Buying a Flat screen, questions

[tealsnake93]

Going shopping this weekend, not sure what I should buy.

I watch alot of Hockey, Movies, and Xbox 360. Small place, wall mount with a swivel. Not much natural light. My budget is $2000 for TV and mount.

Went "window" shopping last weekend and the dude at best buy recommended thisTHIS (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8249683&type=product&productCategoryId=pcmcat95100050025&id=1169512288825)
$1439

I'm confused about resolution. Some say 1366 X 768, and some say 720p, 1080p etc. Whats the difference? Should I annie up for 1080p, or is 720p adequate for my viewing preferences?

Also, anyone that works for a retailer and can help me spend money in their store, speak now. :D

[lowthreeohz]

KOZMO works @ BB in Hurst.

[dman]

pm sent

[KOZMO]

Going shopping this weekend, not sure what I should buy.

I watch alot of Hockey, Movies, and Xbox 360. Small place, wall mount with a swivel. Not much natural light. My budget is $2000 for TV and mount.

Went "window" shopping last weekend and the dude at best buy recommended thisTHIS (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8249683&type=product&productCategoryId=pcmcat95100050025&id=1169512288825)
$1439

I'm confused about resolution. Some say 1366 X 768, and some say 720p, 1080p etc. Whats the difference? Should I annie up for 1080p, or is 720p adequate for my viewing preferences?

Also, anyone that works for a retailer and can help me spend money in their store, speak now. :D

Ok those TV's with 768 resolution doesn't make your TV picture better. That is really for using it as a computer monitor(1024x768). The highest anyone can broadcast in is 1080i (interlaced (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interlace) with 1080 lines of horizontal resolution) The P stands for Progressive Scan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_scan) . Progressive scan is superior. So, 1080i and 720p are near the same quality. Now When It comes to 1080P tv's, you will only really want that if you play xbox 360, ps3, HD-DVD, or Blu-Ray, as those things can all put out 1080P output. If you never planned on doing any of this with the TV, then I would suggest going with a 720 set. Like I said, no one broadcasts in 1080p, only 1080i. All sets will accept a 1080i signal. Thats why when you see 1080 sets and 720 sets in the store, they don't seem to look too different(Best Buy's Loop comes from a Hard Drive @ 1080i). You will be fine with just a 720 set and Blu-ray and such will still look sweet, plus it will be like $1000 cheaper. That Samsung would be one I would suggest as well.

Oh, the LG's have a faster refresh rate of 5ms.

[tealsnake93]

Ok those TV's with 768 resolution doesn't make your TV picture better. That is really for using it as a computer monitor(1024x768). The highest anyone can broadcast in is 1080i (interlaced (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interlace) with 1080 lines of horizontal resolution) The P stands for Progressive Scan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_scan) . Progressive scan is superior. So, 1080i and 720p are near the same quality. Now When It comes to 1080P tv's, you will only really want that if you play xbox 360, ps3, HD-DVD, or Blu-Ray, as those things can all put out 1080P output. If you never planned on doing any of this with the TV, then I would suggest going with a 720 set. Like I said, no one broadcasts in 1080p, only 1080i. All sets will accept a 1080i signal. Thats why when you see 1080 sets and 720 sets in the store, they don't seem to look too different(Best Buy's Loop comes from a Hard Drive @ 1080i). You will be fine with just a 720 set and Blu-ray and such will still look sweet, plus it will be like $1000 cheaper. That Samsung would be one I would suggest as well.

Oh, the LG's have a faster refresh rate of 5ms.

So if I play XBOX 360/PS3, which I do, it is pointless to buy less than 1080p? Right now I play on a 42" DLP 720p and I like it, but I notice a little tiny bit of lag. Is this lag present in LCD and Plasma as well?

[Mychael101]

Increase that budget just a tad and go for this:
http://store.infocus.com/escalate/store/DetailPage?pls=infocus&bc=infocus&pc=IN76&tab=desc&clist=0dbb50001403e0&ret=Projectors-Home+Theater&pls5catname=Projectors-Home+Theater?WT.ac=playbig_in76_001

[bard]

I think what he's saying about the 1080p vs 720p is that most input sources are 720p at best. The few exceptions he listed (HD-DVD, Xbox 360, etc) would be able to use the 1080p capabilities but will still feed a 720p set just fine. My take on your situation is this. If you already have a 42" 720p unit, why replace it with 40" 720p unit unless your new viewing space won't fit the current tv? The 42" DLP is what, 6 yrs old? Will the new set offer up that much better of a picture? Are the LCD screens up to gaming tasks now? I know they used to have problems with not refreshing often enough. I guess that's no longer a problem?

