Need recommendations for a HDTV!

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11-10-2006, 06:47 PM
Hadsus

Quote:

Originally Posted by KaoTiK

Don't be so hard on Torres, hitting is what he does. :)

As for HDTV's...

Alright, so basically is any name-brand HDTV that has 1080i going to suffice?

For example, is this a good TV?

I seriously suggest you look at these units in person since the cost is high and when I looked at them a year and a half ago (when I purchased my Panny) there were serious performance differences.

Plasma manufacturers like to create a 'boutique' look to the picture. And by that I mean juicing up the reds and greens. Plasmas excel in color saturation and these manufacturers can't resist pumping additional color in them to sell. For example, reds are often pushed and you end up with reddish faces that don't look natural. Same with greens....HD foliage is often very densely saturation with greens that look nice but not realistic. My Panny is a good TV but there is some green and red push.

The safe bet is to go with the Panasonics and Pioneers. They are value and PQ leaders. As far as the other sets, I didn't spend alot of time with them to be honest. If you are not too particular then, yes, the Sammy might be what the doctor ordered. It's a good manufacturer and they probably won't put junk in the marketplace. Go to the AVS forum and do a search on the TV and see what comes up.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forum...?s=&forumid=40

Those people are pretty fanatical so if it passes the smell test there is it probably a good bet. Here's a couple of places to start on the TV your interested in:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hlight=HPS4233
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hlight=HPS4233

Here's another place to look:

http://www.highdefforum.com/index.php?
11-10-2006, 07:58 PM
JDC

Quote:

Originally Posted by KaoTiK

...

Whenever I go to a store and look at displays, they all look unimpressive. 20 or 25 different HDTV's all showing the same thing, but they all look bad, then there are 3 or 4 that look simply amazing.
...

The 3 or 4 good looking pictures are probably because of the connection type. I'd be willing to bet when they have those 20-25 tv lined up the connection to the tv is not optimal and the signal is probably being split.
11-10-2006, 08:01 PM
KaoTiK

Quote:

Originally Posted by JDC

The 3 or 4 good looking pictures are probably because of the connection type. I'd be willing to bet when they have those 20-25 tv lined up the connection to the tv is not optimal and the signal is probably being split.

Well the few that look amazing aren't seperated from the bunch, they're all part of the same lineup.

Hadsus, thank you for the links, I'll check them out, see if I learn a thing or two on HDTVs.
11-10-2006, 10:07 PM
Kero-chan

Quote:

Originally Posted by KaoTiK

Well the few that look amazing aren't seperated from the bunch, they're all part of the same lineup.

Hadsus, thank you for the links, I'll check them out, see if I learn a thing or two on HDTVs.

lol, you could be learning stuff forever at avsforums. i stopped going there since i'm not in the market for a tv anymore, but man, talk about information overload. it's one of the best tv/reciever info sites though. i'm glad it's out there :)

imo, you should take the systematic aproach.
1.what is your budget?
2. what size are you looking for?
3. what technology and size will fit in your budget?
4. what technologies look the best. are you content with viewing angles, contrast, geometry for the selected technologies?
5. once you've narrowed the size and type of set/technology you want, evaluate which screen looks best(tweak the controls to see if you can get results you are looking for)

by doing all this, it will probably reduce the huge selection of tvs to something close to what you're looking for. just remember when you think you've found the set, research any known issues about it or the technology.

if you decide for some reason you like crt technology, i'd check this set out:
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Sony-...oductDetail.do
it will probably weigh like 180lbs though lol.
i'm suprised it's so cheap. i bought the older(new at the time)crapier model for $1600, now it's $950 lol.
11-11-2006, 12:00 AM
Hadsus

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kero-chan

lol, you could be learning stuff forever at avsforums. i stopped going there since i'm not in the market for a tv anymore, but man, talk about information overload. it's one of the best tv/reciever info sites though. i'm glad it's out there :)

Yup....I visited that site religiously for over a year and studied HDTVs to death. Generated about 700 posts. Then I settled on a Panasonic plasma and now only occasionally visit the site. When it comes time to buy another HDTV I'll probably need to spend more time there. I will say this....it can be very informative and when you decide what to get you pretty much know the entire poop. For the uninitiated (or those who don't what to waste too much time there), it is probably best to type in TV model numbers into a search and see what comes up.
11-11-2006, 12:53 AM
Kero-chan

another thing to note about hdtvs is: professional calibration.

basically you blow a load of money to make your tv the best it can be and it really works. everyone on the forums swears up and down by professional calibrators. i think it might be like $250 for a tv. personally i think it's rediculous you cant fine tune a tv like you can a computer monitor. you can go into the "secret" service menus and tweak stuff, but you can seriously permanently damage your tv forever! :(
that's why there are professionals -___-
i went into my service menu once to try to eliminate the red push and it was rather stressful. i mean i just payed this wad of cash which i was running the risk of breaking the tv and losing that money forever lol. man i hate hdtvs -___-

but it all depends on how anal you are about picture quality ;)
11-11-2006, 11:57 AM
InnovaZer0

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kero-chan

another thing to note about hdtvs is: professional calibration.

basically you blow a load of money to make your tv the best it can be and it really works. everyone on the forums swears up and down by professional calibrators. i think it might be like $250 for a tv. personally i think it's rediculous you cant fine tune a tv like you can a computer monitor. you can go into the "secret" service menus and tweak stuff, but you can seriously permanently damage your tv forever! :(
that's why there are professionals -___-
i went into my service menu once to try to eliminate the red push and it was rather stressful. i mean i just payed this wad of cash which i was running the risk of breaking the tv and losing that money forever lol. man i hate hdtvs -___-

but it all depends on how anal you are about picture quality ;)

Thats exactly what I did with my 30" Samsung TX-S3082 HDTV. I tweaked it, but figured out how to use the service menu.

