Buying a TV

[Mr Dio]

So, I want to spend no more than $1500-$1600 & want at least a 36" Flat Screen HDTV.

Do I get plasma?
DLP?
LCD?

What brand? Model?
Stuff to watch for?
Buy the extended warranty?

[Spam]

I'd ask Bjorn...just Bjorn.

[SequSpur]

Yeah. Sounds cool.

Dell.com

[Mr Dio]

Bjorns has stuff under $2K???

[Zombie]

Don't buy a new one, i'm sure mouse can build you one for a lot less money. :elephant

[3rdCoast]

Don't buy a new one, i'm sure mouse can build you one for a lot less money. :elephant

Build or Steal? :bling

[midgetonadonkey]

I bought a 52 inch RCA projection HDTV in August of 2003 and I have had a shit load of problems with it for about a year now. The color board has gone out 3 times, the repairman fucked it up once, so it went out twiceo n it's own . It went out originally in December of last year and it hasn't been right since. I had a repairman here today because red lines were outlining everything and that is when I discovered the color board went out for the third time. I asked him why my TV kept messing up and he told me that people shouldn't expect new TVs to last more than 2 years. They are not made like the old tube TVs of yesteryear. All I can suggest is that where ever you buy the TV from, you buy the extended warrenty. I have the Circuit City extended coverage and that is the only reason I have been able to get this TV fixed as many times as I have.

[Mr Dio]

Thanks Mid...Any other stories such as this one..Or better?

[SequSpur]

I've had a Mitsubishi 60" now ghetto screen and it works fine.

[Spam]

I've had a Mitsubishi 60" now ghetto screen and it works fine.

Does that mean you carry it around on your shoulder when you act cool?

Of course it'd still be coffee table level but still.

[Useruser666]

Sony
Toshiba
Panasonic

Mitsubishi


Everything else sucks.

Sony has a flat screen WEGA HD "32" or 36" for around that much. They are CRT(tube) though.

[ZStomp]

I asked him why my TV kept messing up and he told me that people shouldn't expect new TVs to last more than 2 years. They are not made like the old tube TVs of yesteryear.

That's some fucked up shit. 2 years?!?! Wow. I can't believe that was said.

[ZStomp]

I've had a Mitsubishi 60" now ghetto screen and it works fine.

I've had a 50-inch Mitsubishi for over 3 years and I have not had any problems.

[Useruser666]

I have 3 27" Sony WEGA flat screens that are perfect after 5 years. I also have a 32" WEGA HD TV that is awsome after 2 years.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

I've got a 42" Panasonic plasma, TH-42PD50U/P. It's a good model, the problem is it only has one HDMI connection (which is pretty much the multimedia future). Gonna probably take it back and get a Philips 42PF9936A (though that looks to be a little more than you want to spend).

It's hard to give you a recommendation in your price range with that criteria.

If I were you I'd save up some more money and here's why...

If you're a sports junkie, plasma is the best bet for you, DLP second, LCD third.

Plasma is THE screen for watching sports. Has the deepest blacks of the three flat screen technologies, best picture. You do have to watch out for burnin, but some common sense will prevent that from ever being a problem (if you decide to get one I'll expand on this).

Recommendation: Panasonic TH-37PD25U

DLP - second to plasma, probably your best bet if you want to stay in your price range. The downside is that there are known issues with the color wheels (DLP picture is created by thousands of tiny spinning red-green-blue color wheels), namely in fast action and areas of high contrast (white-black) people see the colors spinning (they're called rainbows).

Recommendations: Samsung HL-P5085W.

LCD - sucks for sports. LCDs have a slow refresh rate, and high action/sporting events often show some lag or artifacting in the picture, not something you expect to see on your new expensive TV.

Recommendations: None (if you really twist my arm, Samsung LT-P326W).

Youv'e also got CRTs as an option, the downside is they weigh a freakin' ton. Think 200+ pounds.

Recommendations: Sony KD-34XBR960


I took about two months researching all this before buying mine, feel free to ask away.

[HB22inSA]

I just bought a new 57" DLP HD Toshiba.

So far, it's great, although I've only had it about a week.