HDTV advice needed- sort of

[Prancer]

Sounds like I really have to pay attention to sound quality, or just buy a sound bar. How much does a sound bar cost? How big is it? Does it need a shelf near/below the TV?

You can mount the sound bar to a wall or put it on a shelf; depends on how you have your TV set up. You also usually get a subwoofer that you have to put somewhere, although some sound bars have the subwoofer built in.

Sound bars are usually somewhere between two and three feet long and a couple of inches tall. The subwoofers vary a bit; some are square and some are rectangular. Ours is about the size of two stacked large shoe boxes.

Here's a good discussion of the pros and cons of each technology:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2387377,00.asp

I think this one is better

http://asia.cnet.com/led-vs-plasma-v...s-62213538.htm

[Vash01]

You can mount the sound bar to a wall or put it on a shelf; depends on how you have your TV set up. You also usually get a subwoofer that you have to put somewhere, although some sound bars have the subwoofer built in.

Sound bars are usually somewhere between two and three feet long and a couple of inches tall. The subwoofers vary a bit; some are square and some are rectangular. Ours is about the size of two stacked large shoe boxes.



I think this one is better

http://asia.cnet.com/led-vs-plasma-v...s-62213538.htm

Great info! Thanks Prancer.

I went to Best buy to see what a soundbar looks like. The price range was $200 to $580, and they came with the woofer boxes. Their service was poor, however. I could not find anyone in the store that could answer my questions and I walked out in frustration.

Yesterday I went to Costco. Their prices were considerably lower (by $50-$100) and the first two years of warranty were free. My only concern is what kind of support I will get, should something go wrong? I thought the Samsung there was still rather expensive, but the Sony, Toshiba and Vizio were reasonably priced.

Tonight I went to Frys. They had a special on a 47 inch LG, which sounded attractive (120 hz, 3x HDMI, and 3D capability). However, I would like to know how reliable the LG is. They did have a 3 yr- in home warranty included in the price, and the picture looked good (but not as good as Samsung). I will need to read some reviews. My brother said Frys products are not always good. Their 42 inch Sony had only 60 hz, so that was out of consideration.

[cruisin]

LED and LCD are really very similar. The only significant difference is the light source First, the technical side of things: to truly understand the difference between LCD and LED, one thing is very important: LED (light-emitting diode) TVs are actually a type of LCD (liquid crystal display) television. LCD HDTVs use standard compact fluorescent tubes to illuminate the picture. LED HDTVs, on the other hand, replace those fluorescent tubes with backlighting technology. This technology adjusts the picture beyond the capability of those fluorescent tubes to create much clearer images, and is the main difference between LCD and LED.

LED/LCD is much better in a brighter room. Another reason to go with LED/LCD is Plasma still has a burn in problem that LED/LCD does not have. Our larger TV is a Samsung 50". It's about 5 years old now and we are having some problems with it, turning it on. After it's been off for a while, and you turn it on, it keeps cycling to turn itself on. then you have to turn it on and off a couple of times for it to stay on. This is a problem that started after the Sandy power outage, so we don't think it is a "Samsung" issue. The picture quality and sound are excellent. It is LCD, as it's an older TV. We also have a 36" Sony. The picture and sound are equally excellent. I would stay away from Sharp and Toshiba, Consumer Reports doesn't rate them as highly.

We have surround sound on the larger TV. A friend was getting a new system and gave it to us. I hate it! Even when it is turned down, it is TOO LOUD! But, that may be me, I hate loud noise.

[BigB08822]

I would not purchase from Best Buy unless it was a deal I could not pass up. Their service is the worst. We returned a TV that came broken out of the box (glass cracked) and we were interrogated in a room!!! They tried to put the blame on us asking why it took us 4 weeks to return it. It was a Christmas gift, so it was purchased and sat under a tree for a month before being opened! I have never gone back.

[cruisin]

From what I understand Costco has the best return and warranty policies.

[Skate Talker]

Our larger TV is a Samsung 50". It's about 5 years old now and we are having some problems with it, turning it on. After it's been off for a while, and you turn it on, it keeps cycling to turn itself on. then you have to turn it on and off a couple of times for it to stay on. This is a problem that started after the Sandy power outage, so we don't think it is a "Samsung" issue.

