Which Company Makes the Best HDTV's? [POLL]

[frowertr]

Stop talking about that kind of stuff. No one here cares about facebook or twitter on your TV. That's just dumb. I hope that's not why people are voting for Panasonic.

??

Unless this was sarcasm that was lost on me at this late hour you have missed his entire point....

Lol

 

[TheDev]

??

Unless this was sarcasm that was lost on me at this late hour you have missed his entire point....

Lol

He's complaining about customers wanting smart apps. That was his point. I don't want that. He doesn't want it. So why talk about it? Let's talk about what we actually do want with TV's.

 

[frowertr]

He's complaining about customers wanting smart apps. That was his point. I don't want that. He doesn't want it. So why talk about it? Let's talk about what we actually do want with TV's.

You quoted him though so it didn't seem to make sense...

Doesn't matter.

 

[pandemonium]

Stop talking about that kind of stuff. No one here cares about facebook or twitter on your TV. That's just dumb. I hope that's not why people are voting for Panasonic.

Stop talking about that kind of stuff. No one here cares about facebook or twitter on your TV. That's just dumb. I hope that's not why people are voting for Panasonic.

People are voting for Panasonic due to exactly the opposite of that, picture quality.

I think you should re-read through the thread. The reason for mentioning all the fluff that people get caught up with ("smart" built-in capabilities) was due to Pioneer having the best displays, but they didn't incorporate any of that garbage since they quit the game a while ago and if given the choice:

Well Pioneer stop making Plasma years ago. The OP asked who makes the best TV's and, in my opinion of today's technology, you will be hard pressed to find better TV's than the current ST, GT, and VT series of Panasonic TV's in that order of quality.

As far as PQ, the Pioneer Kuro's were light years ahead of the industry in 2008 and we are just now catching up to them. Reading on AVS there are many people who are comparing the 2012 VT series to the Kuros which is good news. Secondly, the Kuro's weren't "smart". No Netflix, Skype, etc... If you were to give me a Kuro I would take it, but on the other hand, if you gave me $3000 and told me to pick a GT/VT or a Kuro I would purchase the Panasonic TV's everyday of the week and twice on Sunday.

My .02¢

 

[TheDev]

People are voting for Panasonic due to exactly the opposite of that, picture quality.

I think you should re-read through the thread. The reason for mentioning all the fluff that people get caught up with ("smart" built-in capabilities) was due to Pioneer having the best displays, but they didn't incorporate any of that garbage since they quit the game a while ago and if given the choice:

lol "re-read." Reading it once was one too many times. No need to mention "fluff." No one here cares about that.

 

[pandemonium]

...

 

[JackBurton]

Stop talking about that kind of stuff. No one here cares about facebook or twitter on your TV. That's just dumb. I hope that's not why people are voting for Panasonic.

Let me tell you what is dumb, someone creating a thread asking what is "the best" TV (with no requirements) and then goes into Target and Walmart looking for it. I'll give you a hint, Target and Walmart don't carry the best of anything.

I basically just wasted my time discussing "THE BEST" TV's available (ranging from $3K to $8K) when you have a $600 budget to work with. If you would have mentioned your budget in your OP, this thread would have been MUCH shorter. Instead you asked for "the best." Unfortunately you don't have the budget for "the best." You have the budget for "good enough." I'll even make it simple for you. Walk into Walmart and pick the Vizio that's under $600. Done. Next topic.

 

[dookulooku]

Why isn't the VT50 better than the Kuro. It has nothing to do with incompetent engineers; in fact a lot of Pioneer's engineers for their plasma TVs went to Panasonic when Panasonic acquired the technology.

It economics, duh.

You can't expect a major electronics company to live off a $6000 TV. Panasonic should be commended for producing something that comes close for a very reasonable price.

As for best TV, most reviewers rate the VT50 over the Sharp Elite. I've spent time looking at both, and I concur. Elite has better blacks in some situations, but pretty sub-par color reproduction. In fact, at the perfect viewing angle the HX929 looks better than the Elite. HX929 blooms badly and the black levels suffer off-axis however. D-nice, probably the most well known calibrator in the country, puts the HX929 above the Elite.

