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46" RCA TV? Opinions

Q

qwertyaas

Member
Looking for a new TV. Won't be used much and not interested in 3D or Internet ready and all that.

Anyone have or seen this tv?

http://www.walmart.com/ip/RCA-46-Cla...R120Q/16207350

Or similar specs but a Westinghouse

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Westinghou...-4680/20452138

I was considering that or a Sceptre 50" for $500. My parents have the 40" Sceptre TV and it seems like a pretty decent TV for the price.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Sceptre-50...V-FHD/19793654

The first two are LED, 120Hz and slim.
 
I would rather get a used LED than a new LCD. Longer life, cooler/leaner by over a hundred watts and of course the contrast ratio.

I know it sounds unconventional, but I will suggest it anyway since I have been considering this for myself. There is a dealer on ebay with some very interesting open box items. They have pretty much all brands, Sony, Samsung, LG, Toshiba, Vizio, yada yada...Some of their TVs have the stand missing, or a YPbPr jack was damaged, or there was a scratch on the bezel, etc. The TV's are marked hundreds of dollars off of retail for typically negligible damage or missing accessories.

There shouldn't be anything wrong with the RCA you linked, so try and find a display model and check it out firsthand (make sure the store's demo media is using HDMI of course).
 
alyarb said:
I would rather get a used LED than a new LCD. Longer life, cooler/leaner by over a hundred watts and of course the contrast ratio.

I know it sounds unconventional, but I will suggest it anyway since I have been considering this for myself. There is a dealer on ebay with some very interesting open box items. They have pretty much all brands, Sony, Samsung, LG, Toshiba, Vizio, yada yada...Some of their TVs have the stand missing, or a YPbPr jack was damaged, or there was a scratch on the bezel, etc. The TV's are marked hundreds of dollars off of retail for typically negligible damage or missing accessories.

There shouldn't be anything wrong with the RCA you linked, so try and find a display model and check it out firsthand (make sure the store's demo media is using HDMI of course).
Click to expand...

I tend to not go for open-box for monitors and TVs due to dead pixel returns - we've all done it.

I don't know much of RCA and Westinghouse quality at this point. I remember they used to be pretty decent brands and Westinghouse used to have some nice monitors. Reviews in general are pretty high for both but they are still priced at low tier (which is around the price I want to spend on the 46"), but would still hold out of quality is an issue.
 
I think Westinghouse is Funai.

Is $500 your top price? If you could go up to around $700 I think you could get a potentially much better TV.
 
Well, with that new bit of info, there is no doubt in my mind that you should just go for a 50" plasma. Appropriate size for viewing distance is the single biggest factor in tv enjoyment, and it's not close. I wouldn't even worry about 1080p vs. 720p since you won't even notice the difference at 13 feet. Other than slight advantages in panel thickness and power consumption, LED offers nothing over ANY plasma in this price range.
 
smitbret said:
Well, with that new bit of info, there is no doubt in my mind that you should just go for a 50" plasma. Appropriate size for viewing distance is the single biggest factor in tv enjoyment, and it's not close. I wouldn't even worry about 1080p vs. 720p since you won't even notice the difference at 13 feet. Other than slight advantages in panel thickness and power consumption, LED offers nothing over ANY plasma in this price range.
Click to expand...

Any good Plasma recommendations? I take it they still have the burn in issues but not as bad as they used to correct?

Is there a big difference in power consumption, both stand-by and powered?
 
qwertyaas said:
Thanks, will check those out! How is the lower resolution though at 50" though? Very noticeable?
Click to expand...

From 13 feet away, it is extremely doubtful that you'll be able to tell the difference between 720p and 1080p. Keep in mind, that there is very little real 1080p content out there. Blu-Ray and some video games are about it. The decreased bitrate in streaming internet media means that that 1080p is only a measurement of its resolution and, in fact, the video could possibly look better if it kept the same bitrate and streamed it in 720p. In fact the increased contrast ratios that you'll get from the plasma versus the LCD and cheap LED TVs will probably give the appearance of better resolution.

As far as power consumption, I just did a quick jump through Samsung's website and pulled up the Energy Star labels on the PN51E450, the cheapest 46" LCD and the cheapest 46" LED for an average use of 5 hours per day:

Plasma - $21/year
LCD - $15/year
LED - $8/year

Thought it was interesting to note that the LED and plasma had the same standby power draw of 0.3W and the LCD had 0.14W. The cheapest 55" LED had a standby of 0.5W and they didn't post the Energy Star label.

That Samsung 720p is a great choice. I don't have that exact model, but I do have a PN50B450 from a couple of years ago. Outside of a 1080p plasma, I'm certain that I could not have found a better TV for OTA and Satellite broadcast for less than $2000.
 
I know that the panels on the LG plasmas have traditionally about as reflective as a mirror. As long as you're able to control the ambient light in the room, it would probably be an excellent choice.
 
If you are any kind of responsible, don't worry about burn-in. My Samsungs get image retention from things like the ESPN ticker, letterboxes and network logos in the corner of the screen. They never stick around longer than a couple of minutes. It takes gross negligence and abuse to cause permanent burn-in. After 100-200 hours of use, it will be just about impossible short of leaving the same static image on the screen for 3 days. Turn on your pixel shifting and regularly use the IR removal tool or burn-in DVD for the first 100 hours and it'll look great.
 
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