I’m getting the itch to upgrade so I was prowling the HDTV aisle at CostCo. About 42 inches is what I can afford and it fits the 17 foot throw we have in the living room anyway. I was looking at two in particular, a Sony LCD and a Vizio plasma, both exactly 42-in. The Sony was about $950, the Vizio about $750. Going back and forth between the two, I liked the Vizio better; as expected the plasma display is brighter, with deeper blacks, and a wider viewing angle.
The sign on the Sony proudly stated its resolution as 1080p. The Vaio was more coy but reading the very fine print, I figured it is 720p. The thing is, with the signal the store was feeding them (I have no idea of the source) I could detect absolutely no difference between the two, so far as resolution goes. This matches my brother’s experience. He has a 52-in. 720p LCD display (brand unknown) being fed from a sat receiver and DVD player, and he said the same thing: 1080p’s better resolution is just not that discernable.
Right now, I have a DVD player, and no video in at all, but it probably would be cable rather than satellite. If I switch to Blu-ray would that input enough to show the difference? Are there any “over the air” advances upcoming that would make spending the extra $200 worthwhile? This chart in Wiki shows there’s quit a difference between the two resolutions. When will it become apparent to the eye?
Not at that size. The only things you can see in 1080p are HD-DVD and Blu-Ray discs. Broadcast TV is not in 1080p and won’t be anytime soon. As of right now, the only reason to get a 1080p TV is because of the extra features they typically have on some of the sets. Things like better contrast ratios, 120hz, etc. Ultimately, it is an individual choice. I got a 1080p set because of features such as those, and the likelihood that I will buy a PS3 in the near future. Even so, the differences are marginal at best. If you have questions about spending more money, don’t bother. Just consider that you are comparing two different brands, and so there will be other factors at play.
The in-store signal may have been (and very probably was, if you were viewing OTA content) 720p. If so, both sets would look pretty much identical, since they were displaying the same content.
Re, the Vizio: don’t assume what resolution a set is. If the maker doesn’t mark this clearly in the store, note the model and look on the mfr web site. If you still can’t tell, don’t get that set. Vendors should be, and mostly are, up front about a display’s specs.
1080 is the new 720 – pretty much all the new sets have this resolution. Although heavily discounted sets may have the lower resolution, or be on clearance because they have less resolution.
Ask the store if they can hook up a Blu-ray disk for you to view on both televisions. Depending on the store, this may be trivial for them to do. If they get a blank look, head over to the next store if that’s an option.
re: Plasma – Plasma sets do use more power than LCDs (queue next poster with hand-waving study about how plasma really doesn’t use more power, really! Yeah, sure.), and they run hot. If you’re interested in saving on heating bills, these are for you. Seriously, they have a very nice picture, just be aware of the power and heat issues.
That’s what I kind of figured, although you’d think they would want to show the 1080p monitors to their best advantage. It was a promotional loop being distributed to all of the displays in the department so I’m thinking it was off of a disk or some other recorded medium rather than over the air (or down the pipe).
Actually the sign I was referring to was Costco’s shelf sign, not the mfr’s. It was peering at the mfr’s brag sticker on the screen itself that I decided it was a 720p (1280x720 pixels, it said) Is there such a thing as 720i? I’ll take a notebook next time and jot down the model number.
(3.) Hmmm. I hadn’t considered the heat (take a look at my location). I’ll have to do a touch-test as well. I was more concerned with the display getting dimmer, but looking at typical life-hours vs. how much it would actually be on, I’ll be in my dotage before it’s a factor.
Dish Network is delivering 1080p programming now. I think it’s limited to on-demand movies for now, but the main point is it’s no longer accurate to say the only 1080p source is Blu-Ray.
As others have said, unless you are running blu-ray or a pure hi-def signal, you won’t notice much difference between 1080p & 720p. I have Cox HD service here in Mesa and I don’t see any difference in the picture quality when I switch the converter box and tv between the two resolutions. I have read somewhere that Cox compresses the signal to save on bandwidth, which could cause loss of image quality.
Vizio gets fairly decent quality marks and is generally considered a good value in Consumer Reports and other reviews. Sony is usually near the top in quality ratings. As you mentioned, side by side, plasma tends to look brighter & better, but many of the new LCD’s are coming out with brighter screens and better viewing angles so the difference may not be so much in the future. If you’re putting this in even a moderately bright room, the plasma will be harder to see due to reflections on the screen. If the Vizio doesn’t have a low-reflective screen, I would reconsider.
Per squeegee’s comment, I suspect he is right in that plasmas consume more power than LCD. Most plasma’s now have power saving modes you can use to decrease the power consumption by 20-25%, but doing so also decreases the image brightness & quality somewhat. Plasma’s do pump out some heat, although it’s a stretch to say it’s going to heat up your room noticeably. I have a 50" plasma, and while it gets hot to touch along the top edge, I would say it doesn’t put out anymore heat than a large CRT or the 55" rear-projection I replaced.
