Foo - LCD TVs anyone?

Who has one? Which one and why?

My TV went TU this past week so now I'm looking at an LCD panel. Saw the Sony XBR tonight and what a picture!! But... it's got a fairly steep price.

So... who knows about LCDs and what should I look for?

http://xs110.xs.to/xs110/06492/lcd.jpg

http://xs410.xs.to/xs410/06492/lcd2.jpg

Consumer Reports is rating the LCD's on par with Plasma and starting to lean more to the LCD.

Cool, thanks, Portis!

(I probably ought to subscribe to consumer reports)

Plasmas have the "screen-door effect" that makes the image look gritty or dirty. I don't like it. LCDs look much cleaner and clear.

I've got one. It is a 23" screen, LG. I like it much more than the old beast that lived in my living room.

This is a good comparison to start with:
http://www.flattvpeople.com/tutorials/lcd-vs-plasma.asp

I purchased a Sony KDL-40s2010 and am happy with the decision. Basically, in the room I watch TV in, it can be difficult to control the light and since I mostly watch TV, an LCD seemed to be the right choice. If you can watch TV in a light controlled room and tend to watch more movies, I think that plasmas have an edge.

In my opinion, the Sony XBR's are simply the best but they cost too much for my budget but if money is no object, I think that would be about the best you could buy.



If you should decide to purchase an extended warranty, Sony sells additional warranty years at a very good price.

I have a 26" Sony Bravia. It's the best TV I've ever had so far, and it easily doubles a s a big PC monitor. Check out B&H Photo's website - I was surprised to see that their TV's prices are very competitive.

I would wait. Personally the bottom hasn't fallen out enough for me. LCD tv's still havent caught up to the crashing prices of LCD overall. Look how much the PC LCDs have dropped...in a year they have dropped 70%ish...TV's will follow suit in 4 to 6 months...or else someone is making a tonne of coin on nothing.

Yep. I'm waitin'. I own a smaller one, but won't buy a big one for awhile.

Yep. I'm waitin'. I own a smaller one, but won't buy a big one for awhile.

To be honest, my timeline is basedon canada...states my be a bit sooner as your stores have a better overall bulk rate and carry stock for a shorter period. I really need to visit WA with 3000$ in my hand...sure would make things a little quicker.

If you can spare the extra 10" of thickness, get a DLP, very very bright, lighter (in weight) than an LCD if you have to move it around, and you can get a much bigger screen, plus it seems to scale really nicely.

just bought a 55 inch Sony LCD projection tv over a Hitachi DLP one... no regrets here. got it for about the same price as a 42 inch mid range LCD or plasma. if anything its a little to big, and because i dont have a hd signal, sometimes the picture is a little fuzzy, but DVD's and my XBOX 360 look amazing. kinda thinking about going to an HD signal. the only kicker is the box you need to get that runs you couple hundred.

My 56" samsung has a built in hd tuner. :p

^^^ luckeyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy my box will cost about 350$$$$. crazy

A DLP would be pretty nice

some of them you can also use as a computer monitor big screen bike forum

^^^ luckeyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy my box will cost about 350$$$$. crazy

How can a hdtv not come with a built in tuner in today's world??

LCD's are garbage for gaming.

Get a big, mean CRT and be happy.

I like my 63" Aquous Ti!

We've got a rear-projection LCD from Sony. One of the Wegas from two years ago. It's got a great picture, but the cooling fan often emits a high-pitched buzz that we're going to get looked at while it's still under warrantee. A flat panel would look so good above the fireplace, but it doesn't appear that's going to happen for me.... :o

My neighbor across the street has one of those ceiling-mounted HDTV projection devices in his basement. Football on an 11 foot wall in high def is stupid awesome. Plus, he's got a kegerator behind the stadium seating recliners.
:beer:

What gets me is all these people are snatching up these tv's with wide aspect ratios and most everything is still a 4:3 source. So then they use some sort of built in stretching in the TV and it ends look up looking like crap.

What gets me is all these people are snatching up these tv's with wide aspect ratios and most everything is still a 4:3 source. So then they use some sort of built in stretching in the TV and it ends look up looking like crap.

The TV can easily be set to 4:3 ratio. You get used to the black bars on either side of the screen. Most folks who get a widescreen don't understand they can set the TV this way, so they get that squatty look.

The TV can easily be set to 4:3 ratio. You get used to the black bars on either side of the screen. Most folks who get a widescreen don't understand they can set the TV this way, so they get that squatty look.

Even if they do, they won't set it that way because they don't want the black bars on the side. Fact is, my 6 year old 38" CRT looks better than most of these new screens for most viewing. That makes it hard to upgrade for me.

DLP and LCOS projection sets have their pluses and minuses. Many of the projection sets are capable of displaying a higher resolution 1080p picture while the less expensive LCD's and Plasmas have a native resolution of 720p but are capable of 1080i. Rear Projection TV's have a narrow viewing angle so in order to see a good, bright picture on a projection TV, you need to sit directly in front of the TV. If your room has seats that would view the TV at angle, an LCD or Plasma might be a better choice.

Finally, all projection sets have a 2 to 3 year lamp life (about 2000 hours) and at $200 to $300 per lamp, there will be some additional cost in future. LCD's and Plasmas are rated by the number of hours it takes before the lamp is half as bright. Typically, this can be anywhere from 30000 to 60000 hours, depending on the quality of the LCD / Plasma you purchase.

Even if they do, they won't set it that way because they don't want the black bars on the side. Fact is, my 6 year old 38" CRT looks better than most of these new screens for most viewing. That makes it hard to upgrade for me.

The quality of SD TV on a high definition set depends on the TV you buy and I think that the quality of the SD TV on the LCD is at least as good as what I could see on my old CRT. Most of my viewing is on the local HD channels. Just my experience...

I wish there were more widescreen programming but that will come in time. At first, the networks didn't want to invest in HD because no one had high definition sets and no one was interested in HD TV's because there was no programming. The point is that one has to come before the other. Either you have to buy a wide aspect TV and wait while the programming catches up or you have to watch SD TV until widescreen is more prevalent. Widescreen will be the standard in time. We've been buying widescreen DVD's for years now.

I can see my samsung dlp bright as day from 45 degrees on each side, which means that at 10ft distance, your couch would be like, 20ft wide in order for people to start getting a dim image. The only problem is vertical. It's only about 10 degrees or so, so the picture looks great while i'm sitting down but i lose about 20% brightness when I stand up.

Right now I get almost all the standard networks on HD, most of the new shows are wide screen on CBS, NBC, ABC, WPIX, PBS, discovery (probably the best channel), etc.