Pick my HDTV

[oznerol]

Some things I'm looking for:
-42" to 47"
-VGA input
-3+ HDMI inputs
-Plasma or LCD only
-Budget of $1800, ideally less
-Good/decent SD TV playback

I am currently looking at these models:
Samsung LN-T4661F
LG 47LC7DF
Sharp Aquos LC-42D64U

I'm not incredibly picky about 1080p/720p but the elitist in me would be more comfortable with a 1080p set.

I'll also pay a bit more (a bit) - if I can be convinced it's worth it.

Edit with new post:
Alright people - this is the final question. My Amazon credit all got settled, so it's all systems go. I now have 2 options:

Samsung LNT4665F 46" 1080p LCD HDTV - $1600

Samsung LNT4671F 46" 1080p 120Hz LCD - $2000 HDTV

Now, my budget increased a little bit (a little) since I got a pleasant surprise at work. I am more willing to spend a bit more for an overall more awesome experience and more future-proofing.

I play games - watch movies - and watch football. Supposedly the 120Hz is better for those things? From what I understand it interpolates a 60Hz signal to 120Hz so it smooths out everything? Really, how "choppy" is 60Hz that it would even need this functionality? I actually have a bit of image processing experience, and adding frames that are not there is no simple task - do these TVs really do this in real time - and well?

As I've said before, I have 0 experience with HDTVs, so personally, I don't even know how a 60Hz HDTV looks for NFL games or 360 games, let alone a 120Hz one. Is the 4671F model worth the extra $400 or should I stick with the 4665?

This is it, thanks for all the help so far.

:beer:

 

[tHa ShIzNiT]

FWIW, just got a Samsung 4665 and it is incredible for gaming and movies. You will not be disappointed by this set. I don't have any experience with the 4661 but it is supposedly very similar to my set so if you see a price you like I would hop on it.

 

[oznerol]

Originally posted by: tHa ShIzNiT
FWIW, just got a Samsung 4665 and it is incredible for gaming and movies. You will not be disappointed by this set. I don't have any experience with the 4661 but it is supposedly very similar to my set so if you see a price you like I would hop on it.

It looks really nice - but how's the glare? It has the glossy screen, no?

 

[krotchy]

What about the Phillips 47PFL7422D/37 (47" 1080p), its 1599 at costco (and their warranty rules). Its a great value IMO, and comparable to the 61F Samsungs IMO, though the 65F is better.

3 HDMI ports, 2 1080p capable component ports (alot of companies limit component to 1080i which is annoying)

 

[Wuzup101]

Screen glare depends on the room that it's in. I personally love the glossy screen as there is little ambient light in my room (have a 4065F).

I would add some panasonic plasmas to that list. The 42pz700u might be something you would want to check out for movies/games (1080p). Not sure how much a 50" would run in that series (as they don't make anything between that and the 42").

 

[oznerol]

Originally posted by: krotchy
What about the Phillips 47PFL7422D/37 (47" 1080p), its 1599 at costco (and their warranty rules). Its a great value IMO, and comparable to the 61F Samsungs IMO, though the 65F is better.

3 HDMI ports, 2 1080p capable component ports (alot of companies limit component to 1080i which is annoying)

That was in the mix, too, actually, but it lacks a VGA port. The VGA is mainly for my Xbox 360 - since it does 1080p through it and I have an older one without HDMI. But also having the PC functionality is nice, too.

How does it handle SD content?

 

[krotchy]

Originally posted by: ducci

Originally posted by: krotchy
What about the Phillips 47PFL7422D/37 (47" 1080p), its 1599 at costco (and their warranty rules). Its a great value IMO, and comparable to the 61F Samsungs IMO, though the 65F is better.

3 HDMI ports, 2 1080p capable component ports (alot of companies limit component to 1080i which is annoying)

That was in the mix, too, actually, but it lacks a VGA port. The VGA is mainly for my Xbox 360 - since it does 1080p through it and I have an older one without HDMI. But also having the PC functionality is nice, too.

How does it handle SD content?

The SD content is about 100x better than my Vizio was thats for sure. Actually I am quite impressed with it. With the Vizio I watched SD when I had to but It was a struggle to say the least. With the Phillips a good SD source is no problem at all, in fact sometimes it looks downright good (course it wont ever touch HD, but the Perfect Pixel 3 HD engine is a good scalar)

Oh and no VGA port... Xbox 360 can do 1080p over component into this TV (Sharp and Toshiba dont support 1080p over component, dunno about Samsung and others) I have been using my 360 @ 1080p over component into this TV since I got it and its great. Also my media center is hooked up with a DVI->HDMI cable and that works perfect too, so the no VGA didnt seem like a big loss.

