[keller168]

I am in the market for a new HDTV.


I have decided against DLP and all projection TVs and want to go with a flat panel TV.


I'm still up in the air w/r/t plasma vs. LCD, but I am leaning towards LCD.


The viewing distance in the room is 11'. I'm looking for something 42-50". My budget is $2,000. I have a stand that is 37" wide by 19" deep (one of the reasons I'm going flat panel). My wife has decreed that I must not buy a white TV (either black or gray, since a white bezel would look even more ostentatious than a huge TV in our little living room, with the color scheme).


I'd like to be able to hook my PC and my digital camera up to it, but that's not a deal breaker.


The last gaming system I owned was a Nintendo 64, so I'm not planning on playing video games on it.


TVs I've seen and like:


Panasonic Plasmas (both 42" and 50" - found a 50" Panny plasma for $1,999.99 at Circuit City)

Toshiba 1080p LCD

Sony Bravia - All models. Having trouble finding one under $2K!

Hitachi 42HDX99

All Samsung Plasma and LCD, but haven't found a 50" in my price range.


At first I leaned away from plasmas because the picture quality looked too artificial and cartoonish to me. I didn't want to be watching the Final Four and have Greg Oden look like a character out of Finding Nemo. Then I heard that stores usually play with the settings to "get the right look." Now I'm leaning towards plasma, but REALLY like the look and PQ of the Sony.


Basically - Plasma or LCD? (I realize this is the LCD thread, so there's a bias)

Can I get something good for under 2K?

If I go Plasma, am I an idiot for going with Panasonic just because it's the most popular?

I've heard Sony is the class of LCD TVs. Is this true?

Should I throw my price sealing out the window and go as big as possible, perhaps risking divorce?


Any help/questions you have are appreciated.

 

[kidrock9999]

if you go plasma panasonic is one of the best, sony (xbr models) have allot of backlight clouding in them, but if you can get one without it, excellent picture one of the best, you should go as big as your budget takes you

 

[JeffChap]

If you're not going to be gaming on it, and lighting in your room is not a problem (plasmas have a glossy screen that reflects light badly), then plasma is probably your best bet for picture quality.


And before I get flamed for saying this in this forum, for the record, I own a 40" Samsung LCD. But I have lighting issues, game a lot, and my wife leaves the Tivo paused for hours at a time -- all reasons I decided upon LCD. I'm very satisfied with it, but I must confess that I've had to tweak it a lot to reduce the black crush, and the off angle viewing gets washed out more than I'd like (not a problem unless we have a crowd over to watch a game or something -- our room doesn't accomodate everyone sitting in the sweet spot).

 

[keller168]

Thanks for the tips!


The lighting in the living room can be controlled and is usually pretty sparse, so plasma is sounding better and better.


One other thing: I've heard that regular TV doesn't look good on the plasma or LCD sets. Is this true? Is there a way to control it? Improve it?

 

[schtebie]



Quote:
Originally Posted by keller168 /forum/post/0


Thanks for the tips!


The lighting in the living room can be controlled and is usually pretty sparse, so plasma is sounding better and better.


One other thing: I've heard that regular TV doesn't look good on the plasma or LCD sets. Is this true? Is there a way to control it? Improve it?

Sadly, there is no way to really "improve" SD signal on an HD panel. Essentially what is happening is all of the imperfections of a 480i signal are being blown up on a much higher resolution screen.

 

[keller168]

Okay.


Looks like I have it narrowed down to two TVs:


Samsung HP-S5053

Panasonic TH-50PX60U


They're both plasmas (thanks everyone for the suggestions! You really helped make the decision easier!) so I might be in the wrong forum now.


However, I was wondering if anyone had experience with either of these TVs and what their thoughts were.


And, one question: Samsung seems to offer burn-in protection while Panasonic does not. Is this a big deal? I don't leave the TV paused for more than 5 minutes at a time and rarely fall asleep in front of it. Just not sure what the benefit of having it is and the risk of NOT having it is.


Thanks Again!

 

[why2not]

I had a samsung, a panasonic and pioneer in my house. I found that SD (normal cable) looked better on the panny than the sammy. But I found it looked best on a Pioneer 5070. Unfortunately, that is out of you budget even at forum sponsors.


Either one of those two can be a winner. I don't think you can go much wrong. I would probably pick the panasonic, but not by much.