The Best 60"+ T.V. on the Market is....?

[rockgremlin]

Looking to upgrade from the crappy 27" tv I currently own, but am unfamiliar with what's available. I thought it best to poll you guys instead of ask the salesman down at RC Willey. Here's what I'm looking for:


*Must be at least 60"

*1080p res

I don't have cable or satellite TV, so this set will be used primarily for movies and gaming (Xbox 360).

In addition to any suggestions about what to look into, please also let me know what TV I should AVOID, and why.

Garcias

[DiscGo]

I know a bit about televisions. One important detail you left out is your budget. The amount you are willing to spend will certainly affect what is best for you.

In general if you want the most size for your buck go with DLP.

If money is no option then go with laser.

[RedMan]

Mitsubishi dlp. Just pick a price you can live with and they have a model for you.

[rockgremlin]

Cost is a non-issue. I'm willing to drop the coin for high quality.

Why is DLP so great? Would you claim that DLP is better than LCD or Plasma screen TVs? If so, why?

[DiscGo]

Why is DLP so great? Would you claim that DLP is better than LCD or Plasma screen TVs? If so, why?

I was able to purchase just about any TV I wanted, and I went with DLP and I have been very happy with it. I have a 65" Mitshubishi and it has been wonderful.

Here is how I would break it down in explanation:

DLP- Great picture, more size for the buck, and larger over all television (compared to LCD or Plasma). The major con is that every 5-10 years you have to replace the bulb for the rear projection.

Plasma- Sharpest of all picture formats currently on the market. The colors are the most vibrant and really capable of the nicest picture (in my opinion) but the reason I did not go with Plasma is because over the time the plasma goes fading and the picture quality does not maintain the sharp image you have when it is new.

LCD- Good picture, usually the thinnest of these three options for high definition big screen televisions, does not have the bulb to replace or plasma to dissipate. So in the end, it has a higher price tag up front but does not require the same volume of upkeep.


In the end whatever you go with, you will love. I come from a family of big screen owners and my brothers and I have different setups and everyone really enjoys their own.

1080P is a must (anything else will be a waste) I do suggest that you go with a name brand, and that you do not just limit yourself to size of screen but also number of hdmi ports and other connectors. My TV has 4 hdmi ports and I use three of them. Currently there is not much on the market that really displays true 1080p but as HD expands you will have a large increase in your demand for HDMI ports.

Also- Whatever you do DO NOT get a projector in place of a television. Projectors are not meant for every day television use, the bulbs are expensive and die frequently and unless you are willing to spend 7k the projectors usually have to have the room be pitch black to really see it clearly.

[rockgremlin]

Also- Whatever you do DO NOT get a projector in place of a television. Projectors are not meant for every day television use, the bulbs are expensive and die frequently and unless you are willing to spend 7k the projectors usually have to have the room be pitch black to really see it clearly.


Interesting that you should say this as I was actually seriously considering it. When I lived in Wyoming a co-worker had a slammin home theater system, and he had a projector. He swears by them. But you're right, he had to stuff pillows in every crack and crevice just to ensure that the room was dark enough to get a good picture.


Thanks a bunch for your input. I appreciate the help! :2thumbs:

[DiscGo]

Interesting that you should say this as I was actually seriously considering it.


My brother got one despite my other brother's recommendation to stay away from it. He spent 2 grand and it was basically worthless after 2 years because he kept burning out bulbs. The bulbs are about $140 if you reinstall them yourself or $250 if you buy the kit. Just way too expensive. I can basically guarantee you that you would regret it.

[Iceaxe]

Here is my 2 cents....

I have a 52" Panasonic plasma, a 42" Visio LCD and a 36" Sony LCD.... err something like that... so I don't really have a favorite dog in this fight.... anyhoo... the Plasma has the best picture and it's very noticeable to me after watching all three over a period of time. Don't buy a plasma if you have direct sunlight on the TV at some time during the day, they don't do glare very well....

But that being said.... I'd just go with whatever you can get the best deal on and what looks best to you in the store. But remember, the TV's in the store are never adjusted for best picture. The new HD tv's are so superior to the old TV's you will love whatever you get.

I don't know anything about LED tv's that have hit the market.... anyhoo.... that advise and $6.95 will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks.

