Seeking opinions from owners of HD TVs. I'm in the market and want advice.

In My Humble Opinion
41

The quality of your HDMI cables has no effect on the picture quality that you’re getting, except in the case where you get sparkles. There is a possibility that a bad HDMI cable will give you audio dropout.

Here’s a fantastic recent article on the subject:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20056502-1.html

mhendo, sorry to hear about your car. If it’s any consolation, virtually any HDTV set that you can buy today will be a vast improvement over your existing CRT. The improvement will dwarf any HD-to-HD differences.

42

It’s not. 120HZ is what you want to shoot for. It won’t hurt to have a TV with a 240HZ or 600HZ refresh rate, but the heavy emphasis on those numbers is mostly marketing (bigger is better, right?).

The reason for this is basic mathematics (please note: the following is simplified and the numbers are only correct for the US and countries that followed the NTSC standard).

The sources that are displayed on your TV come in three basic flavors: 24FPS, 30FPS, and 60FPS (frames per second). And the advantage of 120HZ is simple - 120 can be evenly divided by all of those numbers. So why does that matter? The most common example can be made with films, which have been shot at a standard 24FPS since the early part of the 20th century. If you try to show a 24FPS source on 60 HZ display, a conversion has to be made - usually by inserting additional frames periodically to make the numbers match up. While nobody can see the individual added frames (on screen for 1/60th of a second) some eyes can spot something wrong with the resulting image - usually in how smooth motion appears.

But for a 120HZ display, no conversion needs to be made. The individual frames are simply displayed for the correct number of cycles (the number of cycles depending on the source). But it’s the same number of cycles for every frame. And without the uneven addition of frames to make the numbers work out, it’s more pleasing to the eye. (Standard disclaimer: Simplified explaination, YMMV, etc. But that’s the basics).

Regarding the issue of size, I really think that it’s very hard for anyone contemplating upgrading the size of their TV to visualize the final outcome correctly, especially when changing aspect ratio (4:3 to 16:9). You’re looking at potential sets, in huge stores, often at bad angles and probably at a very different distance than you might guess. It’s really hard to translate the experience once you get back home. What we did when we were shopping, which helped a LOT, was to cut and tape together sheets of newspaper, corresponding to different potential sizes and put them up on the wall. Much to the surprise of my wife, that visual helped her to decide that she wanted a larger set than she thought she would want, and we’ve not regretted going bigger for a moment.

mhendo, that really sucks. I hope the car thing works out and you can make use of the advice you’ve gotten in this thread.

43

Well… it depends on the size of the room and the layout. You can over-TV a smaller room if you get crazy.

The idea is to match your expected viewing distance with the proper size TV. For example, if you’re sitting 7’ from your TV, a 37-52" is recommended, while if you’re sitting 10’ away, they recommend 52" and up.

I think that a major issue for all flat-screens is anti-reflection coatings. I have a Panasonic 50" plasma, and it’s pretty great for glare, because it has some sort of anti-glare coating that cuts glare WAY down. I don’t know that all of them come with those types of coatings though.

I’ll say this about plasmas- since they actually emit light, vs are backlit by LEDs or fluorescent lights, the blacks and contrast really is quite superior. I’m comparing my dad’s 2010 46" Sony Bravia with my 2010 Panasonic Viera, and there’s no contest on contrast. Colors and everything else are pretty much comparable, but mine is so much more contrasty, it’s kind of shocking.

44

When my 18 year old TV went bust 2 1/2 years ago, I spoke at some length to a small appliance repairman who told me he makes his living replacing cheap capacitors on TVs. He claimed the companies save a few cents on each one and they last a couple years. Granted he sees only the busted ones, but still he said that Panasonic was better than most. So I got a Panasonic LCD TV and I’m pretty happy with it.

I did buy a cable box from Best Buy. It had the brand name of my cable provider and was 50 bucks cheaper. I’m happy with that too.

