Recommend an HDTV

[lordofduct]

You know what I've done... brought hand held consoles like a Nomad or something to the store and hooked it up to the TV and see if the video quality is good.

If you have a dealer who is any one bit interested in selling you an expensive HDTV, they shouldn't have a problem with it. And if they do, well hey, they don't deserve your fucking patronage.





I've dealt with Televisions for 16 years now (repair and the sort). I've had several people ask me what they should look for. And my suggestions are simple:

A) Don't fucking listen to the dealer, he's an idiot. If he knew what he was talking about, he wouldn't be selling TV's and Brandsmart or Best Buy
B) If the TV has flashy catch phrases plastered all over it that make no sense, ignore the TV. For instance, if it says "120hz scan rate" on an LCD panel! Ummm, walk away. It's a fucking joke, 120hz is for analog displays... LCD aren't analog! (for digital displays you want to look for the 'refresh rate', should be marked in milliseconds).
C) Use your own fucking eyes. I don't care what anyone says, they don't know what YOU want to see. I like certain things in my display, but I don't notice other imperfections. The slight stretching of old school video games when displaying in Widescreen doesn't bother me. You might not care about the slight blur that occurs in a Plasma screen.

Go in, look around, decide on a price range and accept the fact you might spend 200 dollars over your price range. But don't go higher then that (that's why it's your price range). Change the channel, go to the kind of stuff you know you'll be watching on this TV. You watch nature channels? Go to Discovery and see how it looks. You like Sports, go to ESPN and see how it looks. If everything YOU want to see looks great in your eyes. Fuck what the salesman says about how "but this other more expensive model has a better picture"... you like this one. Fuck them.

D) Buy name brand. And make sure it's a name brand you can trust. You don't want to buy Songya, who the fuck Songya? You don't know anything about this TV at all. Think of this as an investment, and you want this bitch to last... so go the extra mile. Look at em' all, buy a brand you know, and most importantly write down every one you like and leave the store. Go home and read the reviews about them. You want to know if other people had nightmares with this model (this is why you buy name brand, more people buy Sony or Samsung, then they do that Songya or Sumsateg).

If you did have a very helpful and generous salesperson, take down their name as well. Some one who does a good job at their job deserves the credit and you should ask for them when you return. Fuck the dousche bag who offered only BS, but if the guy really helped... just mentioning his name even if he isn't there the next time, requires that he is put on the ticket and gets his fair cut of the commission. I know what I said in A, but some of these guys are putting themselves through school and do offer some good help. Just keep your bullshit meter on high! I mean, a good dealer might not even have good tech facts, but he will be the guy who can get you manuals, or ask his supervisor for the answer, and also lets you fiddle around with it so you can make sure you really like the TV. This person who shows patience and willingness is a good salesman and deserves it.

[peace4myheart]

Lordofduct, you can be my TV salesman any day. So what TV do you own and how much you pay for them??? BTW, since you are an expert and all, have you ever bought a TV that you didn't like???

[fuctfuct]

Xbox 360 looks good.. maybe a little less vibrant then the TV i returned but i have yet to "tweak" it.
Wii looks way better then on the last TV (Component)
SNES looks .. like an SNES on an HDTV lol .. but no glitching or weird frame rate shit

Thats all i tested so far.

Ok for vibrance youll wanna do this:

Go into picture, picture mode, then set it to vivid.

Hope that helps =D

Vivd is WAY to vivid with this TV .. but i think i will use this setting nad tone it down a bit when i have time to fidle.

You know what I've done... brought hand held consoles like a Nomad or something to the store and hooked it up to the TV and see if the video quality is good.

If you have a dealer who is any one bit interested in selling you an expensive HDTV, they shouldn't have a problem with it. And if they do, well hey, they don't deserve your fucking patronage.





