Flat Screen TV help

My DH is driving me nuts trying to pick out a TV

what your thoughts about plasma, LCD, or LED?? any recommendations

from what i heard Plasmas are on their way out & use alot of energy. i know LEDS are the opposite. but also more expensive. we priced a 46 inch one for $1900. however, we saw a really nice 52 inch samsung LCD for about $1,100.00 . so confused. not as much as DH. he has spend HOURS this weekend researching on the internet

sounds bad but looking forward to go work to get away from him talking about it!!!!

Re: Flat Screen TV help

I don't know much, but I just bought my DH a Sharp Aquos 52" LCD. It had great reviews and I got a really great deal on it. Plasmas are on their way out. There are some issues with them, which is why they're so cheap. If you play video games on it the image can burn onto the screen, so it won't last as long. One of the employees at Best Buy told us that. LEDs are newer technology I believe, but also more money. The picture does seem a bit better on the LEDs.

We love our new Sharp tv. I would highly recommend it.

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I know how ur feeling!! Me and DH just went threw this. After many long days/nights comparing t.v's we choice to get the LCD.
Plasma like you said are on there way out & they say that you should hook video games up to them cause it can frezze the picture on the screen... In the end we chose to go with a LCD..

Good Luck with ur search!!

Message edited 1/3/2010 8:04:37 PM.

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If I had the $$$$ LED first...

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I'm a good person to ask because I have both!

I have a 55' Samsung LED and a 37' Aquos LCD and a Sony Bravia 27' LCD.

The LED is by FAR my fave. The picture quality is just far superior. If you can swing it, do it.

If you're not a HD junkie and you can't tell the difference, then save the money and get an LCD!

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We just bought 4 large flat screens. We went with all Samsung, based on a recommendation of someone who knows TV's. We bought 1 LED and the rest LCD's. We only bought 1 LED because they were pretty expensive. The picture quality is amazing on it, the LCD's are perfect too though.

I wouldnt get plasma.

Message edited 1/4/2010 10:52:03 AM.

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I just wanted to add that we have had a plasma for over a year and a half now. DH plays a lot of video games, and we have had no problems with burn in. We have a Panasonic Viera and love it.

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We have a plasma and an LED. The plasma is almost 5 years old and it's starting to wear out so I wouldn't recommend that. I think it sucks a lot of energy too but ours is huge. It's our bedroom tv now and is fine for the little amount we use it.

We have a Samsung LED and it's awesome. The only thing is that the speakers on the tv stink so you need to use your own surround sound or get a sound bar. DH is an HD snob and this tv passed his test.

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We have a 52 inch Sony Bravia XBR4 which is an LCD. DOn't get a plasma, its true that the quality isn't there and that they consume quite a bit of energy. Our TV is already almost 2 years old but I love it! And I was totally against such a large purchase. I don't know anything about the LED ones though. My DH talked about it forever too.

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We just bought a 46" LED Sharp Aquos and love it. The difference between the LED and the LCD was amazing, which ultimately made our decision for us. We got a great deal at PC Richard the day after Christmas. It's still on sale right now and they are offering 12 months 0% interest if you need it.

I heard that the best time to buy a TV is January/February because the newer models are coming out so they want to clear inventory.

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DH and I just bought a 50" Plasma (the Panasonic Viera)

we love it. DH did all the research but for the size, the Plasma was the best deal, and something about Plasma's having truer black colors than LCDs (LED was wayyy over budget).

Everyone I talked to said Plasma gets a bad rap bc they are much better now than compared to a few years ago - ie burnout and image retention.

I also like that if you are sitting to the side, you can still see the picture very clearly

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There are so many misconceptions in this thread i'm not sure where to start.

LED - the above mention LED is actually LCD with backlit LED. This produces a brighter picture which will led to better colors. Power consumption is much lower. There is an all LED tv and projection but they are not mainstream yet as they are expensive.

Plasma - Plasmas will be around for a long time. If Panasonic were to ever stop making them, then its over. Plasma are cheapier because of parts. Plasmas don't have as good as a black level then LCD tv's. Plasmas are no phone with direct sunlight. Plasmas weight more also. Image retention and burning in are 2 different things. I would not worry about either as this was common in 1st generation Plasmas.

LCD - LCD has been around for a long time (same LCD as your computer monitor) So what they are doing now and this is true with plasmas is updating the refresh rate so you see a cleaner picture. 120 hz, 240 hz... Plasma is measured differently but comparable is 600 hz.

Price wise for lower to higher,
Plasma - LCD - LCD LED

Quality wise for lower to higher,
Subjective

(I own plasma and lcd. Some things look better on different displays.) I enjoy both of them and really don't compare them as LCD, Plasma. I compare them as TV.

Brands; Subjective also....

Do some homework buy reading "GOOD" reviews and not "PREFERENCE" reviews and look at the store. Keep in mind at the store, they are not fine tuned. Get a remote and play with it.

I could post at more but i think this is a good start.

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My DH is really into TVs, I'd say go with the LED. We have a Plasma but when it goes we will be replacing it with an LED, they are amazing.

Message edited 1/4/2010 2:44:02 PM.

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FWIW: I'm waiting for a 50" plus OLED....

OLED
LED
LCD/Plasma

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thanks everyone!

we desperately need a new TV for the living room. we have a small tube TV in there now & can't see it clearly from where the couch is.

if we could afford it i would go for the LED. we priced a 46" samsung for about $1,900 (before tax & extended warranty). However, the samsung 52" LCD is going for about $1,100.. $800 is a big difference especially since we got property taxes due next month.

i think we are leaning towards the LCD. i just wish he would make a decision already. he is driving himself AND me nuts

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another person voting for plasma! i agonized over the decision and settled on a 46" panasonic viera G10.

i originally wanted an LED, but when i read the professional tech geek reviews, they all said that LEDs are so much better than LCDs, that they are ALMOST equal to plasmas in picture quality for motion processing, true blacks, sharpness, true colors, and viewing angles. i was like, well, why don't i just get a plasma? i like the viera g10 b/c it's supposedly the brightly plasma ever made with the lowest energy consumption, plus the screens now last as long as LCD screens with no burn in. i think plasmas get a bad rap b/c the early generations were pretty bad. i can also say that whenever the cablevision guy came to hook up the cable, he said he could tell when he walked in the door that it was a plasma b/c of superior picture quality.

in the end, though, as long as you stay away from generic brands and old models, you probably can't go wrong. i know i'd love to have an ultra-thin samsung LED if i could afford it -- and i wouldn't care about black levels!

ETA: the reason we settled on the viera g10 specifically was that it won "Best of CES" in the tv category for 2009. so i would def keep my eye on this year's Consumers Electronic Show, as acerone mentioned. didn't disappoint me, at least.

Message edited 1/4/2010 7:44:49 PM.

Re: Flat Screen TV help

we recently got a 47inch LCD (LG SL80) so its the 1080, 240hz...

1200 on sale.

Re: Flat Screen TV help

a lot of new TV's are coming out in the next month or so... If you can hold out a little longer do it...