Looking for an LCD HDTV

[DarkWing6]

Just got my tax return and the wife and I are thinking about getting a new TV. We have about $1000-1500 to spend. We are not looking for something huge, but we would like decent size. What do you all recommend?

[One21Two]

Just got my tax return and the wife and I are thinking about getting a new TV. We have about $1000-1500 to spend. We are not looking for something huge, but we would like decent size. What do you all recommend?

Dont know how much in a rush you are but, i just picked up a Circuit City bundle for a Sony 46" HDTV LCD 1080p w/ a 40GB PS3, 8 free blu-ray movies, blu-ray remote, and 36 months no interest. Dont think the offer is going on right now but if u wait a month or so there might be another.

[DarkWing6]

how much was all that?

[One21Two]

Oops sorry, forgot the price. I paid $1800. Or technically I'm paying $1800. The total was really $2000, but i had $200 of gift cards to go towards it. Keep your eye out. Best Buy has a lot of deals. My cousin just bought a 44" Samsung HDTV 1080p at Fry's Electronics for $1200. If I see anything ill PM you. Good luck.

[devonjordan]

Vizio at costco for decent cheap sets.

[DarkWing6]

Ya, my brother's g/f has a Vizio.

These are the 2 I have been looking at so far.

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?whse=BC&topnav=&prodid=11272877&ec=BC-EC877-CatHome&pos=7&lang=en-US

and

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Bravia-KDL-40V3000-1080p-HDTV/dp/B000SB9K5W/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1203119087&sr=8-1

[jflip2002]

Vizios are better than I gave them credit. Dont judge on the ones at best buy, they have em set up like shit. This year I went and watched some football on my boys 50" Vizio 1080p TV, and it kicked ass. Madden on it is crystal clear too. I wish I woulda went with a 50" Vizio LCD, rather than my 42" Plasma.

If youre looking for the largest TV on a budget.... Vizio isnt a bad choice. Especially at costco where they take EVERYTHING back with receipt lol.

[alex]

Check out http://crutchfield.com for research.
Make sure you get 1080p.

Amazon has pretty good prices. Check newegg.com and tigerdirect.com also.

[VacMan]

I bought a Vizio 37" from Costco for our bedroom for Xmas. Once you get it set up correctly it looks awesome. I paid $749 and they extend the warranty to 2 years. I also get 1% back for putting it on my Amex and 2% back for being an Executive Member, so that's another $25 "discount." BTW, Costco's return policy on TVs is 60 days, not forever like most of their stuff.

I used CNet's tech reviews to narrow my search and checked out a few in person to finalize my choice. Bang for the buck you'll be hard pressed to beat Vizio, at least from what I found 2 months ago. And I'm an anal, obsessive shopper, according to my wife. :D

Tim

[Addissimo]

More info than you need:

I was in your price range when I started my search.

Even though I wear glasses, I have very sensitive & picky eyes when it comes to displays.

I was first going for a budget and started with a Westinghouse 1080p 42" TV from best buy. It was 1179 with an extended warranty (don't buy a TV without one, no matter the brand.) At first, I didn't realize how sensitive I was to poor contrast ratios, low refresh rates, 8-bit color panels etc. Once I got it home and started playing Blu-Ray discs from my ps3, I began to see why you shouldn't buy a cheap panel.

In Talladega Nights, Crank, and Planet Earth, panning motion was very choppy to me, it almost made me sick. I could see the monitor trying to draw the image to keep up with the source, but it was failing. There were also color problems, mainly noticeable when looking at scenes with lots of sky- the sky wasn't blue, it was random specs of blue, grey, red & green.

In Planet Earth, and the video game Ratchet & Clank, gradients were terrible. If the color was physical, it could be staircase; no continuity what-so-ever.

After a couple of weeks dealing with that crap, I decided to return the set and start shopping for something else. With Planet Earth in hand, I went to Circuit City and took a look at the Samsung 69f & 71f series monitors. These were a huge step up in picture quality, namely getting rid of the refresh rate problems (both the 69 & 71 have 120hz refresh rate) and addressing the odd colorations in the sky. There was still a gradient problem though.

I know that the DLP projection sets naturally refresh at 120hz (if it’s a newer generation), and a lot of people think that the color quality on the DLP projection sets are better than that of LCD sets. With that in mind, I took a look at the Samsung 87S series DLP projection sets. These sets use LEDs instead of a color wheel, which gets rid of the rainbow effect that some people (I’m one of them) see when there are fast motion scenes high in white content.

My first impression of the set was that of astonishment. The colors and PQ were amazing! After a little while in front of it though, I started to see a few problems. The sky problem was back. The set was having a tough time making a pure blue sky. It wasn't nearly as bad as it was with the Westinghouse, but I still noticed it. The problem with the choppy motion was back, too; once again, not as bad as with the Westinghouse, but still noticeable. Another problem, which is inherent to projection TVs, is that there is added grain from the screen, and often times, the picture brightness is inconsistent because of slight differences in distance from the projection unit to the screen. The Samsung is pretty widely known to be a little warped from the factory causing this brightness problem.