I've dealt with Televisions for 16 years now (repair and the sort). I've had several people ask me what they should look for. And my suggestions are simple:

A) Don't fucking listen to the dealer, he's an idiot. If he knew what he was talking about, he wouldn't be selling TV's and Brandsmart or Best Buy
B) If the TV has flashy catch phrases plastered all over it that make no sense, ignore the TV. For instance, if it says "120hz scan rate" on an LCD panel! Ummm, walk away. It's a fucking joke, 120hz is for analog displays... LCD aren't analog! (for digital displays you want to look for the 'refresh rate', should be marked in milliseconds).
C) Use your own fucking eyes. I don't care what anyone says, they don't know what YOU want to see. I like certain things in my display, but I don't notice other imperfections. The slight stretching of old school video games when displaying in Widescreen doesn't bother me. You might not care about the slight blur that occurs in a Plasma screen.

Go in, look around, decide on a price range and accept the fact you might spend 200 dollars over your price range. But don't go higher then that (that's why it's your price range). Change the channel, go to the kind of stuff you know you'll be watching on this TV. You watch nature channels? Go to Discovery and see how it looks. You like Sports, go to ESPN and see how it looks. If everything YOU want to see looks great in your eyes. Fuck what the salesman says about how "but this other more expensive model has a better picture"... you like this one. Fuck them.

D) Buy name brand. And make sure it's a name brand you can trust. You don't want to buy Songya, who the fuck Songya? You don't know anything about this TV at all. Think of this as an investment, and you want this bitch to last... so go the extra mile. Look at em' all, buy a brand you know, and most importantly write down every one you like and leave the store. Go home and read the reviews about them. You want to know if other people had nightmares with this model (this is why you buy name brand, more people buy Sony or Samsung, then they do that Songya or Sumsateg).

If you did have a very helpful and generous salesperson, take down their name as well. Some one who does a good job at their job deserves the credit and you should ask for them when you return. Fuck the dousche bag who offered only BS, but if the guy really helped... just mentioning his name even if he isn't there the next time, requires that he is put on the ticket and gets his fair cut of the commission. I know what I said in A, but some of these guys are putting themselves through school and do offer some good help. Just keep your bullshit meter on high! I mean, a good dealer might not even have good tech facts, but he will be the guy who can get you manuals, or ask his supervisor for the answer, and also lets you fiddle around with it so you can make sure you really like the TV. This person who shows patience and willingness is a good salesman and deserves it.

Good info.. Thanks. I try my best (with my limited knowledge) to do most of these things but its so hard to really know till you get it home and have the time to mess around with it. This is why i buy at big box stores. I Just return them if i don't like it. This is my 4th HDTV in the last 60 days or so lol. Each one is getting progressively more expensive.

I like this TV so far.. It looks better and worse at the same time as my last. Hard to explain. Alot of people on the web seem to like it. I really liked the picture of the Toshiba but the audio problem was really annoying. It was almost like that option where it auto adjusts the volume when something loud happens... but it was to extreme and there was no way to turn it off.

[D.D.D.]

Good info.. Thanks. I try my best (with my limited knowledge) to do most of these things but its so hard to really know till you get it home and have the time to mess around with it. This is why i buy at big box stores. I Just return them if i don't like it. This is my 4th HDTV in the last 60 days or so lol. Each one is getting progressively more expensive.

I like this TV so far.. It looks better and worse at the same time as my last. Hard to explain. Alot of people on the web seem to like it. I really liked the picture of the Toshiba but the audio problem was really annoying. It was almost like that option where it auto adjusts the volume when something loud happens... but it was to extreme and there was no way to turn it off.

I know what you mean about returning TVs... It's so damn hard to find something that plays your old stuff perfectly (or at least damn well) and something that actually is truly a good HDTV.

With those SED TVs, I had hope for those of us that love CRT performance but in an HDTV package and resolution. http://www.hdtvsolutions.com/sed_tvs.htm
Here's hoping that they come soon and live up to the pre-builds that they've shown at previous CES shows.

