Shopping for a 47-inch LCD 1080p flat HDTV

[techwanabe]

I live in an apartment and don't necessarily want a monster TV to have to move. I've also noticed the 47-inch LCD HDTV's with 1080p resolution are often in the $1500/1600 price range which is getting to the point that I'm ready to leap and replace my old 27-inch tube. Assuming I can get one this spring for that price or cheaper, I'm in the market but willing to shop around for a couple months. The 47-inch LCD look like a nice size but still fairly good bang for the buck if I can can get one in the price range mentioned.

First off, what are the important specs and do they make alot of difference? (contrast ratio, or whatever) Are there any important features? Does brand matter alot? Which are the better brands to consider and which to avoid. (my local stores are Circuit City, Best Buy, Walmart, Target)

No so important but I have Wii, PS2 and Gamecube. No cable or FIOS or Satelite service but I'll be hunting for deals on. Used to have the Time Warner DVR cable service.

LCD HDTV knowledgable people please offer advice and info to a noob! Thanks!

BTW, I do have a progressive scan Panasonic DVD player which I understand improves a picture on HDTV's but is only 480 lines at best. The good news is I have very few movies on DVD (less than 10) so anything going forward should be blue ray or HDDVD to support the full res of a new HDTV.

 

[squirrel dog]

My daughter just got a 46" samsung lcd from bb.It was 1800+/- she loves it . My son had the same set and returned it for the pioneer kuro 720p set(its 50" i think )he watches movies and news,thats it . It was right at 2k,and its a plasma. I like the crispness of the lcd,and I like the warmth of the plasma(get too close and its hot !).I would get out and go see myself . The plasma's use a little more power,but the one I know about puts out heat,not a whole lot,but at least as much as a modern pc . The lcd is cool running,and uses less power. One final note,the plasma's are heavy,like alot more than the lcd sets.I've had to move several.Nothing like my 350 pound Tosh 57H81,but the 50" took two people to move.Its a little over 100lb and bulky.You could move it yourself,but only if you were very careful.

 

[techwanabe]

I've done some looking of course, and I figure if I'm going to blow the dough, I should go all the way and get HDTV 1080p. I like the crispness of the LCD's too and plasmas not as much. The 47-inch seem like a good compromise between a nice sized screen and a little more modest price.

 

[Tiamat]

Specs, unfortunately don't tell the whole story, and might actually work to confuse the story. In that price range, you are starting to play with the "big boys". That is, sony/samsung etc. While I like my Westinghouse, it is hit/miss with this as you might read on some forums where there are definitely a mixed bag of opinions. At least by going Samsung, for example, you might ensure yourself better customer and technical support, something not typically found with westinghouse for example.

Resolution is only one spec. If you use the TV for only TV use (no computer use) I would encourage you to check out the Pioneer Kuro 720P 50" plasma. Its black levels are pretty darn nice, and it has very good colors. At a distance greater than 10' for example, it should look amazing (especially if you pay extra for professional calibration). How far do you intend to be from the TV?

In terms of LCDs, I have a bias towards Samsung. I just like their TVs from what I have seen, they are pretty nice.

In your price range, you are starting to get to the level were professional calibration is something you should consider as it will bring the maximum out of your set.

 

[Lurknomore]

I'm in the same boat, trying to find a quality display from 42" to 50" in the $1500-2000 range.

The Samsung 4665 lcd is a proven set- very deep blacks for an lcd, no clouding or banding issues from what I've heard. Many satisfied owners at the AVS forum. You could even use this as a monitor display, as many have already done. I'ts currently around $1700 at amazon but look around- sometimes you'll see a great deal at outpost or at one of the major retailers.

For a very different type of display, you might wanna take a look at the Olevia 47" 747i. It uses a world-class Realta video processor to scale any non-hd source to near hd quality. It's available at target online for around $1550. It's very heavy, however, at 150lbs, so you need 2 peeps to haul this badass.

 

[lopri]

Samsung 65F series and 71F series. If price difference isn't big, I'd go with a 71F.

 

[techwanabe]

I'll keep reading feedback. I just got a big bill from my divorce attorney so I'm definitely going to take my time but want to educate myself for a month or two. Prices are still dropping but I would like to get something in the 40-47 inch range this spring some time hopefully.

I'd say 6-8 feet is the distance for viewing. I don't want to get any super heavy beasts - OMG a good friend bought a Sony WEGA tube HDTV around 36-inches and just me and him moved it from the back of his van to his living room. It was way way too heavy for us to carry so we had to slide it all the way on a sheet of cardboard . So far I like the look of LCD TV's over the plasma that I've seen in stores. They are nice and bright and crisp. One person suggested a 720P but wouldn't that be grainier at the same/similar size? I'm thinking if I blow some major cash, I want something thats gonna last and be a high resolution. I looked 2-3 years ago at large flat panel TV's and was not impressed at the time because not only were they much more expensive, but they were grainy looking too.

