Best HD TV

[nickarmadillo]

I'm finally heading off to grad school and thought that, with the poor economy and holiday sales approaching, the next few weeks would be a rather good time to make my first HD TV purchase. I was looking for something 40-47 inches in the following price categories:

$900 and under
$800 and under
$700 and under

Which do you feel would be the best choice and where might I find it? Keep in mind that I wont have HD cable and own an original X-Box/Playstation 2 that I would like to continue using, so SD quality is important as well. At this size, would 1080p be recommended, or will there be no difference? Do you recommend an extended warranty? If anyone had any tips on finding a good deal that would be great as well. Thank you!

 

[pilotError]

I would take a look at the Black Friday sales ads that have been leaked onto the web and figure out which models are going to be sold.

Then head over to avsforum.com and do some reasearch on the models.

I have seen some Panasonics Plasma's that were very good values in the $900 range.

Don't be fooled by the 720p vs. 1080p thing. You won't notice it until you get into the 50" range. Upscaling quality is also very important, and you won't be getting super quality upscaling (SD Video) on a cheap TV. You get what you pay for there.

 

[jizwood1]

Wait for the Black Friday sale is a good choice, it is coming soon.

 

[cr2sh]

About once a month I see deals on slickdeals.net that are so amazing I can't believe it. For example, a 42" 720p plasma for $539.

I think black friday is over rated.. a patient person on the net can get a better deal than a bunch of people standing in line at 4am.

 

[nickarmadillo]

So there would be no advantages of 1080p in the 40-47 inch range? If so, that could be good for my pocketbook. Is there a noticeable difference between plasma vs. LCD? Anyone have any links to some of these deals? I'm thinking this holiday season would be a good time to buy with competitive pressure on the rise and the economy in the dumps.

 

[HD303]

1080p is great if you have blu-ray since that is the format on the discs. Any TV will be able to play Blu-Ray, but you'll benefit if you have a 1080p TV as well.

There is ZERO programming being broadcast in 1080p at the moment. 720 vs 1080 is moot really. Your TV will adjust and you'll not be able to tell the difference.

LCD is great to about 42 inches. Above 42 consider plasma.

 

[yancey47]

I just bought the Panasonic Viera TH-42PX80U off amazon for a really good price. I haven't got it yet but I looked at one at Best Buy before I bought and was really impressed.

 

[OutThere]

Rather than asking which is the best, why not run over to a Best Buy or Circuit City and look at the walls of TVs...they all play the same content and you can pretty easily decide which TV's image you like the best, and ultimately that's what matters in a TV, no? For example, were I to order a TV today, I'm generally rather trusting in Sony, but I know from wandering the TV section at BB that the Panasonics look better to me.

Also, since Circuit City just declared bankruptcy you might want to monitor the situation...they might have some kind of awesome firesale-type deals going on soon.

There is ZERO programming being broadcast in 1080p at the moment.

Lots of sports go out in 1080i. Hockey is beyond comparison at full res HD, football and baseball are great too.

 

[HD303]

Lots of sports go out in 1080i. Hockey is beyond comparison at full res HD, football and baseball are great too.

1080i and 1080p are two different outputs.

i stands for interlace - meaning 540 lines of resolution scan, then another 540 lines scan.

p stands for progressive, meaning at one moment, 1080 lines of resolution are scanned.

all within 1/30th of a second. your brain can't register it.

And no, there are no programs being broadcast in 1080p for now.

 

[wvuwhat]

1080i and 1080p are two different outputs.

i stands for interlace - meaning 540 lines of resolution scan, then another 540 lines scan.

p stands for progressive, meaning at one moment, 1080 lines of resolution are scanned.

all within 1/30th of a second. your brain can't register it.

And no, there are no programs being broadcast in 1080p for now.

If you've got DishNetwork Turbo HD, it's in 1080p. Don't know if it's true or upconverted at the outset, but it looks amazing.

 

[GSMiller]

Definitely get Plasma, colors are much more richer and blacks are incredibly deep. I can watch a movie on my plasma and can't tell where the black bars at the top and bottom of the picture and and where the frame of the TV begin, unless I squint really hard.

As for 720p/1080p, you really only need 1080p if the TV is over 50" and if you sit quite close to the TV. I have found SDTV to play better on my 50", 720p plasma TV and HD programming to look practically the same on it and my 32", 1080i TV (albeit, the color of the plasma is richer).

I just bought the Panasonic Viera TH-42PX80U off amazon for a really good price. I haven't got it yet but I looked at one at Best Buy before I bought and was really impressed.

I have the TH-50PX80U (Identical to yours just bigger) and it's awesome. The picture is absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately I paid full price for it at a local furniture store and Amazon had it for only $999 with free shipping!