 

[Modelworks]

And guess what, my choice would have NOTHING to do with the goofy apps included with the TV. I'm not spending $7K on a TV because it has a "cool" Twitter app. This BS is the reason Panasonic is so far behind Pioneer's tech. They highlight features like, "Oooo, Twitter and Facebook" because that distracts the consumer from the main focus which is PQ performance. How else do you explain why Panasonic can't even get 1080p/24 right even in 2012? How else do you explain why Pioneer in 2008 had MUCH better anti-IR prevention than Panasonic's new plasmas? It's just pathetic. And these stupid distractions are a big reason why these companies get away with it. If you want apps, get an Apple TV.

Apps have nothing to do with how good the picture or other features will be in a set. Processing power to handle apps is about 500Mhz and is usually done using a part of the main processor that normally sits idle doing nothing. The rest of the chip or chips that are dedicated to displaying the image are mostly hardware based and when apps are not being used the chips generally don't consume more than 10-15% of processing time. Companies are just utilizing the excess processing to increase sales and add features.

 

[donfm]

This is like any other "what is the best" thread.....pointless. What is best is subjective to everyone. Not every TV excels at everything and not every person will ever agree on what is the best of anything. From reading these comments that is evident. This thread now seems to be more about egos not TV's. People are even arguing about a TV that was not even made since 2008. Seriously?

 

[JackBurton]

Why isn't the VT50 better than the Kuro. It has nothing to do with incompetent engineers; in fact a lot of Pioneer's engineers for their plasma TVs went to Panasonic when Panasonic acquired the technology.

It economics, duh.

You can't expect a major electronics company to live off a $6000 TV. Panasonic should be commended for producing something that comes close for a very reasonable price.

I never said anything about incompetent engineers at Panasonic. Panasonic bought most of the Pioneer patents, however the Pioneer engineers were behind the Sharp Elite. And I don't fault Panasonic for taking the middle road. Why develop and release a technically superior product, when customers aren't willing to pay the price to bring something like that to market. Again, most people want big and cheap. Not bleeding edge. Well, they WANT bleeding edge, they just aren't willing to pay for it.

As for best TV, most reviewers rate the VT50 over the Sharp Elite. I've spent time looking at both, and I concur. Elite has better blacks in some situations, but pretty sub-par color reproduction. In fact, at the perfect viewing angle the HX929 looks better than the Elite. HX929 blooms badly and the black levels suffer off-axis however. D-nice, probably the most well known calibrator in the country, puts the HX929 above the Elite.

I've been a member at AVS for a looong time and I'm very well aware of D-nice and his opinions of the Elite. He rates the Elite under the VT50 because of the Elite's cyan issue (which I consider minor). However, he'll ignore the fact that the VT50 is much more prone to IR than a Kuro, and will also ignore the fact that the VT50 has problems displaying 1080p/24. With the cyan issue, you'd most likely have to have another calibrated TV beside it to notice it. The other issues with the VT50 are EASILY noticeable on its own. So you make the call which issues you can live with. For me, I'll take the Elite any day of the week over a VT50 (cost not being a factor). And the HX929 over an Elite is laughable (again, cost not being a factor).

 

[TheDev]

This is like any other "what is the best" thread.....pointless. What is best is subjective to everyone. Not every TV excels at everything and not every person will ever agree on what is the best of anything. From reading these comments that is evident. This thread now seems to be more about egos not TV's. People are even arguing about a TV that was not even made since 2008. Seriously?

Go here then:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2259217

 

[JackBurton]

Apps have nothing to do with how good the picture or other features will be in a set. Processing power to handle apps is about 500Mhz and is usually done using a part of the main processor that normally sits idle doing nothing. The rest of the chip or chips that are dedicated to displaying the image are mostly hardware based and when apps are not being used the chips generally don't consume more than 10-15% of processing time. Companies are just utilizing the excess processing to increase sales and add features.

You missed my point. My point was, TV manufactures used to compete with performance numbers, now they compete with widget numbers.