budget = $2000 pretax, what is best value for a plasma or lcd?

[Maximus96]

i'll be making a purchase soon with a budget of $2000 pretax. I've been thinking about the 50" plasma vizio from costco. then recently i saw the 42" westinghouse lcd from bestbuy. the westinghouse is cheaper and higher resolution but the 50" screen is tempting as well. what would you guys recommend? i'll be mostly using it to watch cable tv (what does the HD package from comcast include?) and regular dvds.

also, which wall mount do you guys recommend. costco.com also have quite a few of those.

 

[mzkhadir]

Are you looking at other stuff too ? Like DLP ?

http://www.buydig.com/shop/searchresults.aspx?cti=4103&pti=1012

 

[Maximus96]

no, it either lcd or plasma, i want to hang it on the wall.

 

[olds]

I looked at both and bought the plasma because it was thinner. The best picture I saw was from a Sony LCD. I believe it was 52" and around $7000 or so. Way out of your budget.
Magnolia has/had the 42" Panasonic plasma on sale for $2000

 

[Maximus96]

they both look very thin to me already, the difference will be minimal for me. i was all set at first on the 50" vizio for 1899 from my local costco. but then i see these 42" 1080p lcd for about the same price or less so that got me wondering again. i do plan to eventually build a htpc. will the difference in resolution play a major role?

 

[QurazyQuisp]

I'd go for a 42" westinghouse... my parents have one, and as far as I'm concerned, it's got plasmas beat on every level. 1080p resolution, the screen's finish is not shiny, no burn in, again, 1080p, the viewing angle is as good as most comparable plasmas... it looks quite amazing. The Picture as a whole looks amazing. At this point if I had the money for a 42" Plasma or 42" LCD, I wouldn't even consider a plasma, unless it was dirt cheap with a 1080p resolution aswell.

 

[MrChad]

I've been very happy with my 42" Panasonic TH-42PX60U, which might be slightly above your price range. The color depth and black levels are outstanding.

That said, I've also heard great things about the 42" Westinghouse, which is a bit cheaper and a great value.

 

[Maximus96]

how about this sceptre?

 

[Apex]

Originally posted by: Maximus96
i'll be making a purchase soon with a budget of $2000 pretax. I've been thinking about the 50" plasma vizio from costco. then recently i saw the 42" westinghouse lcd from bestbuy. the westinghouse is cheaper and higher resolution but the 50" screen is tempting as well. what would you guys recommend? i'll be mostly using it to watch cable tv (what does the HD package from comcast include?) and regular dvds.

also, which wall mount do you guys recommend. costco.com also have quite a few of those.

What's your viewing distance?

For cable TV and regular TV's, that Vizio will be very difficult to beat.

 

[Vette73]

My and wife looked at all the ones in our price and the diff. between LCDvsPlasma and we went with LCD. We had to get a little smaller screen but LCD still won.

 

[Maximus96]

Originally posted by: Apex

Originally posted by: Maximus96
i'll be making a purchase soon with a budget of $2000 pretax. I've been thinking about the 50" plasma vizio from costco. then recently i saw the 42" westinghouse lcd from bestbuy. the westinghouse is cheaper and higher resolution but the 50" screen is tempting as well. what would you guys recommend? i'll be mostly using it to watch cable tv (what does the HD package from comcast include?) and regular dvds.

also, which wall mount do you guys recommend. costco.com also have quite a few of those.

What's your viewing distance?

For cable TV and regular TV's, that Vizio will be very difficult to beat.

viewing distance is adjustable right now. i can move the sectional sofa as needed. i plan to move it to whatever is best for the size of the tv i buy. i will be watching cable tv, not regular. I also plan on getting the HD box from comcast as well as watching my dvds and xbox/ps2. future plans include a htpc and maybe a next gen console.