:cool2:

[Reedus]

DLP's use too many damn moving parts (mirrors). As far as LCD and plasma, don't have an opinion. I went with a 60" sony SXRD, which is their own technology that rivlals DLP technology, but no moving parts. Very satisfied with it. Had it for a year now. Paid 4gs and it came with a nice glass stand.

[Iceaxe]

the reason I did not go with Plasma is because over the time the plasma goes fading and the picture quality does not maintain the sharp image you have when it is new.

This was a problem with the first Plasma's but was corrected a long time ago. I know the half life on the new Panasonic Plasma's is something like 20 years.... also, many of the new plasma's havee an anti glare screen which is a big help over the old glass screen.

Get a lot of HDMI ports on whatever you buy. I have three HDMI ports and they are all filled, with Sat, DVD and XBox. You want 2 as a minimum. HDMI ports is where some of the cheaper sets cut the corner by only putting in 1 or maybe 2.

When you buy HDMI cable get them on-line. The cables should cost about $10. Most the stores are really ripping you off and charging up to $100, Even Wally-world was charge $50 last time I was looking for some.

If you gave me a DLP tv I'd say no thanks.... the picture is just not really clear to me.... I think it might be a personal thing becauses others don't seem to notice the same picture quality issue I notice...

And has anyone checked out the new LED (not LCD) tv's? They came out after I purchased my last HDTV so I'm not up-to-date on them.

:rockon:

[ilanimaka]

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned OLCD. The O stands for Organic. They sell them at the Smith's Marketplace in Bountiful for a little over $3K for the 52" (not sure on that size, but I know it's around there) and the picture clarity is so far about anything I've seen it's pathetic. :2thumbs:

[nelsonccc]

After a few months of research I went with a 60" Samsung 1080 Plasma. The picture is unreal and super sharp. After i compared the various types I kept coming back to the picture quality of the plasma. The contrast is great, super dark blacks combined with vinrant colors.

PS the Xbox 360 is wet dream quality on the plasma!

[rockgremlin]

Sometime in the first year after our removal to Moab, there was in myself an unusual excitement on the subject of big screen TVs. It commenced with the Mitsubishis, but soon became general among all the posters on Bogley.com ... and great multitudes united themselves to the different brands and styles .... Some were contending for the Mitsubishis, some for the Plasmas, and some for the Sony ... my mind became somewhat partial to the Mitsubishi set ... but so great were the confusion and strife among the different denominations, that it was impossible ... to come to any certain conclusion who was right, and who was wrong ....

[trackrunner]

Sometime in the first year after our removal to Moab, there was in myself an unusual excitement on the subject of big screen TVs. It commenced with the Mitsubishis, but soon became general among all the posters on Bogley.com ... and great multitudes united themselves to the different brands and styles .... Some were contending for the Mitsubishis, some for the Plasmas, and some for the Sony ... my mind became somewhat partial to the Mitsubishi set ... but so great were the confusion and strife among the different denominations, that it was impossible ... to come to any certain conclusion who was right, and who was wrong ....

There is only one thing for you to do.
:pope:

9 My mind at times was greatly excited, the cry and tumult were so great and incessant. The Plasmas were most decided against the Sonys and Mitsubishis, and used all the powers of both reason and sophistry to prove their errors, or, at least, to make the people think they were in error. On the other hand, the LCDs and DLPs in their turn were equally zealous in endeavoring to establish their own tenets and disprove all others.
10 In the midst of this war of words and tumult of opinions, I often said to myself: What is to be done? Who of all these parties are right; or, are they all wrong together? If any one of them be right, which is it, and how shall I know it?
11 While I was laboring under the extreme difficulties caused by the contests of these parties of televisionists, I was one day reading the Epistle of James, first chapter and fifth verse, which reads: If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
12 Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine. It seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again and again, knowing that if any person needed wisdom from God, I did; for how to act I did not know, and unless I could get more wisdom than I then had, I would never know; for the teachers of television of the different sets understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bogley.
13 At length I came to the conclusion that I must either remain in darkness and without a clear digital picture TV in HD, or else I must do as James directs, that is, ask of God. I at length came to the determination to

[UCCMan]

I have to disagree with the proponents of DLP. I have seen far too many fail BEFORE the 5 year mark. I'd avoid DLP like the plague.

As for PLASMA, if your TV is going to be in a dark room without windows, fine. Otherwise the glare will drive you nuts.

