HDTV Chioce

[Ken Massingale]

Best Buy BF ad has a 42" LCD HDTV for $999
http://download.bfads.net/BFAds-BestBuy.pdf

Walmart has a 42" plasma for $988
http://download.bfads.net/BFAds-Walmart.pdf

Both are 720p

Your choice would be? or neither and wait for a deal on a 1080p??

[radhak]

Your choices should be 720p (progressive scan) or 1080i (interlaced) or 1080p.

And from all accounts the 1080p is the way to go, particularly if you wanna keep an eye on the ever improving broadcast sources. But even for 'lesser' sources, the 1080p allows you to sit closer to the TV and not see pixelation.
Check this for a pretty nice review (slightly dated, but holds true for the science behind the numbers) :
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6449-6361600-1.html

That said, what you watch on it decides your level of happiness with any of these. Sports buffs better stay with the 'progressive', while Discovery Channel-ers would like the higher detail of the 'interlaced'.

And your wallet decides if the higher cost of the 1080p is worth it. 6 months ago a 42" HDTV at less than $1k would have been a steal (still is, to think of it), while come february/march you could see 1080p closer to that figure.

note : you would find it tough to find 1080p on a 42". Those run mostly on larger screens, like the 60-inchers.

If 'here-and-now' is important for you, I'd personally go for the LCD over the plasma.

hope that helps.

btw, that site seems a very neat place to check up on BF. The LOML is gonna love me for it! You've earned me points today -THANKS!

[meika123]

If 'here-and-now' is important for you, I'd personally go for the LCD over the plasma.

Franhkly, I agree. I just bought a Philips 42" Plasma earlier in the year. I went the HD route all the way, ie: sureround receiver, H20 HD Directv receiver. It is really great. But if I had it to do again, I think I would opt for the LCD tv instead of the Plasma. I toyed with that in the beginning, anyway. The big thing is; in my opinion the High Definition. It is truly spectacular.

Dave in NC

[LYU370]

The BB ad looks like it's a Westinghouse TV, haven't heard of them before. Couldn't tell what the Walmart one was. Plasmas do burn out eventually and you have to be carful of burn-in just like on a CRT set. LCD's don't suffer from burn-in if I recall, but the black levels aren't as deep. My Hitachi 51" CRT is still going strong, still no burn-in, I still think CRT's produce the best PQ.

You may want to head over to avsforum and look around there, probably find more info over there than you've ever wanted.

[Garasaki]

But even for 'lesser' sources, the 1080p allows you to sit closer to the TV and not see pixelation.

Unless your house is shoebox sized, pixelation as a result of normal sitting positions isn't going to be an issue until you start thinking about front projection and 96" plus screens. And even then, anything that's true HD isn't going to be a problem.

Pixelation will probably be an issue if your sitting distance to screen ratio is like 1:1 or below. So unless your sitting 42" from your 42" screen...not really a problem.

I think you probably will be pretty well off going with either TV. Make sure to get decent source componenents and use high quality connection technologys (DVI or HDMI and digital audio if possible) and reasonable cables.

[dsellinger]

hah, How about don't ask a woodworker about Tv's.
Try a little research over on AVSforum.com but I wouldn't suggest asking them about tablesaws or woodwork.

Personally I would go with the 3rd choice, a 42" visio LCD from costco for $1200 It's only $200 more and the costco warranty can't be beat.

oh and re: 1080p sure it's gonna be a better picture. But unless you can get some programming/source in 1080p then it's wasted money. Some people have a preference between 1080i and 720p but they are quite similar in the actual amount of data delivered and once you start watching noninterlaced tv (480p/720p) you may find it hard to go back.

[Thalermade]

the Best Buy unit is a monitor - HD Ready, no tuner.

CRT is still the best picture (50 plus year of tech)

Plasma - more experience than the following two
LCD
DLP


http://www.hdtvsolutions.com/
All three have limitations and compromises.
do some research, set a budget, go over the budget, enjoy HDTV
Make sure you have HDMI connections, do not pay more than $50 for the HDMI cable.
Wal-Mart and Target has them for a lot better price than the electronics folks.
Do you need the cable slot for a cable card?
this time of the year is ending the closeout time. Normally the best sells are January.

[HarmsWay]

I'd hold off a bit and get a good 1080p LCD. I bought a 37" Sharp Aquos 720p about a year and a half ago and have watched the price for an equivalent model drop to half of what I paid for it (which was already discounted from six months prior). But yes, keep in mind that you really need a 1080p source to appreciate it. My only option is HDDVD or Blueray since we have no local HD braodcasters and satellite and cable providers supply only 720p or 1080i signals.

There is lots to read about LCD v. plasma but it looks to me like LCD is now killing plasma because it can do bigger, higher resolution at a lower price. Performance wise, apart from resolution, LCD has an advantage in brightness which will make it look better to most people in everything but a dark room.

