You guys decide

[Sphexi]

My father-in-law is looking to buy another HD set, despite me pushing him to wait until next year since he has a nice 42" Aquos that works perfectly for him right now. He's decided to do it no matter what, so I figured I'd at least give him the best advice I could.

We've basically narrowed it down to two different sets, both of which are excellent, although the Sony is better looking, the Sharp is cheaper and would allow him to put those savings towards an HD player of some sort. Here's the breakdown we got:

Sony 46" XBR4 - $2650
4 year on-site warranty - $399
Total - $3049 before tax


or

Sharp Aquos 52" LC-52D82U - $2550
4 year on-site warranty - $269
Total - $2819 before tax


About $230 in savings by going with the Sharp, which personally I'd prefer. It's a larger set, and we compared them side-by-side in the shop, and I'll admit the Sony had a slight bit of an edge in quality, but at the same time it was hooked up to a Bluray player with the new Bond flick in it (very nice looking), and the Sharp had an HD-DVD drive with the Bourne Identity in it (not very nice looking movie in HD). I've already told him that I recommend the Sharp because he can put that $230 towards an HD-DVD player, or something like that, or another HD cable box for the other set he has, something like that.

Now I'm curious to see what people here think. Pole has been added, along with a third option just to see results, or show your love for all things Samsung. Also, paging doctor Rossman!

 

[RossMAN]

Dr. RossMAN agrees with your recommendation and would get the Sharp.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=830352

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: Sphexi
My father-in-law is looking to buy another HD set, despite me pushing him to wait until next year since he has a nice 42" Aquos that works perfectly for him right now. He's decided to do it no matter what, so I figured I'd at least give him the best advice I could.

We've basically narrowed it down to two different sets, both of which are excellent, although the Sony is better looking, the Sharp is cheaper and would allow him to put those savings towards an HD player of some sort. Here's the breakdown we got:

Sony 46" XBR4 - $2650
4 year on-site warranty - $399
Total - $3049 before tax


or

Sharp Aquos 52" LC-52D82U - $2550
4 year on-site warranty - $269
Total - $2819 before tax


About $230 in savings by going with the Sharp, which personally I'd prefer. It's a larger set, and we compared them side-by-side in the shop, and I'll admit the Sony had a slight bit of an edge in quality, but at the same time it was hooked up to a Bluray player with the new Bond flick in it (very nice looking), and the Sharp had an HD-DVD drive with the Bourne Identity in it (not very nice looking movie in HD). I've already told him that I recommend the Sharp because he can put that $230 towards an HD-DVD player, or something like that, or another HD cable box for the other set he has, something like that.

Now I'm curious to see what people here think. Pole has been added, along with a third option just to see results, or show your love for all things Samsung. Also, paging doctor Rossman!

Bourne looks great in HD IMO

I would take the Sharp

 

[cmdrdredd]

Smaller screen size usually will look better than a bigger screen in my experience. Even comparing the same models, 42" vs 46" and the 42" looks slightly crisper. Could be just my imagination. At any rate, I would prefer to have more screen area just because. So my vote for Sharp.

 

[SlickSnake]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
Dr. RossMAN agrees with your recommendation and would get the Sharp.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=830352

Waves at the good Dr.!

And agrees with the Dr.'s diagnosis.

Also Sony is the :evil: but I voted for the Sharp! :thumbsup:

I got a Aquos 46" 62U series and I LOVE it. Wish it was a bit cheaper, but it was still a good deal at the time. No banding or clouding issues what so ever. Buy it and enjoy! :gift:

 

[Sphexi]

Originally posted by: PurdueRy

Bourne looks great in HD IMO

I would take the Sharp

Must've been a bad setup then, although I can't believe that because this store is usually really good about hooking up their displays properly. The player was hooked up to the Sharp and to a Phillips of some sort, the Phillips just looked horrible, the Sharp looked good but you could still see some pixelation in some parts of the movie. The sales manager even admitted that it wasn't the best movie they could've chosen to show on there, just happened to be the display disc they had at the time.

 

[vrbaba]

Excellent choices, and a great upgrade over an existing 60Hz HDTV. If you just got another 60Hz, it just doesnt make any sense.

