Fancy Televisions

[JohnC]

So, my Sanyo HT30724 HDTV died a bright, blinding death yesterday, and I find myself wanting to replace it with something big and fancy.

I spent this afternoon at Circuit City and Best Buy, trying to get some sense of whats out there in the TV world. My requirements and constraints are as follows:

<= $1500
<= 29.5" height
>= 40" diagonal
HD capable (I currently have a DirecTV HR20 that can output 1080i)
2+ HDMI/DVI inputs (one for the DirecTV box, one for a HTPC)
2+ component inputs (one for DVD player, one for PS2)

I'm on the fence about 1080P. On one hand, I sit back far enough from the TV (~10 feet) that I don't think I'll notice the difference. However, on the other hand, the extra resolution would be nice for the HTPC.

I'm somewhat turned off to DLP / rear projection sets because my living room is fairly bright, and the poor viewing angles would piss me off. I really wanted to like the Samsung HL-S4676S, but the brightness just isn't there, and moving off center even a few degrees (to simulate sitting on my couch, for example) caused the colors to distort and fade. I looked at more than one example of this model, and had the same experience with them all. Other DLPs seemed to have similar issues, although I didn't spend nearly as much time in front of anything else.

The LCDs that I liked included the following:

Westinghouse LVM-42w2 (Just a monitor, but I don't care - my DirecTV box has an OTA tuner in addition to the satellite capabilities)
Sharp AQUOS LC-42D62U (Over budget, but beautiful)

I wasn't blown away by any of the plasmas that I looked at. All of them looked "grainy", and seemed to have less vibrant colors than the LCDs. Of course, the constant theme among all of the TVs that I looked at today was that the source material was usually suspect, the brightness adjustments were cranked way up, and the lighting conditions were generally terrible.

So, do any of you guys have some more recommendations? Any feature I'm omitting that I should really be paying more attention to?

[WRXtranceformed]

I really really like my Samsung. It's held up great and was very reasonable. Have you looked at Costco? They actually have some pretty good deals. There's a really good local shop up near where I live that has really sick deals too if you're willing to drive for a bit.

[Maengelito]

while i'm not up to speed on tv tech, here's some compusa sales coming up this weekend:

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1500 for an HP 50" lcd tv

even a pretty cheap laptop in there for dave

[white_2kgt]

I've got a 50" Samsung Plasma. I have no problem with the brightness and the picture is crisp as can be (Comcast HDTV). The only problem with Plasma is if you have a lot of back (behind you) light, if your lightsource is behind the TV you won't have a problem, mine sits between 2 windows which christina likes open during the day. I have some overhead lights that shine down on the wall behind me and in dark scenes the glare is a little annoying.

You don't really need HDMI for your HTPC, the graphics card selection just isn't there _yet_. I'm using the VGA port and running it at native resolution and it looks great (1366x768) (SageTV rocks BTW..., USB-UIRT + Girder = Life is GOOD)

Like you said, for a bright room DLP isn't going to cut it and none of the LCD's I looked at looked nearly as good as the plasma. Unless you plan to get a HD/BD player 1080p is a waste of money at this point (they still look great @ 1080i/720p, I've only tried HD-DVD). For brandn ames take a look at the Panisonic, Toshiba and Samsung, those three offer the best bang for the buck. The 'low cost' TV's are ok, for a second room, not the primary viewing area and the Sony's are just to expensive for what you get.

[Maengelito]

phillips 50" plasma for 1500

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[JohnC]

phillips 50" plasma for 1500

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Too tall. I have a built-in entertainment center, and 29.5" is the absolute maximum height that will fit.

[white_2kgt]

phillips 50" plasma for 1500

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Too tall. I have a built-in entertainment center, and 29.5" is the absolute maximum height that will fit.

Just say the word.

[JohnC]

So I think I've settled on the Hitachi 42HDS69. Its the only 42" plasma that fits my cabinet, and after seeing it at both Crutchfield and Circuit City, I was satisfied with the picture quality. It meets the rest of my requirements as well (3 HDMI inputs, 3 component inputs, under $1500).

I'll update this thread with a picture whenever I actually pick it up.

Here's a pic from the Crutchfield website:

[white_2kgt]

So I think I've settled on the Hitachi 42HDS69.

Take a REAL close look at that TV in the store. I've heard from more than one person on the AVS forums that got it and took it right back.

[JohnC]

Picked it up yesterday. You can see that its a tight fit in the cabinet. So far, I'm very happy with it. I also "moved" my service address with DTV, so now I get all the Washington DC local HD channels.

Chad - I read a couple of threads on AVS regarding issues with this family of displays. Nothing sounded catastrophic, and so far, I haven't noticed any issues with the picture quality (specifically, contrast flickering) or audio sync.

[.RJ]

Why are you watching MTV instead of motorcycle racing?

[JohnC]

Why are you watching MTV instead of motorcycle racing?

I got no excuses. If it earns me anything, you can see the "Faster" case on the left side speaker - that was the first thing I watched after bringing it home

[.RJ]

If you're gonna watch that crap, then shut your blinds, lock the doors and for gods sake dont take pictures of it.

[JohnC]

Alright - you've shamed me sufficiently into editing the picture...

[.RJ]

Muy bueno se├▒or

Now, why are your walls pink?

[JohnC]

Muy bueno se├▒or

Now, why are your walls pink?

Those aren't my walls.

[HAULN-SS]

thats what she aid

[Apoc]

A little late but in case anyone else is looking.

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Buy.com has Samsung HPS4273 42" 720p/1080i Plasma HDTV for $900. Cheapest on PriceGrabber is $1484.

Specs:

Native resolution: 1024x768
10000:1 Contrast
QAM tuner with CableCARD slot
NTSC/ATSC tuner
Samsung Gen 5 panel
Inputs/Outputs
2X HDMI
Memory Slot (SD, MMC)
2x Component
2x S-Video
2x Composite
USB 1.1
Supported signal types
480i
480p
710p
1080i

[.RJ]

Even I wont impulse buy a stupid big TV :lol:

[HAULN-SS]

my roommate from P-run has this TV - it looks pretty incredible.