What HDTV to buy - LCD, Plasma, DLP

[Diddly]

Bump to brag. The other day I was killing time in Best Buy before work and I noticed a 32 inch, 1080p Sharp Aquos hidden over by the car audio section "on clearance" for $399.99 (original price was around $1200). I asked an employee if that was the correct price and about 4 of them checked on it and determined that nothing was wrong with it, it was just "last year's model" that they wanted to get rid of. And because the display unit was their last one I was able to get a 15% off open item discount. So today I brought home a 32 inch, 1080p HDTV for only $370!

Picture quality and sound are perfect but now I'm looking into Blu-Ray and all the other HD stuff because it's a shame I'm only using the TV with basic cable for now. (parents have the HD cable box on our downstairs TV but I might have to steal it once or twice...)

[Darth_Anton]

We would up buying an LCD and absolutely love it. We almost went with the new LED, which looks amazing, but the price was a little much. If price is no object though, I would recommend to anyone to consider an LED.

[iFett]

I'm VERY close to upgrading to a 42" LCD something anytime now.  Question though - I have a 36" Phillips/Magnavox tube.  Does anybody even pay money for these things or is it straight to recycling for these old puppies?

We almost went with the new LED, which looks amazing, but the price was a little much. If price is no object though, I would recommend to anyone to consider an LED.

LED?  Crap.  I used to be up with all the new gadgets and crap when I was a teen.  Sucks being an old man.   

[BrentS]

I've also just recently caught the bug to upgrade the bedroom TV.  We've got a 27" tube TV in there now and I have an HD Directv received just wasting away on it.  I'm thinking of getting a 32" LCD TV as it would fit nicely.  The big debate is whether to get a 720p or 1080p.  According to CNet I'd probably just be better off with a 720p LCD since its not larger than 50".

[Nicklab]

Saw a similar deal today at a local WalMart store.  They were clearing out the store display units.  Saw a 42" LCD that was 1080p for about $700.  But it was an as is sale, so that was a significant deterrent to me.

[Darth_Anton]

The big debate is whether to get a 720p or 1080p. 

I can't say with any certainty. We went with 1080p for a 46" and don't feel like we over paid.

Speaking of tech variances though, we got a 120 mhz TV. Everyone keep trying to sell us on the 240's if you watch sports, but I can say that it's waste of money to upgrade. I've watched many a football game on our TV and have not noticed a single "blur" the sales people claimed we'd see without the 240.

[BillCable]

That's funny... I remember when all the salespeople were saying you needed to get a 120 not to see the blur...   

[Nicklab]

The big debate is whether to get a 720p or 1080p.  According to CNet I'd probably just be better off with a 720p LCD since its not larger than 50".

I would say go with the 1080p right off the bat.  720p will serve you well enough with any kind of broadcast signals.  Simply because most broadcasts don't have the bandwidth to give you a true 1080p signal, and the network HD broadcasts max out around 720 p...even sports.  But if you have a BluRay player or a gaming console like the PS3 or X-Box 360, you'll get a far superior image on a 1080p set.

As for the 120 MHz refresh rate?  I can't say that I'm a fan of it when it comes to watching movies.  Because that refresh rate is in contrast to the quaint 24fps look of film.  It makes movies look more like they were shot on video, and they lose some of that "cinematic" quality.

[BrentS]

The big debate is whether to get a 720p or 1080p.  According to CNet I'd probably just be better off with a 720p LCD since its not larger than 50".

I would say go with the 1080p right off the bat.  720p will serve you well enough with any kind of broadcast signals.  Simply because most broadcasts don't have the bandwidth to give you a true 1080p signal, and the network HD broadcasts max out around 720 p...even sports.  But if you have a BluRay player or a gaming console like the PS3 or X-Box 360, you'll get a far superior image on a 1080p set.

I've got a 51" 1080p LCD in my family room - I absolutely love it.  We've got a Blu-Ray and PS3 hooked up to it and the picture quality is stunning.  However, for my bedroom where we are only looking at a 32" TV and we'll never have a gaming console (though maybe a blu-ray in the distant future), I'm just not sure its worth the extra couple of hundred bucks.  I'm going to look around at some more specific TVs and read some reviews and then look at them in person before I make a final purchase.

When I upgrade my basement TV (from a rear-proj HD), I'll definitely go 1080p again.

[Darth_Anton]

As for the 120 MHz refresh rate?  I can't say that I'm a fan of it when it comes to watching movies.  Because that refresh rate is in contrast to the quaint 24fps look of film.  It makes movies look more like they were shot on video, and they lose some of that "cinematic" quality.

