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HDTV Recommendations needed

W

Wildog

Member
Here's the situation. Currently have a 36" Sharp Tube TV and I'm wanting to upgrade to an HDTV. I'm thinking around 42" and I sit about 10-13' away from the screen. It'll mainly be used for gaming (Xbox360), watching standard def movies or HD ones of the new Netflix streaming on the Xbox. Budget will be about $700 to $1000, closer to the low end, depending on Christmas money. And I'm definitely going LCD.

Any recommendations? 720p vs 1080p? I'm thinking about 42". What about brands?

Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated.
 
10-13' you'll want at least a 46". For your budget maybe try to find a good deal on a 46" 1080p Vizio since it has a large user base which means you can find tons of info on them and calibration settings. I had a good experience with my Vizio 37" 720p. Also looks for deals on Samsung, Sony, or LG and see if you can find one within your budget. If you find a model that meet your budget, go to AVSForum and see what ppl say about them. Doing research is important as I learned from my exp of buying a Sharp 42D65U and found its pictures lacking and ended up paying 15% restocking fee to return it. Ended up with a Samsung 46A650 and couldn't be happier.
 
I might try to avoid Vizio - they're not bad, but big-brand TVs (Samsung, Sony, LG, Pioneer, et cetera) often are much better. I'm particularly a fan of Samsung, if only because the Samsung stuff I've owned (VCRs, mostly) has never broken down after a decade or more of use.

While 720p is (IIRC) the limit of the Xbox 360, the popularity of 1080p content - especially Blu-Ray - means that the majority of 720p TVs are built down to a price, not up to a standard. That said, I've seen some 42" Samsung 720p plasmas for reasonable prices.

If you're strapped for cash, various forum members can recommend high-end CRT HDTVs which, due to their undesriable boxiness, can be bought used very cheaply. These TVs were often priced at thousands of dollars when new, and as such feature a very high standard of build quality and reliability. Don't think that what you save will impact picture quality, either - while many of these TVs will only support 720p/1080i, the contrast and color balance is often better than that of all but the best LCDs and plasma.

 
At that distance and price you are probably looking at Plasma/DLP. At 13 feet you'll want as big as you can afford. And at that distance 1080p really isn't as big of a deal. You'll want bigger first with 1080p a "distant" second.

I've seen some 50"-55" Samsung and Toshiba DLP sets going for under $1000 at some retailers around here. I'd look into those first.

I know you specified you wanted LCD, but I just don't think the cost/size ratio is there for you viewing distance and budget.
 
Honestly, you want 50" or more. 46" at the very least.

And plasma gives you more for the buck in that range. Of course, with the (poor) quality of "HD" Netflix streaming, it may not much matter...
 
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