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  • Need TV help! I'm confused......

    This may have already been discussed but here goes. We're in the market for a new TV as our old one is on it's 9th life. I've been looking at all the new ones and I'm confused. Help me if you can! I found a reasonably priced (in my price range) 37" LCD HD. I also found a Plasma but it's higher priced. What's the difference? Which is better? I like the LCD because it's screen doesn't show reflections off the windows or door. Do I have to run the HDMI cables or are those just needed if you're using HD? Do you have to use the HDMI cables with a surround system? I don't think our surround system has the HDMI connection anyway. Is 720p ok or should I look for higher resolution, like 1080p?

    Aargh! I feel like my brain is running out of my earholes.

  • #2
    Re: Need TV help! I'm confused......

    plasma uses more power, gets warmer.

    HDMI is one way to connect your DVD player (or whatever) to the TV, or you could use the old composite video cable or component video cables. You probably won't be able to tell the difference between component and hdmi, or maybe you can, but if you do decide to buy an hdmi cable, you can get them online from places like newegg.com for about 1/3 the price of buying one in the store. and since it's digital a better (or more expensive) cable will not make any difference whatsoever in image quality. No matter what the salesman says.

    Usually you only get 1080 with the larger sets, 40" or so.

    I'd buy the largest LCD set you can for your budget. But I'd also spend a lot of time researching how the remote control works, specifically how to set the aspect ratio, because that's the most important thing to me....and some TVs have really lousy controls for it.
    My fabulous web page

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    • #3
      Re: Need TV help! I'm confused......

      Plasma's do give off a ton of heat, which works well with 9 months of winter ;D I have a 52" Panasonic Plasma, I've had it for 3 years with no trouble what-so-ever. I like it. Electricity here is dirt cheap so I don't notice it on my ~$25 summer bills. My concern with the LCD TV's are the viewing angles. They might of gotten better, I don't know, but ones from a few years ago were pretty bad after you moved off center, and I like to be able to see the TV from my kitchen, which as Squirrel has seen is way off to the left of the tv. I think when I pay off my student loan or only credit card I may upgrade to a 72" ;D

      If you go for a Plasma I recommend Panasonic, I went with them because they were/are the leader in commercial plasma tv's (like you see at conventions, etc) and I knew they had the most experience with running times and keeping the screen from burning or dimming. I like the menu setup on the panasonic too for setting the audio, video, aspect ratio, etc. It's pretty straight forward.

      Run from DLP's like they are the plague, the few people I know with them (including my parents) have had big problems with the lamps and lenses in them, they are expensive to fix too. Frankly I'm not sure why they are still on the market.

      HDMI and Composite cables look pretty much the same to me. I can tell the difference between the HD and non-HD channels. On videogames I can tell the difference between the standard AV cables (yellow, red, white) and the Composite Video Cables. I have HDMI hooked to my HD Satellite reciever, I think it came with the box.
      Escaped on a technicality.

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      • #4
        Re: Need TV help! I'm confused......

        ask one of them REAL smart guys :P :P :P at wal-mart !!!
        LOL , man Im no help for ya here!!!!
        COBEY..... franklin, kansas

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        • #5
          Re: Need TV help! I'm confused......

          I was just in a high end audio-video place here in town and I can confuse you even more. There's a new technology out there - LED. Yep, light emitting diodes. The picture clarity is amazing but I don't know much more, like durability, etc.

          COSTCO has some pretty good deals on LCDs right now. They seem to offer pretty good off-angle viewing but you'll want to check as you look at the display models. A 40" runs about $700, which seems like a pretty good deal right now.

          Dan

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          • #6
            Re: Need TV help! I'm confused......

            I have a 42" Samsung LCD and like it very much. I'm using the HDMI cable since it came with Verizon's Fios. As squirrel said, you only need 1080P once you get into the 40" range.

            I know plasma tv's use a ton of power...even when you turn them off! I'm an electrician, on my old job, I was tracing a circuit and discovered this. When the plasma tv I measured, used something like 6.8 amps when on and 6.2 amps when turn off. This is 24/7! I haven't measured my LCD but I'm sure it draws a fair amount of power when it's turned off.

            The newer TV's use a faster refresh frequency I think mine is 60 HZ and the new ones are 120 HZ. The faster frequency helps make fast action more fluid. I haven't found the slower one to be any problem in viewing though. In the store on a side by side you'll notice it but I don't think it's a big deal.

            As the saying goes, garbage in, garbage out. Use RG8 CATV cable, with quality compression connectors to the cable box. All of mine are home runs to each tv. Crappy RG 59, splitters and screw on connectors are going to limit over all picture quality. This way you'll get the most out of your new tv!
            Tom
            Overdrive is overrated


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            • #7
              Re: Need TV help! I'm confused......

              Originally posted by oldsman71
              ask one of them REAL smart guys :P :P :P at wal-mart !!!
              Unfortunately, before too long, you may have little choice....

              I've got a 50" Panasonic Plasma. I didn't spend the extra $1K for 1080p because about 50% of my viewing is concert videos, which tend to be a little grainy to begin with - and frankly movies look just fine too. I'm reasonably happy.

              Just replaced my 15 yr old NEC tube. Wanna bet the new one does not last as long?

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              • #8
                Re: Need TV help! I'm confused......

                Originally posted by Huskinhano
                As the saying goes, garbage in, garbage out. Use RG8 CATV cable, with quality compression connectors to the cable box. All of mine are home runs to each tv. Crappy RG 59, splitters and screw on connectors are going to limit over all picture quality. This way you'll get the most out of your new tv!
                This only applies if you are still stuck with analog cable or satellite. If you are getting an over the air or cable digital signal, you can use whatever crap will get the signal in, it's either perfect or gone (gone meaning jerky, blotchy screen that you can't watch). There is a threshold signal to noise ratio that you have to meet, after that you won't get anything out of better cable quality. Digital is a whole new world.


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                • #9
                  Re: Need TV help! I'm confused......

                  Originally posted by DanStokes
                  I was just in a high end audio-video place here in town and I can confuse you even more. There's a new technology out there - LED. Yep, light emitting diodes. The picture clarity is amazing but I don't know much more, like durability, etc.
                  Dan--look into this a bit more, you'll see that it's an LCD display with LED backlighting, vs the more common CCFL backlight. LED backlight can give a better contrast ratio, and I expect it will last a lot longer, since cold cathode tubes eventually wear out, where LEDs last essentially forever.

                  My fabulous web page

                  "If it don't go, chrome it!" --Stroker McGurk

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