Bob

[PJC]

I bought a Samsung LN-S4051D 40" LCD just over a month ago and LOVE IT! It's 1080i. The 1080p version to me wasn't worth the extra $500 at the time. Besides, for true 1080p, you will either need an HD-DVD player ($500) or an HD-DVD add-on for your XBOX360 ($200 assuming you have a 360) or a Blue-Ray player ($1000). IMHO, I guarantee I am not going to be able to notice the difference between 1080i and 1080p.

As for why I bought LCD instead of Plasma, it basically came down to the room it would be in. My living room is kinda small and it has 4 windows right near the TV. I went with LCD because there is virtually no glare. Also I didn't want to be concerned with burn-in, though it sounds like that is not as big of an issue as it once was.

[scorrpio]

For watching TV and DVDs, a 720p (all 720p I've seen support 1080i too) is just fine. Dunno about your whereabouts, but all HD content available to us is either 720p or 1080i - and man does it look great on our 37" LCD. (Syntax Olevia LT37HVS) No 1080p content available - and our DVDs will also make no use of 1080p.

When HD content is on screen, I've stood about 2 feet from the TV and it still looked crisp.

Now, where a 1080p TV is gonna pay off is being hooked up to a high-end PC via DVI/HDMI, and running at 1920x1080 resolution. Stomps Xbox 360 into dirt. Our PC is older, only has dual VGA out, so our 37" is connected via VGA, and runs at 1280x768. Still looks very good for games, photo viewing, etc. Internet surfing from the couch with wireless keyboard/mouse is great. So, if you have a PC that can easily drive 1900x1200, get a 1080p.

[LCHIEN]

An article NOT recommending 1080P

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6449_7-...ml?tag=nl.e404

[cgallery]

Interesting topic to me because my 10+ year old Sony 32" CRT television died Friday and my wife decided it should be replaced with a 42" flat panel. We had been at Sam's Club about six weeks ago and were looking at the Vizio 42" LCD for $1400. Hard to compare TV's in that type of an environment. But when we went shopping this last weekend, it was clear that the Vizio was a lot of TV for the money. Locally, the next best deal was probably a Samsung 40" for about $125 more.

The Vizio is a 1080i. The reviews at places like epionions.com are very favorable. It would be a solid 8.5/10 if it weren't for one reviewer that seemed to have two bad ones in a row (with exact same symptoms that seem to indicate overloading an input) and another reviewer that had shipping issues. I'm generally a pretty fussy guy and figured that if I didn't like it I could return it, but it is a keeper.

So I now have a 1080i cabinet saw. Ouch! Oh well, it would be worse. It could be a "braces for the dog" cabinet saw. Or, "backed into the fire plug" cabinet saw.

Oh, and whatever you do, don't buy HDMI cables locally. They range in price from about $50 to $100 (yep, Circuit City wanted $100 for a Monster HDMI cable). These cables are typically available for about $5 on eBay. You can pay $10 for a "premium" cable online, but hey, its digital, so why bother?

Skip plasma, the burnin is a problem. I once called Hitachi about connecting a computer to a 50" plasma and the tech support guy started having a heart attack. And when researching my new TV, I found a guy that started having color shift due to burn-in on a six-month old Panasonic plasma (yikes!).

Thanks,
Phil

[thestinker]

I have been looking for one and will prbably be getting somethig in a 45" LCD after the 1st of the year. 1080i is prabably what I will go for, just because I can't see me getting anything that will support 1080p anytime soon, and when I can finaly afford to get a blue ray player (or equivenelt) they will have just come out with something much better than it anyway.

[fiasco]

scorrpio has it right.

I have a HTPC (home theatre personal computer) hooked up to my 60" Panasonic LCD RPTV. I wish I could run 1920x1080! The PC can but not the TV.

[scorrpio]

Latest plasmas are less susceptible to burn-in, but with PC hookup, burn-in potential is intensified, cause you often have areas of image staying exactly same for long time. I would not mix PCs and plasmas.

Comparing TVs in showrooms is VERY hard. First, the space is a lot larger making all sets looks smaller. Second, you have those huge 60"+ sets nearby dwarfing smaller sets. Looking at a 37" at a store, my wife did not believe it would be large enough until I bought a posterboard at Staples, cut it to size of the TV with screen outlined and showed her how it would look in our living room.

Far as linked article - yes, for TV/DVD viewing, even if content is available, 1080p has very little discernible difference on 50" and smaller screens. You want 1080p if you go large - especially front projection. When you have a 10-foot screen, better resolutions really differ. But sub-50", 1080p is really of benefit only to PCs.

Cables - Monster is a ripoff. However, even for digital, it is a good idea to get something decent, not the 'budget' stuff sold at electronics stores that's essentially lamp wire with cheap plugs. Radio Shack has 'gold' series that is about 6x cheaper than Monster, and gives same quality. Or, check Amazon or ebay.