Need tv buying advice

[Droc]

Looking to get a new TV. 55 to 60 in. Under $2k.
After size, blacks, quality...smart is required 3d not needed but wouldn't mind

Last TV I got was six years ago and I'm honestly lost.

Plasma vs led? I'm years behind on the debate.
Brand? I used to be a Samsung purist but I hear they have horrible quality control now.

Can someone recommend me some screens or ones to avoids.

 

[Redleader]

My latest purchase was a Panasonic VT50 which is a Plasma. It is one of the best pictures Ive seen and Im completely happy with my purchase. This is coming from a 4 year old Sony Wega lcd tv. The Panasonic is my recommendation from personal experience but everyone's eyes are different. I would go to the big box stores and look at as many as possible to see what looks best to you.

 

[Droc]

My latest purchase was a Panasonic VT50 which is a Plasma. It is one of the best pictures Ive seen and Im completely happy with my purchase. This is coming from a 4 year old Sony Wega lcd tv. The Panasonic is my recommendation from personal experience but everyone's eyes are different. I would go to the big box stores and look at as many as possible to see what looks best to you.

I find its hard as none are calibrated or customers can mess with settings and low quality sources...

 

[FnordMan]

I find its hard as none are calibrated or customers can mess with settings and low quality sources...

If the remote is on hand or you can fiddle with the menu resetting it to movie mode will usually fix the settings issue.

far as sources go: almost nothing can help there sadly. Too many places use VGA that get split umpteen times.

 

[ob1]

I was in a similar situation some time ago and after reading countless reviews on different models/brands/features, I was just lost. Eventually I went to BB and picked the one with the best picture (even knowing the input was shit). I ended up with an LG plasma. I had originally wanted to get an LG 7600 model LCD, but the colors/brightness between the two units were pretty far apart. I think it comes down to the user and like time, most things are relative...

 

[The Lurker]

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-PN51F...TF8&colid=1Q2CEJF0KDVDO&coliid=I3VT4II4L902YB

You want this.

 

[teletran8]

5 inch less but might want to have cleaner pic.

http://www.amazon.com/Seiki-Digital...&qid=1369157412&sr=1-2-spell&keywords=4k+uhtv

 

[jinhur]

heard the best time to buy TV's are right after the super bowl, factory refurbished Tv come out at half the price cuz people jus buy them for the bowl and return them apparently. wait for then?

 

[dandragonrage]

If you want cracking bezel problems that the manufacturer refuses to fix, buy a Samsung plasma.

If you want an awesome TV, buy a Panasonic plasma. Seriously, I don't even know why anyone would even consider a non-Panasonic plasma. The only brand to ever produce a better plasma than Panasonic was Pioneer.

Besides, I'm not buying Samsung for everything. I don't have any interest in a world ruled by Samsung.

 

[dalekphalm]

I will also recommend buying a Plasma TV.

LCD (LED falls in this category too) vs Plasma? Both have their advantages and disadvantages.
Note this is all based on my personal experience and opinion.

Plasma:

Pros
-Plasma offers superior black levels across the board
-Better colour accuracy in most cases (Not always)
-Better 24p playback
-Modern Plasma no longer suffers from burn-in
-Way better motion reproduction

Cons
-HEAVY! This is because Plasma TV's MUST use a glass front-panel, making them heavier than a comparable LCD. That's not to say they way a ton, just more.
-Thicker compared to LCD/LED TV's. Though this doesn't bother me, as Plasma's are still quite thin now.
-Low brightness levels compared the LCD/LED. Not suitable for rooms that will have large amounts of direct sunlight or lots of lights in room during playback. Light sources cause noticeable glare.

LCD/LED:

Pros
-Weighs less (Due to the use of plastics or polymers in the screen)
-Thinner (Especially for edge lit LED's)
-WAYYYYYYY more selection
-Can potentially cost less for similar "features" (Not including picture quality)
-MUCH higher brightness levels

Cons
-Often more expensive for similar "quality" levels. This is subjective though, as I naturally find Plasma's to have superior image quality.
-TERRIBLE black levels. Some very high end LED TV's have overcome this to a small degree, but this will largely remain a negative until AMOLED TV's become mass consumer.
-24p playback not as good
-TV is more flexible (The large 50"+ panels will literally wobble when you pick it up), feels more fragile to me.