Sounds like an interesting problem. If you get lucky it may just correct itself. About a year after we got our Sony 40" LCD (a good number of years ago), at times when switching from an HD channel to an SD channel the picture would split vertically so that the left half appeared on the right side of the screen and right on the left half, and colours were reduced to greyscale except for some bright green and crimson. Turning the set off and back on would correct the problem. Several months later, that problem disappeared as mysteriously as it had appeared. My only other problem was that some areas of the screen appeared darker than others. I remedied that problem by turning the automatic light adjustment feature off and have been very happy since. It is only a 720p (1080 was just coming in at the time and my cable company didn't use 1080 anyway) but it does have 120HZ, which as far as I am concerned is the more important of the two.

We bought from a dedicated video store and received free set up but they didn't do it correctly anyway so I had to figure it out for myself in the end. Unless you need them to do a new wall hanging, wire-fishing through walls or something, I would suggest you are better off doing the set-up yourself.

[Capella]

I have two Samsungs and love them. Our livingroom has the LED 46" which works great in any lighting situation. I have a smaller 40" LCD in my den and I can't think of a single complaint. I use the 40" for gaming (it has a game mode!) and the graphics are perfect. I also use the 40" as my laptop monitor for skating events that are streamed online and I'm impressed with the quality, especially since a lot of the streaming isn't in HD. I've used the 46" for streaming and it's good, but just a tad too big for the non-HD streams. Most of the time, I watch TV/streams on my 40" with most of the lights turned off. I've never noticed anything bad about the sound. The 46" is usually watched in daylight or multiple lamps and it's so vivid! One thing I really like about the 46" is the ability to have people sitting all around the TV and still having a good, un-warped view of the screen. You can almost be watching from the absolute side and still it's good. For some shows we dim the lights. Hawaii Five-0 is *gorgeous* on this screen. The greens are unimaginably lush.

One thing I was disappointed in was that the integrated internet access requires the purchase of an additional special WiFi antenna. It's expensive and the reviews were not good. But my TVs are just over 2 years old, so the newer models might include this.

When I was trying to decide what to get (many months of research), I looked at Best Buy, Walmart, and Target and liked to see the side-by-side comparison of the various screens of the different brands. Took notes on which ones looked the best in each store. Best Buy is a darker store, whereas Walmart and Target seemed brighter. I ended up finding the best price online at B&H Photo. (www.bhphotovideo.com) and had to love the free shipping.

Good luck with whatever you choose. You'll love it!

[Capella]

We bought from a dedicated video store and received free set up but they didn't do it correctly anyway so I had to figure it out for myself in the end. Unless you need them to do a new wall hanging, wire-fishing through walls or something, I would suggest you are better off doing the set-up yourself.

We installed both sets ourselves. While it wasn't particularly difficult (if you can do most computer hook ups and online streaming, you should have enough of a background that it's doable), the sets were extremely heavy, making it a 2-person job for the 40" and a 3-person for the 46". We got TV stands for both, rather than wall mounting. The screens are so wide that it was just too much for one of us to get our arms around to lift it up and get it into its glass stand on the TV stand. Maybe if we were Michael Phelps, it would have been a one-person job. Definitely glad we didn't wall-mount.

[cruisin]

Sounds like an interesting problem. If you get lucky it may just correct itself.

That would be great, but it seems to be getting worse. Samsung came out and fixed a recalled board, hoping that was the problem. But, it didn't fix it. The technician said that when our chimney got hit by lighting, it might have damaged something, but not enough to cause a problem. The power outage may have worsened whatever it was. Now it's a problem. But since it's fine once it's on, we are going to wait to get a new one. It's just annoying, we can live with that for now.

[Prancer]

Plasma still has a burn in problem that LED/LCD does not have.

Burn in is only an issue if you have a static image on your TV for long periods of time. Who does that? Well, my in-laws do; MUTE is burned into their screen. But for most people, burn in is pretty rare and happens almost exclusively with gamers or people who use their TVs to surf the internet and leave images like menus on screen for a long time.

As Consumer Reports says: With a plasma TV, temporary image retention can be a concern with video games, computer programs, and other content that has high-contrast fixed images onscreen for a long time. Many plasma sets have screen-saver features to minimize the risk, which we consider to be very low.