 

[CTrain]

If its mostly for TV viewing, definately go with the Plasma.
The PQ is much better.
I had the 42 Vizio plasma and I just bought the Westinghouse 37" 1080P so I've seen both.
I went with the LCD cause I wanted to use it as a PC monitor but if its for TV viewing, the plasma easily.

If you're also considering 42" while not just get the Vizio 42" plasma for $1299.
You can use the extra $600 to buy the stereo stuff.

 

[Maximus96]

Originally posted by: CTrain

If you're also considering 42" while not just get the Vizio 42" plasma for $1299.
You can use the extra $600 to buy the stereo stuff.

thats true. i plan on buying a onkyo home theater in a box. but a big part of me wants a 50" because of its size. i'm considering the 42" lcd because of price. seems like anything biger is over 2000, except for that 47"lcd i see in hotdeals but its OOS.

how much difference is there between a 42" and 50" besides the obvious 8". will there be a drastic difference

 

[Apex]

Originally posted by: Maximus96

Originally posted by: Apex

Originally posted by: Maximus96
i'll be making a purchase soon with a budget of $2000 pretax. I've been thinking about the 50" plasma vizio from costco. then recently i saw the 42" westinghouse lcd from bestbuy. the westinghouse is cheaper and higher resolution but the 50" screen is tempting as well. what would you guys recommend? i'll be mostly using it to watch cable tv (what does the HD package from comcast include?) and regular dvds.

also, which wall mount do you guys recommend. costco.com also have quite a few of those.

What's your viewing distance?

For cable TV and regular TV's, that Vizio will be very difficult to beat.

viewing distance is adjustable right now. i can move the sectional sofa as needed. i plan to move it to whatever is best for the size of the tv i buy. i will be watching cable tv, not regular. I also plan on getting the HD box from comcast as well as watching my dvds and xbox/ps2. future plans include a htpc and maybe a next gen console.

In general, if you're going to watch from about 7' away or further and can spend the money, get the 50".

If you're viewing cable TV and DVD, plus HD, I'd say go for the vizio. The only reasons to get LCD in your specific case:

If you're watching mainly slow moving (because LCD displays have slower response times than plasma) cartoons (where the vivid colors of LCDs may be better than the natural colors of plasma displays) in an EXTREMELY bright room (so black levels, contrast, and shadow detail do not matter) from a VERY close distance (for a 42" LCD, I'd say VERY close would be 4.5' or closer given standard 20/20 vision), in mainly natively captured 1080 or when source is greater than 1080 then downscaled (which no cartoons are).

 

[MisterServer]

ive got the westy, some of the biggest negatives about it:
-viewing angles past ~20 degrees off center begin to look washed out
-remote sucks (but just get a harmony)
-uneven backlighting aka banding in gray/light blue uniform backgrounds (not too noticeable)
-this set has some known problems with 1080p input from the HDMI/DVI2 port in terms of seeing bright sparkles. some people have experienced it/some haven't. my only 1080p source is my pc and i do get sparkles on HDMI but not dvi2. hopefully by the time ps3 comes out they'll have fixed this issue with a firmware update but for now i'm stuck with the dvi/component inputs for 1080p sources
-lack of much aspect ratio control (only has standard 1:1 pixel map mode and a fill mode resulting in heavy 10% overscan)

despite the negatives i'm keeping it cuz of
a) 1920x1080p resolution from my pc gives amazing picture quality
b) hd broadcasts look very nice
c) i don't think there is a better value for this resolution/size of monitor

if you decide to get one, make sure it has firmware 1.19 or 1.00 (the latest) as they fix a power lockup issue. check out avsforum for tons of info

 

[fire400]

the guy said plasma, why the hell are you guys recommending LCD's?

get the 40"-50" displays that suit you better. you'll notice that some have different qualities and features. forget the loss of a few inches if you see a screen that has something or a nitch that you really want. no loss, anything hitting the +40" mark is consiered a 30" killer.

