• There seems to be an uptick in Political comments in recent months. Those of us who are long time members of the site know that Political and Religious content has been banned for years. Nothing has changed. Please leave all political and religious comments out of the forums.

    If you recently joined the forums you were not presented with this restriction in the terms of service. This was due to a conversion error when we went from vBulletin to Xenforo. We have updated our terms of service to reflect these corrections.

    Please note any post refering to a politician will be considered political even if it is intended to be humor. Our experience is these topics have a way of dividing the forums and causing deep resentment among members. It is a poison to the community. We appreciate compliance with the rules.

    The Staff of SOH

  • Server side Maintenance is done. We still have an update to the forum software to run but that one will have to wait for a better time.

Need help with the purchase of a Christmas gift

Cloud9Gal

Cloud9Gal

~Fury of the Winds~
Hey Guys~

I'm planning on surprising hubby with a new TV for Christmas.

I started looking online via BestBuy and Amazon and I have to admit, I'm pretty overwhelmed! You have LCD flat panels, you have LED flat panels and then you have Plasma flat panels. The only thing I'm certain of is the size- I'll go with either a 46" or 52". Hubby watches a lot of TV & Movies. I'm also planning on buying either the Wii or the PS3. Oh and a BluRay DVD player.

At this point, price does not matter. Of course, if I can get a good deal on one, I'll be even happier. More money to buy some shoes! There's this one pair I really want and....ok, nevermind!



Ok, back to TVs then...

I would welcome and appreciate any recommendations and suggestions- I'm sure there's a few of you out there who have already done the research.
Please share your thoughts!

Much appreciated!
 
Lots of deals HERE!

I can't say I know much about them either, I still have a CRT 19" tv.

But the one flatscreen lcd screen I have is for the puter and its a very uneven resolution 1440X990 I have watched widescreen LCD at lunch at a couple places I've eaten and it seems that a widescreen rectangular screen tend to distort the picture to a short squat and wide display.

If you can find something with the resolution more square I think you'd be better off.

Judging from the link I posted, it would appear that LED and LCD can be considered roughly the same technology as the terms are applied together on some units.

I also agree with LD ... avoid the plasma.

Good Hunting.

What a lucky guy he is ... I hope he knows it! :) :wavey:
 
Got a Hitachi 50in Plasma last year and tho the picture isn't quite as crisp as the Visio, the viewing angle is amazing- I can see it perfectly from my kitchen, nearly 70 deg from the side, and the set has a glass panel covering the screen so cleanup is a snap with a splash of windex and a paper towel. Nice array of inputs as well, 4 (IIRC) rear RCA's and 2 HDMI's and a front set of RCA's for my game console. Also note it's not true widescreen but the couple dozen columns missing goes completely unnoticed when running it in letterbox format.

The wii is nice but not alot of adult games to choose from, if I had to but another console I'd go with the PS3- more games to choose from, and it plays blu-ray's.
 
I'll third the avoid plasma.

We recently went to a Visio 42" LCD. Best picture I ever saw on a TV. Ours came as a package deal with a sound bar kit and the kit to hang it on the wall. Under $800 at Wally World.

I actually watch a little TV now.
 
We went with Vizio (LCD), too! Awesome picture. Hookups for everything you will ever want. 2 years trouble free.
 
We got a 46 inch Samsung LCD from Best Buy about a month ago. It is absolutely incredible, especially with HD sports and blu-ray movies. :medals:
 
Cloud9Gal said:
At this point, price does not matter. Of course, if I can get a good deal on one, I'll be even happier. More money to buy some shoes! There's this one pair I really want and....ok, nevermind!
Click to expand...

Whoohoo, blank cheque shopping!

LED is bleeding edge and so pretty pricey.
LCD, now being one off bleeding edge, is in the sweet spot.
- Get a high refresh rate (better than 100MHz) for watching sport.
- Get true HD (=1080p scan lines)
- Get a PS3 which already is a Blu-ray.
I have a Sony which has Motion Flow dejudder processing, and is superb for fast-moving sports.
And, because the sound is puny, you'll need a low-end home theatre setup too!
5.1 speaker setup should do it, with a nice big subwoofer.