45

Bumping this thread because i’m now back in the market.

We actually got our stolen car back (yay!), although we still ended up about $750 out of pocket for various expenses, including car rental, which wasn’t included as part of our insurance for some reason (an oversight we have since corrected).

I’ve visited Best Buy a few times over the past few weeks, just to spend some time actually looking at televisions. One thing that certainly seems to be true is that, no matter which TV we end up getting, the transition from 27" CRT to HDTV will be far more noticeable than any differences between HD sets.

Anyway, having read the advice in this thread, and done hours of reading online, i think i’m going to get a new 2011 Panasonic VIERA TC-P42ST30 (42") or TC-P46ST30 (46") plasma TV. Just about every review i’ve read puts the ST30 among the top TVs available in terms of picture quality. And definitely good value for money; all the other top picture performers in CNet reviews are hundreds or even thousands of dollars more expensive. The 46" will bust my budget a little bit, but not too much, if i go for the larger screen.

I looked at the 42" and 50" models of the ST30 in Best Buy (they don’t stock the 46" in store, for some reason), and they were certainly impressive. Best Buy’s prices were actually OK, but right now some retailers (not Best Buy) have a deal where they’re also giving away an Avatar package with 2 pairs of 3D glasses with the TV, for no extra cost. While i’m not really buying the TV for 3D capability, getting some glasses free would be OK with me.

Buying the Viera would also mean that, for the moment at least, my streaming needs would be fulfilled without any additional purchases. The Viera Connect function on Panasonic TVs offers both Netflix and MLB.TV, as well as some other stuff, and the TV comes with a wireless LAN adapter. The TV also has a USB port, and will, according to the maunal, play MP4/MKV files encoded with the H.264 video codec. I have some of those, so being able to play them directly would be nice.

Anyway, that’s my thinking right now. I can get the 42" for about $870 and the 46" for about $1,130, including delivery and the 3D glasses kit. My wife thinks 42" is easily big enough, but i’m leaning towards the 46".

Both prices seem like a pretty good deal to me, for a good TV. If anyone has any more caveats or suggestions, though, i’d be happy to hear them.

46

Of course she does.

Attaboy!

Those prices are unbelievable. I got my 47" Westinghouse two years ago for $700 - an absolute steal at the time. And I knew then that there was a chance the set would have some issues, and it doesn’t have a single feature (it doesn’t even have a tuner!), and has a horrendous remote that even my Harmony can’t completely solve.

47

Push for the larger set. I’ve never heard anyone, after buying an HDTV, wish that they’d bought a smaller one.

You might want to try the newspaper trick. That’s what convinced my wife to go with the larger one (and she didn’t regret it at all).

48

Yeah, just get the biggest one you can comfortably afford. Going from a 27-inch, what happens is that no matter the size of the HDTV you get, as soon as you plop it down it looks like the biggest TV ever manufactured, and then eight days later you wish you’d bought the bigger size.

49

I actually did that, as much for my own edification as anything else.

My wife isn’t putting any pressure on; she said that it’s completely up to me. I’ll probably spring for the extra $260 and get the larger size.

50

I bought a 50" Panasonic Viera plasma before Christmas last year. Our room is bright and it is kind of reflecty but after a while, your brain doesn’t see the reflections anymore unless you focus on them. At night, with a Blu-ray in the PS3, the picture is absolutely stunning.

51

46" model ordered. Delivery in about a week.

Woohoo!

Wish i didn’t have to wait, but none of the brick-and-mortar stores around here could match Amazon’s price, and none of them had the Free 3D Glasses promo either.

52

So just out of idle curiosity, did it help? Or was it pretty much a useless exercise?

And I second your wohoo! Enjoy!

53

Is the calibration thing a big deal with newer TVs? I’m looking into a 46"-ish size to set up as a second monitor for Netflix Streaming and low-resolution .avi files.

54

TV arrived today and is now set up and working. It is freaking awesome!