Store displays of HD products are usually so f’d up in so many ways, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a 60" screen being fed SD content. Shit happens, so try to determine what you’re really viewing.
no.
I was being somewhat facetious – a 42" plasma probably has few heat issues compared to larger plasmas, but I would encourage you to do that touch-test – I had considered a 50" plasma, and the three fans on the back throwing out near-hair-dryer heat gave me pause. Again, not a strike against plasma, but you should check it out on any unit you’re looking at.
One other thing to be aware of while shopping for HD displays: manufacturers set the default display settings of their panels to be outrageously bright and saturated, so that when you view them in a bright, florescently lit store, the picture jumps out at you. When you get your new set home, you’ll probably want to do some setup on the brightness/saturation/etc, or the picture will look like an old comic strip – neon colors, ultra bright whites, crushed shadows. New HD sets out of the box are just awful & blinding at home until you throttle them back a bit.
The salient point here is that the display you see in the store is not what you’d typically want at home, so comparing one display to another on brightness and contrast in the store can be difficult because the display vendors cheat with oddball, “neon” settings to make you notice how “vivid” the picture of a set is compared to others.
With a 1080 screen you can sit closer. Conversely it means that you can have a bigger screen for the same distance. So you may be able to have a 50" or more screen at your viewing distance instead of a 42" screen
You want a minimum of 3 HDMI ports: 1 for your PVR and broadcast input, 1 for your upscaling DVD, and 1 for your Bluray player or games console.
Plasmas are a lot heavier than LCDs.
Make sure you see how they display SD broadcasts.
Whichever you go for, get yourself an upscaling DVD player.
Is this the Vizio? Then at 1024x768 avoid like the plague.
What a timely thread! The five-year-old 21" tube set between our computer desks recently died and I’ve been looking for a similar-sized HDTV to replace it.
Note that, even with 1080p content, many people can’t easily tell the difference between 720p and 1080p unless they’re quite close to the screen (closer than you generally would be for normal viewing).
I just bought a Panasonic 1080p plasma screen, but I’d have been happy if the resolution were 720p. The only reason that I got the higher resolution is that all of their new models are 1080p, and I wanted the increased contrast and deeper blacks of the newest generation. I’d have been happy to pay less for lower resolution, too, since I know that in a few more years the displays will be thinner/brighter/cheaper/larger, but oh well.
I’ve been reading about new digital video cameras that do 4000 pixels, which is equivalent to 35mm film. So I can see TVs going to 4000 vertical pixels at some point.
Don’t worry, whatever you buy will be cheaper and better a year from now.
I bought my 42" back in 2006 and I’m still very happy with it.
I have a 23-inch HD computer monitor (1920 x 1200) with video inputs. All you need to do is to upgrade one of your computer systems, and then plug in your cable/satellite/OTA-converter/DVD/BD box on the side. You’ll also need some amplified speakers.
I went back today to jot down some specs, The card at the store said VP423HDTV10A (not 422) which Vizio has on their website at $900 list and CostCo as a source. CostCo’s price is $730. They also have VP422HDTV10A for $800 list, with Sears and Walmart at the sources. I’m guessing a different plasma panel sources as there is a 0.2 pound difference between the two and slightly different dot pitches, horizontally and vertically.
I tell ya, it’s confusing.
I felt the face and it was warm to the touch, warmer than the LCD displays. I couldn’t get to the top as it was up high.
Ah, yes. This is a familiar dodge. I bought a 52" LCD late last year, a Sharp. Sharp had four different 52" LCD panels. Every seller I went to had a different 52" Sharp model – similar specs, perhaps legitimate differences technically, but basically the same TV in most ways. And the prices between the models varied as much as 50% or more. The idea is to make it impossible to comparison shop – each store sells a different model of pretty much the same TV, so you can’t price compare. Scam scam scam. Which doesn’t make the Sharp models bad – they were all quite good – but the intentional obfuscation is maddening.
I vote for the 1080p as well. I got this 37" LCD about 2 months ago and I couldn’t be happier. I don’t have cable or satellite, I use a terrestrial Samsung digital HD receiver. Three stations here broadcast in 1080i, and with my monitor I can definitely tell the difference between that and the others that are in 720p. One thing to remember, though, is that just because the channel is broadcasting in 1080 doesn’t mean the show you’re watching was originally recorded in the highest definition - original production in 1080 sill has a ways to go.
I’m loving my new monitor, though. Hooked everything up to it, so now I have my big home stereo hooked up to the computer through the monitor, along with the HD receiver, upscaling DVD, and one day Blu-Ray (when they’re cheaper). With wireless keyboard and mouse, I really am a total couch potato!
Whatever you decide, I’m sure you’ll be happy with it, I don’t know anyone who regrets their purchase no matter how they utilize it.
Seriously, they have a very nice picture, just be aware of the power and heat issues.