Now - Why I think Plasma's are better:

Black levels:
They are second to none, and are AMAZING to actually see. Imagine watching your favourite action movie, whether it's "The Dark Knight", or something else: Blackness is actually black. Shadows have detail and nuance and many shades of darkness. You can have a bright sunny scene with a black car with no light bleeding (The black car still looks black) - Or the reverse, a dark scene with one light (Say a flashlight), only the flashlight is brightened up, the rest of the scene stays crisply black. This is a major issue with LCD/LED TV's - a light source in a dark scene will wash out the black levels so they look grey and weird.

Overall image quality:
I find Plasma TV's have superior image quality overall. The colours stand out more and are more realistic, motion is smooth and fantastic. The first movie I watched with my new LG 50" 1080p Plasma was Star Trek (2009), of which I'd already seen maybe a half dozen times... I was BLOWN AWAY. It was just so gorgeous and amazing to watch. Crisp black space while still having the bright and beautiful lens flares. The space scenes never looked proper on my old LCD TV.

24p Blu-ray Playback:
Plasma TV's can play back 24p content without using 3:2 pulldown. This means the playback is smoother, and generally a superior experience. The reason why they can do that is that the Refresh Rate of the plasma TV is a Multiple of 24 (Common ones are 48Hz and 72Hz). It is of course much more complicated than this, because Plasma TV's use a totally different technology to drive them.

You'll often seen plasma TV's marketed with a 600Hz refresh rate. This is for marketing reasons and is a little misleading. They have a 600Hz subfield drive. This means that the plasma puts out 600 "pulses" of light per second. 600 is also divisible by 24.

Unfortunately because Plasma's have lower brightness compared the LCD/LED TV's, and showroom floors in Brick & Mortar stores like Best Buy and Wal-Mart are EXTREMELY brightly lit, Plasma's can often "look" worse in-store. If the store has a home theatre dark-room, see if there is a plasma inside that you can take a look at.

I personally will not go back to LCD/LED TV's. Now that I've been converted, I'll stick with Plasma TV's until something better comes out (likely OLED of some form).

As others have mentioned, the Panasonic VT series (VT-50 especially) are fantastic TV's and are some of the highest quality plasma's you can get. The Panasonic VT series uses technology that they purchased from Pioneer when they got out of the game, which they had used in their Kuro series of TV's. The Pioneer Kuro (~2009-ish) are considered by most videophiles to be the highest quality HDTV's ever mass produced.

 

[dalekphalm]

If you want cracking bezel problems that the manufacturer refuses to fix, buy a Samsung plasma.

If you want an awesome TV, buy a Panasonic plasma. Seriously, I don't even know why anyone would even consider a non-Panasonic plasma. The only brand to ever produce a better plasma than Panasonic was Pioneer.

Besides, I'm not buying Samsung for everything. I don't have any interest in a world ruled by Samsung.

I have an LG 50" 1080p Plasma TV that I love. Certainly the Panasonic is a better TV, but it's also significantly more expensive. I didn't need smart features or 3D, I just wanted awesome image quality and a dumb TV (HTPC for all the extras), and the LG fit the bill.

So there are certainly reasons to buy non-Panasonic Plasma TV's. Budget being the big one. I spent $650 all-in on my TV and have zero regrets. Had I had the extra money/budget, I would have went with a Panasonic model.

 

[The Lurker]

I will also recommend buying a Plasma TV.

Cons for Plasma: high power consumption

Small price to pay for a better experience.

 

[Toconator]

I have both. the LED/LCD is in the living room next to a large sliding glass door which faces west so glare needs to be addressed. It is also where the teens play their Xbox for hours and where the majority of the family TV is watched so power consumption is also under consideration here. The plasma is downstairs (mancave) where light is controlled. It is hooked up to a smart Bluray player which is easily replaced if/when new features are released/required. It is far superior in picture quality, color, black levels etc. but it also does not change when viewed from an angle. There is no 'screen door' effect when viewing on a plasma. This is important if you have people spread out around the room, (e.g. with some buds over to watch the game). Sports also look better on plasma as there's no image permanence and no localized dimming algorithms or black cycling compensation needed. As a matter of fact I had to turn the 120Hz motion effect OFF on the LCD as it introduced almost imperceptible artifacts while watching some sporting events. My plasma is an LG and includes 2 ISF modes for calibration junkies so you can grab your favorite sensor/software combo and dial it in to perfection if you so desire.

