OT-Advice on buying a new TV

[gibhunter]

I like Vizio cause it's the most American of the choices you have left. The background display is most likely built in the same factories for all of them.

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[JaYnYcE]

I've had a Samsung 50 inch for 3 years now and its still amazing. Watching Blu ray movies at night with the lights off is a great experience.

I have a 37 Inch Vizio LCD in the bedroom and that's pretty good too.

Samsung would be your best bet, although they can be expensive.


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[Excalibur]

I like Vizio cause it's the most American of the choices you have left. The background display is most likely built in the same factories for all of them.

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If you're not setting up a home theater, be careful of Vizio. The sound quality is not good. In fact, I'd recommend getting a speaker bar if you're not going all out with a system.

 

[gibhunter]

I have Samsung and ended up getting a speaker bar because the speakers started failing (bad distortion at louder volumes) after 3 years.

I have newer Samsung in my man cave and that has nice speakers, can't complain yet. Having said that I thought he said that Samsung was out. I have LG plasma in my bedroom and it works real well but I'd still buy Vizio out of the choices he has left. It's cheapest has pretty good picture quality and it's built (fine, put together) in California.

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[Revrat]

Seriously? you people are talking about $3,000 tv's and you use the speakers that are built in? You are supposed to disable them if you are hooking up a theater system since they are not meant for the only logical channel you would use them for in a 5:1 or 7:1 scenario. Love my 55" Vizio so far after three years it's going strong though I did just recently have to purge the memory. Rumor has it their 3D TV's are having issues with a recent firmware update. Thats one thing I don't like about some of these "Smart TV's" they go out and update firmware and you really don't have a way to go back if it screws things up.

 

[CL82]

This is the exception. There is a reason why Samsung is beating Sony to a pulp, though Sony and Samsung have similarly low defective rates. I have a Samsung PN58c8000 in my basement and replaced my defective 42" LG upstairs with an older 43" Samsung plasma. Love them both and have no problems.

Uh oh, I just saw an add for a 50" HD (so 720) 600hz LG plasma for $499. Should I be wary of this deal? I figured since it was only a 720, it probably was a dump.

 

[Excalibur]

Uh oh, I just saw an add for a 50" HD (so 720) 600hz LG plasma for $499. Should I be wary of this deal? I figured since it was only a 720, it probably was a dump.

Every brand has their defective products, so I've got nothing against LG. Just because a product is priced as OPM doesn't mean it's not a quality product -- it just means that it's old. Everybody is dumping their 720p product because it's old. My upstairs 43" is a 720p -- I figured I didn't need to upgrade there because I already had the top of the line 58" in the basement.

 

[sparky]

I have a 32" Samsung LED in the BR and a 51" Samsung Plasma in the LR I love both.

 

[Frank Ivy]

This is what I own . . . XBR Link. If you're serious about your TV, and I'm guessing you are, you'll go with this one. You can probably finance it if you're too poor to buy it outright. Go big or go home.

 

[TRest]

This is what I own . . . XBR Link. If you're serious about your TV, and I'm guessing you are, you'll go with this one. You can probably finance it if you're too poor to buy it outright. Go big or go home.

Do you mount it on the side of your BBQ rig?

 

[CL82]

Funny TRest. Like the avatar.

 

[Fishy]

This is what I own . . . XBR Link. If you're serious about your TV, and I'm guessing you are, you'll go with this one. You can probably finance it if you're too poor to buy it outright. Go big or go home.

That's a cute TV - I might put one in the laundry room for the housekeeper to watch while she's ironing my socks. (Not that I ever wear them twice, I just like having her on the payroll.)

Personally, I don't like to squint when I'm standing in the back of the family room, so I went big with our set.

 

[Frank Ivy]

Personally, I don't like to squint when I'm standing in the back of the family room, so I went big with our set.

We looked at that, but there was no way to fit it in our double wide without ripping out the dogs room.