Enjoy the shoe shopping...
 
My wife and I bought a Panasonic 42" 1080p HD Plasma this spring. The picture quality is great, viewing angles are amazing, the glass screen makes cleaning a snap. Energy Star compliant. Down side: the sucker attracts dust like crazy (well, the entire entertainment center does....TV, DVR, 4-disc CD/DVD player, Wii, surround sound system....I have to dust that area 3 times a week).

Today's plasma TVs are not like the early ones. They are not prone to screen burning (the Panasonic has several built in safe guards in that regard).

OBIO
 
Well I have a 27" LCD in my office...Amazing

I have a 42" Plasma in my bedroom.(Sony) More amazing

One thing about plasma...You can not view them close up...For a 42" and above you need a distance of a minimum of 10 feet from it or it will look blury and not crisp. 12-16 feet is ideal...


LCD is the best prices avaible now for the quality I think....
 
Kiwikat said:
We got a 46 inch Samsung LCD from Best Buy about a month ago. It is absolutely incredible, especially with HD sports and blu-ray movies. :medals:
Click to expand...
Same a couple of months ago . It was the 120Mhz version and the picture was incredable , especially fast moving sports and HD etc as stated above . Went through Amazon and it came without a problem and the price was a little lower than Best Buy ,Sears and some of the others , and they had a free shipping option . And of coarse no sales tax . The 120 Mhz LCD's are hard to beat . As someone else mentioned the LED's are out but very pricey .

Your husband will be a lucky guy this Christmas and just think , he will be able to watch all the football around the holidays . LOL

Rich
 
We've a couple of 47" 1080p LCD tv's in Chez KD . Bought the first one around 2 years ago, another in July '08 and a 3rd last Xmas (I sold that one soon afterwards, though, as 3 big screen tv's was a little overkill:kilroy:).
As has been pointed out already...go with a full HD set (1920x1080 resolution) and with a high refresh rate to minimise screen blur for fast action scenes/sports etc (Panasonic have a 600mhz set available!). I'd steer clear of plasma however...even though it can apparently display blacks much better than LCD technology...as it can suffer screen burn and the image quality degrades over time. Top of the line technology is the LED screen...which will allow even thinner and lighter LCD panels.
Do you also have a good sound system to go with the tv? I'd consider this a necessity to get full enjoyment from the tv.

PS. No need for a separate Blu-Ray player as the PS3 has a pretty good one fitted as standard. :)
 
Panther_99FS said:
What happened to the stuff ya' bought from Fredericks Of Hollywood :ques: :bump:
Click to expand...


Sheeze Panther ... can't you read, :isadizzy: she wants a present for hubby ... :wiggle: that purchase you mention is for her ... :jump:

(is there ever a time your mind doesn't go there?) :kilroy:
 
I second what Wing Z and KD said. I purchased a Samsung 40" LCD last year and love it. Make sure you pick a model with the right inputs (plugs) for your components, such as an older DVD or your cable or dish box if you have one. You'll also be wanting to go to the store with a list of these so you buy all the new input cables you need at the same time, or you'll be going back and forth a few times (learned this the hard way). The Wii and/or PS3 may come with, but your other home theatre stuff may need new ones. A store clerk should be able to help you with that.
 
Snuffy said:
Sheeze Panther ... can't you read, :isadizzy: she wants a present for hubby ... :wiggle: that purchase you mention is for her ... :jump:

(is there ever a time your mind doesn't go there?) :kilroy:
Click to expand...


all the ladies he dream's of wear stuff from the army/navy surplus store, or mark's work warehouse:icon_lol:
 
Vizio LCD is great. We have a 37 inch and love it. Bought it at WalMart. Best to get one now as they'll be gone way before Christmas. Stores here were out of them just after Thanksgiving last year. They had plenty of the other brands but no Visios.

And you can hook up you PC to them too. I'm thinking of a 26 inch Vizio just for the computer.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top