 

[gankernation]

I love plasma's as they are much better in color and black levels still. I suggest panasonic as the brand as everyone else would.

 

[dalekphalm]

Cons for Plasma: high power consumption

Small price to pay for a better experience.

Ah yes you are correct, plasma's do consume more power. This is something that I had completely forgotten about (I don't pay for electricity, so I largely ignore power consumption figures).

I personally think that, unless your power rates are VERY high, that the increased quality is definitely worth the increased power consumption.

 

[Valaire]

Plasmas pretty much win the day in any room that has even a modicum of light control. I'd only recommend an LCD if you absolutely cannot buy blinds and are gonna be doing a ton of daytime watching.

 

[GreenMonkey]

Panasonic VT line if you REALLY love your black and have the money to burn. You specifically mentioned blacks - that means plasma.

If you like console games, the VTs have better input lag lately too over the cheaper line. Too bad because they were all good a few years ago (I own a 50" GT50).

 

[Droc]

wow, thanks for the info guys.

So panasonic plasma seems to be the consensus.

The 55 VT is about 1k more then Im feeling. The ST60 for around $1500 seems half decent and its cnet review is outstanding.

 

[Etherton]

Panasonic Plasma. Bought my 55" Panasonic ST50 after I replaced a POS Sharp Aquos LED! LED = motion blur and shit blacks!

 

[Edgar]

If you got microcenter near by see if they still have the lg 55 in tv. $1k for an Amazing tv

 

[Prav]

So panasonic plasma seems to be the consensus.

They are preferred if you really care about blacks. RIP Kuro

The ST60 for around $1500 seems half decent and its cnet review is outstanding.

The ST is a great set but has increased input lag that isnt present on the VT or S models. If you intend to do a lot of gaming you may want to avoid it, but otherwise it is really nice price/performance.

 

[dhappy]

Bought a 40'' Samsung a few months ago, it had some issues with connecting it to my PC using HDMI (through an old 9800 GTX+). But, we later found out that it was just a bad adapter (DVI to HDMI)

 

[zechs3]

Plasma tvs reproduce color better than LCDs. But that doesn't mean they look better. Samsung d8000 LCDs create a far more vibrant picture. It looks amazing and honestly I prefer it. I feel like maybe my taste are childish or undefined every time I go on the internet though. Oh well, I like what I like, I got a un55d8000 and love it.

My point is what is considered objectively best on the internet may not be what you like.

 

[Droc]

They are preferred if you really care about blacks. RIP Kuro


The ST is a great set but has increased input lag that isnt present on the VT or S models. If you intend to do a lot of gaming you may want to avoid it, but otherwise it is really nice price/performance.

The vt is at least $1k more here in canada

 

[Droc]

They are preferred if you really care about blacks. RIP Kuro


The ST is a great set but has increased input lag that isnt present on the VT or S models. If you intend to do a lot of gaming you may want to avoid it, but otherwise it is really nice price/performance.

The s over the st? The st is higher reviewed and praised at the TV to get.

The Samsung 8000 55 is close to 3k
With the penny 55 st being half that.....

 

[7th Angel]

wow, thanks for the info guys.

So panasonic plasma seems to be the consensus.

The 55 VT is about 1k more then Im feeling. The ST60 for around $1500 seems half decent and its cnet review is outstanding.

It only hurts once to do it right the first time.
Get the VT. You won't regret it. I absolutely love mine.

 

[Prav]

The s over the st? The st is higher reviewed and praised at the TV to get.

The ST is a better panel but if you are a heavy gamer you may care more about the input lag than image quality differences. The S also has very limited 2? HDMI connections. I wouldnt really recommend it unless you are on a budget and prioritize input lag. I believe you can find youtube reviews of both models and input lag if this is an important criteria.

I dont own either unit and have not even played with the new S, just trying to make you aware of various user reviews I have read from places like AVSforum. Personally I would buy the ST and hope the lag issue is being overblown by some users as often happens on the internet.

 

[Droc]

It only hurts once to do it right the first time.
Get the VT. You won't regret it. I absolutely love mine.

the +$1k premium puts its out of range.


