Jul 18 2010

TV Shopping

My infamous TV-from-the-trash has had a good run for only a $300 repair cost.  I guess it is just a bit too old, or spent too much time in the trash, and the projections are starting to fail off and on.  It is getting really annoying to see the blues dip down from the top and form ghosts in the middle but not on the sides.  Distracting really.  It is the worst during video gaming, hurtful blue items look like helpful green items etc.  But that is what you get with projection TVs, when they get too old or jostled around a bit they go all wonky.  Man I hate old hardware.

So what do you guys have?  What do you look for?  Where do you look for it?

I’ve got my eyes on something around $700, 1080p, and maybe in the 40 inches.  Extra inputs are always nice but they aren’t a deal breaker for me.  I don’t need excessive things such ethernet inputs, ipod docks, dvd integration, etc.

So far I’ve found a couple to look at, but as usual I always learn more from our input.

Probably going to wait a bit before I go get it.  Build some cash up over the summer to pay for it.  So let me know if you hear anything about TVs later on as well.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 18th, 2010 at 3:58 pmand is filed under TV. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

5 Responses to “TV Shopping”

  • nathan118 Says:
    July 18th, 2010 at 5:59 pm

    I’ve actually been through two plasmas so far in my search for a new bedroom TV. I had the S2 version of the Panasonic you posted (which is better than the U22). It had floating blacks…which bugged the heck out of me, and seems to be a major problem with many of the Panasonic plasmas this year.

    http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1236475

    I originally was looking at plasmas for better blacks and lower input lag. Before the panasonic I had a samsung that I also returned. It made a super high pitched buzzing sound, but otherwise would have been decent.

    Now I’m looking at LCDs…and that presents a bunch of new problems. The first being input lag. If you’re going to be gaming on it a ton, it needs the lowest input lag possible. I’ve read really good things about Sharp and their input lag, but still doing more reading. Here’s a big thread on input lag, but lots of the tvs are older, not current models:

    http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1131464

    So yeah, I’m nowhere near making a decision…but I’m basically in the market for the same thing as you! 40-42″, low input lag.

    I’ll check out the sets you’re looking at and see what I can find.

  • Padfoot240 Says:
    July 18th, 2010 at 7:26 pm

    I’ve heard LCD-LED are the best for gaming. So I guess that is another attribute on my list.

  • nathan118 Says:
    July 18th, 2010 at 7:46 pm

    It’s really just a different way to light the TV, as opposed to fluorescent tubes. But even with LED lighting, there are two types: edge lit, and full-led lit.

    The sharp I’ve been looking at is edge lit, and for the most part people like it, though there are some problems with it that are universal to all LCD tvs. You might read about “clouding” or “flashlighting,” which is basically when the light of the TV isn’t uniform. So like on a black credits screen, there might be a few areas that appear brighter, or “less black.”

    It seems some have it worse than others, and even with the sharp I’m looking at, it varies from set to set. Here’s an example:

    http://www.guide2lcdtv.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/clouding.jpg

    Usually people put a black screen up to see it, and crank the back light up and down to see how bad it is.

    So to add to the list:

    1) 40-42″ (I include 40, because some manufacturers don’t make a 42).
    2) Low input lag
    3) Minimal clouding
    4) Good blacks

    I’m not 100% sold on needing 120hz, because the only thing I’d want it for is 24p movies. None of the other motion interpolating garbage.

  • nathan118 Says:
    July 18th, 2010 at 7:55 pm

    Oh, and full led lit…there aren’t that many of them, and the ones I’ve seen are expensive. And they might have a completely different set of problems, haha.

  • Neil Says:
    February 14th, 2011 at 9:16 pm

    I just found this thread because I was looking for reviews of the LG42LD450 which is a really good deal right now. Mostly because it’s a 60Hz LCD and the newer ones are all 120 or even 240. But I’m looking to get one cheap, like I said.

    I found this review=>
    http://www.hdtvreviewsonline.org/is-the-lg-42ld450-42-inch-lcd-hdtv-a-good-choice-complete-review/

    But am still not sure if I should get a 120Hz one.

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