 

[bill hilly]

First, a question. What does professional calibration mean? Someone has to come to your apartment? And does anyone have a link to a how-to page for calibration so I can try it myself?

Also, I like Tiamat's comment that specs don't tell the whole story. Go look at them yourself. To my eyes, the Panasonic TH42PZ700U (plasma) looked great, although the Samsung LN-T4065F's picture (LCD) was also very sharp with consistent colors and contrast. They are both in your price range, the Panny is $1500 at jr.com, http://www.jr.com/JRProductPage.process?Product=4171148. The Samsung weighs less than 50 lbs. and is also in your price range.

 

[A5]

Professional calibration is paying someone to come to your place and do things to your tv that would probably mess it up horribly if you tried to do it . You can get a good bit of benefit from a DIY calibration just by messing around with contrast, brightness, etc, but you need a test pattern. Most people recommend the AVIA disc or Digital Video Essentials. They're both on Amazon, so take a look and see if it's something you'd want.

 

[Spydermag68]

I just bought a Vizio VO47 from Costco. HD content from comcast through HDMI is great. Movies and DVDs played through my PS2 ergood. SD TV good, it was better after I used a AVIA disk with the little RED GREEN BLUE film things. Price 1300+ tax.

 

[rolla94]

I have seen that 52 inch Oevia 1080p for around 1600 and best buy has the westinghouse TX line for around 1000 for a 42 and 1300 for a 47. I have the 42 westy and I love it.

 

[techwanabe]

Just got back from perusing Best Buy and Circuit City. Pretty much all the 47-inch LCD HDTV's at 1080P are still hovering around $2,000 give or take. I saw one for $1,800 - still not low enought to make me jump. I'm still looking for a good brand/quality for around $1,500 so I'll keep waiting. I'm thinking Samsung, Sharp, Panasonic, etc. Not brand X

 

[icecreamman11]

Good price for 46"...but haven't read reviews

http://www.costco.com/Browse/P...CUS-_-13-_-Sceptre46in

 

[toekramp]

Originally posted by: Spydermag68
I just bought a Vizio VO47 from Costco. HD content from comcast through HDMI is great. Movies and DVDs played through my PS2 ergood. SD TV good, it was better after I used a AVIA disk with the little RED GREEN BLUE film things. Price 1300+ tax.

i have this TV as well... and i love it.

 

[TheAdvocate]

IMHO, Best Bang for the Buck.

You can get it a good bit cheaper than that if you check pricegrabber and wait for a deal. I've seen it for as little as $1,250. Buydig has it for $1389 shipped

 

[techwanabe]

Originally posted by: TheAdvocate
IMHO, Best Bang for the Buck.

You can get it a good bit cheaper than that if you check pricegrabber and wait for a deal. I've seen it for as little as $1,250. Buydig has it for $1389 shipped

Hey, now thats looking good. I might even leap at that!

BTW, I was looking yesterday at BB and CC and the 40-inch were definitely not big enough of an increase over my 27-inch tube TV. The vertical height difference wasn't all that much although of course. Some folks commented on finding a TV you like the size of and going larger. But I'm feeling like to go above 47-inch will be more than I want to afford right now.

The Toshiba linked by the previous poster looks like it may fit the bill. I did read some user reviews and here were some comments but they may be true for many HD LCD TV's:

It's very clear and bright, but on a reg DVD or reg cable channel the picture is very blurry and you can see the pixels change with every motion. We only have 10 HD channels so most of what we watch is reg old cable. Every time we change the channel there is a delay in getting the picture and a rainbow of colors and a pause happends before it will come on.I wouldn't recommend this TV to anyone that will be watching anything but HD."

Another person commented that non HD channels are "not great".

Those comments lead me to ask if LCD HDTV's handle non HD content well. In otherwords, is it like a computer LCD screen, when not running in native resolution, things look a little blurry. I've noticed this while previewing LCD TV's at stores. This may be one aspect to this kind of TV that I may not like so much - ie, when not running in native HD content, it won't be so good to look at?

 

[imported_maildude]

I purchased the Samsung 4665 last weekend at Frys for $1599 and so far it's been great. They also had the 4661 for $1499 but I liked the picture on the 4665 better......not sure if it was worth the extra 100 or not but I went with what looked the best to my eyes.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

if not in a rush, i'd wait a year and get an LED backlit one.

 

[techwanabe]

Originally posted by: BlahBlahYouToo
if not in a rush, i'd wait a year and get an LED backlit one.