Was looking at the st at bestbuy\futureshop and the st60 was spectacular. They didn't have the vt on display but the st looked better then anything else on the floor aside from the Sony 4k. The Samsung 8000 was nice but blacks were greys...

 

[Etherton]

I have no issues with input lag on my ST. Fantastic TV.

 

[dalekphalm]

the +$1k premium puts its out of range.


Was looking at the st at bestbuy\futureshop and the st60 was spectacular. They didn't have the vt on display but the st looked better then anything else on the floor aside from the Sony 4k. The Samsung 8000 was nice but blacks were greys...

That's fantastic to hear. Unfortunately most display rooms for TV's in the Brick and Mortar stores REALLY favour LCD/LED designs because the display areas are generally extremely well lit. This tends to make Plasma's look dark and less appealing (Even though even the BRIGHTEST room will be darker then the show room floors).

Panasonic is really trying to match the Kuro of times past with their latest year of Plasma's.

 

[dandragonrage]

Was looking at the st at bestbuy\futureshop and the st60 was spectacular. They didn't have the vt on display but the st looked better then anything else on the floor aside from the Sony 4k. The Samsung 8000 was nice but blacks were greys...

As already mentioned, do not trust - even a little bit - comparisons of HT equipment in Best Buy or similar. They don't set them up anywhere near correctly. Well, I guess you can trust them if you're dumb enough to set your TV to max brightness, contrast and sharpness anyway, but I kinda expect better from people on this forum.

 

[TechHead]

No issues with PC and PS3 gaming on my 42ST50 plasma.
Fantastic TV.

 

[Droc]

i got the 55ST60. I checked it out at bestbuy, futureshop and two other small home theater retailers. The one I purchased it from, Bleeker, has all their TVs in a low light showroom and I was able to fiddle with the settings. Like I said, aside from the 4k and the panasonic VT60, the ST60 had the best picture and by far the best price.

I got the 55ST60 for $1599 before tax. I saw after that one retailer had it for $100 less, but I prefer the smaller store that my family has been using for 2 generations.

I wall mounted with a tilting mount. Grabbed the Sony HT-CT260 sound bar+wireless sub for $250 before tax. It was the best I could find for the price. In comparison to the samsungs the Sony sounded better and the sub was hands down better. Tossed the soundbar on the wall. Its in my basement and the wall borders to my utility room, so I was able to hide all cables.

The only HDMI cable I left was a 1ft one from my upstairs system, but it worked. I cut a hole to pass the cable through and using some metal strapping(with felt padding) to simply strap my PS3 to the backside of the wall against the studs...Its perfect. Short cable, the disks still go in and out, its in the better vertical position and I dont have to worry about it falling off a shelf.

Ill toss up pictures in the next day or two.

Overall the picture is outstanding, sound is decent and it looks sick on the wall. I cant seem to figure out how to pair the Viera connect android remote to the TV though.

 

[Etherton]

Make sure you check out this site if you are a Panasonic Plasma owner for settings. You have to register but it is worth it.

 

[The Lurker]

Ah yes you are correct, plasma's do consume more power. This is something that I had completely forgotten about (I don't pay for electricity, so I largely ignore power consumption figures).

I personally think that, unless your power rates are VERY high, that the increased quality is definitely worth the increased power consumption.

Without a doubt. Which is why I don't mind feeding a 300W Plasma and then cooling the room with a 1500W air conditioner.

Oh yea, did you are I forget to mention the high heat production? Great in the winter, not so much in the summer.


http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-33199_7-57575459-221/how-long-will-panasonic-keep-making-plasma-tvs/

Guess im going to be picking one up this year to replace my aging Panasonic th-50phd5.

 

[Droc]

Without a doubt. Which is why I don't mind feeding a 300W Plasma and then cooling the room with a 1500W air conditioner.

Oh yea, did you are I forget to mention the high heat production? Great in the winter, not so much in the summer.


http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-33199_7-57575459-221/how-long-will-panasonic-keep-making-plasma-tvs/

Guess im going to be picking one up this year to replace my aging Panasonic th-50phd5.

the energy star rating on it says 5h a day for a year at $0.11kwh is $30 to run for a year, with the led around the $23 mark.