I opt for LCD. Picture life and picture quality are as good as anything out there. Vizio makes a great TV and I think they're somewhere above 50" now with the LCD. It ain't 60 inches, but close.

[DiscGo]

I have had DLP for 2 years and have not had any problems.

I bought my TV at RC Willey on a Black Friday. RC Willey will price match, so I took an ad for an awesome deal at Best Buy (which Best Buy would not honor and only advertised to get you in the store) and took that ad to RC Willey who price matched it. My TV was a $2800 TV when I bought it and I paid about $1600. I paid an additional $200 to RC Willey for their insurance plan. If I have a problem with it in the first 5 years, they will cover whatever problems I have. If I don't use their insurance, they will refund half my money to me.


Everything IceAxe stated is spot on, and I agree with him. I would however suggest that RC Willey is a great place to buy it if that is a possibility for you.

[DiscGo]

P.S. You may want to buy your big screen TVs before the EPA places any caps on how big they can be :)

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10347497-54.html

[asdf]

I have Sony Grand WEGA 60-Inch 1080p Rear Projection HDTV and love it. Once Sonny announced that they would not be making any new rear projection HDTV's the prices plummeted on these bad boys. Price was 2700 a few months before I picked it up for just under and grand.

Long story short I have nothing to contribute to this thread because I am out of the market for what I hope is a long time.

[Iceaxe]

FWIW: I know several people who have bought HDTV's on-line from these guys and say the price and service is excellent.

http://www.abesofmaine.com

I've never bought from them but I was just looking at their prices and they have some killer deals. I also know one guy who used the website to bargin down a local dealer because Abe's is an autherised resaler and for those who will price match.....

I was also checking out the spec's on the Plasma out of curiousity and notice the display life is now out to 100,000 hours on the plasma's (which was a problem when they first came out). 100,000 hours is over 11 years of constant use. That means you could run the thing 12 hours every day for the next 23 years.....

:popcorn:

[accadacca]

I have a 52" Sony Bravia LCD HDTV 1080P. I love it! It works just right in my theater room. Any bigger might have been too big. I got mine right before the Olympics and I also installed an Onkyo home entertainment system at the same time. Good times! Good luck man. :five:

[Iceaxe]

Any bigger might have been too big.

When I was buying my first HDTV I did a lot of research and noticed the number one complaint, by a large margin was.... "I wish I had of bought the next bigger size".

:popcorn:

[accadacca]

"...the next bigger size".
:haha: That sounded funny. Might be the case for some things. Especially if your a red blooded American.

I agree that could be a complaint for some. I think it depends on how close you are sitting to the screen. The room is not huge for me, if it was then I might have picked a bigger screen. I have a 42 of the same but its an LG in the bedroom. It works well based on the size of the room as well. That and my wife wanted it to fit in an armoire where it was hidden. :lol8:

[KapitanSparrow]

I don't have a television set as I do not watch tv :2thumbs:

I do have a 26" LG monitor as I do spend a lot of time in front of a computer :haha:

[rockgremlin]

as I do not watch tv :2thumbs:



Neither do I. I've been almost two years without satellite or cable TV (not even local channels), and I don't miss it. But I do have quite a love affair with the xbox, and I like to watch movies.

[Alex]

I have Sony XBR4 52 incher like Scott. Great TV so far. I also have Sony DLP (50 inch rear projection). DLP sucks in sunny areas (too dim and washed out) like plasma and an outdated technology. Too many moving parts and bulp burn out after 2 years of regular use. DLP was nice originally because it offered a cheap solution to replace a CRT and when you didn't care about the space (they are thinner than CRT, but wider than Plasma/LCD).

Things to look for when you are buying a new tv:

1. Plasmas are great, if you have no sun light anywhere in the room. Also, Plasma technology is fading out, which means better sales, but no future life.

2. LCD is great for bright rooms. Originally LCDs' blacks were a lot lighter than Plasma, now with local dimming LED TVs, LCD produces just as dark black as Plasma.

3. 120Hz minimum refresh rate. Newer tvs have 240 Hz now, but 120 is what you want for Xbox.

4. If you like movies, you'd probably be streaming. I'd say look for a tv with direct streaming capabilities. Most higher end tvs have it now (Sony/Samsung)

5. Sony or Samsung are the best players in the house. Expensive, but are the best. LG and Visio are the middle class of the tv market.

