Shopping for a new TV.

[ZX9RCAM]

I'm wanting to go projection in my media room. Anyone want an LG 60" 1080p plasma?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm considering going the projection route, my current TV is 73"
and I'm not where to go from there.

 

[Ole Cowboy]

I'm considering going the projection route, my current TV is 73"
and I'm not where to go from there.

Mostly a waste of money, I considered it and passed due to lack of quality, motion blurring, angle viewing and quality of color.

The new 4HD by Samsung and others is eye popping almost eye hurting brilliant, definition is amazing, you can count the eyelashes on someones face. That said...

4 or sometimes called Super HD only counts when the incoming program is up to the task. If you are like me and I am sure most are not, I watch more B&W TV for entertainment than I do in color and the color stuff I watch is from the 60's and 70's.

Curved screen is the new rage, gives GREAT side or off direct view viewing. Great for a room full of folks, but head on viewing its no better than flat. Pass uless you and the wife and 6 kids watch TV together.

Dumbed down TV: Yes you can buy them, look at the off brands, head to smaller box stores like K Mart for them. Saw a 60" for $599 in one of the stores and the guyh told me they had 65" in the back after Thanksgiving for $499. Big drawback to the dumbed down is quality of picture and motion. Dumbed down may not be your best smart move if you are looking for good viewing and movie watching.

Best TV on the market now is the Samsung with LC hot on their heels. Sharp who once owned the market appears to be on the comeback trail and is becoming a contender again.

3D: I personally get a skull splitting headache from it and hate wearing the glasses on top of my glasses. That said if you want the best quality of picture in non-3D viewing then get a 3D TV. Take a lot more horsepower and tech to generate that 3D and especially the motion. 3D is worth it for the quality it provides everything else and you do not have to watch anything in 3D.

Get ready to make your move, prices on what is int he stores are getting ready to fall thru the floor as manuf clear out stock and go for the big curved screen/4HD push for all but the cheapest and smallest models.

Wife and I are eyeing up the 75" Samsung at Costco around $2400, started out the year about $3600, currently available direct from Samsung at $1999. Looking to buy at Christmas or the week after at around $1800 I hope. NOTE be careful and ask someone at your store about how many they have in STOCK or find yourself with no TV and a great price. New models come out right after the holidays are over.

 

[ROGER4314]

I had to change my entire attitude about TV's and that process may be worth sharing. Previously, we bought fairly high end TV's of small size (30"+-) and kept them for a lot of years. I got rid of the entertainment center that dictated that size and got a $2K Toshiba 52" which was huge for my little house!

A lightning strike blew two local transformers, my TV, computer and AC controls so everything changed. The Toshiba was dead. I have a 42" Vizio now and it's perfect! I have never had cable and always use an antenna. We get 40 channels and beautiful reception! Now, if that TV even hiccups, I'll get a new one with the latest technology and won't spend a dime on repairing a TV....out it goes!

Flash

 

[Younggun]

No thanks. I have an LG plasma just slightly smaller. After a couple of years of use, the burn-in of the screen (the black bars on either side of 4:3 programming) are now permanently visible and it bugs the crap out of me.

As much as I appreciate the better picture of a plasma screen when the room is completely dark, I'll be going with a different technology my next time around.

Interesting. I've got a 5 year old Samsung Plasma that has had no issues with burn in or ghost images. A few times when it was left on the weather channel for an extended period it would get a slight Bihar for 15 minutes or so, but that's about it. And that was from the solid white logo.

But I agree that plasma isn't for everyone. Especially if you have windows that catch direct sunlight.

 

[RACER X]

Fyi, you can get upconverters to turn reg dvd up to 4k

Going looking this afternoon, 65" 4k, must likely either a Sony or samsung

There are some crazy good deals out there

And don't forget most box stores are matching inet prices

 

[winchster]

Don't shop now. Wait until just before the super bowl if you want a real bargain on the upper end of the scale.

 

[Younggun]

I've seen great deals around tax time. Refund sales going on plus stores scrambling to clear out the previous years models.

 

[Ole Cowboy]

Fyi, you can get upconverters to turn reg dvd up to 4k

Going looking this afternoon, 65" 4k, must likely either a Sony or samsung

There are some crazy good deals out there

And don't forget most box stores are matching inet prices

65? Class UHD HU8550 Series TV UN65HU8550FXZA | TVs

Black Friday

http://www.samsung.com/us/shop/black-friday/PRICEH-L/1/30

 

[TheDan]

I'm still using a big rear projection standard def dinosaur. When it finally dies I'll get something top tier and hopefully keep that until it is also a dinosaur.

 

[robertc1024]

Big TV is a Vizio. Decent picture but takes a long time to sync to the cable box. Samsung in the bedroom is much faster. I learned the hard way that the HDMI connections are the bomb though.

 

[CDF]

I have had a plasma in the bedroom for many years now. I would probably hate it if I had windows behind the seating position.
The key to plasma burn in prevention is to turn it to channel 2, or any channel without programming, and let it "snow" for a few minutes every week or 2. I have no idea if this will help with a screen that already has years of burn in, as in benenglish's case- probably not.

