As you can tell from my many questions, I am a certified idiot when it comes to fancy electronics. I might as well be the average female. This TV is going in my gameroom. I want to play my PS3, watch Blueray and watch sports in HD. Since I have a pool table I figured I would get a flatscreen that I could either mount or place on a high TV stand, just in case someone knocks a pool ball off the table. What do you hook your PC to your TV for?
lots of LCDs have VGA inputs. I personally think you'd be fine with either the Sony, Sharp or Samsung. I believe the Samsung has 3 HDMI inputs, which is the input you should use cause its just 1 cable that carries the sound and video, plus its the best quality. I'm guessing the gameroom where the family won't do most of their daily tv watching right?
Yeah, I have a living room where the “family” can watch their TV…whenever I get one. I’m still in bachelor mode at the moment, so that room doesn’t have a TV either. However, I do need a TV that’s big enough to entertain folks in the gameroom. I figured 40” was an ok size. It seems like the Samsung has better specs in general. I will price shop a little bit more but I guess I will go with that one. I’m kinda iffy on having something so big shipped but it seems like it’s done often going by responses here. Thanks y’all….
Any thoughts if I am getting a great deal on the samsung 4069 series for $1,469 at best buy? As much as I normally hate big companies like best buy i will say theyve actually gone the extra mile to help me out on this... sorry had wrong price!!
also consider getting something bigger with with 720p. its a better bargain. 1080p is really overrated. The things that are more important are color, contrast, and video processing. also consider plasma, at larger sizes, a better deal than lcd. here's my recommendations for you (tigerdirect is the store, i've had good experiences with them) panasonic plasma 42inch $979 http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3004888&Sku=P333-4258 panasonic plasma 50inch $1499 http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3004890&CatId=388 sharp aquos lcd 1080p 46inch $1399 http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2604784&Sku=S226-4600 toshiba 42inch LCD $999 http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3051992&CatId=2815 also if you really want to go cheap. you can go Vizio (there are people on clutchfans with vizio and are happy). its a refurb, Vizio Refurb 47in lcd 1080p $999 http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3041309&CatId=2815 you can always buy an extended warranty
If you're a PS3 or bluray guy, getting 1080p is worth it. I can tell when broadcasts are in 1080i or 720p, and watching those blu-ray demoes is something else. 720p is considered hi-def enough for digital TVs, which I think that is where tinman's coming from. But 1080p on movies look and feel crisper. Some TVs can only display 1080i, which has around the same pixels as 720p. That option isn't worth it, and personally I'd rather watch the smaller but progressive resolution instead. There's a lot of terminology, but you need to know at least that to get what you want.
Good lookin man. Now I heard that when you get the big TV's (like over 40"), that it makes a difference to have 1080 over 720. Is that true? Also, I thought it was bad to play a video game on a plasma.
1080p does make a difference. But only video games and high def DVD formats will make use of it. So if you wanna watch the big game (or anything on broadcast TV) it won't matter. Not for many many years. Plasma burn-in is non-existent except for some rare models. Most plasmas come with features that prevent burn-in (pixel shifting for example). But they do require a little more care than LCDs. If you left something bright and stagnant on for 5hrs I bet you would get some burn-in. Enough to piss off the nitpicky owner. I have owned both. Plasma is fine. You do get image retention which is nothing to worry about.
if you get the 40in 1080p, i don't think you'd see a difference. and the only way you can tell is the 1080p source (video games/high def disc etc). the better brand plasmas have anti-burnin features. its important to set up your settings correctly. out of the box has the contrast up too high and could lower your TV's lifespan. the advantage of plasma is better viewing angles and contrast. the advantage of the lcds is they eat less energy, they are slimmer and has less glare. either format is fine. depends on your price/performance. oh, 720p is just fine. trust your eyes and your wallet.
Bump - The wife and I are expecting a pretty nice tax return and have been talking about getting an HD tv with it. We have been looking around a little and found this tv. http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8386285&type=product&id=1181831586462 Is this a good deal? Any opinions would be appreciated. The TV will be primarly used in the family room. We are just thinking about upgrading the old CRT model that we currently have.
I have a 42" Westinghouse and really like it. I've never compared it next to a better set so it's fine for me. I'm sure if I had it set up next to a top of the line Sony I'd think it sucks but I'm glad I bought it.
I've got a 42" Westinghouse as well and this one looks much nicer. Mine only has one HDMI input and no tuner, but it was a great deal, considering what I paid for it. That looks like a good price, rocketball8.
it looks like its the regular price. you may want to wait till the week of the Super Bowl, that's when the big TV sales will show up.
I have that exact TV. I got it about a month and a half ago, when it was on sale at BB for like 970. They had one open-box that I got for $100 cheaper, so with tax, it was like $900-ish. GREAT purchase. I'm ultra-happy with it, VERY pleased with the value, the large number of inputs, the digital and analog tuner, the screen quality, everything. The only real complaint I have is something I've seen referenced by a few other folks online -- sometimes there's like a tiny blue line at the top or bottom of the TV when you're tuned to something. It's not really that bothersome though, so I don't mind. It's not as good of a picture as one of those really expensive Samsungs or something like that, but I don't think you can beat the value of this TV. I also REALLY love the "waterfall" cabling, as they call it. Along the back of the TV, there is a vertical "column" protruding from the back of the TV -- all of the inputs are along the sides of that "column". It's great -- SO easy to get to the inputs, really easy to see, and great for cable organization. Don't buy it at this price (~1200), b/c it has been cheaper (almost all of december, it was ~970) and I'm sure it will be again soon. All-in-all, I really can't say enough about how happy I've been with the TV. This is my first fancy TV, and I could see this lasting me for years and years. I really couldn't be any more pleased with my purchase.
Thanks for the input guys. Yeah when I posted the link last night the TV had a price of only $949 which I thought might be a good deal. but wanted to check with the ClutchFans HDTV crew. But now it looks like is not on sale anymore. Hopefully this TV will go on sale again during the superbowl week like Tinman said.
Thanks for the input guys. I went ahead and got the Samsung for $1,360 total: http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-LNT40...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1200849027&sr=8-1 Thanks for the links to the other TV's. I looked them all up and the Samsung just had better reviews. It really had great reviews, so I went with it. Additionally, Amazon told me that if I see a price drop on their site for the TV then they will refund me the difference. And since I have 30 days to return it (for no cost), if I see something better during the Super Bowl sales then I can make a change. I'm still kinda iffy on shipping a big ass TV, but we will see....