6. TV could be too big, there is a ratio to calculate the comfortable zone for the tv size. 55 inches are about the right size for a normal living room area.

7. Look for more HDMI inputs. I'd go for a minimum of 3 HDMI inputs. Dish/cable, Xbox, another console, Blue Ray and cameras all plug into HDMI.

8. DO NOT buy HDMI cables at a retailer, biggest rip off ever. Buy it from http://monoprice.com a normal 6 foot HDMI cable is $5, instead of $69.99 from BestBuy.

9. Look for TV sales on http://techbargains.com they also have RSS feeds with alarms that you can look for a specific model hitting a sale.

10. All new tvs come with HD tuners now. So just grab rabbit ears and you will have a lot of free HD channels for the wife to watch the news. The quality is awesome!

11. Also, another good factor to look for is the angle of viewing. Some TVs offer much wider angle of viewing than others. I went for my TV originally due to this factor and I am very glad I looked at that. This angle will be in the specs of each tv. Look for that. (widest now as far as I know is 178 degrees)

12. Do NOT compare the contrast ratio. This measurement isn't standard and manufacturers bend the numbers as they are pleased. If you do comparison of different brands, you'd find a HUGE difference in all high end tvs. From 5,000,000:1 to 1,000,000:1.

Hope this helps.

[rockgremlin]

Wow! Great tips...thanks Alex. :2thumbs:

[Alex]

Also, since you asked for the best TV. Here are recommendations of my guru friend:

http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/tv-video/televisions/led-tv/UN55B8000XFXZA/index.idx?pagetype=prd_detail

or

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665981657

But be ready to dish out about 3K for either one.

[oldno7]

I think Alex is spot on with his 2 choices. I own neither, but have been doing considerable research over the last couple of years. What I've concluded is that Sony's XBR versions were way above all, the last couple of years. But it has to be an XBR.
Last year into this, I believe Samsung has not only caught Sony for top of the line but surpassed them.
You couldn't go wrong with either.

[Iceaxe]

Something to think about.... for the price of either of the two TV's Alex listed you can buy three 50" plasma's right now.

One for the family room and football, one for the game room and xbox, and one for the bedroom and your massive porn collection...

As I said before... I have one plasma (Panasonic) and two LCD's (one's a Sony XBR, the other a Visio). I honestly wish I had of bought all plasma's.... the picture is noticeably better. I couldn't see it at first, but after spending a lot of time watching all three TV's it's now easy for me to see. Also the plasma's can handle sunlight just fine, it's sunlight shining directly on the screen that causes problems and that is a problem for all tv's, just the plasma's are worse because they use a mirror screen. It's not like the room has to be pitch black like the old projection tv's.

And what do you care if the technology is old? No matter what you buy will be old technology next year. Older technology often means the bugs have been worked out and the capabilities have been maximized. Honestly I'd prefer to have three, one year old technology, 50" HDTV's in either plasma or LCD over having the newest and most expensive HDTV.... And let's be honest.... value per dollar is a major consideration to most of use.... your milage may vary....

:cool2:

[Alex]

Cost is a non-issue. I'm willing to drop the coin for high quality.



Rock's exact words, that is why I listed those two. If you want value, I'd still point to Samsung or Sony of last two years. In all comparisons they beat every other TV on the market.

The problems with Plasma as far as I know: much higher power consumption, run hotter and no direct sunlight. Other than that, they show great pictures. Another downside, none of my favorite manufacturers produce Plasma and they all make LCD and LED TVs.

Just my two rubils :five: :2thumbs:

[Iceaxe]

Yeah.... that new job of Rock's must be paying well.....

I guess what I was trying to point out and doing so poorly at is.... last years top of the line technology costs 1/2 to 1/3 of this years top of the line technology.... and I bet 99% of the peeps can't tell the difference between the two TV's once they are unloaded in the family room..... You pay dearly for that last little edge in technology.....

You Russians should know all about that.... you could build something like 20 MIG's for what one Tomcat cost the good ol' US of A.

http://www.aerospaceweb.org/aircraft/fighter/mig29/mig29_12.jpg

[Alex]

Ice with that I can totally agree. I bought my TV as a 2 year technology and don't think back on it at all. Though it was rated as a best tv during it's peak.