I have a 60" Sharpe Lcd that I have had about a year and am very happy with it. Costco currently has a 60" Sharpe on sale at a very attractive price that you can get online or pick it up at the store.
Recommendations for a big TV?
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I have Vizio M550SV 55" Razor Edge Lit LED/LCD 1080p 240Hz/w Internet Apps/Wi-Fi HDTV since 5-7-2011.The PQ is outstanding,got it at WalMart,seems like WaMart's been having the lowest prices on HDTVs.Mine was a gift from my son and his wife,also it seems the rule is on LED/LCD HDTVs is to turn the backlight way down,mine came set at 85 out of 100.I have my backlight now set at 10 of 100.My son also got us the 4 year service plan,the wattage rating on this HDTV is 82.1 watts and Walmart now has the price at $1295. .Good Luck! with whatever HDTV you decide to get.
If I were to purchase a HDTV myself,this is the one I would have purchased also.
If I were to purchase a HDTV myself,this is the one I would have purchased also.
Hi again guys,
On plasma, I do not have ~any~ understanding of what is inside those, what makes them tick, nothing at all.
I have read that they lose brightness at an alarming rate as they age and that they can get screen burn.
I have some OLD tube TV with logos and stuff burned into them.
Some channels have logos that are so bright, such as the History Channel (which I don't watch so much anymore).
And I watch a lot of channels that are still in the old size, so I end up with large black bars on the sides of the screen, I HATE when it's stretched out, it squishes everything into a very unnatural appearance.
So screen burn is a very real concern for me. Not just this but a number of reasons cause me to not want a plasma.
I was laying in bed this morning just thinking through my day and I was recalling the times I pass the TV's in Walmart going to the back of the store (fairly often) and I remember seeing that every bleepin TV had ~very different~ pictures on them ! I mean, they all were tuned to the same exact thing but some would be dark, some light, some people would be orange, some normal, some grass would be green, some grass would be grey..
I am a tetrachromat which means I have a very rare and unique ability to see an insanely highly number of colors and outside of the spectrum of most humans.
It makes me totally insane to go over to someone's house and all the people on their TV look like the Smurfs on acid! I always end up begging my friends to let me adjust the color on their TV's for them. I've been doing that for people for a very long time.. Most can't tell the difference what I've done for them..
Anyway.. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that the color rendition of a TV set is very important to me. I am extremely, extremely annoyingly PICKY about color...
Another thing that annoys me deeply is that now with this digital stuff, I see pictures are "compressed" (see RTV on 83w & 87w) and during fast motion the picture looks HORRIBLE. My Vizio seems to suffer a little from this. I guess the thing actually has a little computer in it of some kind.
Some local OTA channels that I tune in that are like in high def, seem, laggy.. Sometimes the picture will freeze for anywhere between a few milliseconds to as long as a second or two and it's very annoying. Since it's coming in over the antenna it has to be a problem in the TV itself. I rarely use it's built in tuner because of this and usually use the PC tuner which feeds into the TV port and works BETTER. Hmmmm....
So I guess it needs to have a fast computer in it too. How do you research that? I don't even know what to ask for about that.
I do want it to have internet apps built in. It would be awesomesauce if it could see the files on my home theater PC and play them but I won't hold my breath for that.
LOTS of connections to plug things in is a must. The more, the better. And then some. I want to be able to hook up anything to it. My PC is an absolute must. A Blue Ray too. And my WD home theater box of course. Maybe other things too, I don't know what other things I may end up with. Come to think of it, I'll likely end up putting an Azbox in there with it. So that too. Oh, and it would be pretty much required to have the laser sound connections. That's how it gets sound from my PC, through one of those laser light wires.
I don't want it to be heavy like my old Vizio, it takes all I have to lift it and if I had to evacuate for a hurricane and take it down from the wall, I don't think I could do it alone. I want one of those very thin ones so that I can lift it alone or maybe with the help of my neighbor. So it needs to be light enough for one or two women to lift.
It's going to go way up high on the wall so it would be nice if the connections are on the side where I can see and reach them.
My Vizio, is STUPID. All of the connections are on the back facing down. It's on the wall, there's a metal thing it's mounted on and is tilted down. Because it is tilted down, the connections are completely inaccessible and it's a HUGE pain to get to them. My hands are small but not that small. There are some bolts to loosen up so you can tip it up but I'm afraid it will come crashing down and I dare not touch them!
I guess I would have to buy a new wall mount, I had to buy one for the Vizio and as I recall, you have to buy them according to the size TV you are using it for.
