What a good site for TV reviews?

[JTsyo]

Looking for reviews and comparisons between different models. I'll need to buy a new TV in a few months and need to brush up on them. Right now Sharp's Aqueous line and Sony's Bravia is in the top slots for me, though I hear good things about the Samsung TVs.

 

[MustISO]

There's very few if any review sites for TV's (certainly no where near hardware review sites). Your best bet is either one of the home theater magazine sites or one of the home theater forums.

www.avsforum.com
www.hometheaterspot.com
www.hometheaterforum.com

 

[s44]

You sure 52" is large enough? How far are you going to sit?

Originally posted by: MustISO
There's very few if any review sites for TV's (certainly no where near hardware review sites).

Yeah, it would be neat if one of the insanely thorough hardware sites like X-bit covered TVs and stuff too...

 

[JTsyo]

Originally posted by: s44
You sure 52" is large enough? How far are you going to sit?

Originally posted by: MustISO
There's very few if any review sites for TV's (certainly no where near hardware review sites).

Yeah, it would be neat if one of the insanely thorough hardware sites like X-bit covered TVs and stuff too...

The room isn't that big. Maybe 7 ft away. I don't think it requires the jump to 65".

hmm I was hoping for a comparison of the features. I guess I can read up on each and then compare myself. What would you say are the top features that would differentiate between HDTVs?

 

[s44]

Mostly, the panel is the key. Samsung and Sony generally have the best. Between models the feature differences include LED backlighting (possibly improved contrast), 120hz (5:5 jitter-free playback of movies, plus optional frame interpolation for smoother motion), and glossy or matte screen finish (glossy = better contrast but possible glare issues in daylight).

Read through some of the LCD comparison threads at AVSforum -- you'll get a sense of what the main options are.

I'd also consider Panasonic plasmas, though there's no exact 52" size.

 

[SlickSnake]

Originally posted by: JTsyo
Looking for reviews and comparisons between different models. I'll need to buy a new TV in a few months and need to brush up on them. Right now Sharp's Aqueous line and Sony's Bravia is in the top slots for me, though I hear good things about the Samsung TVs.

I had problems with 46" LCDs from both Sharp and Samsung.

My Sharp 46D62U was finally replaced with a new Sharp 46D65U from the manufacturer. The original set developed multiple banding issues and dead pixels. So far, this LCD performs much better than the other TV, and I have no complaints.

My Samsung LN46A650 has worked flawlessly for the last year, but the entire Touch of Color bezel had to be replaced last month because it was literally falling off the front of the LCD frame because they used no screws to hold it on, and the double sided sticky tape was coming unstuck. The replacement bezel assembly looks like it was hot glued on this time, so I am hoping this fix lasts. You would think the brainiac engineers would have thought to throw in 6 or 8 screws to hold this part in place, since the touch controls are wired into the bezel, but you would be wrong.

The comparisons between the 2 TVs are hard to make, even using the same Hi-Def sources, since the Samsung is 120hz and the Sharp is 60hz. But the Samsung has noticeably deeper black levels and a richer looking color saturation. But the Sharp, overall, seems to have a more realistic looking picture.

And if you get a Samsung, they are now going to support BlockBuster streaming movies over their newer TVs and Blu-ray players through the internet. Or so I read on a tech report recently. So getting a brand matching Blu-ray player might be a good idea, too. Both brands already support features that automatically detects a video source from a companion player to start the TV and DVD players in synch, too.