I know this gets asked every now and again here; I tried to search for threads on it and can't seem to find them. In any event, I'd appreciate thoughts on this from those who have purchased/compared recently, because my head is swimming. This will be the main TV in the house, to be mounted on the wall in the new 14x24 family room addition we had built recently. The room is configured such that it will be watched from the short side of the room; i.e., from about 12' - 13' away when you take couch/chairs into account and compensate for the walls, etc. It will be wired into a home theater system in the room. We have a smaller Sony Bravia XBR HDTV in what will soon be the secondary family room; we've had it for a few years with no complaints, but we're not gamers, TV connoisseurs or tech geeks. Unless I'm convinced otherwise, I'll be leaning toward a Samsung or another Sony. But I'm all ears if I shouldn't. Most important qualities to me are reliability and picture quality. Looking for thoughts on: Size Type (i.e., LED, LCD, SmartTV (whatever that is???), plasma, anything else I don't know but should) Brand Thanks in advance for any insights.
Samsung LED 55 inch, brilliant picture and it weighs 30 pounds it's specs have the best of everything (or nearly the best)
This line of Panasonic Plasmas gets raves from CNET for offering top quality 2D picture at $1.500 without all the frills of the same $3,500 Panasonic. With OLED Sets ramping up I'm less inclined to think of a TV as anything more than a 5 year investment these days http://reviews.cnet.com/flat-panel-...0/4505-6482_7-35118300.html?tag=mncol;rvwBody
Have to agree re: Samsung. I have a 47 inch LCD that is three years old; and I am still finding myself being impressed by the quality of the picture. I just replaced my Blu-ray player with the Samsung Smart Player(BD-E6500) which is their latest. And replaced the HDMI cable with an Audioquest Chocolate cable(2.5%Silver-Plated LGC Conductors). Both the player and the cable are capable of handling 3D. The great thing is the amount of quality,options and flexibility that you can get now for very little dollars. The player was $200 and the cable $99 at Best Buy. And the player is Samsung's so-called "flagship" model.I have a Bose audio system; and, believe it or not, the new player and cable noticeably enhanced both audio and video reproduction. But the bottom line is that Samsung makes top quality stuff that I am extremely happy with. I am getting a second TV in the near future and plan to buy one of the new Samsung Smart models. Your really can't go wrong with Samsung. GO HUSKIES!!!
Great. Thanks for the replies so far. When I started looking a few months ago I was leaning toward the 55" Samsung LED, so it's nice to hear confirmation on that. Now that I'm looking again, I see that that isn't specific enough: There are options including "Smart"; 120 or 240 Hz; and 3D. I don't want to buy anything I don't need, but I also don't want to be obsoleted in a year. Can someone give me the skinny on what these mean?
I can definitely lend some advice, but I need to know what your budget is. Full array LED is the way to go in any price range. Faster refresh repaints the screen and is suppose to cut down blur in fast scenes. I've never really noticed blur at any refresh. I'm also pretty sure your cable box/dtv box is only going to spit out 60Hz. However, the better TVs all are at 120 and if you're spending some real money, 240 is pretty common. 3D is a weird one. I'm not sure it will catch on, but on a main TV, I really want to have it as long as it doesn't add hundreds to the bottom line. For the record I'm in the market right now for a new display for my family room that is similar in size, but we have it facing long ways into the kitchen. The main viewing couch is 13' but the cooktop is probably more like 25-30'. I'm looking at the 80" Sharp 3D model. There's some serious money in that set. Also I just picked up a really nice 37" Vizio at Costco today for $499. So far I'm really happy with it. I'm a big fan of Vizio for anything not approaching a home theater type setup. Really good displays at ridiculously good prices. Also, Costco extends the warranty by a year. Let me know your budget and I can whip up a little more information for you.
Thanks very much. I didn't mention budget because I can almost always be talked into spending up wisely; and at this point the whole freaking new kitchen and addition project is so far above what I expected to spend that I'll be damned if I'm going to skimp on the one thing that matters to me (can you tell it's been a brutal process?). That said, I'm not going any bigger than 55", as I'm already concerned that that's more than I need. And I am still not sure what "smart" means in terms of TVs.
Agree on Vizio. After buying Sony, Panasonic and Samsung products over and over, I bought a 55" Vizio LED at Costco about 2-3 years ago. We have been really happy with it. Honestly, it is the only tv we've bought in years that has been completely trouble free. I am a big fan. The great prices are just a bonus.