I'll move the Vizio and it's wall mount to my living room anyway.
As for my bedroom where it's going, I am very much a day sleeper so I have the windows blacked out and sound-proofed so that room is in eternal darkness..
Bright sunlight will NEVER be a problem for me in that room. Ever...
I'm going to cool my heels a little and take my time to shop and research. I'm thinking that maybe I should wait until after new years to do my shopping and hopefully get a better price. I don't do the Black Friday bit, I hate crowds and I don't want to rush into this. I found out my income is going up more than I thought it was so I can comfortably set my limit on a TV at the $2,000 mark but I would of course much prefer to get the best deal and save as much as I can.
I'm going to try to find something in the 60" range. If I can get a 60" set for $1,500 or less, that would be awesome.. If I wait till January to buy one that gives me some time for my income adjustment to stabilize and I can walk in and get one with green Benjamins.
Waiting, slowing down a little and not just jumping off at the first thing I see gives me the time to make an intelligent purchase that I won't regret..
So I'll be asking questions as I go through this discovery and learning process because there are so many things about new TV's that I do not know about or understand.
Oh, let me ask one other stupid thing. I know you can go in and negotiate the price of expensive things like cars. Can you go in places like Walmart and Best buy and negotiate the price of an expensive TV set? Walmart I rather doubt it but maybe Best Buy? Are they allowed to do that or no??
Thanks so much guys..
On plasma, I do not have ~any~ understanding of what is inside those, what makes them tick, nothing at all.
I have read that they lose brightness at an alarming rate as they age and that they can get screen burn.
I have some OLD tube TV with logos and stuff burned into them.
Some channels have logos that are so bright, such as the History Channel (which I don't watch so much anymore).
And I watch a lot of channels that are still in the old size, so I end up with large black bars on the sides of the screen, I HATE when it's stretched out, it squishes everything into a very unnatural appearance.
So screen burn is a very real concern for me. Not just this but a number of reasons cause me to not want a plasma.
I was laying in bed this morning just thinking through my day and I was recalling the times I pass the TV's in Walmart going to the back of the store (fairly often) and I remember seeing that every bleepin TV had ~very different~ pictures on them ! I mean, they all were tuned to the same exact thing but some would be dark, some light, some people would be orange, some normal, some grass would be green, some grass would be grey..
I am a tetrachromat which means I have a very rare and unique ability to see an insanely highly number of colors and outside of the spectrum of most humans.
It makes me totally insane to go over to someone's house and all the people on their TV look like the Smurfs on acid! I always end up begging my friends to let me adjust the color on their TV's for them. I've been doing that for people for a very long time..
Most can't tell the difference what I've done for them.. Anyway.. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that the color rendition of a TV set is very important to me. I am extremely, extremely annoyingly PICKY about color...
Another thing that annoys me deeply is that now with this digital stuff, I see pictures are "compressed" (see RTV on 83w & 87w) and during fast motion the picture looks HORRIBLE. My Vizio seems to suffer a little from this. I guess the thing actually has a little computer in it of some kind.
Some local OTA channels that I tune in that are like in high def, seem, laggy.. Sometimes the picture will freeze for anywhere between a few milliseconds to as long as a second or two and it's very annoying. Since it's coming in over the antenna it has to be a problem in the TV itself. I rarely use it's built in tuner because of this and usually use the PC tuner which feeds into the TV port and works BETTER. Hmmmm....
So I guess it needs to have a fast computer in it too. How do you research that? I don't even know what to ask for about that.
I do want it to have internet apps built in. It would be awesomesauce if it could see the files on my home theater PC and play them but I won't hold my breath for that.
LOTS of connections to plug things in is a must. The more, the better. And then some. I want to be able to hook up anything to it. My PC is an absolute must. A Blue Ray too. And my WD home theater box of course. Maybe other things too, I don't know what other things I may end up with. Come to think of it, I'll likely end up putting an Azbox in there with it. So that too. Oh, and it would be pretty much required to have the laser sound connections. That's how it gets sound from my PC, through one of those laser light wires.
I don't want it to be heavy like my old Vizio, it takes all I have to lift it and if I had to evacuate for a hurricane and take it down from the wall, I don't think I could do it alone. I want one of those very thin ones so that I can lift it alone or maybe with the help of my neighbor. So it needs to be light enough for one or two women to lift.
It's going to go way up high on the wall so it would be nice if the connections are on the side where I can see and reach them.
