who knows tvs? I'm looking to buy

jliu

I'm looking to get this one. http://www.costco.com/Sharp-AQUOS-80"-1080p-120Hz-Full-Array-LED™-LCD-HDTV-LC-80LE633U.product.11758383.html

I'll mainly use it to play ps3, watch blu rays, cable. In general, what should I be looking for when purchasing a tv?

stad

Go to this website. Everything I know about TVs I learned from here. Every helpful guides and reviews. They give pros and cons for LED, plasma, ans LCD. I'm a plasma guy myself. http://plasmatvbuyingguide.com/

jliu

stad:

Go to this website. Everything I know about TVs I learned from here. Every helpful guides and reviews. They give pros and cons for LED, plasma, ans LCD. I'm a plasma guy myself. http://plasmatvbuyingguide.com/

right on. thanks Caleb. this is exactly what I wanted. I'll dig around and check it out.

Vision

jliu:

stad:

Go to this website. Everything I know about TVs I learned from here. Every helpful guides and reviews. They give pros and cons for LED, plasma, ans LCD. I'm a plasma guy myself. http://plasmatvbuyingguide.com/

right on. thanks Caleb. this is exactly what I wanted. I'll dig around and check it out.

I just read thru a fair amount of that site. Their reviews/ratings of TVs are no where close to where I would rate them. I would say 60% is accurate but without going to your house and siing your enviroment I would be guessing if Plasma or LED/LCD is right for you. LED = Brighter/Over comes bright enviroment....... Plasma = More accurate reproduction of color but usually less bright.

If its going in a bright room LED/LCD. Movie room enviroment/darker go with a Plasma. The LED in theory will last longer but a good plasma will get you 10-15 years of life. Also you need to think of WiFi, Apps, and all the other bullcrap they add now. More buttons and feature means bigger price tag. Apps and streaming can be added with a Roku or Apple TV for under $100. When are you looking to buy?

Lee.mcglynn

Led LCD are the way to go...plasmas start to dim down faster and the colors fade. Led and LCD seem to hold a lot longer before burning out. But always get the five year plan if they have one!! That's the average time they will burn out!!

0patience

Well, I don't know *** about anything, so this is my opinion.
We have a 65" Vizio LED 3d and a 58" Panasonic plasma.
I like the LED far better than the plasma.
It uses far less energy for the LED, than the plasma and it is noticeable on our power bill.
Good luck. It's a crap shoot.

I'll go back to keeping my mouth shut. LOL!

jliu

thanks for your feedback guys. I'm getting kinda info overload from reading reviews on that website Caleb gave me plus CNET. I'm going to head out and go check out the local costco and best buy right now.

Peter (vision) - PM back to you dude

phobicsquirrel

Rule of thumb is if you are viewing movies primarily and are not watching your tv in a high light environment then plasma is the best. However if you want something in a high light environment then led is the way to go. The scale goes lcd,led,plasma. Plasma don't suffer from burn in like it use to, however image retention does happen at times but it will go away (if people tell you different they are lying). Say you have halo or cod on xbox and you are playing it for 12 hours straight, well you might see your hud on the screen for a while after you stop playing. They have build in "retention" bars you can select that will play for 15 to 20 minutes. I have a panasonic plasma and it's by far one of the best plasma's around but I only use it for blu's/dvd's. I have a samsung lcd for gaming which works just fine.

LCD does have some draw backs though, like image jitter which I can see and sort of bugs me but when playing xbox it barely happens. Blu's though I can spot it and it's annoying. Sort of like the rainbow from dlp's.
LED's are a step up but they are more expensive. LED's have a bloom to the picture, but if you don't know what to look for you may be okay. Also some of them emmit too much light around the edges. There is the OLED which is nicer than LED but more expensive, and at times more than plasma but it depends on where you get it and the size. OLED is a nice technology but I still prefer my plasma. Hope this helps.
One more thing on image retention, all tv's have it, doesn't matter what tech you want. Some are more sensitive but that is all. Plasma's will be the most sensitive but with newer ones it isn't a problem. I only bring this up once again because sales people are freaking stupid and in my experience usually tell a bunch of BS to customers. When you find out which tech you want, look for some tv's online then google their model numbers to get some reviews on them. Just because it is a sony doesn't mean it will be good, same goes for all for all of them. I work on tv's all the time and I'll tell ya, there are some real cheap pieces of crap that can cost some coin.

