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Good 40-42" HDTV?

J

johnsy

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 15, 2006
443
0
:confused:
OK I admit, I am lost among brands and models. I am clueless what is good and what is mediocre, can anyone recommend good 40-42" LCD HDTV?
Budget is about $1000+ . Had satisfactory experience with Samsung model, but that is old technology these days...
 
johnsy said:
:confused:
OK I admit, I am lost among brands and models. I am clueless what is good and what is mediocre, can anyone recommend good 40-42" LCD HDTV?
Budget is about $1000+ . Had satisfactory experience with Samsung model, but that is old technology these days...
Click to expand...

SAMSUNG is still a great TV I would not rule them out as a choice. Bought my 40" Series 5 last year and I am still very very happy with it! SAMSUNG was also one of the first to show off their 3D TV's a few months back....very impressive, but not within your $1,000 price range.....lol!
 
LG and Sony are also good, I have 32" Sony Bravia. My advice is to go into a store and take a look. For TVs and monitors, it's always an opinion. There is no best or worst TV around. Go through couple of stores and write down the models you are interested of and then do some research on the net and see where you can get is for the lowest price
 
I highly recommend Samsung, just make sure you look on the box and it says SQ under the serial number. If it says CN or anything else you are not getting the nice PVA screen that Samsung makes.
 
DesignerOnMac said:
SAMSUNG is still a great TV I would not rule them out as a choice. Bought my 40" Series 5 last year and I am still very very happy with it! SAMSUNG was also one of the first to show off their 3D TV's a few months back....very impressive, but not within your $1,000 price range.....lol!
Click to expand...

Yeah the Samsung 3D ones are definitely out of that price range. No reason you can't get a 40-inch 6 series for about $1k though.
 
I just got a 40" Sony 40HX800. Side-lit LED with local dimming. 3D capable (bundled with emitter and 2 pairs of glasses for a limited time). It might be on the high side of your budget, but it's an excellent set.

I looked at the Samsung offerings in this size range and was not particularly impressed. The prices were about the same as Sony. The Samsung remotes were horrible.
 
I've been hearing really good things about the new Vizio XVT423SV. I'm thinking about picking up the 47" myself.
 
I would highly recommend going with Samsung. I picked up a Brand new Samsung LN40C630 about 2 months ago for about $615. One of the best purchases I have made. 120hz is a nice add too!
 
I bought a Samsung UN40B7000 a few months ago from a private sale, and I have been very happy with it.

It really depends on what features you want in the TV, and just finding a price that you're happy with. I got pretty lucky for mine, I got it for about $600 cheaper than retail here in Canada, and it was only 3 months old.
 
I know I am a sucker for name... but I always purchase sony. The two times I did not, I have had problems... I tend to stick with names, apple happens to be one of them. You get what you pay for even if a little bit of that is the name.
 
I have 4 Samsung's that have been 100% reliable except for normal lamp replacement (twice) in the 50" DLP. When it's time to replace my TV's, I'm definitely getting Samsung's again.

3 year old 61" DLP (LED backlit)
5 year old 50" DLP
3 year old 40" LCD
4 year old 32" LCD
 
A nice place that also has good comparisons is Crutchfield, lots of brands and the features are laid out in an understandable way.

When watching them at stores, beware that they crank up some models to unnatural levels in order to promote them. I suggest reading every review you can in magazines and the web.
 
carlgo said:
When watching them at stores, beware that they crank up some models to unnatural levels in order to promote them. I suggest reading every review you can in magazines and the web.
Click to expand...

QFT. In the store, the settings are often manipulated by the staff or malicious customers to make certain sets look better or worse. Online reviews are often a better guide. Personally, I look on AVS Forums, and if the set is at least in the running for what those guys are looking at, then I'm sure it's good enough for me.
 
Personally I am a Sharp fan. I bought a Sharp Aquos Quattron 46" LED LCD this summer and I am very happy. The extra yellow subpixel really does help make the picture "pop" on the TV. You can usually buy a Sharp for less money then the other two "S's" and the quality is top notch. Remember Sharp builds panels for a lot of the other brands. You can buy a Samsung and there is a good possibility it will have a Sharp panel in it.

