Any one here can help me out with big screen tv options?

[devildog]

Ok, so first off, if you dont really know about the subject, just "heard" this or that, please dont post. No offense, but I am looking for correct info, not rumors.

I am shopping for a plasma tv, and looking for a 50" (or really close). 720p is fine, I dont need to spend the extra for the 1080. I dont know much about what brands are good to go with. Can anyone give me any good insight to this? I was leaning towards panasonic or samsung?

Also, anyone know any good specials, clearances, or anything going on out there that I could jump on?

Is this a good model TV? Samsung PN50A450 There is some good prices on these out there.

Thanks for the help

Dominik

[punkncat]

I own a Samsung 52" and love it.

[Hilltop Customs]

www.avsforum.com <------go there

try to stay away from that forums pics threads, or you will have to wash your pants....I'm serious.

plain and simple, unless you are sitting about 6-7 feet away from a 50-60 inch screen you cant see a difference between 1080p and 720p/1080i.

Online is the best deals, most big box stores cant touch the online prices unless they are running a special. Only drawback of online is shipping, and if something happenens to the tv in shipment.

When your physically looking at tvs keep in mind most stores have the settings vibrant as hell just to get that wow factor.....but those are horrible settings for real viewing.

I personally own a samsung 720p 50" dlp. It is in a tiny appartment, but is perfect. I bought it at circuit city, a open box return....got it for over 500 less than a "new" one. If you do happen to stumble across an "open box" tv you like, you can use the service menu of the to see how many hours are already on the tv. I checked mine when I bought it, only had 22 hours on it.....which is amazing.

It sounds like your set at 50", but take a look at your distance from seated to the screen.....they have ideal ratios for seating distance/screen height but I cant remember it right now, but its over at that avs site.

just go to www.avsforum.com they have info for just about every model tv there is.

[angrysasquatch]

If you've got the room, projectors are sweet. And depending how often you tent to change tvs, it might be the same price in the end.

[Dukie]

I have an LG 50pc5d, 50" plasma, 720p. I absolutely love it. Even on standard definition, the picture is great.

[rkjunior303]

Samsung all the way. I researched mine for a year prior to buying. I would buy 1080i over 720p. Hold off on the 1080p..... Make sure it has lots of HDMI inputs and make sure the Digital output for the audio supports Dolby Digital in addition to PCM.

[robnix]

Ok, so first off, if you dont really know about the subject, just "heard" this or that, please dont post. No offense, but I am looking for correct info, not rumors.

I am shopping for a plasma tv, and looking for a 50" (or really close). 720p is fine, I dont need to spend the extra for the 1080. I dont know much about what brands are good to go with. Can anyone give me any good insight to this? I was leaning towards panasonic or samsung?

Also, anyone know any good specials, clearances, or anything going on out there that I could jump on?

Is this a good model TV? Samsung PN50A450 There is some good prices on these out there.

Thanks for the help

Dominik

Skip the plasma and get a 55" Samsung 1080p LED DLP and a PS3 to play Blu-Ray Discs and GTA4.

[Hilltop Customs]

Samsung all the way. I researched mine for a year prior to buying. I would buy 1080i over 720p. Hold off on the 1080p..... Make sure it has lots of HDMI inputs and make sure the Digital output for the audio supports Dolby Digital in addition to PCM.

any reason you choose 1080i over 720p? I choose 720p because of all the fast motions involved with gaming. Your right on the inputs, just plan what your going to attach to the tv and make sure you have more than enough inputs for your plans. I'm guessing you have all your connections ran to your tv then out to your reciever through the optical out? Isnt it more common to connecto directly to the reciever then a single video connection to the tv? I have all my stuff split, optical audio to revciever, video to the tv, so I dont have any passthroughs.

Skip the plasma and get a 55" Samsung 1080p LED DLP and a PS3 to play Blu-Ray Discs and GTA4.