Vision

Lee.mcglynn:

Led LCD are the way to go...plasmas start to dim down faster and the colors fade. Led and LCD seem to hold a lot longer before burning out. But always get the five year plan if they have one!! That's the average time they will burn out!!

Sorry man.... As a certified color calibrator I would say thats fairly incorrect. They may dim after ohhh lets say 10 years at about 2-5% per year. I am watching my 5 year old Plasma and I checked the calibration that I did close to 18 months ago (2 weeks ago) and it is still dead on. The LEDs are what last not the panel its self.... Panels can die day one to 20 years.

Ken Light

Honestly, go out there and look at them. To my eyes, LED's are softer and feel better. To yours, maybe not. When you figure out what looks best to you, then try to shop around for price.

bap001

I honestly prefer plasma. The newer ones have some retention maybe after you turn the TV off, but it fades off after a few seconds. I have a cheaper 42" LG in my bedroom that used to be in my living room that worked awesome so I upgraded to a 50" LG Plasma with 3D and all the features and I love it. This TV is my baby haha. The picture is awesome, the TV looks good in my house and while 3D may not be necessary, it's pretty awesome. All in an affordable package for me. Good luck on your search, it took me 3-4weeks to decide on mine.

JDH

Check out Consumer Reports. It's just that simple.

danielzreyes

JDH:

Check out Consumer Reports. It's just that simple.

+1

james40

Avforums.com is all you need. When I bought 4 years ago, I knew one of the boards might need to be replaced, thanks to these forums. So I bought the extended warranty (50$), which was good for 5 years and free in home replacement. My board did go bad and I got a brand new tv 3 years later and still have warranty left. This is where you go for all of the inside scoop of problems, setups, fine tuning, etc.

Vision

james40:

Avforums.com is all you need. When I bought 4 years ago, I knew one of the boards might need to be replaced, thanks to these forums. So I bought the extended warranty (50$), which was good for 5 years and free in home replacement. My board did go bad and I got a brand new tv 3 years later and still have warranty left. This is where you go for all of the inside scoop of problems, setups, fine tuning, etc.

Fine tuning, as in calibration... is environmentally base.... no one should ever look at someone else calibration and use their settings.... I agree with the rest tho.

jliu

thanks everyone for your information and feedback. mucho info overload.

james40

Vision:

james40:

Avforums.com is all you need. When I bought 4 years ago, I knew one of the boards might need to be replaced, thanks to these forums. So I bought the extended warranty (50$), which was good for 5 years and free in home replacement. My board did go bad and I got a brand new tv 3 years later and still have warranty left. This is where you go for all of the inside scoop of problems, setups, fine tuning, etc.

Fine tuning, as in calibration... is environmentally base.... no one should ever look at someone else calibration and use their settings.... I agree with the rest tho.

the fine tunings are designed for every model of tv so they are pretty good as a starting point. And the explanations make it easy for you to pinpoint how you want it. The best fine tuning is the $100 DVD but most people won't spend >10% on accessories for the tv. Hence using their starting point settings for a good picture.

Vision

james40:

Vision:

james40:

Avforums.com is all you need. When I bought 4 years ago, I knew one of the boards might need to be replaced, thanks to these forums. So I bought the extended warranty (50$), which was good for 5 years and free in home replacement. My board did go bad and I got a brand new tv 3 years later and still have warranty left. This is where you go for all of the inside scoop of problems, setups, fine tuning, etc.

Fine tuning, as in calibration... is environmentally base.... no one should ever look at someone else calibration and use their settings.... I agree with the rest tho.

the fine tunings are designed for every model of tv so they are pretty good as a starting point. And the explanations make it easy for you to pinpoint how you want it. The best fine tuning is the $100 DVD but most people won't spend >10% on accessories for the tv. Hence using their starting point settings for a good picture.

I still disagree... That DVD is good for the settings on the input your DVD player is on. And is it a standard def 720 DVD or Bluray? That will make a world of difference. What if your DVD/Bluray's brightness/contrast/gamma levels are different from your Set Top Box. What if the owner/user has it hooked up thru composite or component on the DVD player and HDMI on the Set Top Box or other device? Those DVDs are useless IMHO. I go into peoples homes all the time to find "A friend" had a disc and made it even worse (most people dont know you can reset the picture settings). What the human eye sees is different from person to person. A calibration meter sees it the same every time (if well maintained and cared for). Again... as a certified color calibratior (by the Image Science Foundation/ISF ) I do not think anyone should mess with any settings other then Brightness, Contrast AKA Picture, and Backlight.

