What Specs are important in a Big Screen TV

[Raizinman]

With Black Friday around the corner, I've saved and have enough to purchase a big screen TV. I'm just overwhelmed by the amount of specs out there and people say some specs are important and some are not. What specs should I be looking for? Here is what I am looking for.

I have a big room with a blank wall ready for a big screen. We have calculated that distance from people and such and we are looking for a tv in the sze range of 65 to 75 inches (plus or minus an inch or two).

We don't care what brand and I'll be using this through a Time Warner HD cable box. We watch a lot of sports and will be hooking up a Blu Ray player. No jitter in fast moving scenes is important. We will probably hook up a PC to this large screen too for occasional usage. I'm looking in the 2 to 4 thousand dollar range. If you have a specific model, great!

Are any of these specs important?

Plasma or LCD? I was thinking Plasma

1080i or 1080p? I was thinking 1080p

Contrast 10,000 to 1 or 15,000 to 1 or what?

HDMI - three outs? Is that enough?

3d - I was thinking yes.

Response time? 4ms or is this important? Will this prevent fast moving jitter?

Aspect Ratio? 16:9 or is this important? Isn't everything this ratio?

USB Port? Sound like a good idea for jump drives and such?

Pixel Resolution - Is this spec important?

Hertz - Some tv's advertise higher herzt rating to avoid fast movement jitter. Is this important?

Anything I have missed?


AV'd

ATOT Moderator ElFenix

 

[spidey07]

Plasma
1080p only
Contrast ratio is made up
HDMI - the more the better
3d - BS
Response time - don't get an LCD
120 Hz processing only if you can disable it

oh - and you get what you pay for

 

[Tooncesthedrivingcat]

Long live Pioneer Plasmas. I have 2 of them.

 

[Joemonkey]

Originally posted by: spidey07
Plasma
1080p only
Contrast ratio is made up
HDMI - the more the better
3d - BS
Response time - don't get an LCD
120 Hz processing only if you can disable it

oh - and you get what you pay for

LCD uses a lot less power than Plasma though. I've only seen 720p plasma right next to 1080p LCD and ended up buying the LCD due to noticeable jaggies on the 720p plasma. I have no idea what the source video was, but I can only assume 1080p video. I might have changed my mind if it was next to a 1080p plasma, but since I don't know any better I see nothing wrong with my LCD purchase. Ignorance is bliss

 

[Ramma2]

p's are better than i's, and the more p's the better.

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: spidey07
Plasma
1080p only
Contrast ratio is made up
HDMI - the more the better
3d - BS
Response time - don't get an LCD
120 Hz processing only if you can disable it

oh - and you get what you pay for

all true--though I still say go with the 720 vs 1080 price/performance.

1080p has gotten so much cheaper--at the price that 720 was two years ago.

(If you will be hooking this up to computer for computing needs, then 1080p is a must--however, size of screen and seating distance will determine if you see any difference between 720 and 1080 for TV/movies)

Stick to the big 3 for plasma: pioneer (the best, also most expensive), Panasonic, and Samsung. The Polaroid, HP, etc brands you find at CC and other places often offer NO SERVICE plan whatsoever. They skimp on lesser build quality and lack of service, so you aren't really saving any money, just investing in a really expensive door stop 1-2 years out.

 

[flxnimprtmscl]

A/V forum is that way --------->

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: Joemonkey

Originally posted by: spidey07
Plasma
1080p only
Contrast ratio is made up
HDMI - the more the better
3d - BS
Response time - don't get an LCD
120 Hz processing only if you can disable it

oh - and you get what you pay for

LCD uses a lot less power than Plasma though. I've only seen 720p plasma right next to 1080p LCD and ended up buying the LCD due to noticeable jaggies on the 720p plasma. I have no idea what the source video was, but I can only assume 1080p video. I might have changed my mind if it was next to a 1080p plasma, but since I don't know any better I see nothing wrong with my LCD purchase. Ignorance is bliss

were you standing 3 feet away?

LCDs are lighter and use less energy, but they are still more expensive for larger sets, and still can't match plasma PQ. Resolution is only one part of HD, and it's the least important. Plasmas still crush LCD in terms of color and depth.

 

[QueBert]

Plasma is the way to go IMHO
unless you get a huge one, you won't be able to tell the difference between 720p or 1080p, if you're going to use it as a PC monitor 1080p is the way to go.
the Contrast specs on most sets are way out of wack.
3 HDMI's should be enough, what are you hooking to it? You could always run the TV to a receiver and only use 1 HDMI port on the TV. 3 would be enough for a PS3/DVD/Xbox 360. I can't think of an instance where I'd ever need more than 3, doubtful many sets out there have more than 3 any ways.

 

[Joemonkey]

Originally posted by: zinfamous

Originally posted by: Joemonkey

Originally posted by: spidey07
Plasma
1080p only
Contrast ratio is made up
HDMI - the more the better
3d - BS
Response time - don't get an LCD
120 Hz processing only if you can disable it

oh - and you get what you pay for

LCD uses a lot less power than Plasma though. I've only seen 720p plasma right next to 1080p LCD and ended up buying the LCD due to noticeable jaggies on the 720p plasma. I have no idea what the source video was, but I can only assume 1080p video. I might have changed my mind if it was next to a 1080p plasma, but since I don't know any better I see nothing wrong with my LCD purchase. Ignorance is bliss

were you standing 3 feet away?

LCDs are lighter and use less energy, but they are still more expensive for larger sets, and still can't match plasma PQ. Resolution is only one part of HD, and it's the least important. Plasmas still crush LCD in terms of color and depth.

Yes, I was about 3' away, and they were 42" sets. Resolution matters more to me than color and depth, i'm partially colorblind I still think my $700 42" Dynex 1080p picture looks more realistic than real life does. Transformers and Madagascar in 1080p both blew me away.

 

[sivart]

If you're viewing something in real life (the 2D image on the screen) how can it look more real than something that is real already. If you can only see what 'real life' looks likes, how can you know something looks more real than real life?

Are you a deity or something?