LCD Help and Advice

Maybe I can be of some assistance.
It seems that all rooms have good lightening, so you may want to stay away from glossy screens as they reflect light.
However, in the basement you can opt for a glossy or matted screen since there isnt much light down there.

Ok with that out of the way the top 3 dogs of the LCD HDTVs are Sony, Sharp and Samsung.
They currently offer the deepest black levels, best Picture Quality (PQ) and many options.
Unfort. the Sharp's have been suffering from banding issues and the Sony's are extremely overpriced.
So if you want a high quality LCD then take a look at the Samsung series (the 61f/65f or 71f series).


Other good LCD makers are Toshiba, Vizio, LG, JVC.

Toshiba - Offers very high quality LCDs, however their new 167 series (which is 1080p) has a green hughe to it. The best bet there is their 720p version the 67 series.

Vizio - Great if on a budget. Offers the best bang for the buck. Currently their newer lines are very high quality at an affordable price.

LG - Good quality LCDs. Very similar to the Vizios quality, but just a bit better. However, it is more expensive than the Vizio.

JVC - Another good LCD maker, however, not as good as the ones listed above. What these sets are really known for is their conversion of SD (or 480p) material. They have very good down converters.

So there is a summary of it all.
Also, give us a price you are looking at for each room. That would help a lot

Main TV: The best value is the 42" Toshiba 42HL67. It's 720p, but according to this chart, chances are you wouldn't see any more detail from 1080p images on a 1080p from those distances. Consumer Reports says it has an excellent HD and DVD picture, and a very good viewing angle. No other 42" TV they tested could attain that.

Basement TV: Consider a Sony KDL40S3000. The viewing angle's a little worse than the Toshiba, but that's no worry. The picture is supposed to be spectacular, and Consumer Reports agrees.

Bedroom TV: At your distance, the bigger the better, trust me. You should be looking into the 52" department, like the Sony KDL52W3000. If you do go 46", I suggest the Sony KDL46S3000. It's 720p, but for your distance, that's fine. You wouldn't see more detail from a 1080p image on a 1080p TV, anyway.

Kitchen TV: By far, the Panasonic TC-32LX700, or, if you can find it, the Panasonic TC-32LX70. All you lose in the 70 over the 700 is a little styling and worthless 120Hz refresh. Both have unparallelled viewing angles in their class, not to mention top-notch HD and DVD picture.

By the way, both the living room and the basement should get a home theater surround system ASAP. I suggest an Onkyo HT-SR800 for each room.

Main .. Bedroom vsv. right?

btw, Sony 46s3000 is real nice set; parents bought 2wks ago & does have nice off-axis viewing ~45-50 degrees off-center. perfect HD & SDTV channels ovr digital networks very clean.

The toshiba is a great value, but it is going for $1100 I believe right now (The 42" version). Instead I would suggest 1080 Samsung 61F (which can be found for abbout $200-300 more). This set has better black levels, 1080p instead of 720p, more inputs and just more features. That would prob. be the best bang for the buck.

Most people will still say 720p over 1080 since you really wont see a difference.
However, not all people understand the behind the scenes and how down-converting and up-converting works.
In general all HDTV is in 1080i and both the 1080p and 720p Tvs must convert this signal. How they handle it differently is interesting and may turn you towards 1080p. Plus you have the money to get a 1080p set.