At that rate, you dont see any difference. The only difference that you see, which might be making the Sony a little better is the motion enhancers. Sony is known for them, but also the sony sets are usually calibrated and set out to be brighter in store to make them look better than the others. A well-calibrated (self) Sharp should be excellent in your home.

Save the dough for a good HD player (1080p recommended).

 

[JC86]

The Sony haters will hate this but there's something about the XBR that sets it apart from other HDTVs on the market. The picture seems clearer and brighter than any other set on display in the stores, If you're gonna spend that much money anyways, I don't think a few hundred dollars will make a big difference. just my two cents.

 

[vrbaba]

Originally posted by: JC86
The Sony haters will hate this but there's something about the XBR that sets it apart from other HDTVs on the market. The picture seems clearer and brighter than any other set on display in the stores, If you're gonna spend that much money anyways, I don't think a few hundred dollars will make a big difference. just my two cents.

I dont hate Sony. I would love to have an XBR4 or XB5 series. All i am saying is sharp is equally as good, almost. If it was a comparison with Sony and anything else besides Aquos, I would likely choose Sony.

The improvement in XBR4 over D82U series is very minimal, and you dont have the pay the extra 6-10% in price to enjoy the same quality.

 

[Sphexi]

Well, he just called me up, he bought a Sony something. He was going to a different store to see about a cable box upgrade, and they hooked him on some XB5 or something, at least that's what he said. He said it was a "better deal" than the other, but what he doesn't get is sometimes they tell him that and without researching it may not be true. I'm going over now to take a look at it and help him out, we'll see what happens.

 

[montypythizzle]

I hate that shit, if they don't want you to help them buy it, why help them hook it up.

 

[Sphexi]

He says he got a good deal on it, turns out from what I can read online the 5 and the 4 are exactly the same, except the piano black finish on the 5. If he paid more than 1 cent higher than what he could've for the 4, then IMO it wasn't worth it. I'll update later when I find out.

 

[montypythizzle]

Originally posted by: Sphexi
He says he got a good deal on it, turns out from what I can read online the 5 and the 4 are exactly the same, except the piano black finish on the 5. If he paid more than 1 cent higher than what he could've for the 4, then IMO it wasn't worth it. I'll update later when I find out.

Ok, good.

 

[gus6464]

My vote goes for a Panasonic TH-50PZ700U or TH-50PZ77U plasma.

Ok I am done now.

But I guess if you have no choice go for the Sharp.

 

[Sphexi]

Alright, so he got the XBR5, 46". He paid about $100 more than he would've for the XBR4, but it definitely looks a lot better, especially on the nice new black glass/metal stand he got for it. The other thing was that the store he was going to get it from wanted $450 for a 5 year warranty on the XBR4, this place only wanted $300 for the same warranty, PLUS if he never needs to use it, at the end of the warranty period they'll let him come back and get a refund for the $300, no catches. I had to read the paperwork on it myself, but it's true, it's a smaller specialty shop that's been around for years, but they must have very loyal customers to stay in business with stuff like this. We figure it's a gamble if he'll need the warranty or not, but if not he gets his $300 back and will have only paid $2800 for the set itself. According to Mysimon.com $2800 is a pretty damned good deal to boot, especially considering we're in Canada where everything is usually more expensive.

Also, it looks fan-fuckin-tastic. I played with it for a while, I even sat down and watched some channel called HDNET, which had an hour long show that was just movie previews. Just advertising for movies and shows, and I still watched it for an hour because it looks that damn good. I noticed that turning on the Cinema mode seemed to make a lot of stuff seem better though, with it off some things seemed...weird. Like people moved quicker or something. Is that the 120hz kicking in?