1080p nearly doubles the price of the TV, which is pointless because nothing will be broadcast in 1080p for years. Yes I agree it looks awsome when you are standing 4 feet in front of the display while watching a blu-ray movie at best buy, but are you going to sit that close at home?

On another note Blu-Ray is going to go the way of the HD-dvd, digital downloads are becoming more and more mainstreem. The PS3 was a great way to for sony to get their blu disk in the door, but microsoft already knew whats coming, that is why they never bundled their system with the hd-dvd. As bandwith increases(fios and other optical options) and hard drive sizes increase while droppping in prices, theres no longer a need for the physical media. By the time DVD actually dies(not soon) the bandwith and storage limitations of digital downloads will be just about gone. Till then I'll save my $30 a disk and be happy with a lower quality torrent, and if I like the movie a $5 HD rental charge on xboxlive.

[rkjunior303]

any reason you choose 1080i over 720p? I choose 720p because of all the fast motions involved with gaming. Your right on the inputs, just plan what your going to attach to the tv and make sure you have more than enough inputs for your plans. I'm guessing you have all your connections ran to your tv then out to your reciever through the optical out? Isnt it more common to connecto directly to the reciever then a single video connection to the tv? I have all my stuff split, optical audio to revciever, video to the tv, so I dont have any passthroughs.

mainly because 1080i is where things are going.. P hasn't really come yet unless you plan on Blu-Ray... That's the beauty of HDMI - it carries Dolby Digital 5.1. You can use your TV as a hub.. Since most receivers only have one or two optical in's, you can run all the HDMI's into the TV -- Cable, DVD, PS3, XBOX and run ONE optical out from the TV to the optical IN on the receiver. I got a great deal on a Samsung 40'' LCD..It's 1080p BUT the optical out on the tv is only PCM, not Dolby, so I can't hook it up that way.

Ideally, though, you want everything going through the TV so you can have just one audio out for everything.

[robnix]

any reason you choose 1080i over 720p? I choose 720p because of all the fast motions involved with gaming. Your right on the inputs, just plan what your going to attach to the tv and make sure you have more than enough inputs for your plans. I'm guessing you have all your connections ran to your tv then out to your reciever through the optical out? Isnt it more common to connecto directly to the reciever then a single video connection to the tv? I have all my stuff split, optical audio to revciever, video to the tv, so I dont have any passthroughs.

I have to play all my games at 1080i due to a "quirk" in my Sony RP HDTV. It downscales 720p input to 480p, go figure...but I don't have any issues with blur when gaming.

1080p nearly doubles the price of the TV, which is pointless because nothing will be broadcast in 1080p for years. Yes I agree it looks awsome when you are standing 4 feet in front of the display while watching a blu-ray movie at best buy, but are you going to sit that close at home?

Maybe on a PLASMA, but not on a LED DLP. You can get a nice Samsung LED DLP for right at $1100.00 now from Vanns.com. It's a closeout, but so is the plasma that he listed. You can even get last years 61" for $1400.00. On anything 50" and up if you calibrate it properly you can easily tell the difference between 720p and 1080p at more than 4 feet. If you can't then your TV isn't set up right.

On another note Blu-Ray is going to go the way of the HD-dvd, digital downloads are becoming more and more mainstreem. The PS3 was a great way to for sony to get their blu disk in the door, but microsoft already knew whats coming, that is why they never bundled their system with the hd-dvd. As bandwith increases(fios and other optical options) and hard drive sizes increase while droppping in prices, theres no longer a need for the physical media. By the time DVD actually dies(not soon) the bandwith and storage limitations of digital downloads will be just about gone. Till then I'll save my $30 a disk and be happy with a lower quality torrent, and if I like the movie a $5 HD rental charge on xboxlive.

