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What was your first flat panel HDTV?

4K views 110 replies 53 participants last post by  Zimmer Roberts 
#1 · (Edited)
Mine was a 2008 Vizio GV42LF 1080p true matte screen with LG S-IPS panel, CCFL backlit LCD. I still have it Got it onsale for $800, or 33% off of regular price of $1200 at Sears. The Samsung 40" 4061f was going for $1600.

I was hot for the Sharp 62u series at the time. I had also seriously considered the Hitachi 42" HDS69 1080i ALiS plasma.
 
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#2 ·
Panasonic TC P60ST60 Plasma.

$1,300 new as they were getting out of the Plasma business sadly.

Soooooooooooooooooooooooooo glad I bought it and still works great.

Will hate when it croaks...but I'll get a repair estimate if that happens anytime soon as OLED is nowhere near that price and won't be for a while in 60inch size.

You can NEVER go smaller, right?
 
#41 ·
Right!! Who really ever wants to go smaller if he absolutely doesn't have to.

My 1st flat panel, BTW, was also a Panasonic plasma. It still performs great, and is the TC-P58VT25 that was introduced to the market in March of 2010. The 58VT25 went on to win the annual Value Electronics Flat Panel Shoot Out that was held in Sept. of 2010, being chosen unanimously by all 30 professionals in attendance as having the highest video performance. The flat panel that came in 2nd at that competition was also a plasma, a Samsung model.

I didn't purchase our P58 Panny plasma until March of 2011, when Best Buy was closing out that model. Got the last one BB had in the warehouse as the TV had already disappeared from all 5 BB stores that are within about 50 miles of us. Still got hit for $2,500 for the TV, (plus tax) but have never regretted the purchase, even though I have some light image retention involving the MSNBC logo at the top right of the screen, that none of the usual cures has ever succeeded at eliminating.

Mike Boone
 
#3 ·
Ive gone smaller myself. I got the screen envy out of the way early with front projectors. Namely the Infocus 4805 and the Optoma H31 both 480p widescreen Darkchip 2 DLP front projectors. Ive sold them since. Upgraded to a Panasonic AX-200u. Ill probably pick up an Epson 8350 before too long.
 
#4 ·
42 inch Toshiba Regza.

Really wish Toshiba kept up with the technology, they were are great TV's!

I paid $1,300 for it back in 09'. I remember to get the 1080P (which is something i really wanted) it was another 200-300.
 
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#5 ·
Yeah, Toshiba and Mitsubishi and JVC made some awesome sets back in those days.
 
#6 ·
I'm not sure it was intended or not, but my family managed to avoid LCD TVs in later years since my dad bought a Toshiba TheaterWide 34HFX83 HD CRT in 2004 (I wanted him to buy the Sony XBR 960 back then but it was $500 premium over the 34HFX83). The LCD/LEDs we looked at in 2010 had weird motion (soap opera effect?) and poor angle viewing. Sure, the LCD/LED back then sure was brighter than plasma, but it was uncomfortable to view at night. We can lower the light output for night viewing but the black level suffered. Also, me and my dad like to pace around the living room while watching TV... and because of this we ruled out LCDs and settle for (what was then...) a much cheaper plasma. When upgrade-itis hit us back in 2010, we looked at something to finally replace the CRT. The first flat panel in our family was a plasma... the THX-certified Panasonic Viera G20. If upgrade-itis starts to hit once again at the second half of this decade, we'll be forced to buy LCD/LED bsed 4K UHD HDR set. I still think OLED is not ready and is sure not ready for high mileage abuse like we threw at Viera G20 plasma. Half-life brightness of the Viera G20 plasma and other Viera plasma models that came after it were rated 100,00 hours. OLED is currently just 20,000 because blue OLED subpixel has shorter lifespan.
 
#7 ·
Panasonic plasma! Cant go wrong with those!

I was also considering a 50" Panasonic Pro 9uk 720p plasma monitor back in the day. Id probably pick one up still if the opportunity arose on one in good shape. Even as far back as the 7uy!

Those were great values back in the day and very popular with AVSforum members. I really liked the aesthetics of the brushed aluminum bezels on those too. Very sharp looking.
 
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#11 ·
Would that be an PX60u or a PX75u?
 
#10 ·
We've got a 60" Panasonic plasma at the bar that runs 24/7 12 hours a day. Still looks great! Ill have to look at the model number.
 
#12 ·
Toshiba Regza 32" DVD combo. We have 3 of them. DVD is broken on all, but the TV still works. They are 720p TVs. Later we bought a huge $1400 46" Regza, it has just recently started to go out and we replaced it with the LG 55EG9100 (paid $1300).

The Toshibs 32" models were originally selected for how they worked with the Cowon A2 PMP (composite out).



Note: the picture quality was actually quite good. My video camera really doesn't do it justice.
 
#13 ·
2006, 37" Westinghouse, backlit with fluorescent tubes. It is still going strong today. I paid nearly $2,000 for it from J&R Music. It was backordered at Crutchfield's for months and I got frustrated so bought it from J&R for immediate delivery. I bought an Onkyo TX-SR573 at the same time. That also is still going strong.
 
#17 ·
Oh yeah, those Westinghouse sets were all the rage. They were price leaders at that time period. I forget that specific 47" model that was especially popular.
 