You're right. In double checking our specs, we didn't even get a 120 model. We got a slightly older model because most newer TV's have a gloss finish on the screen to enhance the blacks. We wanted the matte finish to cut down on glare. The "better" MHz TV's did look really bad handling movies.

[name]

We jumped into the world of HDTV today.  Stopped into Sams Club to pick up garbage bags and laundry detergent, and walked out with a this 42", 1080P JVC set for ...wait for it.....

$450.

Was an open box return.  Unhooked the 27" tube set I've had since college and watche ROTS on it tonight.  We are in love. 

[I Am Sith]

Congrats name.  Boy, a new baby and a new HDTV all in the same week...  Which one are you happier about?

[I Am Sith]

Question for all of you HDTV owners out there.  We are talking about mounting our LCD up on the wall.  I'm pretty confident that I can mount the HDTV correctly, but I'm actually more worried about the Bose 3.2.1 system I have and getting the speakers mounted/wired properly.  Does anyone else have a Bose 3.2.1 system and if so, were you able to run the wires through the wall properly and not have gaping holes in the walls.  The reason I ask is because the speaker connections are pretty large and of course are unique to Bose.  I haven't seen any couplers out there where I can use a coupler and faceplate and make a connection in the wall like I can with HDMI or component cables.  The only option I can come up with is to cut a hole in the wall the same size as the speaker connection and then patch it once the wire is through.  The speaker mount bracket will cover up the opening somewhat, but I'm hoping that's not my only option.

Any thoughts/suggestions on how to accomplish this and not make a mess of the walls would be appreciated.  Thanks.

[Jesse James]

This thread bumping up reminds me to thank Sprry75 and some other of the JD faithful for their help privately leading up to Christmas with me buying a spankin' new 60" DLP HDTV at an super cool price from Best Buy in late November/Early December.  It's a Mitsubishi 60", 1080p, 120hz, and fantastic from every angle of the living room, and I couldn't be happier with it.  I went with DLP because the depth of the TV wasn't an issue, more the cost of LCD's and Plasma's was scary to me, and so I figured I'd go with a thicker TV for a lot less moolah spent.

My favorite thing is hockey in HD...  It's gorgeous.  A very close second is XBox360 in HD, which is eye-popping.  We actually were given a hand-me-down surround-sound from someone recently, so we're going to be beefing up the sound a bit too, but honestly I haven't ever been much of a nitpicker on that.  I have to get speakerwire is all now, and then it'll be boomin' sound too.

I'm not a movie guy generally, but I'm anxious to watch Star Wars on it because I briefly popped ANH into the player and man, it was like watching it all over again.  Freaky.

Also Ryan hooked me up with a good stand at Ikea and when we went to grab one, they were even on sale for $129, so right away we got our whole living room beefed up for entertainment in the span of Christmas Weekend.  Double freaky for us.  We're not much for big changes.

My gf has adapted, even though she insisted no TV was necessary...  This was a family gift, and so far we're all enjoying it a ton.  Unfortunately her daughter went back to school, so she's missing the TV now, but she'll be back for Summer and I'm sure she'll get to pop in movies and enjoy.

My hat is off to everyone who helped me out though with finding this, especially Ryan for his help, as it was greatly appreciated and made Christmas pretty fun this year, despite my early buyer's remorse.    I have the same feeling when I pick up an extra loaf of bread though.

IAS,

I'd love to help you but I'm a noob with all this stuff.  The only thought I have is that a small hole in the wall's very easy to cover up without you noticing it, but you probably already knew that...  I have no clue what the size woudl be you'd need to cut is all.  I'll be running my wires ont he outside around the baseboard to avoid hastle.  The living room is getting redone eventually anyway so I figure no sense me doing work that would be tore up anyway eventually.

[Brian]

I wasn't sure exactly where to post this, but figured this was as good a place as any.  Sort of a technical question, since we're new to the HDTV world here.  We just picked up our first HDTV, a 42" LG 1080p, 120 Hz model.  We also previously had a blu ray player (gift for Christmas, with intentions of getting this TV eventually), and I picked up the HDMI cable with the TV today as well.  Anyways, got everything hooked up, and we're very happy with it.  We tried out a few of the blu ray movies we already had just to see them, and the picture looks great.  Here's my question though, it seems that the movies still have the "black bars" on the top and bottom.  I guess I always thought when you had a widescreen TV, those would be gone, but perhaps our settings are wrong.  I have both the player and the TV set on 16:9.  I know we're not "losing any picture" like a lot of fullscreen fans think is happening with those black bars, but I just thought those would be gone with a widescreen television (or closer to it).  Just curious if anyone knew what we're doing wrong, if anything.