A lot of people get ghosting and think they are getting burn in, but that's not the same thing.

http://plasmatvbuyingguide.com/plasm...tv-burnin.html

I would stay away from Sharp and Toshiba, Consumer Reports doesn't rate them as highly.

If you are going by the Consumer Reports I'm looking at right now, all of their top-rated TVs are plasmas and Panasonic basically swept the top ratings. All of the other brands varied across the rating groups, depending on the size of the TV, and most of the differences in ratings would come down to personal preference.

My particular Sharp TV did very well in their ratings, but their pros and cons don't match mine.

[Simone411]

The picture quality is great. I think Sony is the top of the line when it comes to TVs (we own a lot of them), and the sales rep told us that the Vizio display is actually built by Sony. Needless to say, we got a good deal for $619 on sale plus a 5% Target Red Card discount. Since TV technology changes so fast, you can usually get a good deal if you buy a TV that is 6-12 months behind the latest and greatest release, and if you wait for holiday pricing.

Thanks. That explains why my Vizio has such good picture quality - the display is built by Sony.

[cruisin]

Most newer TVs are now computer/wifi ready. They are making them so that you can basically use them as a computer screen. That makes plasmas more prone to burn in. Costco, Best Buy, and every local electronics store I have gone to has confirmed that.

[Prancer]

Most newer TVs are now computer/wifi ready. They are making them so that you can basically use them as a computer screen. That makes plasmas more prone to burn in. Costco, Best Buy, and every local electronics store I have gone to has confirmed that.

Anyone you consult will also confirm that burn in occurs when you leave fixed images on the screen for a long time, particularly during the first 200 hours you use the TV. Don't leave fixed content on your screen. Use a screen saver. Problem solved.

[Vash01]

From what I understand Costco has the best return and warranty policies.

I went to Costco for the second time to look at the TVs but they had hardly any HDTVs. Most of them were LCDs. So I came back empty handed, even though I liked the prices.

They had a soundbar (Sony) for $125 which was a very attractive price.

[cruisin]

Anyone you consult will also confirm that burn in occurs when you leave fixed images on the screen for a long time, particularly during the first 200 hours you use the TV. Don't leave fixed content on your screen. Use a screen saver. Problem solved.

Yes, I understand that. That is why I mentioned that the newer TVs are set up for the very things that can cause the burn - computer images and gaming. And those were the reasons that the salespeople do not recommend plasma.

I went to Costco for the second time to look at the TVs but they had hardly any HDTVs. Most of them were LCDs. So I came back empty handed, even though I liked the prices.

They had a soundbar (Sony) for $125 which was a very attractive price.

Did you go on line and look at what Costco has to offer? The Costco, near me, has lots of LED and LCD sets, in ever size. Maybe go to a different Costco?

[Vash01]

Yes, I understand that. That is why I mentioned that the newer TVs are set up for the very things that can cause the burn - computer images and gaming. And those were the reasons that the salespeople do not recommend plasma.



Did you go on line and look at what Costco has to offer? The Costco, near me, has lots of LED and LCD sets, in ever size. Maybe go to a different Costco?

Their on line prices were quite high, and the selection was limited in the size/type I am looking for. I am not looking for an LCD TV or a plasma TV. I want HDTV with LED. They did not have that at that time. I was too tired to drive to another Costco. I am taking my time to buy this; not trying to do everything one one day or one weekend.

[cruisin]

Their on line prices were quite high, and the selection was limited in the size/type I am looking for. I am not looking for an LCD TV or a plasma TV. I want HDTV with LED. They did not have that at that time. I was too tired to drive to another Costco. I am taking my time to buy this; not trying to do everything one one day or one weekend.

Always a good idea when buying a Tv or any sort of electronics equipment. Do you have an Electronics Expo near you? It may just be an NJ store, but there are multiple locations. Anyway, that's where we got both of our TVs and they were very good with pricing.

[Vash01]

Always a good idea when buying a Tv or any sort of electronics equipment. Do you have an Electronics Expo near you? It may just be an NJ store, but there are multiple locations. Anyway, that's where we got both of our TVs and they were very good with pricing.

No, we don't have that. I had never heard of it.

[cruisin]

It appears it may just be a NJ store. Only 8 locations. But, it also appears that you can buy on line. Here is a link, you can compare prices: http://www.electronics-expo.com