Question on buying a TV...

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Manny, the HP uses the same glass as the Sharp but I've heard the guts of the set are different. If you can find different, that'd be interesting to read.

I hadn't looked at Costco recently. The Philips is down to $1300? May have to go back and get another one for the bedroom

On standard TV, generally speaking is the picture quality better on a 37 inch LCD or a 42 inch plasma?

I'd say a 37". The bigger the screen, the crappier SD channels look. But I think you're really splitting hairs there, I don't see it being THAT bad on the 42". There's definitely times I hate analog broadcasts, and if I could have my way everything would be HD, but you can live with it.

BTW, let me put a plug in for Costco - instead of dealing with extended warranties, as long as you keep your membership at Costco you've got one with your membership. I've even read on AVS forum about people with expired memberships taking stuff back for credit.

Like I said, they took the POS Panasonic I bought back, no questions asked. Thought that was pretty cool of them. It's nice to have that piece of mind about things.

Good luck on the 37" if you decide to get it. You better be camping to get that one


Ginofan - the big reason I brought the extras up is that they're very useful. The idea that you can flash update the software on the TV is genius, and more flat panel makers are copying Philips and their idea on that.

And on the picture thing, when I was looking for displays, I really didn't think much of the feature to be able to quickly load your photos and play them. But now I have that capability, I use the out of it

[MannyIsGod]

Oh, if I get the 37 I'm not going to do it on Black Friday. I'll just do it now and save myself the trouble of camping and pay the extra hundred or whatever.

Jess and I hit up several stores tonight to check out TVs, and this is what I came up with:

The Westinghouse LCDs were pretty damn sweet, especially when you consider the price. I thought Best Buy did a crappy job one them up setting them up, however. They had one with an good old analog cable input. WTF???

The Pannisonic from above had the best picture I saw. But they were way more expensive instore. I don't want to buy it from an online retailer that I don't firmly trust, and I don't want to spend that much for it. When I started my budget was lower and it keeps creeping up. I have to draw the line because if not I'll end up with a dam 60inch Plasma that costs me 3 grand. I've never owned a TV larger than 27 inches, and even an upgrade to a Westinghouse is a huge upgrade for me. I'm in a position where I can afford to spend money on a TV now, but I don't necessarily want to spend too much, so I may have to redefine my budget back down with that in mind. But damn, that Panny looked NICE.

I saw a Sanyo at Wal-Mart that had a great picture and was priced very well. It was 42 inches and it had a great image. They had the contrast set a bit too high, but I'm pretty sure I can adjust that. I'm going to do some research on this, but this is another one in the running.

I didn't get a chance to look at the Phillips.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

The trick to looking at them in the stores is to either find the control panel on the side/bottom to adjust the menu settings, or to get a sales monkey to get you the remote to jack with.

For example, most of the plasmas are set up in the high 80s and up on all their settings in the store. In real life at home, they're down in the 50s on contrast/brightness, etc.

Don't know much about the Sanyo.

[MannyIsGod]

Yeah, they had most of their settings way out of wack. The color was way too rich on some of them and I know that its just the settings. I'm sure they just pull them out of the box and set them up.

I'm trying to research the Sanyo right now. It really did had a picture that was as good as the Pannisonic but was a bit washed out. I'm assuming that was simply because the settings were off.

One of the girls there tried to help me, but she couldn't figure out how to change and she finally gave up and just kinda wandared off. (at BB) Talk about customer service baby!

[gameFACE]

I'm shopping around myself. My basic approach is to go with a smaller better quality picture than a large projection tv with poor picture quality. I haven't seen a projection tv worth buying. Plus I like alot of daylight in the room and a projection tv doesn't really cut it. Plus the viewing angle is less.

Good luck.

[MannyIsGod]

I went ahead and picked up the 37 inch Westinghouse from BB. I just feel the higher resolution will work better for me because I'm also going to use it as a secondary computer monitor (poker from the couch? YEAH) so the higher resolution that an LCD offered over a plasma was attractive. Also, for the most part there were many opinions on the AVS forums that this set was solid with the exception of sound. Sound is a non factor because the sound will be going through a reciever.

Anyhow, if I experience any problems with it, its going back. In that situation I'll just go with the Pannasonic that was mentioned above and I just won't use it as a monitor.

Thanks for everyone that helped me out.

P.S. Best Buy also threw in a free DVD recorder by insignia. I really don't have a need for this and it sells for 100 bucks at BB. Can I return it and get a 100 dollar giftcard if I take it to another BB and just tell them I lost the receipt?

[DisgruntledLionFan#54,927]

After buying the 360, I had to overhaul my wiring and AV set-up. This is what is looks like before cleaning it up(little dusty and tough to hide cables with an open component/TV stand):



I'll take pics after I clean it up and views from the front.

Curious to see some pics of your set-ups...

[MannyIsGod]

HDTV straight up rules. I'm watching a show that is 30 minutes of movie trailers. WTF? And I love it!!

[DisgruntledLionFan#54,927]

Nothing But Trailers. I love that show. Bikini Destinations ain't bad, either. You are going to start loathing standard def TV.

This is my rig:

[MannyIsGod]

Dude, start? I already do. I just flip through the HD channels and try not to watch anything else. Its sad, but its true.