55" is actually at the low end of what you would want for 12' or 13' according to 'experts'. Just google "recommended tv size for distance" and you'll get plenty of opinions. A smart TV just has built in apps that you can access over the Internet. One button click to get to youtube or pandora or netflix kind of stuff. If you want to stream stuff on demand, it's worth having, but any upscale Blu Ray player will also have them so I feel they're really redundant in a TV. Again, if you're getting a set near the top of the line (which it sounds you will with wanting the best picture quality), it's likely to have apps built in along with the higher refresh rate. Basically, if you're looking for the best quality you can get and cost isn't a huge issue, your questions about refresh and apps become moot in all likelyhood. Just a quick side note - the difference between LED (which is actually an LCD display with LED used for backlight instead of a fluorescent tube), regular LCD and Plasma: For what you want (picture quality), eliminate LCD off the list. Plasma is still almost always the better picture quality (see caveat below), but only just very slightly over LED. Plasma uses way more energy than LED and as a result also produces a lot more heat. Plasma's are also significantly heavier. Finally, plasma have a glass screen that can cause reflection issues if you have a window at your back. But if you want the very best picture, don't care about a few bucks a month in power and heat and don't have a reflection issue, you still can't beat a plasma picture vs almost all LED displays. And the caveat. If you want the very best display being produced today, Sharp makes an 'Elite' model (they actually bought the name from Pioneer). It only comes in 60 or 70". It's a full array backlit LED with local dimming (individual areas of the screens backlight can be dimmed or turned off to produce blacker blacks). They are also quite a bit more costly than the best non Elite LEDs or Plasmas at the same size. The 60" (which may be beyond what you are willing to go up to) runs about $4500. That's a serious chunk of change for a 60" display, but it is the best display you can get today according to almost every source out there. Just google "sharp elite pro-60x5fd" and you can find information. As others have said, you can't go wrong with Samsung or Sony. If you decide on LED over plasma, try to get something with local dimming - it makes a huge difference. I have a 3 year old Vizio 55" which was one of the first with local dimming and it's still a great set. It totally crushed the picture quality of the 52" Samsung top of the line LCD of the time which I returned to get the Vizio at Costco (90 day return policy rocks!) If you decide you can stretch to 60" and don't mind spending up for the Elite, you will never be disappointed in the picture quality. As you can tell - I love this techs stuff - maybe too much!
Smart is Internet Connectivity and Wifi for streaming and browsing; Also availablewith a litte box from Roku or Apple. Soon Android and Windows will ship in the TV as the OS well as a touch screen. There are several high end models that ship Android or Windows now. Smart can mean voice and motion sensors. Not my thing.Give me the remote, 3D is BS to me. Wearing 3D glasses to watch Avatar? Not in this life. 3D has a future in 10 years when 4K resolution rolls out and all productions are filmed to capture depth perception for glasses-free 3D. The current crop is more gimmick IMHO. My 2c. I prefer plasma in a room where the TV avoids direct sunlight. Better blacks and colors to my eyes. The new LEDS are eye popping bright. Brighter than the sun. Good for well sunlit rooms
I did a pretty comprehensive search a few months ago and ended up ordering a Vizio 42 with a very high refresh rate over the internet. I had a chance to see a similar one at a showroom. Price was $550 with a $100 rebate. Very satisfied.
Excellent. This continues to be very informative and very helpful. The room has an enormous window opposite the wall on which the TV will sit, so plasma is out for sure. If 3D means wearing glasses to watch TV, that's out, too. I will be getting a Blu Ray player as part of the home theater set-up. If I understand the comments so far, that means that I don't need to get a smart TV (don't need voice commands or motion sensors, but internet connectivity would be nice). Is the refresh rate tied to the Hz, or are those entirely different specs? If they are different, is there a minimum refresh rate I should be looking for? I know I suggested that budget is not an issue, but unless there is some must-have feature that will cause me to spend more, I'd like to come in at less than $2,000 if possible. Still thinking 55" is all I need. Intrigued by the 60" Sharp w/ local dimming, but $4,500 is definitely more than I am willing to spend.