As far as Sony is concerned I don't think a true Apple fan can buy a Sony product and feel good about it. Sony = Bluray which Apple is 100% against. Apple and Sony will soon be doing battle to see who wins when it comes to content delivery. I like Blu-ray and think it is a good technology, but depending on your level of dedication to Apple you might want to consider that.
 
DakotaGuy said:
As far as Sony is concerned I don't think a true Apple fan can buy a Sony product and feel good about it. Sony = Bluray which Apple is 100% against. Apple and Sony will soon be doing battle to see who wins when it comes to content delivery. I like Blu-ray and think it is a good technology, but depending on your level of dedication to Apple you might want to consider that.
Click to expand...

Why does Final Cut support Blu-Ray then? Just because Apple does not offer BR drives in their products doesn't mean that Apple is against it. Apple isn't offering USB 3.0, does that mean that Apple is against it? No, absolutely not.

IMO it goes too far if things like that start to matter on your decisions.
 
DakotaGuy said:
Personally I am a Sharp fan. I bought a Sharp Aquos Quattron 46" LED LCD this summer and I am very happy. The extra yellow subpixel really does help make the picture "pop" on the TV.
Click to expand...

I was going to say something along the lines of 'the 4th sub pixel does nothing but blow out colours'. But it seems the jury is still out on that one. Now, you'll also have to read this page on how what this pixel actually does, written by someone who knows LCD's.

I haven't personally seen the screen, so I'm not going to pass judgement, but from that 2nd link above, it doesn't look like that pixel contributes anything. Though it might produce yellower yellows, that might make all the difference.

As far as Sony is concerned I don't think a true Apple fan can buy a Sony product and feel good about it. Sony = Bluray which Apple is 100% against. Apple and Sony will soon be doing battle to see who wins when it comes to content delivery. I like Blu-ray and think it is a good technology, but depending on your level of dedication to Apple you might want to consider that.
Click to expand...

You should check this page, because apparently Apple is against itself too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc_Association

And it's it's preposterous suggestion that you don't buy anything Sony because of a single product difference. Honestly, don't buy a Sony TV because, well, they don't sell anything that ships with OS X? See how silly that sounds?

Finally, if you ask, most people will consider Sony to be Apple's closest counterpart in the hardware market. High end build quality, good design, matched with higher pricing.
 
DakotaGuy said:
As far as Sony is concerned I don't think a true Apple fan can buy a Sony product and feel good about it. Sony = Bluray which Apple is 100% against. Apple and Sony will soon be doing battle to see who wins when it comes to content delivery. I like Blu-ray and think it is a good technology, but depending on your level of dedication to Apple you might want to consider that.
Click to expand...
Well, I guess I'm not a "true" Apple fan then. :rolleyes:

I'm not sure why anyone should be a "fan" as defined above of a particular company, outside of being a share holder (in which case you're really just a fan of money).

I'm a fan of myself. So I'll buy the best product for the best price that suits my needs, regardless of company. Apple happens to make a lot of those products, so I have a lot of Apple products. But if suddenly HP makes a product that fits my needs, I'm not going to buy a sub-standard or more expensive product just because HP competes with Apple in some product spaces. This is just the kind of fanboy-ism that people bash Apple customers for, so let's not perpetuate the stereotype ...
 
Features

I have a Samsung LED that I am very happy with. One useful feature that I would recommend is what they call "media play" (I think that's what they call it.) Let's say you have a movie file on your computer. You put it on a USB memory stick and plug that into the TV. You can then watch the file on the TV right from the stick. I can play AVI, WMV, MP4, etc right from the USB stick. Great feature!
 
Batt said:
I have three Vizios at home - 47", 32" and 26" - and am very happy with all of them.
Click to expand...

I just got a Vizio 42" myself. It's not the original one mentioned, but it is an LED model. I think the biggest difference is mine doesn't have the apps on it and is 120hz vs 240. I love it.

Edit: My parents have a Samsung 40", and it is a really good TV. They make some great sets. You really can't go wrong with either.
 
stupid question:

i'm looking for a 40" in the 800 to 1000 dollar range. however we have tons of older dvd plyers, vhs player and such that go through composite cables.

what TV has that kind of input in addition to HDMI?
 
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