No it's not for the following reasons:
- Sub $200.00 Blu Ray players will be available most likely by Christmas. It took a sub $200.00 DVD player before they took off as well.
- 1080p disc player sales were stronger in their first two years than DVD player sales were.
- More players will bring down media costs. DVD's weren't cheap at first either. Regardless, I haven't paid more than 20 bucks for a Blu-Ray disc yet. I buy new discs from Amazon, Ebay, Best Buy, Circuit City, and other places that have first week discounts and weekly specials. Used ones I get for less.
- MS will be coming out with a Blu-Ray Drive, the lack of bundling was for cost, and the HD-DVD format was an attempt to be part of a format group.
- Your HD rental still isn't a better deal than Netflix or the local rental store and it's NOT really HD. Netflix and rental stores will always have a better selection as well.
- More people use Netflix than use movie download services.
- 720p/1080i needs approximately 9GB/hour space for uncompressed video. 1080p needs a bit more. The only way you get "HD" movies on your Xbox360 is to use a lot of compression.
- Your compressed video is at best a little better than a DVD, but much lower than Blu-Ray that can run as high. You may not notice this as much on a smaller TV, but on a larger TV it's very noticeable. I could easily see it while catching up on BSG S4 on my 46" TV, especially in dark scenes.
- Comcast has already announced that they have plans to get rid of unlimited bandwidth, capping people at 250GB and charging for overages. Others will follow and you can expect tiered plans to show up not long after that.
- Cable, and FIOS providers will use bandwidth caps to push you towards on their proprietary demand and pay per view services, and away from downloads. At 9GB for an uncompressed DVD, and 25GB for a Blu-Ray movie, you're going to think twice about downloading movies.
- Even with FIOS at home, you're still limited by the upstream delivery speeds. I've had access to the intarnet at 45mbit u/d. It helped with multiple simultaneous downloads, but individual downloads still peaked around.
- If downloading movies will take over, why haven't downloadable game services taken over from boxed media?

I could go on, but hard media will be around a LOT longer than you think. If Blu-ray dies, it'll be apathy that kills it, not downloads.

[devildog]

lots of good info guys, thanks.

the only reason i am choosing 720 over 1080 is cost. I just dont need the extra resolution, and it doesnt warrent the price increase.

anyone know of any great deals they can list? trying to stick in the 46-50" range, and under 1500. if i can pick up a 1080 fitting those specs, ill do it. i also want to stick to a good brand. panasonic makes great plasmas, maybe a samsung will do as well.

[robnix]

lots of good info guys, thanks.

the only reason i am choosing 720 over 1080 is cost. I just dont need the extra resolution, and it doesnt warrent the price increase.

anyone know of any great deals they can list? trying to stick in the 46-50" range, and under 1500. if i can pick up a 1080 fitting those specs, ill do it. i also want to stick to a good brand. panasonic makes great plasmas, maybe a samsung will do as well.

http://www.vanns.com

Look at their closeout models.

[rkjunior303]

do they still sell 720p models?

[robnix]

do they still sell 720p models?

They have the exact model you were looking at for $1200.00, or you can go with a 50" 1080p led dlp for the same price.

[Hilltop Customs]

I have to play all my games at 1080i due to a "quirk" in my Sony RP HDTV. It downscales 720p input to 480p, go figure...but I don't have any issues with blur when gaming.

Maybe on a PLASMA, but not on a LED DLP. You can get a nice Samsung LED DLP for right at $1100.00 now from Vanns.com. It's a closeout, but so is the plasma that he listed. You can even get last years 61" for $1400.00. On anything 50" and up if you calibrate it properly you can easily tell the difference between 720p and 1080p at more than 4 feet. If you can't then your TV isn't set up right.