I'll bite, how are those better? I'm still evaluating.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Originally posted by: techwanabe

Originally posted by: BlahBlahYouToo
if not in a rush, i'd wait a year and get an LED backlit one.

I'll bite, how are those better? I'm still evaluating.

Google "local dimming" if you want a real in depth answer.

For those of you who don't want to put that much effort into it, I will explain it (nothing better to do at work ). With a standard CCFL backlight you can never have it completely black, there is always some light that "bleeds" through resulting in greyish blacks. The way LED's backlights work is you have multiple LED's that divide the display up into a grid. So say in sectors A1-A10 you have a very bright sunrise over the mountains, but at the bottom of the display say sectors E1-E10 it is still dark from the shadows of the mountain. With LED's in this situation you can have the LED's turned off in the E1-E10 sectors and have a much deeper black level because of the lack of a "bleed" from the backlighting. The Samsung 81 series has LED backlights, and in reviews I have seen of the display it has some of the best blacks of any LCD and even comes close to the Kuro (which is generally regarded as the best black level of any HDTV).

LED's just allow for some of the screen to have the backlight turn "off" effectively so you get very deep dark "inky" blacks. It is a new tech and so you pay for it. AFAIK the 71 and 81 series from Samsung are the same screen except for the 81 has LED and 71 has standard CCFL's. The price difference is over $800 at Amazon.com between the two. IMO LED's are not worth it yet, wait a year for the tech to become established before you go the LED route.

As for the OP if you can go up to $2100 shipped or so the Kuro 5080 is the HDTV that everything gets compared to. It is the benchmark for picture quality for LCD and Plasma tv's. If you wanted to stay under that I would look at the Sony KBR's or Panasonic plasma's.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

that, plus takes care of banding issue on some displays and lower power consumption and LED's have longer life than CFL's.

 

[TheAdvocate]

Originally posted by: techwanabe

Another person commented that non HD channels are "not great".

Those comments lead me to ask if LCD HDTV's handle non HD content well. In otherwords, is it like a computer LCD screen, when not running in native resolution, things look a little blurry. I've noticed this while previewing LCD TV's at stores. This may be one aspect to this kind of TV that I may not like so much - ie, when not running in native HD content, it won't be so good to look at?

Anytime you blow SD content/resolution up on a screen that large, you're gonna see the warts, or in this case, fuzziness of the picture. You can overcome it a little bit by using higher quality video processors (scalers) in the set, and early on, it looked a little better on the initial big-but-lower-res 1024x768 plasmas.

There's really no overcoming source content. Applies to all of these large screen 1080p TVs, "upscaling" DVD players, etc. You can't turn the girl next door into a babe unless she already has the genes.

 

[techwanabe]

Disgruntled,

Thanks for the explanation. So basically you are paying an extra $800 for better blacks or darks in the picture. I've tried to look for that in the under $2000 LCD TV's but they are so bright that the darks look pretty decent in contrast. The Plasma's look dimmer so they probably benefit from the better blacks and darks.

Originally posted by: TheAdvocate

Originally posted by: techwanabe

Another person commented that non HD channels are "not great".

Those comments lead me to ask if LCD HDTV's handle non HD content well. In otherwords, is it like a computer LCD screen, when not running in native resolution, things look a little blurry. I've noticed this while previewing LCD TV's at stores. This may be one aspect to this kind of TV that I may not like so much - ie, when not running in native HD content, it won't be so good to look at?

Anytime you blow SD content/resolution up on a screen that large, you're gonna see the warts, or in this case, fuzziness of the picture. You can overcome it a little bit by using higher quality video processors (scalers) in the set, and early on, it looked a little better on the initial big-but-lower-res 1024x768 plasmas.

There's really no overcoming source content. Applies to all of these large screen 1080p TVs, "upscaling" DVD players, etc. You can't turn the girl next door into a babe unless she already has the genes.

Makes sense. That being the case, the disappointment people express is going to basically be there for most of the HDTV LCD TV's I gather.

 

[McRhea]

Tag for later reading.

I'm starting to look for a 40 - 50 inch LCD TV as well. Good recommendations and advice in here.

 

[Soul Reputation]

Originally posted by: Spydermag68
I just bought a Vizio VO47 from Costco. HD content from comcast through HDMI is great. Movies and DVDs played through my PS2 ergood. SD TV good, it was better after I used a AVIA disk with the little RED GREEN BLUE film things. Price 1300+ tax.

Which VO47 did you buy from Costco, the VO47L or the VO47LF?

There's a BIG difference between the two.

Consumer Reports rated one of those two very high, nominating it as an official CR Best Buy.