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#18 · (Edited)
I found it the Westinghouse LVM-47w1 from 2006-2007 era!

Legendary!

This sweet CNET video review from Oct. 2006!

47" 1080p, 1x1 pixel mapping (no overscan) LG S-IPS panel with 5 HD capbale inputs for $1200 in 2006. Worked great as a computer onitor. Not bad!

I remember the LG 42" and 47" LB5D from a couple of years later were also great PC monitors. CNET Review
 
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#21 · (Edited)
Almot forgot about Syntax Brillian Olevia! Brings back memories!

Their 47" 747i which had a thick glass front and a Silicon Optix Realta video processing chip! The 65" 265T the next year had the same design and processor. Both were really affordable for their size too.

Olevia 747i review

They had a few years there of very affordable LCD sets. Im sure for many, it was their first ever step into the world of HDTV.

The 747i weighed a whopping 143 lbs! (My 42" Vizio was pretty heavy at 80lbs or so)
 
#23 · (Edited)
I hear you. I love my Vizio GV47LF and enjoyed the heck out of it (still do), but I drooled over more expensive sets with better black levels.
 
#25 ·
I'm probably in the minority here, but I still haven't made the switch to a flat panel. My main display is a 57" Hitachi Ultravision SWX20B CRT rear-projection HDTV and I have a 32" JVC D-Series analog tube TV in my bedroom that still provides a very nice image (though now that everything is 16:9 the viewable area is pretty small).

I've been tempted to make the jump several times over the years, but there's either been something much better just over the horizon, or I haven't had the extra cash to throw at a new TV when the one I have still works well every time it's come up.

I've been looking more and more consistently over the past couple of years, and now that we have some stability reaching the marketplace in terms of 4K and HDR I'll probably be joining the flat panel ranks within the year.

Still, I'd consider another CRT RPTV if anyone still made them. The best of the best 9" gun front projectors were getting close to 4K resolution in their heyday years ago, so I don't doubt that if the technology had been allowed to progress we'd see full 4K CRT rear projectors today. Either that or Mitsubishi continuing with their LaserVue tech, it's a shame the cult of thinness pushed all of those out of the market.
 
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#27 ·
I think it was the weight that doomed CRT. I almost picked up a CRT front projector at one time...just to play around with. The good CRT projectors were expensive compared to an LCD or DLP projector which also tended to be much brighter.

Anyways. Ive been looking for a 20"ish Sony Trinitron with a curved screen in classic 90s black box style for use with vintage video game consoles.

Mitsubishi, JVC, Sony and Samsung made some great rear projection DLP and LCD sets in the 00s. I bet for a lot of people that was their first move away from CRT tube TVs.
 
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#28 ·
Nice our first LCD rear projection! The Sony XRD rear projections were top notch. I never owned a rear projection. I went straight to front projectors myself. First DLP then LCD.
 
#30 ·
That's great! Ha! Ha!

I always like the uncommon 37" size in those early Panasonic plasmas.

There was a smaller sized plasma made > 32".

Both Fujitsu and LG made a 32" size plasma panel. An early 2003-2004ish Sony used the 32" Fujistu panel and the Vizio VP322 plasma used the later LG 2008ish 32" panel. (Insignia also put a 32" plasma out using this panel).

I happen to own the Vizio VP322. I acquired one used later on from a repair shop that replaced the caps on the power board. Though I almost bought one back in the day, new from Walmart. It has horrible temp IR! LOL! But it's a decent little set other than that.
 
#32 ·
Mine was and is still the Toshiba 32E200U 32-inch 1080p got it in 2009 and haven't looked back.
Was my main TV until I got tired of watching TV and tried it on my PC and now it's my main
monitor with the secondary monitor being an Acer 23 inch which use to be the main monitor.
The Toshiba has performed flawlessly all these years with no trouble at all. Damn, I hope
I just didn't put the jinx on myself now.
 
#33 ·
I got my first flatscreen last year. I found a 2013 Panasonic Plasma P50S60 with extremely low hours (a little over 100) for $400 on CL. :D Score! I LOVE this TV! I've had it for a year now, and I *still* can't get over how gorgeous the picture is!

Before that I had a 27" Mitsubishi that I bought in 1983 that lasted me for 23+ years. I took that TV from Georgia to Hawaii, back to Georgia, to California, back to Georgia, California again and finally back to Georgia. It was well travelled. :D I loved that TV, and it certainly served me well all those years. I hope the Panny lasts as long as the Mitsubishi. :D
 
#34 ·
Love the enthusiasm of someone who jsut got their first big screen TV, (and an top performer at that). I remember how wonderful that 42" Vizio was those first few years!
 
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#38 ·
The DLP and LCD rear projection sets had the best screen size/dollar ratio in the early going of the great HDTV migration of the 00s. Wasnt even close really.

Sony SXRD
JVC LCoS
Samsung & Mitsubishi's DLPs

Samsung ventured into LED light engine. Mitsubishi developed a Laser light engine. Wild stuff!
 
#44 ·
42" samsung rear projection DLP in 2005. It was only 720p, but looked incredible at the time. It also cost $2200 for the floor model! We paid extra for a 5-year warranty, which paid off as it died just before the 5-year mark.


 
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