[tealsnake93]

I think what he's saying about the 1080p vs 720p is that most input sources are 720p at best. The few exceptions he listed (HD-DVD, Xbox 360, etc) would be able to use the 1080p capabilities but will still feed a 720p set just fine. My take on your situation is this. If you already have a 42" 720p unit, why replace it with 40" 720p unit unless your new viewing space won't fit the current tv? The 42" DLP is what, 6 yrs old? Will the new set offer up that much better of a picture? Are the LCD screens up to gaming tasks now? I know they used to have problems with not refreshing often enough. I guess that's no longer a problem?

That's exactly right. It's about 6 yrs old, and my viewing space is too small for it. I'm also concerned about the refresh rate. I do have a 19" LCD on my PC that I can hook up to my XBOX ocationally and it doesn't seem to have any lag on the refresh rate. Not sure on the bigger sets though. I'd like to hear from people who play a 360 on a Plasma/LCD.

[Pro88LX]

what do you want for your old 42"? :D

[BP]

That's exactly right. It's about 6 yrs old, and my viewing space is too small for it. I'm also concerned about the refresh rate. I do have a 19" LCD on my PC that I can hook up to my XBOX ocationally and it doesn't seem to have any lag on the refresh rate. Not sure on the bigger sets though. I'd like to hear from people who play a 360 on a Plasma/LCD.

I've got a Sony KDL-40V2500 (40" LCD 1080P) and don't see any problems with with my 360 or PS3. Deep black colors are more like an extremely dark gray but thats a common trait to any LCD and unless you are extremely picky you'll never notice it. I went from a 30" CRT HD set to this one and it's been a great upgrade.

[tealsnake93]

what do you want for your old 42"? :D

Keeping it, it's going in the shop.

[Pro88LX]

Keeping it, it's going in the shop.

:(

[KOZMO]

I think what he's saying about the 1080p vs 720p is that most input sources are 720p at best. The few exceptions he listed (HD-DVD, Xbox 360, etc) would be able to use the 1080p capabilities but will still feed a 720p set just fine. My take on your situation is this. If you already have a 42" 720p unit, why replace it with 40" 720p unit unless your new viewing space won't fit the current tv? The 42" DLP is what, 6 yrs old? Will the new set offer up that much better of a picture? Are the LCD screens up to gaming tasks now? I know they used to have problems with not refreshing often enough. I guess that's no longer a problem?


Thats exactly it. If you really want to use those machines graphics though, go with the 1080p. I myself prefer Plasma to any other technology. Very Low refresh rates (not listed) plus best and most color of any kind. However if you wanna go LCD and are worried about refresh rate the new LG's have 5ms refreshes and some pretty high contrast ratios.

[bullitt54]

Going shopping this weekend, not sure what I should buy.

I watch alot of Hockey, Movies, and Xbox 360. Small place, wall mount with a swivel. Not much natural light. My budget is $2000 for TV and mount.

Went "window" shopping last weekend and the dude at best buy recommended thisTHIS (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8249683&type=product&productCategoryId=pcmcat95100050025&id=1169512288825)
$1439

I'm confused about resolution. Some say 1366 X 768, and some say 720p, 1080p etc. Whats the difference? Should I annie up for 1080p, or is 720p adequate for my viewing preferences?

Also, anyone that works for a retailer and can help me spend money in their store, speak now. :D

That exact same tv is at fry's for $1129.

http://shop2.outpost.com/product/5178656

Not sure if it's an online only price or not but it's free shipping anyways. You could also go to Circuit City and have them price match, which is what I'm going to do.

[diablo rojo]

I would recommend getting a Plasma screen over an LCD simply because of the lag. You won't notice a difference if all you watch is home and garden shows.....but as soon as you put on something that has a decent amount of action you will start to see some crawl in the image. And it tends to happen more as you go to larger sizes. I would say go LCD up to about 36" and Plasma beyond that.

[momo stallion]

DLP LED is most cost effective and best picture for the money, but not a flat screen.

on flat panels you must decide based on your needs:

PLASMA.
pros: better for movies (black levels and motion reproduction is superior to LCD).
cons: burn-in and lower native resolution

LCD:
pros: better for computers (due to the higher native resolution). cheaper for the most part. no burn in.
cons: black levels, artifacting (although the black levels are getting pretty good and the better lcd's have 8ms response times preventing artifacting).


I had this choice to make 2 months ago and i wound up buying a 46" 1080p samsung LCD. glad i did, it looks a lot better hooked up to a computer.