Okay, which TV should I buy?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’m thinking something in the range of 42" - 60". PLasma? LCD? I need to hook to it: Tivo, Comcast digital Cable, a DVD player, and maybe my stereo (tuner and CD), and maybe Apple TV. also, if it’s better to buy something that’s more compatible than the NAD tuner and CD I now have, I could do that. Though I do love the way they look.

Thanks.

2

Since this is seeking opinions, it’s better off in IMHO.

Colibri
General Questions Moderator

3

I have a 46" Sony Bravia XBR and I absolutely love it. Picture is GORGEOUS.

4

Plasmas draw lots more juice than LCDs, visually, they have a slightly better display performance than LCDs, so if you’re a “I gotta have the best picture humanly possible,” you’ll probably want to go plasma. Any HD TV you buy will be compatible with your cable system, DVD player, etc., though you might have to upgrade your HDMI cables.

5

I have a 50" Samsung DLP HDTV with Verizon Fios HD TV service, hooked up with HDMI cables. The picture is spectacular, and it was much cheaper than a comparably sized plasma or LCD (at the time I bought it, about 9 months ago).

6

Thanks. I wasn’t sure. I even considered Cafe Society.

7

I saw a warning about “burn in” on my sister’s plasma’s manual (her son-my nephew- now has an X-Box). Is there any real danger from video games re: the burn in issue for a plasma or has it just been overblown by lawsuit-wary manufacturers?

8

Newer model plasma TVs are designed so that this isn’t a problem, IIRC.

9

Early plasmas had more of a problem with this than newer models, but I think it can still happen. However, you have to distinguish between temporary and permanent burn-in.

If you play one video game that has a bright, constant heads-up display, and it’s on screen for hours at a time, and you play it for days on end, then you might cause some permanent damage. Though it’s probably less likely to happen these days than it would’ve a few years ago.

If you play many different games, only occasionally, and in short bursts of a couple of hours at a time, and their heads-up displays are less intense, then it probably won’t leave a visible after-image, and even if it does, normal use of watching a TV show or DVD will soon restore the pixels to regular intensities and the after-image will disappear in less than a few hours.

10

How does a conventional NTSC image, regular DVD or HDTV picture look on a 1080p set (considering that all of these have much less than 1080 lines of resolution)? If I’m not going to be watching Blu-Ray discs, would it be better to get a 720p set?