[Droid party]

Just a quick FYI for those looking at Sony lcd tv's. They use Samsung panels in thier tv's so essentialy you are paying extra for a samsung with only minor differences (ie:casing, tuner,menu and maybe a backlight or something)

Yes Lordofduct, I'm one of those douchbag salesmen.

[Niode]

Good info.. Thanks. I try my best (with my limited knowledge) to do most of these things but its so hard to really know till you get it home and have the time to mess around with it. This is why i buy at big box stores. I Just return them if i don't like it. This is my 4th HDTV in the last 60 days or so lol. Each one is getting progressively more expensive.

I like this TV so far.. It looks better and worse at the same time as my last. Hard to explain. Alot of people on the web seem to like it. I really liked the picture of the Toshiba but the audio problem was really annoying. It was almost like that option where it auto adjusts the volume when something loud happens... but it was to extreme and there was no way to turn it off.

I know what you mean about returning TVs... It's so damn hard to find something that plays your old stuff perfectly (or at least damn well) and something that actually is truly a good HDTV.

With those SED TVs, I had hope for those of us that love CRT performance but in an HDTV package and resolution. http://www.hdtvsolutions.com/sed_tvs.htm
Here's hoping that they come soon and live up to the pre-builds that they've shown at previous CES shows.

Looks interesting… I might be tempted to get one of those when they come out. I've been looking for a decent contender to Plasma for a while. Gonna stick the Plasma in my room and get an SED TV for the living room if they live up to expectations. (on the life of the product side I mean being at least 100x longer lasting than a Plasma)

[StevieC]

If you're going Plasma, then brand choice is a no-brainer. Panasonic.
For LCD's I'd say either Samsung or NEC

[D.D.D.]

Since we're talking TVs, I might need to buy a TV soon and especially in Japan, CRTs are wicked hard to find not to mention significantly more expensive for delivery here. Don't get me wrong, I'd still rather wait a year or two and get an SED TV but I'd like to watch TV that doesn't take 5~10 minutes for the power supply to warm up. (Old CRT)

So, what are the downsides to a plasma TV versus an LCD (as it seems a Panasonic Viera is what I'd likely get from all the good things I've heard people here say about them)?
If it helps, I plan to connect my PC to the TV as well as play NES/SNES/GEN/SAT older games on it too.

[crackoaf]

I bought the base level Samsung 32 inch LCD tv last summer (2007) and I absolutely love it. I believe the model is like LNT3242H but in the current generation that is changed. I did, however, pop into a best buy last week and saw basically the exact same tv still on sale. Now, I admit I'm not a huge videophile, but the tv has everything I want, including enough inputs for my three systems (xbox and ps2 via component and saturn via s-video) and my dvd through an HDMI. Everything I watch in HD looks great. I'm a big sports fan so I watch a ton of fast paced professional sports with no problems. Haven't had any problems with black levels, which seems like its becoming a thing of the past with LCDs. I think this tv is only like 700 bucks now which is pretty good IMO.

I know there's some other more informed opinions on this thread but there's a testimonial from a regular joe!

[racketboy]

Since we're talking TVs, I might need to buy a TV soon and especially in Japan, CRTs are wicked hard to find not to mention significantly more expensive for delivery here. Don't get me wrong, I'd still rather wait a year or two and get an SED TV but I'd like to watch TV that doesn't take 5~10 minutes for the power supply to warm up. (Old CRT)

So, what are the downsides to a plasma TV versus an LCD (as it seems a Panasonic Viera is what I'd likely get from all the good things I've heard people here say about them)?
If it helps, I plan to connect my PC to the TV as well as play NES/SNES/GEN/SAT older games on it too.

Plasmas eat up a lot more power, don't they?

Just to remind everyone, assuming you don't need a super big screen, flat CRTs make for wonderful HDTVs and are much more affordable and have better color (blacks).