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Best Budget flat screen TV

S

Semidevil

Diamond Member
I'll be moving in to an apartment and will need a TV for our living room. In terms of best bang for the buck, what do you guys recommend? A few years ago, I've read that Vizio is actually pretty good and scored pretty high on consumer reports. Is this still the case?

My requirements:
- 40 inch +
- We are just casual TV watchers, and do not play video games. We do have an Apple TV for occasional youtube, trailers, iTunes movies, etc etc, so HDMI will be needed. I don't think we need a smart TV. No netflix, or anything.
- quality and specs: Again, we are just casual watchers and don't really need the best specs. But I imagine LCD or LED, 1080p, and decent display.
- budget wise, I initially set a a max of $400, but anything less will definitely be great.


I saw this on amazon, and the reviews seems pretty solid. What do you guys think? My initial goal a 40 to 42 inch tv, but this one below is only a couple inches less, and I save $100 dollars.

http://www.amazon.com/Sharp-LC-39LE5...eywords=led+tv
 
The cheapies from Best Buy/Future Shop "Insignia" are actually good TV's for there price. Most are made by Toshiba.

The latest models, 48 inch, 55 inch, etc

(Hides under a rock)
 
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My girlfriend just got a 50" RCA from Sears for $400. I am impressed with what she got for the money. She was patient and waited for it to be on sale.
 
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cmdrdredd said:
720p display.
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That I would take over a majority of 1080p LED displays on the market. Heck even some 4k ones!

This is a 43 inch $420 TV. The visual difference between 720p and 1080p doesn't matter as much at that size as the superior motion handling, black levels and colors plasma gives you compared to any LED anywhere near that price range.

LED only dreams of competing with that plasma when you get over $600 bucks or so. Heck I don't even know if you can get a FALD LED (the only kind that doesn't suck) smaller than 47 inches or so.

The only real benefit of LED over plasma is input lag, but OP said no gaming. Therefore OP should get a Samsung plasma before they are gone.
 
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I still see no reason to recommend 720p TVs in 2014. The difference in sharpness is still noticeable with some content.
 
cmdrdredd said:
I still see no reason to recommend 720p TVs in 2014. The difference in sharpness is still noticeable with some content.
Click to expand...

You are correct that the difference in sharpness is noticeable with some content, but the difference in black levels, motion performance and color will be noticeably better than any LED near that price for all content. TV PQ is more than one metric.
 
Go get a Samsung Plasma PN51F5300 and you will never regret it! Can be had at Bestbuy for for $550 or less. http://www.bestbuy.com/site/samsung...66283709&skuId=8239047&st=PN51F5300&cp=1&lp=1 See here for all the great things being said about this TV http://www.avsforum.com/forum/167-p...tle-gem-i1pro-calibration-results-inside.html

It is getting harder to find this TV I got mine at Walmart. Unfortunatley they no long have the 51 inch but they do have the 60 inch here http://www.walmart.com/search/?query=PN60F5300 its just under $800.
 
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cmdrdredd said:
I still see no reason to recommend 720p TVs in 2014. The difference in sharpness is still noticeable with some content.
Click to expand...

Come on with what 20/15 vision. The effects of the increase in detail is minimal at best within 7' of the viewing distance. I will take the loss in resolution any day to have even panel uniformity, better black levels that aids in performing better detail. Better motion control, no offside viewing angle issues. With a cheap to moderate priced edge lit LCD. You have light bleed issues on the edges. Panel cloudiness, blooming, uniformity issues and hits just keep coming. If OLED or something similar is not affordable by the time my plasmas bite the dust. I guess my movie collection will collect dust and I will buy more movie tickets.
 
For 720p Tvs There should be Signal of 720p ,without that no use of it . but as technology growing its better to have the updated or redemption later
 
LG makes good Plasmas from my experience. Admittedly its one model but I have had it for a year now and I watch the snot out of it. I paid 599, it was at sale at micro center but price matched it at HHGregg because they deliver. The new 2014 - 60 LFG smarts for $750.

Some folks will denounce LGs this just because they heard it "somewhere" but have zero first hand knowledge.
 
Thebobo said:
LG makes good Plasmas from my experience. Admittedly its one model but I have had it for a year now and I watch the snot out of it. I paid 599, it was at sale at micro center but price matched it at HHGregg because they deliver. The new 2014 - 60 LFG smarts for $750.

Some folks will denounce LGs this just because they heard it "somewhere" but have zero first hand knowledge.
Click to expand...

That's good to know, I am in the market for a new TV as well and LG looked good to me, but didn't know how good or bad they were.... how long have you owned your LG?
 
Thebobo said:
LG makes good Plasmas from my experience. Admittedly its one model but I have had it for a year now and I watch the snot out of it. I paid 599, it was at sale at micro center but price matched it at HHGregg because they deliver. The new 2014 - 60 LFG smarts for $750.

Some folks will denounce LGs this just because they heard it "somewhere" but have zero first hand knowledge.
Click to expand...

Pretty soon they will be the last plasmas so yeah.
 
goingup said:
they do have the 60 inch here http://www.walmart.com/search/?query=PN60F5300 its just under $800.
Click to expand...

the costco version of this tv is $650. only the model number has changed (5350 vs. 5300).


maxi007 said:
For 720p Tvs There should be Signal of 720p ,without that no use of it . but as technology growing its better to have the updated or redemption later
Click to expand...

the cable box or satellite box chooses the proper output as part of the hdmi handshake. for OTA signals, most are in 720 anyway, and for the ones that aren't, the TV downconverts. so this isn't a concern.
 
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I just picked up a Westinghouse 55" for $400 on monday from bestbuy. I'm taking it back today though. The dark scenes look downright atrocious on it. I cant believe how much better my 3 year old $400 40" TCL panel is. I expect an upgrade in every way. I'm going to try the Sharp AQUOS 4834 next.
 
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