The Standard picture setting is too dim, but using the pre-calibrated Cinema setting improves things considerably, and i also set up a Custom setting using recommended calibration settings from CNet. The Cinema setting looks best at night in a fairly dark room, while the Custom setting is a bit brighter and looks better in daytime or watching TV with the lights on.

We don’t yet have a Blu-Ray player (it’s next on our shopping list), but i plugged a USB key into the side of the TV to check out a ripped MKV of an episode of BBC’s Planet Earth at 1080p, and the picture quality is incredible. High-def TV programming also looks fantastic. Even a regular DVD upscaled from our old DVD player looks far better on the new TV than on the old one. Some SD programming actually looks worse, because the artifacts and other picture problems are more evident on the hi-def screen, but that’s a minor issue, and certainly something i’m happy to live with.

The wireless LAN adapter is hooked up, and i got Netflix streaming without too much trouble. I haven’t set up MLB.TV yet, but will get onto that tomorrow. I’ve also got the TV talking to the media folders on my computer, so i can access music, pictures, and video files.

The wireless seems to sometimes have a bit of trouble connecting to the router, and sometimes when i’m navigating folders on the network, i’ll have to back up and try again. It’s not quite clear to me if my wireless signal is weak (the TV is downstairs, and the router is upstairs at the opposite end of the condo), or if the wireless adapter is a bit flakey. I’ll monitor it, and if the wireless signal seems to be a problem, i might have to go with a wired connection, possibly through a powerline network adapter kit.

46" was the perfect size for our loungeroom and our furniture; 42" would have been fine, but i’m happy i went for the larger model. Going up to 50" would have been rather pointless, given the size and layout of our place. It just would have looked too big in the room. Any concern i had about a plasma TV being too reflective have been dispelled; even during the day, in our fairly bright living room, the reflections aren’t bad at all.

The next order of business now is to get rid of the old 27" CRT monster. It’s in pretty good condition for a 7-year-old TV, but i don’t even know if it’s worth listing on Craigslist. Does anyone even buy these things anymore? Maybe i’ll offer it to Goodwill.

Thanks again to everyone for the advice and comments. Thanks in particular to Palooka for insisting on the ST30. I had already read some of the excellent reviews of this TV, but was still a bit prejudiced against plasmas; i thought that they were a thing of the past. I’m very happy with the purchase, and (so far, at least) have no buyer’s remorse, even though i spent a little more than i intended.

Calibration definitely makes a difference. The difference between the Standard setting and the calibrated Custom setting on my TV is extremely noticeable. The CNet website has suggested calibration settings for almost all of the TVs that they review, and following their suggestions for my TV really improved the picture a lot. Earlier in the thread, Palooka suggested buying a calibrator, but, for the moment at least, i’m not sure i’ll bother.

55

It probably wouldn’t hurt to hard code your IP settings. I try to avoid conflicts wherever possible.

56

I’ve actually done that. I set an IP address manually on the TV, and my router is also set up to assign that same IP as a static address to the TV.

The connection seems to be working fine this morning. I’ve now got MLB set up, and it looks great.

57

Westinghouse is a crap Chinese brand now.

Personally, I wouldn’t buy a plasma because of the burn-in issue. And no, there is no system that will prevent it or improve the situation. The “fixes” just try to burn the rest of the screen to match.

Another HUGE Monoprice fan. I count them as the best quality cables I’ve found. I wired a dance club up all-HDMI, using 100 foot Monoprice cables, about as tough a test as there is. They came through with flying colors.

I’m late to the party. But for anyone still shopping, my favorites are LG and Samsung. A sports bar I work for has 25 42" LG sets, running 18 hours a day, seven days a week. That is a lot tougher than you’ll ever use yours.

LG is my favorite because they are putting Plex in their sets. This is the future of intelligent TV, and is not dependent on the TV manufacturer for upgrades and content.