Oh and check the TV's with VGA to make sure it does 1080p over VGA. The Vizio did 1366x768 over VGA max, Toshibas do 1024x768 max over VGA, etc. So verify the one you choose does if you go that route.

*edit* The Vizio I am referring to was the 47" 1080p from Costco that I had before the Philips. The HDMI ports on it were interfering with each other causing sparkles and crazyness so I returned it for the Phillips.

*edit 2* Just to fill you in on my current LCD decision and where im coming from:

Right now I am actually looking for a TV for my bedroom and Im thinking a 37-42in 1080p and keep bouncing all over the place. I like the 42PFL7422D/37 which is the baby brother of my LCD in my living room and I have no complaints about the screen so I keep coming back to it. However the Samsung 4071F is actually findable at a decent price (the bigger brothers get wicked costly), then theres the Toshiba 42's which have the wide color CCFL's like the Samsung, but no 1080p over component and crippled VGA.

Then I keep thinking, well I could take the 47in and put that in my bedroom, and get a 52" version of the Toshiba or Phillips for the living room, but thats gonna cost about $1000 more than a 40-42 so thats a bit of a pipe dream and depends on my job offer in the next couple weeks...

I think Im currently holding in my gut to just see what next year's models have in store. I will be making the trip to CES in January so I can visit all the TV manufacturers and see whats coming. Then maybe Phillips will have the wide color CCFL added or 120HZ, or Toshiba will take 1080p component, or Samsung will move 120Hz and wide CCFL into cheaper models, who knows... too much to think about!!

The one thing to remember, in the end you will probably be quite happy with any of your choices. Just make sure when you buy it you are excited about it, because if you feel doubt to buy one model over another it will only grow.

 

[tHa ShIzNiT]

My 4665 has absolutely no banding issues at all. In terms of clouding, I feel like I can *maybe* see a tiny cloud near the bottom right of the panel, but it is only visible (and barely visible) when the screen is displaying nothing. There is absolutely no noticable difference in that area when the screen is displaying anything besides black.

I said it in the other thread, the 4665 is one hell of an amazing TV. Everyone that has seen it at my house has agreed that it is THE BEST panel they have ever seen. The glossy finish I thought would be annoying at first but it is absolutely UNNOTICABLE when you are watching the TV. I have quite a bit of ambient light in my viewing room and all it does is make the picture stand out less, I haven't found reflecting light to be an issue AT ALL.

This thing has inputs galore too, so many I am not anywhere near filling them all. I have a DVI to HDMI connector for my PC and it looks amazing playing WoW at 1080p on my TV. PC, Xbox, Wii, PS3 all of them look incredible on this set.

Another awesome feature of this set is the QAM tuner. There are 2 cable input tuners on the back of the TV, a regular cable tuner and a QAM tuner. The cool thing about the QAM tuner is that I plug in just a regular basic cable line into it and it pulls all local HD stations right off of that. So I am paying for basic cable but I get to watch every football game in HD every sunday!!!! And that...well that just makes me happy.

I can't remember the last time I felt so good about a purchase I made though, and this one cost me $1500 bucks. So I was very worried going into it but its really a great feeling every time I look at this set.

Since there are 2 threads on this I'm gonna copy it into both of them. I hope this helps you guys, I just felt the need to get on the soap box about this TV, I love it.

 

[oznerol]

Originally posted by: tHa ShIzNiT
My 4665 has absolutely no banding issues at all. In terms of clouding, I feel like I can *maybe* see a tiny cloud near the bottom right of the panel, but it is only visible (and barely visible) when the screen is displaying nothing. There is absolutely no noticable difference in that area when the screen is displaying anything besides black.

I said it in the other thread, the 4665 is one hell of an amazing TV. Everyone that has seen it at my house has agreed that it is THE BEST panel they have ever seen. The glossy finish I thought would be annoying at first but it is absolutely UNNOTICABLE when you are watching the TV. I have quite a bit of ambient light in my viewing room and all it does is make the picture stand out less, I haven't found reflecting light to be an issue AT ALL.

