Here's a link from the Star Trib on a couple of deals on Friday. web page

[MIKE IN lINO III]

Whoaru99,

I did a search and looked back til 11/07/06 and didn't find anything.

Any body have some good info on flat screens?

Mike

[Powerstroke]

There are always differences between the different brands and their styles and perks.

As far as flat screens go, it sounds like you're looking for a wall mount rather than a tube style flat screen.

Your choices are Plasma or LCD. LCD's have really come around and are considered better in quality and reliability. The pricing has also caught up. There are a couple different resolutions. The main ones are 720 and 1080dpi. That talks about how many pixels there are per picture. A 42" TV with 1080i has 40% more pixels than the same size TV with 720i. More pixels means more detail, more color.

Sizing isn't always consistant. Also the frame of the TV can make the size of the overall TV bigger than what you can fit. Measure the space you intent to fill and bring a measuring tape to the store with you.

Thats what I'm going on right now. I plan on buying a LCD TV sometime this winter and have been trying to learn more too.

[JollyT]

They are moved up now. I TTTed them for you.

[Whoaru99]

look here

[jweitgen]

I would do the research before you jump in. I bought a HD TV 3 years ago and finally got the HD. If I would have waited, I could have saved $1500. Get what you want and need, not what you think you need. Just my 2cents. I have a sony LCD and love it. Also do the research on the size you want. It seems like a small consideration, but a bigger room needs a bigger TV. Check out real use situations, ie your friends house, Best Buy is not the situation that you will be watching under. They have HD and modify the contrast/brightness to the point that it is scewed reality. Bottom line: Do your homework.

[TTfromBlaine]

I cant suggest a particular tv but I can tell you I did the same thing with a 42" plasma last july in my new place.. tv looks great BUT ya gotta figure out how your gonna place the cable/satellite box and home entertainment/dvd/vcr boxes.. those huge cables are gruesome to look at.. at this point I wish I knew a A/V guru to give me options or just fix it one day when I'm at work

[IFallsRon]

Panasonic (top Consumer Reports pick) and as big as you have the space for and can afford.

[bgmny]

I would consider a few things when shopping. First thing is routing the cables like TT said. I'm not sure how you would route cables behind a fireplace wall with brick or stone but with drywall you need a fishtape to pull the wires through. Also the other equipment also needs a home(stereo receiver, cd, dvd, etc.) May as well figure on buying a small entertainment center to hold all that stuff. Then there is the wall mount for the flat screens. Add 150 bucks for the mount to move the tv angle up and down, 200 bucks for the mount that lets you rotate the tv side to sie and up and down. If you go with the larger floor mount tv's you need a stand to put it on (can double as a place to hold your equipment also). If you want to watch tv in HD then you should consider getting a tv that has multiple HDMI inputs. 1 for cable/satellite, 1 for progressive scan dvd players, possible 1 for new gaming systems. If I was considering a purchase, I would be looking at jumping on one of the sales on Friday

[NEO]

Panasonic is the most bang for your buck. If your seating area is <10' get a 42". > 10' get a 50".

IMO the Pioneer Elite and Sony Bravia have the best flat panel picture quality, but you will pay for it.

[hondavxr]

If you are considering getting the best for LCD or plasma look no further than Samsung. Samsung has being above the pack for a while. Panasonic are great for the money also. Plasmas tend to have burn in and have problems with black colors. LCD's have shadowing affects and dead pixels. Do your research on the web and never believe what you see at the store because in the store they run all digital signals and at home you might not.

[luckey]

TTfromBlaine and others.

If the large component cables are an issue, get a TV/receiver that uses the HDMI interface. One little finger size cable does it all.