I'll post pics of our loft in a while. I've got to fix all of the wires with the twist ties I just picked up.

Nice setup btw.

[MannyIsGod]

The Westinghouse turned out to be a very good TV - especially for the price - BUT I'm going to end up taking it back. The extra detail from the LCD is less important to me than the better color and black levels I'd get from the plasma. Using it with my computer didn't turn out all that great, so I think I'd rather just get the Pannasonic from above. The color levels are what break it for me. From straight on, it looks excellet, but from a 45 degree angle it starts getting a bit washed out. Its not bad by any means, but I notice it so I think I'd rather just go witht he plasma.

However, for anyone who doesn't want to spend as much, the Westinghouse is a very very good TV especially for the price.

[ginobili20]

I just picked up that Panasonic 42px60u at Circuit City for 1265 inc. tax. If you search on the gottadeal forums. There is a 10% off CC coupon that allows you to get it so cheap.

[TheSanityAnnex]

I also just picked up my first HD plasma from Sears. I was leaning towards Samsung and had it ready to go, but a Magnavox caught my eye that was bigger and had the same picture quality. I ended up with a 37 in. instead of a 32 in. and I'm loving it. Got my NBA League Pass ordered today as well! Only problem out here is that I'm hooked up to cable and can't get NFL Sunday ticket.

If I ran a splitter, would I be able to run both Cable and DirecTV? I need to watch my Charger games and am sick of spending my Sundays and money in Sports Bars.

[MannyIsGod]

You need a direct HDTV Receiver. That box should have a way to connect to your TV through either a component video output or a DVI or HDMI output. So yeah, you can easily run both. I know Kori and LJ have both DirectTV and Cable for Sunday Ticket, but I don't know if they have both on the same TV.

[TheSanityAnnex]

You need a direct HDTV Receiver. That box should have a way to connect to your TV through either a component video output or a DVI or HDMI output. So yeah, you can easily run both. I know Kori and LJ have both DirectTV and Cable for Sunday Ticket, but I don't know if they have both on the same TV.

Sounds good. I guess if I do it I'll have to switch off with the HDMI cables because my TV only has one HDMI input.

[MannyIsGod]

Sounds good. I guess if I do it I'll have to switch off with the HDMI cables because my TV only has one HDMI input.

You can just component video if you have those open. Its not a big difference.

HDMI stands for High Defenition Media Interface. Its a purely digital cable that transmits both audio and video along one cable. It looks like a USB port on steroids.

[Kori Ellis]

You need a direct HDTV Receiver. That box should have a way to connect to your TV through either a component video output or a DVI or HDMI output. So yeah, you can easily run both. I know Kori and LJ have both DirectTV and Cable for Sunday Ticket, but I don't know if they have both on the same TV.

We use DirecTV downstairs and TW cable upstairs, so not on same TV.

[MannyIsGod]

To those of you who own plasmas, did you have any problems with burn in?

[King]

To those of you who own plasmas, did you have any problems with burn in?

Burn-in takes a long time - but you can get ghosting (which I haven't, yet), which goes away. Most of the plasmas are equipped with pixel shifting and a burn-in screen to prevent these. The main problem with it (supposedly) is with the sidebars on 4:3 pictures, if you watch for many hours straight. You're recommended to watch in 16:9 as much as you can.

I haven't had any issues with burn-in, though.

[DisgruntledLionFan#54,927]

You should never take for granted that HDMI is better than component. You should try them both out and see what looks best with your equipment. Component can, and does, look better in some set-ups.

[MannyIsGod]

Burn-in takes a long time - but you can get ghosting (which I haven't, yet), which goes away. Most of the plasmas are equipped with pixel shifting and a burn-in screen to prevent these. The main problem with it (supposedly) is with the sidebars on 4:3 pictures, if you watch for many hours straight. You're recommended to watch in 16:9 as much as you can.

I haven't had any issues with burn-in, though.

I hate taking a program out of its origional aspect ratio but I doubt I'll be watching much 4:3 content anyhow. I read a ton of burn in this afternoon and it seems to be a much smaller issue with newer sets.

Oh, and the Panasonic I'm getting is not the one above, but it virtually is. I'm going to get the TH-42PX60U, the one above is the 600U. They're the same actual TVs, but the 600U has better sound, a differet bezel, and a PC input.

[jaffies]

Oh, and the Panasonic I'm getting is not the one above, but it virtually is. I'm going to get the TH-42PX60U, the one above is the 600U. They're the same actual TVs, but the 600U has better sound, a differet bezel, and a PC input.

J&R has a pretty good price on the 600U: about $1800 delivered

[TheSanityAnnex]

I was at Best Buy today picking up some and I happened to browse through their PreThankgiving day sale catalog........................the TV I bought at Sears was 300 dollars cheaper at Best Buy. I marched my ass over to Sears and demanded my 300 dollars. They handed it to me with a frown. I am now extremely happy.

[DisgruntledLionFan#54,927]

So I don't have to ask anymore dumb questions is there a good place to get the total low-down on all this technology with some set-up advice.

http://www.cnet.com/4520-7874_1-6635...ain.understand

[MannyIsGod]

If you want to camp at Best Buy on Thanksgiving, you can pick up that Panasonic for 999+tax.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....&type=category

I'm trying to decide how much sleeping at home that night is worth to me.