I recorded down the OEM numbers of the ones I was going to mess with...and then accordingly adjusted for each input. What did I get, a CRT that puts out a stunning HD picture (second only to Sony's 34" XBR SPF TV.. imo for crt's). I got rid of any geometry problems, overscan = virtually gone. It's just awesome now! I saved so much money.

However as you said, proceed with caution...only if you know what your doing, and are prepared.
11-12-2006, 09:22 AM
Kero-chan

i dont know if it's been mentioned in the thread yet(too lazy to read through :p ) but there's a ton of black friday ads with pdfs from circuitcity, wal-mart, BB, and other places with what looks like some really awesome deals on hdtvs. i think there was a hitatchi 40 or 50 something inch plasma for like $1100.

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=4907
11-12-2006, 01:09 PM
john99

Quote:

Originally Posted by InnovaZer0

Thats exactly what I did with my 30" Samsung TX-S3082 HDTV. I tweaked it, but figured out how to use the service menu.

I recorded down the OEM numbers of the ones I was going to mess with...and then accordingly adjusted for each input. What did I get, a CRT that puts out a stunning HD picture (second only to Sony's 34" XBR SPF TV.. imo for crt's). I got rid of any geometry problems, overscan = virtually gone. It's just awesome now! I saved so much money.

However as you said, proceed with caution...only if you know what your doing, and are prepared.

:D Dose the Samsung TX-S3082 have a Super Fine Pitch picture tube? If not then it not HD. Just because it can take the signal doesn't mean it can display HD. Alot of the SD lcd can also take HD signal, but you still get crap SD picture. As far as the Sony XBR goes, there are two version, one has the Super Fine Pitch picture tube, & one does not. Cosmatically they look the same. As far as I know no one make HD crt tv any more, you may be able to still find some new Chinese made Toshiba with the Super Fine Pitch tube, but that about it.
11-12-2006, 02:27 PM
Timman_24

I've had a 52" Toshiba DLP HDTV 1080i for over a year. Bought it new for 2300 at Best Buy. You would be surprised, Best Buy has some good deals every now and then. BTW Gears of War looks AWESOME on that bad boy. A few weeks ago I picked up a Westinghouse 37" LCD HDTV 1080i. I compared it to Samsung, Sony, and many others. I thought the Westinghouse looked just as good if not better than all those. I got it for $1300 + tax. BTW if you use a Best Buy reward zone card you get about 100 dollars back (more if you spend more) in the mail to buy anything in the store.

I don't see why you are having such a hard time. I think the video feed they are running to the TVs you are looking at is very shitty or something. There are tons of LCD HDTVs out there in the sizes 32-37" for between 1000 and 1500 dollars. I don't know if you have Sam's Clubs up in Canada, but they have good deals on Samsung HDTVs sometimes.

If I were you I would get a DLP in 52" or more for the price of that LCD TV. Movies look awesome and games are amazing. Don't judge the TV's display by the feed they have going there. I brought a DVD to watch on the TV before I bought it. I knew what it was supposed to look like and made my comparison that way.
11-12-2006, 02:47 PM
Kero-chan

yeah, and if you game, dont be afraid to bring your console to the store. i mean, it's a semi-major purchase. you better be damn sure it's what you want lol. i think if i brought my crt home and plugged my GC into it and it sucked, i'd probably **** my pants. the weight of those things are no joke -___-
11-12-2006, 05:01 PM
Hadsus

Quote:

Originally Posted by Timman_24

Don't judge the TV's display by the feed they have going there. I brought a DVD to watch on the TV before I bought it. I knew what it was supposed to look like and made my comparison that way.

Why would you want to use standard definition 480p exclusively to judge the PQ of an HDTV (which is outputting either 1080i and 720p with HD signals)? You want to watch high definition signals to judge the performance of a high definition television. Whether the signal comes from Discovery HD or HDnet or whatever, these are digital signals. They either work or they don't (in other words, the PQ ain't gonna suck unless the source is substandard). Not to mention the TV's color decoder can err differently between SD and HD signals. And you can almost count on decoder error.....whether it be pushing red or green or an overly baked grayscale.
11-12-2006, 11:58 PM
Timman_24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hadsus

Why would you want to use standard definition 480p exclusively to judge the PQ of an HDTV (which is outputting either 1080i and 720p with HD signals)? You want to watch high definition signals to judge the performance of a high definition television. Whether the signal comes from Discovery HD or HDnet or whatever, these are digital signals. They either work or they don't (in other words, the PQ ain't gonna suck unless the source is substandard). Not to mention the TV's color decoder can err differently between SD and HD signals. And you can almost count on decoder error.....whether it be pushing red or green or an overly baked grayscale.

Most stores have an upscaler dvd player to get an idea of it. I'm mostly talking watching something that you are familar with to judge the colors, contrast, etc.
11-13-2006, 02:39 AM
Boneycat

Heh, the people at avsforum.com are a bunch of wannabe av snobs. I've gotten more info from audioholics.com.
11-13-2006, 03:08 AM
john99

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boneycat

Heh, the people at avsforum.com are a bunch of wannabe av snobs. I've gotten more info from audioholics.com.

:D The reason I left that sh*t place. Try to do a debate with them using scientific finding, & it like talking to a bunch of **********.

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