This thing has inputs galore too, so many I am not anywhere near filling them all. I have a DVI to HDMI connector for my PC and it looks amazing playing WoW at 1080p on my TV. PC, Xbox, Wii, PS3 all of them look incredible on this set.

Another awesome feature of this set is the QAM tuner. There are 2 cable input tuners on the back of the TV, a regular cable tuner and a QAM tuner. The cool thing about the QAM tuner is that I plug in just a regular basic cable line into it and it pulls all local HD stations right off of that. So I am paying for basic cable but I get to watch every football game in HD every sunday!!!! And that...well that just makes me happy.

I can't remember the last time I felt so good about a purchase I made though, and this one cost me $1500 bucks. So I was very worried going into it but its really a great feeling every time I look at this set.

Since there are 2 threads on this I'm gonna copy it into both of them. I hope this helps you guys, I just felt the need to get on the soap box about this TV, I love it.

Based on this, and some other things I have read, I have decided to go with the Samsung 4665.

With the bonus of no tax and free shipping from Amazon, along with 18 months of no interest, it was a no-brainer.

Thanks for the help - I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[tHa ShIzNiT]

You are about to enter a whole new world of HD goodness. I also bought from Amazon with no tax and free shipping. The "Eagle" white glove delivery service was also top notch. I had my wife at home waiting for them to show up so she could text me ASAP and I could leave work to come home. The delivery people were kind enough to wait the extra 5 minutes for me to get there before they unpacked and set my TV up for me so that I could test everything out on it. As soon as I turned it on I knew it was perfect, but then I hooked up the 360 real fast to see some 1080p, and wow...soon as I saw that I said "ok guys, you can leave now. thank you very much."

 

[oznerol]

Originally posted by: tHa ShIzNiT
You are about to enter a whole new world of HD goodness. I also bought from Amazon with no tax and free shipping. The "Eagle" white glove delivery service was also top notch. I had my wife at home waiting for them to show up so she could text me ASAP and I could leave work to come home. The delivery people were kind enough to wait the extra 5 minutes for me to get there before they unpacked and set my TV up for me so that I could test everything out on it. As soon as I turned it on I knew it was perfect, but then I hooked up the 360 real fast to see some 1080p, and wow...soon as I saw that I said "ok guys, you can leave now. thank you very much."

Awesome. I am quite excited. Aside from my 21" monitor (which I currently use to play games on), it will be my first HDTV.

I originally saw the 4665 next to the 4661 at Best Buy, and my girlfriend was immediately impressed by it, but I have always been reluctant with the glossy screens (especially after having a bad laptop experience with one).

But it's going in a small room, with only a bit of ambient light, and I generally will use it at night anyway.

Thanks for the info about Amazon's shipping - I was actually a bit curious about that, too. I have off all of next week until January 2nd, so I should be available for them to deliver it. How long did it take - from order date to your door? This says it won't be available until after Christmas, so I imagine it takes over a week.

 

[tHa ShIzNiT]

Took about a week from order date to my door...however I imagine they are more busy right now (although I don't know how they could be more busy than when I bought mine, basically on black friday). They gave me a call and told me it was coming, they estimated 2 weeks to delivery so I was surprised to hear from them a week early and receive it the next day.

EDIT: I also went from playing 360 on a 20" computer monitor...this is my first HDTV. All I can say is you are in for a real treat. Big congrats on your purchase!

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

mmmm, 5080
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2132302&enterthread=y

😛

 

[oznerol]

That's a good TV, but a bit too expensive and, more importantly, it physically won't fit in my room. 47" is my max width.

Currently I am waiting on the Amazon credit people, as I'd like to take advantage of their 0% interest for 18 months, but they gave me a limit of $1k... I called and asked for a limit increase, they said I'd know in 24-48 hours. If I get it, it's a go, otherwise I'll have to see what my options are and whether or not I want to spend the 1600 up front.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

So it's going inside a cabinet or something?

 

[oznerol]

No, but the room is oddly shaped, and the only wall it can go against has ~47-48" clearance between the open door and a little inlet for a closet.

Specs for the 4665 say its 46.3" wide, which would be perfect.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

So 48 3/16 is just too much? 😉

 

[oznerol]

Yea, probably by an inch or so. Technically, it would fit, but there would be an inch of overlap between the door and the TV, so if it got swung open it would hit the edge.

Also it's a 720p set - it's tough for me to invest even more money than I was initially planning on a set with a lower resolution.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: ducci
Yea, probably by an inch or so. Technically, it would fit, but there would be an inch of overlap between the door and the TV, so if it got swung open it would hit the edge.