 

[Chin Diesel]

We looked at that, but there was no way to fit it in our double wide without ripping out the dogs room.

Typical over the top Frank Ivy post right there.

Couldn't have a "regular" trailer. No, that's beneath Frank Ivy. For Frank Ivy, only a double wide is good enough to brag about on the internet.

 

[TRest]

Funny TRest. Like the avatar.

I love me some Conspiracy Kitty.

 

[CTMike]

My only advice, never buy an HDMI cable from a big box retailer.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20056502-1/why-all-hdmi-cables-are-the-same/

I'm not sure the type of cable mentioned in the quoted blurb, but if Best Buy will gouge you on HDMI, they are probably gouging you on the other cables you are purchasing. Do your homework on perpipherals too, and then go to newegg.com

Excellent, excellent advice. Personally I have bought a ton of stuff from monoprice.com - just about every cable or adapter under the sun, for very reasonable prices. Terrific experience each time I order there, and they generally arrive sooner than quoted arrival time.

Also, back to the TV- don't sweat it too much. It's hard to get a really shatty TV based on what you are checking out. Every manufacturer is going to have the occasional dud, but that's modern electronics for ya. Pull the trigger and start enjoying your new screen!

 

[Fishy]

Amazon makes a great line of no bull s*** cables and chargers under the AmazonBasics brand.

You can buy a 2-pack of HDMI cables for $10, an iOS-device 30-pin connector for $9, memory cards, chargers, etc., etc.

 

[DaddyChoc]

If you're not setting up a home theater, be careful of Vizio. The sound quality is not good. In fact, I'd recommend getting a speaker bar if you're not going all out with a system.

my Vizio 47" 240 Hz has great sound... of course a sound bar would make any tv sound BETTER

 

[TRest]

I just got a Samsung 46 LCD, and have found my old-school ZBOX sound bar doesn't seem to work with it. By connecting the audio out to the zbox, the tv volume controls are disabled. And I can't control the volume with the cable remote, so far I can only control volume with the knob on the back of the unit.

I figured this has turned into an AV forum, so what the hell.

 

[NHUConnfan]

I have a small little LED, 23" Vizio...but also my electricity bill is super low compared to my friends who don't have an LED TV. And the picture quality is just absolutely stunning.

 

[zls44]

That's a cute TV - I might put one in the laundry room for the housekeeper to watch while she's ironing my socks. (Not that I ever wear them twice, I just like having her on the payroll.)

Personally, I don't like to squint when I'm standing in the back of the family room, so I went big with our set.

You would go with a projection HD screen, wouldn't you, you old idiot.

 

[zls44]

Also, if you buy a TV that costs more than $900, and you're just using the speakers it comes with, YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG.

The crappiest surround-system-in-a-box is less than $100 and is a million times better than the stock speakers. Suggestion: bump the TV you're looking at down a few inches, and take the $$ you save on that and put it into a surround system. You won't notice the picture size difference nearly as much as you'll notice the sound difference.

Plus, any proper sound system will terrify the neighbors from something as basic as the menu music for Up, which is always fun.

 

[CTMike]

Personally, I wouldn't be afraid to buy used audio equipment if you can verify it's in good working order. I have a pretty basic 5.1 surround sound system that's 10 years old at this point... probably next to worthless... but, it's set up correctly, and damn can it sound fine. Not high end fine, but good enough for what it is.

 

[NHUConnfan]

Personally, I wouldn't be afraid to buy used audio equipment if you can verify it's in good working order. I have a pretty basic 5.1 surround sound system that's 10 years old at this point... probably next to worthless... but, it's set up correctly, and damn can it sound fine. Not high end fine, but good enough for what it is.

A family friend gave me these boss speakers he found at a dump. All it needed was a good stereo (which is probably also worthless since it's so old). Thing is powerful and awesome!

 

[zls44]

Theres not a whole lot going on technically with speakers. If you hook them up and they sound great, theyre probably fine going forward.