 

[Maximus96]

Originally posted by: fire400
the guy said plasma, why the hell are you guys recommending LCD's?

get the 40"-50" displays that suit you better. you'll notice that some have different qualities and features. forget the loss of a few inches if you see a screen that has something or a nitch that you really want. no loss, anything hitting the +40" mark is consiered a 30" killer.

well i'm actually trying to decide between a bigger plasma or smaller lcd so i welcome input and comments on both.

 

[Todd33]

LCD is you want a HTPC. If you get a Plasma get one that can do at least 720P, not this 1024x1024 crap. Also beware that a 1080 source will be downscalled, but if you far back it's no biggy.

Both solutions are good, they just solve different problems most of the time. I went with the 42" LCD for a HTPC monitor, 1368x768 is just too low for gaming IMO.

 

[olds]

Originally posted by: fire400
the guy said plasma, why the hell are you guys recommending LCD's?

get the 40"-50" displays that suit you better. you'll notice that some have different qualities and features. forget the loss of a few inches if you see a screen that has something or a nitch that you really want. no loss, anything hitting the +40" mark is consiered a 30" killer.

Read, much?

Topic Title: budget = $2000 pretax, what is best value for a plasma or lcd?

 

[vi edit]

I just find LCD's to be completely unnatural looking for movies and normal TV. They just don't have the same image that a plasma provides for that media. If it will be used mainly for TV and movies, then plasma all the way.

If you will be doing a lot of gaming or hooking a computer up to it, then I think an LCD is a better format.

Personally I don't see 1080p a huge selling point. By the time it gets to be an issue I'll be ready to upgrade anyway.

For my viewing habits, plasma was the clear winner.

 

[NissanGurl]

Just an FYI, we bought a 32" Westhinghouse LCD HDTV not too long ago (in the past 6-8 months). Very nice television, but we have a slight issue. Since we don't use a digital cable box (just the coax from the wall) the signal can sometimes be too weak and we get a scrammbled reception. The REALLY odd part about it is that I figured out if I turn off the power strip that the TV is connected to for a few seconds and turn it right back on the scrammbled reception on the TV clears up. The guy that sold it to us did warn us that some of the newer LCD TVs would have an issue if we didn't have a digital cable box. It's just something that occassionally happens. Other than that little quirk we like the TV.

Edit: we went with Westinghouse because of all the input connections, including VGA .

 

[mitaiwan82]

I second the Westinghouse 42" 1080p LCD. Some small pics of mine:
1
2
3

EDIT:
Mega size pics for your pleasure:
1
2
3

 

[Heifetz]

how about a hd projector?

 

[BD2003]

Plasma - more natural color and black level,but more of a screen door effect, better viewing angle, possibly lower resolution, suceptible to burn in, no ghosting
LCD - less natural color and black level, but less screen door, so-so viewing angle, higher res, won't burn in, ALWAYS ghosting, no matter what anyone else says - depends on how fast the response rate is, and how much it bugs you

I highly recommend DLP. Still quite thin, but you can't hang it on a wall - is that REALLY the MOST important issue? Best image quality and black level, slight screen door effect, might see a few rainbows. Viewing angle not a problem, resolution is 720p minimum, won't burn in, and won't ghost. Although you have to change the light bulb every couple of years.

CRTs overall still arguably have the best image quality, but they are HUGE and HEAVY, and don't come any higher than 34 inches.

Projectors are impractical.

 

[Maximus96]

no go for projector. also no go on anything else besides flat panels. I really want to hang the thing on the wall. I don't think i'll play too much computer games on it but i'm not ruling that out. my pc is old but still good enough for now with A64 and 6800gt. i'm mainly interested in HTPC for viewing movies and other videos from the computer. I also might just use the xbox for that but who knows for now. I started browsing AVSforum and see some complain regarding the 50" vizio. i haven't field thru their 100+ pages but the last few pages were pretty full of complains and threads of returns...