On to another set: The Sony A3000 series. It finally seemed to be a set that addressed all of my concerns… except for the gradient. There was still a slight gradient problem, but I was willing to deal with it. This is my 2nd favorite set on the market right now, I think the picture quality is quite amazing for a projection TV, and the cinemotion system deals with 120hz a little more naturally than the Samsung system does. I highly recommend this set if you’re willing to deal with a little grain from the projection screen, and shitty viewing angles. Other than those two problems, it’s a great set. Oh, and size... it's a little too big for my house.

I was a little frustrated because I still hadn’t seen a set that would handle gradients as well as I thought one should be able to. That is, until I saw a Sony XBR4. The XBR4 is simply: amazing. Hands down the best LCD set I’ve seen to date. I looked at the 40” and though it seemed a little bit small, the picture quality made me forget about any apprehensions I had about a mere 40”. Once again, Sony’s Cinemotion 120hz refresh rate technology shined. I found it was best set to “medium,” for a nice compromise of smooth panning, and a less artificial look than the “high” setting seems to give. The Color was amazing: pure and accurate. The blacks… Oh the blacks! There may have well been spray paint on the screen, the blacks were so pure. I was so completely sold on this monitor that I almost forgot to see how it handled gradients.

The XBR4 uses a 10-bit color panel, something that to my knowledge, only Sony and Toshiba use in their upper end displays. That being said, it handled gradients perfectly. Instead of steps of color, it was as smooth as smooth can be. Magnificent! That is, until I saw the price. What would be no big deal to some people was a pretty big deal to me. Buying this set would put me over budget by $1,000. I don’t practice debt, so I am SOL.

Jaded by all that I had seen, I headed to sears across the street & checked out a couple sharps, and a couple VISIOs. I decided that they were worse than the Westinghouse.

Once I got my check back from BestBuy, I decided to just save the money for a later date when I’d either get a TDI, or a new TV. We’ll see what happens.

Moral of the story: check out the XBR4. They have it in a 720p 32” version, which is in your price range. No matter what the sales people try to tell you, you really won’t notice a difference in 1080p vs 720p if you’re 42” or less. That being said, I will probably end up with the 40” 1080p XBR4, because the TV will double as a monitor for me, so I need the extra resolution. If it weren’t for that fact, I’d go with the 32” in a heartbeat, and save the $800 for something else.

-Addis

[StereoInstaller1]

Dude, you need to give us more details, not just "uh, the Sony is good".



J/K
Luke

[trashcop 80s 80s]

I bought an Olevia 42" LCD for $699 on black friday. It is actually very nice, they have good reviews everywhere and they have been reliable.
Here is a 52" for $1600 shipped.

http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?sduid=0&t=745441&highlight=olevia

or a 47" for $1200 total. This one looks just like my 42", the bottom speakers are removable to hang it on the wall for the slick picture frame look.

http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?sduid=0&t=746673&highlight=olevia

also, check the slickdeals.net forum, if you want a more expensive brand, there are great deals posted on there usually.

[Jand3rson]

Holy fuck Derek, do NOT buy a Vizio. For a great looking lower priced LCD TV, stick with Samsung or LG. There's a couple of good words here from a couple guys that have them, but they are shit. They may look decent when first set up, and for the first few months, but they VERY quickly start to go downhill.

Vizio are one of the top selling HDTV's on the market, but they are also one of the most returned due to picture quality issues later down the road, and one of the most sent in for service. I would reccomend either a Samsung, LG, Sony or Panasonic. Also stay away from the Sharp Aquos line.

[MIKe30]

Vizios are better than I gave them credit. Dont judge on the ones at best buy, they have em set up like shit. This year I went and watched some football on my boys 50" Vizio 1080p TV, and it kicked ass. Madden on it is crystal clear too. I wish I woulda went with a 50" Vizio LCD, rather than my 42" Plasma.

If youre looking for the largest TV on a budget.... Vizio isnt a bad choice. Especially at costco where they take EVERYTHING back with receipt lol.

All tv's everywhere are tinkered with, so that the least profitable ones are set up shitty and the most profitable ones are set to their maximum potential. It's all a game, and a lot of the time the customers take said bait.

Ask me how I know

[!RocknE30!]

SAMSUNG SAMSUNG SAMSUNG!


Seriously, that's all you need to know.

Holy fuck Derek, do NOT buy a Vizio. For a great looking lower priced LCD TV, stick with Samsung or LG. There's a couple of good words here from a couple guys that have them, but they are shit. They may look decent when first set up, and for the first few months, but they VERY quickly start to go downhill.

For real. If you're trying to ball on a tight budget, the Vizio can get the job done. However, if you have $1,500 to spend get a Samsung. Their new models are really nice, they have an awesome picture and the new models look awesome cosmetically speaking. Stick with Samsung and I am 99% sure you will not be disappointed.

Check it:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8249736&type=product&id=1169512288959