James. Do you think that the disc that comes with a Linksys router can do what you do? Probably not right?

james40

Vision:

james40:

Vision:

james40:

Avforums.com is all you need. When I bought 4 years ago, I knew one of the boards might need to be replaced, thanks to these forums. So I bought the extended warranty (50$), which was good for 5 years and free in home replacement. My board did go bad and I got a brand new tv 3 years later and still have warranty left. This is where you go for all of the inside scoop of problems, setups, fine tuning, etc.

Fine tuning, as in calibration... is environmentally base.... no one should ever look at someone else calibration and use their settings.... I agree with the rest tho.

the fine tunings are designed for every model of tv so they are pretty good as a starting point. And the explanations make it easy for you to pinpoint how you want it. The best fine tuning is the $100 DVD but most people won't spend >10% on accessories for the tv. Hence using their starting point settings for a good picture.

I still disagree... That DVD is good for the settings on the input your DVD player is on. And is it a standard def 720 DVD or Bluray? That will make a world of difference. What if your DVD/Bluray's brightness/contrast/gamma levels are different from your Set Top Box. What if the owner/user has it hooked up thru composite or component on the DVD player and HDMI on the Set Top Box or other device? Those DVDs are useless IMHO. I go into peoples homes all the time to find "A friend" had a disc and made it even worse (most people dont know you can reset the picture settings). What the human eye sees is different from person to person. A calibration meter sees it the same every time (if well maintained and cared for). Again... as a certified color calibratior (by the Image Science Foundation/ISF ) I do not think anyone should mess with any settings other then Brightness, Contrast AKA Picture, and Backlight.

James. Do you think that the disc that comes with a Linksys router can do what you do? Probably not right?

I guess I have to settle this with a smack down. All good points my friend. I bow to your wisdom.

jliu

you guys are all wrong. my people made this stuff. as such, if you're hungry, just "wok" on over to my house

bigfnsteve

jliu:

you guys are all wrong. my people made this stuff. as such, if you're hungry, just "wok" on over to my house

Yoo hit hit up my by boy lambos or what? Im tellin ya lambo is a bad ass.

phobicsquirrel

Vision:

james40:

Vision:

james40:

Avforums.com is all you need. When I bought 4 years ago, I knew one of the boards might need to be replaced, thanks to these forums. So I bought the extended warranty (50$), which was good for 5 years and free in home replacement. My board did go bad and I got a brand new tv 3 years later and still have warranty left. This is where you go for all of the inside scoop of problems, setups, fine tuning, etc.

Fine tuning, as in calibration... is environmentally base.... no one should ever look at someone else calibration and use their settings.... I agree with the rest tho.

the fine tunings are designed for every model of tv so they are pretty good as a starting point. And the explanations make it easy for you to pinpoint how you want it. The best fine tuning is the $100 DVD but most people won't spend >10% on accessories for the tv. Hence using their starting point settings for a good picture.

I still disagree... That DVD is good for the settings on the input your DVD player is on. And is it a standard def 720 DVD or Bluray? That will make a world of difference. What if your DVD/Bluray's brightness/contrast/gamma levels are different from your Set Top Box. What if the owner/user has it hooked up thru composite or component on the DVD player and HDMI on the Set Top Box or other device? Those DVDs are useless IMHO. I go into peoples homes all the time to find "A friend" had a disc and made it even worse (most people dont know you can reset the picture settings). What the human eye sees is different from person to person. A calibration meter sees it the same every time (if well maintained and cared for). Again... as a certified color calibratior (by the Image Science Foundation/ISF ) I do not think anyone should mess with any settings other then Brightness, Contrast AKA Picture, and Backlight.

James. Do you think that the disc that comes with a Linksys router can do what you do? Probably not right?

Yeah the discs to calibrate are good but not as good as a ISF certified tech. I used the disney world of wonder blu ray and that thing is pretty good, so for 20 bucks you can get a good calibration but the best is to have a pro do it, though out in the vast land of oregon they are scarce so I just settled for what I did.