Hz is refresh. Standard is 60Hz (same frequency as a light bulb - 60Hz is 60 cycles per second). 120Hz is 120 cycles per second. The light bulb was standardized at 60Hz (it actually turns on and off 60 times a second) because that is about as low as you can go and still be imperceptible to humans for turning on and off. I think all 3d currently requires glasses. Like I said, I'm still not sure about it, but for a main set that I'm going to have for 5+ years, I want it if it doesn't add significantly. Bottom line is you can find a really good 55" Backlit LED for under $2000. My Vizio 55" backlit was 1800 3 years ago. Just like breast implants - once you buy a TV, you always wish you had gone bigger.
For the record - I struggled with the idea of getting the 70" elite for a while - but it's just too much, so I scaled back a little and decided on the 80" non elite for a couple grand less.
I bought a 46 inch Sony Bravia smart TV at Mitch's in New Britain. From what i understand they sell Costco merchandise that they have to move out for new merchandise It is a bit hit or miss when you go,we had to go 3 times before we decided on the Sony. We initially wanted a smaller TV but we could not pass up on the price It cost $800. I looked up the model # on the internet and the prices were from$1400-$1600 I wil ltell you that you can't tell if the boxes have been opened or not but the owner assured me that they are new and he plugs in the tv before you leave. He also will take back the tv within 30 days and after the 30 you can get a warrenty from the manufacturer.He is nice guy from my experience. It is worth a look, we love the tv. It is 240 hz with 3D and all of the wifi hookups In fact i just watched a movie on Netflix thru the tv tonight. Good luck plugs inthe
I imagine that you have gone to look at the sets in a store, but make sure that you do. I went thinking of a brand that had the best price for the biggest size we could fit into the cabinet. I started just looking at sets and did not look for the brand until I had picked out the best picture on different size models. Every one was a Samsung. I ended up getting a Samsung.
Honestly, I would not go into the stores to look at televisions. The problems with stores is that they are filled with people and when you stand still looking at televisions, those people are breathing near you. I absolutely hate that. I would just call Best Buy and ask them to have them drive a Samsung in the appropriate size over to your house. If they say they can't do it, then ask them to just have it near the door so you can just sign for it outdoors and avoid breathing pre-breathed air. We have a Samsung 3D television. I wanted to buy a 4D, but they tell me they're still trying to think up another D. I didn't do any research past telling Best Buy to bring it to my house, but it seems very nice. We have used the 3D part of things and it's better than I expected but it is purely a gimmick. Starting a 3D movie in our house involves about 17 minutes of activating and then reactivating and then reactivating again the active shutter glasses.
I would go to the store (I read what Fishy said) and look at the LEDs in terms of size then have the sales person actually do something useful and line two or three up side by side and decide which one you like best. When I have done that I always seem to walk away with a Samsung product. My daughter just did the same thing and walked away with an LG LED. Like Fishy I am of the opinion that you have Best Buy deliver a Samsung LED and be done with it. Also I don't have any interest in 3D.
Just have to give shout out to Sony customer service. In 2003 I bought a 42" lcd projection TV for my parents. Last year we had a problem with it and parts were no longer available. Even though we didn't have an extended warranty Sony offered us a free 55" lcd shipped free.
Our 2001 55" Mitsubishi rear-projection HDTV started acting up in August 2010. So I started to shop for a replacement. I wanted to make sure that I bought a TV with all of the features I wanted and I have a tendency to over-shop big purchases. By June 2011 I still hadn't replaced the Mitsubishi, which was pretty much unwatchable 75% of the time which was driving my wife crazy. She asked what I was looking for. I said I was looking for a plasma TV between 50"-55" (since she thought the 55" Mitsubishi was "too big" when we first got it) with built-in Netflix and Amazon Streaming access and perhaps 3D if the TV that I selected happened to have it but that's wasn't critical. She said she did not want plasma, that it had to be LED because that's what her brother had and it looked good. She also said no 3D, she didn't want to waste money on that. And she thought 55" might be too small (her brother's TV was 60"). So I told her she could pick out the TV since she watched TV a lot more than I do and since her birthday was coming up. We drove to a local store and the first TV that caught her eye is what she ended up buying. 60" LG 60PZ550 Plasma 3D. Go figure. We're extremely happy with the TV. The picture looks fantastic. I found out later that there was another LG 60" plasma with more smart TV features that I probably would have preferred but that hasn't turned out to be an issue.