No it's not for the following reasons:
- Sub $200.00 Blu Ray players will be available most likely by Christmas. It took a sub $200.00 DVD player before they took off as well.
- 1080p disc player sales were stronger in their first two years than DVD player sales were.
- More players will bring down media costs. DVD's weren't cheap at first either. Regardless, I haven't paid more than 20 bucks for a Blu-Ray disc yet. I buy new discs from Amazon, Ebay, Best Buy, Circuit City, and other places that have first week discounts and weekly specials. Used ones I get for less.
- MS will be coming out with a Blu-Ray Drive, the lack of bundling was for cost, and the HD-DVD format was an attempt to be part of a format group.
- Your HD rental still isn't a better deal than Netflix or the local rental store and it's NOT really HD. Netflix and rental stores will always have a better selection as well.
- More people use Netflix than use movie download services.
- 720p/1080i needs approximately 9GB/hour space for uncompressed video. 1080p needs a bit more. The only way you get "HD" movies on your Xbox360 is to use a lot of compression.
- Your compressed video is at best a little better than a DVD, but much lower than Blu-Ray that can run as high. You may not notice this as much on a smaller TV, but on a larger TV it's very noticeable. I could easily see it while catching up on BSG S4 on my 46" TV, especially in dark scenes.
- Comcast has already announced that they have plans to get rid of unlimited bandwidth, capping people at 250GB and charging for overages. Others will follow and you can expect tiered plans to show up not long after that.
- Cable, and FIOS providers will use bandwidth caps to push you towards on their proprietary demand and pay per view services, and away from downloads. At 9GB for an uncompressed DVD, and 25GB for a Blu-Ray movie, you're going to think twice about downloading movies.
- Even with FIOS at home, you're still limited by the upstream delivery speeds. I've had access to the intarnet at 45mbit u/d. It helped with multiple simultaneous downloads, but individual downloads still peaked around.
- If downloading movies will take over, why haven't downloadable game services taken over from boxed media?

I could go on, but hard media will be around a LOT longer than you think. If Blu-ray dies, it'll be apathy that kills it, not downloads.

for a 50" tv, between 5-10 feet is where 1080p starts to show a noticable difference over 720p, 4 feet was just off the top of my head and the point I was trying to get across is: look at the tv from your normal viewing distance. Theres no point of getting right up on the tv when buying, if your going to view it from 15 feet away.

My bad about saying 1080p doubles the price, I havent dont much shopping around lately, only prices Ive seen are in big box stores. I argee closeouts have the best deals, but you also have to weigh the features against the price difference of the older models. I know with my DLP they were having horrible lag issues with the older modles(i think it was the type R, but thats off the top of my head again) so I stayed away from those closeouts since my primary HD viewing is games.

You bring up some great points about blu-ray. Its kind of like arguing about HD-dvd vs blu-ray though, its hard to tell what really is going to happen, it has way too many variables. I do think blu-ray will take off, espically when players and then disc costs drop, blu will probably dominate the market as dvd's slowly die off. But IMO people are already starting to realize how cumbersom a media optical storage is, look at music and the transition from cd to digital.

My tv is set up the absolute best I can do without paying someone else to do it. I watched 300, with digital download, comcast hd ppv, and normal upscaled dvd. Honestly there wasnt much difference that I could see other than both the DD and ppv looked slighty better than the dvd. I would imagine an hd-dvd or blu-disck would produce a cleaner image with no evidence of compression, but thats something I can accept....for now.

As for game downloads, gaming is all about the newest and best.....show me where I can buy GTA4 and COD4 through a digital media and I would instantly. Hell I would pay more just for digital instead of hard media. I'm already getting dirty disc errors on GTA4 and it hasnt left my 360 since it was unwraped(no I dont smoke either) The download time doesnt bother me at all(athough bandwith limits will play a big role in the future as you said) I would rather have my entire library stored on 1 hard drive instead of 50 freaking optical discs which can easily be ruined. Maybe I'm just spoiled from having a modded xbox with 50 games, 100 movies, and 30gigs of music at my fingertips for access without even leaving my chair.(not to mention Steam is doing great in the computer gaming market, but that is a small niche market compared to consol gaming)

If download services would get on the ball and have the same release dates as hard media, there would be some stiff competetion, untill then hard media will dominate.