School me on TV's

When I grow up I wanna be Special_K.

 

lol

 

go with LED or LCD. Samsung look slick, but pricey. I like Panasonic products fwiw.

I have plasma and while it looks great, the thing is really heavy and you have to transport it standing up-right. You cannot lay it flat cause of the gases inside. I fell asleep one time and the DVD menu came on and repeated and now you can slightly see that menu when the TV is on but looking at a black screen.

 

I'm an editor for NBC Universal and there is actually quite a big difference in image quality from 720 to 1080. But it's hard to tell by eye unless they're side by side. Same with interlace and progressive. It's hard to tell but you can see it in my edit bays with our viewing monitors. go with 1080!

 

thanks for all the advice my fellow TW TV enthusiasts!! still have not made up my mind on exactly which tv (99% sure it will be a samsung whatever it is), and i'm glad to hear i don't have to spend another $100 on hdmi cable...what a relief!!

gonna go look - seeing is believing i guess. who knows maybe i come home with it before the super bowl today!

 

http://www.amazon.com/LG-Infinia-55...VIHW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328546632&sr=8-1

Best TV out right now, Passive 3d is awesome. LED, 120 Hz, 1080p.

And as far as the cable goes. Yes, HDMI passes a digital signal, but the cheap cables will give you cheap picture. Any, and I mean ANY interference will show through. Sound will not sound as crisp.

Go with one of these...

Mediabridge™ HDMI Cable (6 Feet) Supports 4K@60Hz, High Speed, Hand-Tested, HDMI 2.0 Ready - UHD, 18Gbps, Audio Return Channel

http://www.amazon.com/Mediabridge-U...vailable/dp/B0019EHU8G/ref=dp_cp_ob_e_title_2

Cheap and High quality.

I researched for months before buying the above TV. I didn't think i wanted 3d either. I use it once a month maybe, but the TV itself is what sold me. Picture quality and sound is amazing....Plus it actually has an awesome 2d to 3d conversion system. Best i have seen BY FAR. The Superbowl looked pretty awesome last night converted from 2d to 3d.

 

I don't get the big deal with 3-D but my question is this, does the picture still look as good when not using the 3-D? I've never looked into them but when ever I walk through BB the 3-D pictures look horrible w/o the glasses. Is there a on/off for it or what? I'm guessing it must turn off, I sure wouldn't want to have to put them damn glasses on every night.

 

I've tested both a Monster Cable hdmi and a Monoprice hdmi on my Epson 8350 projector running through my Onkyo 7.1 surround sound reciever and I could tell no difference. I am using a Elite 100" screen so if there was any difference in picture quality it would show up on a picture that large.

 

One cable is not as good as any other cable but you can definitely find good cables cheaper than $100.

Wires have insulation on them. The faster you run them and the more data you run on them the more chance there is on a lesser sheilded cable that the signal will jump from one wire to the other and cause interference. Think of it like a 19 lane highway.. but now make every lane go in the opposite direction of the one next to it. Put 19 cars on 1 mile of highway with no solid concrete line dividers. Someone strays a little and there is "most likely" no problem. Now put 6000 cars on that same dividerless 1 mile road... one mistake is going to cause problems.

 

All that is needed is a little knowledge about HDMI standards whether a cable is certified as standard or high speed. Also, is it a version 1.2 or 1.3 or even the new 1.4. Figure out what your use is and base your purchase of an HDMI cable with your needs in mind. Any more than that is smoke and mirrors.

 

Beware of edge lit LED's. What you want (if you go LED) is backlit.

 

I am a panasonic fan if going plasma. BB has a 60" panasonic /600 Hz/1080P/plasma for 899.00 right now. And Amazon has the same tv, but in 3D for 1250.00

But if you have a bright room and with your budget I would go with this: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Samsung...HDTV/2670045.p?id=1218343206327&skuId=2670045

 

Yes, backlit is the way to go. Also, look for local dimming capabilities.

 

LED TV's are LCD's.

 

LED sets are still LCD its just the back light is LED not cold cathode. LED back lite is better than edge lite for local dimming. (Makes black more black not dark grey)
Most lcd sets that advertise 120hz 240hz are done by interpolation. They take 2 frames and add a frame between them= 120hz mathematical, the panel itself is still 60hz. Same with 240hz only more frames generated by the TV. I'm not saying it doesn't look good but you may see digital artifacts from time to time.
As far as which set to get, see what your eyes like and stay with the main stream brands. IMO if the extended warranty isn't too expensive get it. But I'm biased fixing them for a living I only see broken ones

 

You have to press a button to go 3d. Regular TV on that set i was talking about looks awesome. You only need the glasses when you are watching 3d content or converting from 2d to 3d.

Whats really cool is you can modify the 3d glasses and play split screen multiplayer games, and it is full screen. Make sense?

Search for 3d SBS (Side by Side). They have top and bottom too, like most multiplayer games. So basically what the glasses do, is the right side lets you see the top, the left side lets you see the bottom. If you take a right side lens out of one pair and put that lens in the left side of another pair, you only see the top part of the picture and its full screen. Vice versa for the left lens.

 

Thats bad ass.

 

I might have missed it but didnt see anyone mention sound. Get a decent home theatre in a box. Ive noticed companies are too concerned about picture quality and forget about sound. Our bedroom tv, samsung 32" lcd, has horrible sound. Decent soundbar fixed that. Living room 5.1 yamaha system sounds pretty good.
1080p led is definitely the way to go but afaik no cable providers stream hd in 1080p. Either 1080i or 720p. If you have blu ray you can get the full hd picture.