I run a projector in the living room on a 120" screen and am very happy with it.
A cheap projector, as well as some more expensive units, can have some very undesirable and annoying traits, as Ole Cowboy mentioned. There are many projectors that aren't even watchable during the daytime due to weak lumen and contrast ratios. Some people are prone to seeing the "screen door effect" with LCD projectors and others are turned off by DLP color wheel rainbows.
I don't notice any screen door on my Panasonic unless I am less than 3ft. away from the screen. At all seating positions, I can't see it at all, even though I know it's there. Of course the Panasonic I purchased rated in the top tier, at the time, for minimizing SDE. While the blacks are slightly washed out with the LCD projecctor, calibration goes a long way towards improvement in black levels and shadow details.
I have had no desire to replace this 6-7 year old 720p projector with the latest and greatest technology since I am still very happy with it. In fact, I am happy enough with it to drop another $300 on a bulb since my bulb has almost 5000 hours on it yet remains very watchable in the day time. My biggest fear of replacement is that a new projector may just create new and annoying issues that I don't currently have. The key to being happy with a projector is to scrutinize ALL of the projector specs AND the viewing room setup as a whole. Even something as seemingly trivial as screen gain can make huge differences in picture quality. And one more thing about projectors, know how much a replacement bulb costs when yours goes out. I owned a Yamaha projector that required a $600 bulb- it got sold before it needed a bulb replacement. This is just my opinion as a projector owner over the last 10 years or so.

As to the OP's question, I can't offer any recommendations. Unfortunately, these days it's almost impossible to find any electronic product one might consider "stripped down". I personally have no use for 3D, 4K, or any of the newest "bell and whistle" technology.
Best of luck with your search.

 

[Younggun]

I relatively new plasma shouldn't even need that. Most quality ones will have built in burn in protections.


Also, the glass is much easier to remove crayon, boogers, and little ketchup finger prints from if you have kids or Glockster visits your house.

If I were to put one in my bedroom it probably wouldn't be plasma due to the windows.

 

[ed308]

The best tv on the market since Panasonic stopped making their ZT plasmas, is either Samsung's 8500 (plasma) or LG's OLED. CNET ranked the Samsung 2nd to the discontinued Panasonic ZT. CNET has ranked the LG as similar in quality. The Samsung has a relatively bright picture for a plasma tv so works well in bright rooms. The LG OLED has deeper blacks than the Samsung (or Panasonic's ZT for that matter). BUT, its curved (which distortion of the picture and less desirable for off-axis viewing), cost more and the largest size you can buy is a 55". If looking buy quality and a larger sized tv, I would purchase the Samsung 8500. If on a strict budget or a room with lots of window reflection, LCD/LED is probably the way to go. Forget 4K for now. There isn't much if any content available.

I don't care for LED/LCD's processed picture and poor blacks. Cartoons look good on them. But not much else. But that may not matter to you. Maybe you watch a lot of cartoons!

 

[Brains]

I've had ZERO image retention problems, and my kids will pause whatever it is they're watching/playing and then forget about it - for hours sometimes. Modern plasma sets are VASTLY improved over the originals, and an LCD still cannot come anywhere near the image quality for the price. Their downside of course, is power consumption - it takes more power to light up a plasma than the CCFL or LED backlights of an LCD set.

 

[benenglish]

Obviously, I managed to screw up my TV. I can live with it.

The one TV that I hate I missed out on was the 40-inch Sony CRT hi-def television. That sucker weighed just a little under 500 pounds but the picture was something to behold.

 

[kyletxria1911a1]

I have a Vizio in my truck one remote does it all plus the manual is loaded on the TV
In case of problems

 

[mitchntx]

The one TV that I hate I missed out on was the 40-inch Sony CRT hi-def television. That sucker weighed just a little under 500 pounds but the picture was something to behold.

WEGA for the win.

My old Sony served me well for years. Then one day, it suffered a massive stroke, probably from being so overweight. I miss that ole girl ...

 

[RACER X]

I prefer the XBR series for Sony

Samsung IMO are overly bright and vivid to make the picture POP, I want true colors

 

[Younggun]

I prefer the XBR series for Sony

Samsung IMO are overly bright and vivid to make the picture POP, I want true colors

That's all in having it properly set up.

I can hit a button and put my Samsung in to some kind of super vivid color mode that can look pretty awesome in certain situations. But generally I keep it in the standard mode which was easily set up using the settings I pulled from the Internet (CNET maybe) and it is very realistic.

Father in law has one of the new LED TVs, looks cartoonish IMO.

 

[ed308]

Obviously, I managed to screw up my TV. I can live with it.

Not to hijack this thread, but how did you get the burn in? Gaming on the set? Destiny (game) is one of the worst games for causing IR. Burn-in on plasma is rare these days but can happen. Some IR can also be hard to get rid of. But, even a CRT's could get burn in. I've read where it can occur on OLED too.

Have you tried getting rid of the burn-in by running Disney's WOW disc? A lot of people who game on their sets will use it after gaming sessions. I have a ZT which has an incredible picture. No way I would game on it.