 

[DBL]

Originally posted by: Sphexi
Alright, so he got the XBR5, 46". He paid about $100 more than he would've for the XBR4, but it definitely looks a lot better, especially on the nice new black glass/metal stand he got for it. The other thing was that the store he was going to get it from wanted $450 for a 5 year warranty on the XBR4, this place only wanted $300 for the same warranty, PLUS if he never needs to use it, at the end of the warranty period they'll let him come back and get a refund for the $300, no catches. I had to read the paperwork on it myself, but it's true, it's a smaller specialty shop that's been around for years, but they must have very loyal customers to stay in business with stuff like this. We figure it's a gamble if he'll need the warranty or not, but if not he gets his $300 back and will have only paid $2800 for the set itself. According to Mysimon.com $2800 is a pretty damned good deal to boot, especially considering we're in Canada where everything is usually more expensive.

Also, it looks fan-fuckin-tastic. I played with it for a while, I even sat down and watched some channel called HDNET, which had an hour long show that was just movie previews. Just advertising for movies and shows, and I still watched it for an hour because it looks that damn good. I noticed that turning on the Cinema mode seemed to make a lot of stuff seem better though, with it off some things seemed...weird. Like people moved quicker or something. Is that the 120hz kicking in?

The warranty thing sounds like a ridiculous deal. But then I thought about it for a second. Does he still get the refund if it breaks within the Mfg warranty (usually 1 year)? Since that is normally when something like this would break, I wonder if the store is also counting on that? Basically, your uncle would be out the $300 if the set breaks within a year while someone else who bought no warranty would get the set fixed under the Mfg warranty.

That and maybe the store is playing their own interest game figuring they can make enough money on interest by securing an extremely high warranty %, while repairing the few TV that break out of pocket and after the 1 year period. Actually kind of slick if you think about it.

In general though, warranties on Plasmas and LCD are a very bad deal. They are very unlikely to break, especially after the Mfg period.

 

[Sphexi]

Originally posted by: DBL

Originally posted by: Sphexi
Alright, so he got the XBR5, 46". He paid about $100 more than he would've for the XBR4, but it definitely looks a lot better, especially on the nice new black glass/metal stand he got for it. The other thing was that the store he was going to get it from wanted $450 for a 5 year warranty on the XBR4, this place only wanted $300 for the same warranty, PLUS if he never needs to use it, at the end of the warranty period they'll let him come back and get a refund for the $300, no catches. I had to read the paperwork on it myself, but it's true, it's a smaller specialty shop that's been around for years, but they must have very loyal customers to stay in business with stuff like this. We figure it's a gamble if he'll need the warranty or not, but if not he gets his $300 back and will have only paid $2800 for the set itself. According to Mysimon.com $2800 is a pretty damned good deal to boot, especially considering we're in Canada where everything is usually more expensive.

Also, it looks fan-fuckin-tastic. I played with it for a while, I even sat down and watched some channel called HDNET, which had an hour long show that was just movie previews. Just advertising for movies and shows, and I still watched it for an hour because it looks that damn good. I noticed that turning on the Cinema mode seemed to make a lot of stuff seem better though, with it off some things seemed...weird. Like people moved quicker or something. Is that the 120hz kicking in?

The warranty thing sounds like a ridiculous deal. But then I thought about it for a second. Does he still get the refund if it breaks within the Mfg warranty (usually 1 year)? Since that is normally when something like this would break, I wonder if the store is also counting on that? Basically, your uncle would be out the $300 if the set breaks within a year while someone else who bought no warranty would get the set fixed under the Mfg warranty.

That and maybe the store is playing their own interest game figuring they can make enough money on interest by securing an extremely high warranty %, while repairing the few TV that break out of pocket and after the 1 year period. Actually kind of slick if you think about it.

In general though, warranties on Plasmas and LCD are a very bad deal. They are very unlikely to break, especially after the Mfg period.

As you say, the warranty if for 4 years after the 1 year mfg, the terms say that within the first year the store assists with the repair, as far as getting us in touch with the mfg, arranging for transport, things like that, which I'm sure they can bill to the mfg. I have no doubt that no matter when it breaks, the refund is no longer allowed, even in the first year. It's still a gamble on his part, but even with the warranty the TV was only $3100CDN, which is still a pretty decent deal from what I've seen in other stores and online. More than likely he'll go back and get a HD-DVD player or something, right now he just has a Sony 1080i upscaling DVD player that I absolutely hate, it won't play home-made DVDs unless you make them region 1, and it won't support DIVX/XVID/MPG videos of any kind.