Also it's a 720p set - it's tough for me to invest even more money than I was initially planning on a set with a lower resolution.

It's also supposed to blow away just about anything else out there despite the native resolution, and does especially well with SD sources as well.

 

[krotchy]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: ducci
Yea, probably by an inch or so. Technically, it would fit, but there would be an inch of overlap between the door and the TV, so if it got swung open it would hit the edge.

Also it's a 720p set - it's tough for me to invest even more money than I was initially planning on a set with a lower resolution.

It's also supposed to blow away just about anything else out there despite the native resolution, and does especially well with SD sources as well.

Yeah but if you really want to rule on SD sources, you could buy a 720x480LCD with .9 width pixels. That would make SD look AMAZING😛

All joking aside, I hear the pioneer kuros are fantastic screens. However its alot easier to implement an amazing scalar into 720p than 1080p so its kind of a tossup.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: krotchy

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: ducci
Yea, probably by an inch or so. Technically, it would fit, but there would be an inch of overlap between the door and the TV, so if it got swung open it would hit the edge.

Also it's a 720p set - it's tough for me to invest even more money than I was initially planning on a set with a lower resolution.

It's also supposed to blow away just about anything else out there despite the native resolution, and does especially well with SD sources as well.

Yeah but if you really want to rule on SD sources, you could buy a 720x480LCD with .9 width pixels. That would make SD look AMAZING😛

All joking aside, I hear the pioneer kuros are fantastic screens. However its alot easier to implement an amazing scalar into 720p than 1080p so its kind of a tossup.

Well I only mentioned SD because

"-Good/decent SD TV playback" 😉

 

[krotchy]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: krotchy

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: ducci
Yea, probably by an inch or so. Technically, it would fit, but there would be an inch of overlap between the door and the TV, so if it got swung open it would hit the edge.

Also it's a 720p set - it's tough for me to invest even more money than I was initially planning on a set with a lower resolution.

It's also supposed to blow away just about anything else out there despite the native resolution, and does especially well with SD sources as well.

Yeah but if you really want to rule on SD sources, you could buy a 720x480LCD with .9 width pixels. That would make SD look AMAZING😛

All joking aside, I hear the pioneer kuros are fantastic screens. However its alot easier to implement an amazing scalar into 720p than 1080p so its kind of a tossup.

Well I only mentioned SD because

"-Good/decent SD TV playback" 😉

Heh, im more referring to people who constantly say get the Kuro if you ever watch SD, because it is the best performing SD playing HDTV on the market. While I can agree with the claim in some ways, it is mostly flawed. I am more curious to know how good the 1080p Kuro's look when those drop down into the smaller screen sizes, then I think we will find out more.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: krotchy

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: krotchy

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: ducci
Yea, probably by an inch or so. Technically, it would fit, but there would be an inch of overlap between the door and the TV, so if it got swung open it would hit the edge.

Also it's a 720p set - it's tough for me to invest even more money than I was initially planning on a set with a lower resolution.

It's also supposed to blow away just about anything else out there despite the native resolution, and does especially well with SD sources as well.

Yeah but if you really want to rule on SD sources, you could buy a 720x480LCD with .9 width pixels. That would make SD look AMAZING😛

All joking aside, I hear the pioneer kuros are fantastic screens. However its alot easier to implement an amazing scalar into 720p than 1080p so its kind of a tossup.

Well I only mentioned SD because

"-Good/decent SD TV playback" 😉

Heh, im more referring to people who constantly say get the Kuro if you ever watch SD, because it is the best performing SD playing HDTV on the market. While I can agree with the claim in some ways, it is mostly flawed. I am more curious to know how good the 1080p Kuro's look when those drop down into the smaller screen sizes, then I think we will find out more.

I think there are some very nice things up ahead for mid-priced HDTVs around the corner 😀

 

[krotchy]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
I think there are some very nice things up ahead for mid-priced HDTVs around the corner 😀

:thumbsup:

Agreed, and hopefully I get the full sneak preview when Im at CES in a few weeks.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: krotchy

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
I think there are some very nice things up ahead for mid-priced HDTVs around the corner 😀

:thumbsup:

Agreed, and hopefully I get the full sneak preview when Im at CES in a few weeks.

oooh, have fun :beer:

Don't knock anything over 😉