My Vizio, is STUPID. All of the connections are on the back facing down. It's on the wall, there's a metal thing it's mounted on and is tilted down. Because it is tilted down, the connections are completely inaccessible and it's a HUGE pain to get to them. My hands are small but not that small. There are some bolts to loosen up so you can tip it up but I'm afraid it will come crashing down and I dare not touch them!
I guess I would have to buy a new wall mount, I had to buy one for the Vizio and as I recall, you have to buy them according to the size TV you are using it for.
I'll move the Vizio and it's wall mount to my living room anyway.
As for my bedroom where it's going, I am very much a day sleeper so I have the windows blacked out and sound-proofed so that room is in eternal darkness..
Bright sunlight will NEVER be a problem for me in that room. Ever...
I'm going to cool my heels a little and take my time to shop and research. I'm thinking that maybe I should wait until after new years to do my shopping and hopefully get a better price. I don't do the Black Friday bit, I hate crowds and I don't want to rush into this. I found out my income is going up more than I thought it was so I can comfortably set my limit on a TV at the $2,000 mark but I would of course much prefer to get the best deal and save as much as I can.
I'm going to try to find something in the 60" range. If I can get a 60" set for $1,500 or less, that would be awesome.. If I wait till January to buy one that gives me some time for my income adjustment to stabilize and I can walk in and get one with green Benjamins.
Waiting, slowing down a little and not just jumping off at the first thing I see gives me the time to make an intelligent purchase that I won't regret..
So I'll be asking questions as I go through this discovery and learning process because there are so many things about new TV's that I do not know about or understand.
Oh, let me ask one other stupid thing. I know you can go in and negotiate the price of expensive things like cars. Can you go in places like Walmart and Best buy and negotiate the price of an expensive TV set? Walmart I rather doubt it but maybe Best Buy? Are they allowed to do that or no??
Thanks so much guys..
Well, it's very good that you mentioned all that, as your stated preferences will affect your choice of TV very significantly.
Based on what you mentioned above, I am leaning more and more toward plasma as a better choice for you. It will give you better color accuracy than LCD or LED.
Don't worry about burn-in that much, it's not such a big issue in modern plasma sets any more.
Regardless of which type you choose, I think you should take time and spend some time in show rooms checking out various sets.
See if you can find a small local Audio/Video store with show rooms. They are more likely to have calibrated sets there. So you will see what each set is really capable of.
And once you get a TV set, consider doing professional calibration of it. For you this might be more important than for others.
Another thing to be aware of: the bigger your set, the more noticeable are the compression artifacts. So, if you are really concerned about that, consider getting a smaller set. And again, make sure to spend plenty of time watching TVsets in various stores. Don't worry about sales people there. Just tell them you are not buying yet.
Good luck!
Based on what you mentioned above, I am leaning more and more toward plasma as a better choice for you. It will give you better color accuracy than LCD or LED.
Don't worry about burn-in that much, it's not such a big issue in modern plasma sets any more.
Regardless of which type you choose, I think you should take time and spend some time in show rooms checking out various sets.
See if you can find a small local Audio/Video store with show rooms. They are more likely to have calibrated sets there. So you will see what each set is really capable of.
And once you get a TV set, consider doing professional calibration of it. For you this might be more important than for others.
Another thing to be aware of: the bigger your set, the more noticeable are the compression artifacts. So, if you are really concerned about that, consider getting a smaller set. And again, make sure to spend plenty of time watching TVsets in various stores. Don't worry about sales people there. Just tell them you are not buying yet.
Good luck!
Some random reactions to the above. Anything negative (screen burn, darkening) you have read about Plasma was from 6 or more years ago. Current tech has eliminated those problems. You mentioned HIGH up on the wall. LCD will lose it's vividness the more the angle of viewing is not perpendicular to center of screen (but not as bad as old DLP)s. However, they are the lightest. In terms of viewing angle flexibility, plasma wins. Timing of purchase...you likely will not find any better deals next years than you can get in the next few weeks. Remember, first of the year=Superbowl...prices inch up. Picky about color? Another advantage to plasma. Before my father passed last spring, he bought a 42" Samsung LCD. He already had a 42" Sammy Plasma. After hours and hours of playing around with it, I was never able to get it to look as good (true colors) as the plasma, which was essentially effortless. You MIGHT be able to negotiate at BB, but not Walmart. This time of year, BB and the like have pretty much maxed out their discounts, so wiggle room will be tight if non-existent. FYI...I'm going on my fifth year with Plasma, and will never buy anything else. As beautiful today as when fresh out of the box....even better as phosphors improve with age. I spent most of my career in the commercial film and video business, and know how a picture should look. Last but not least, Bang for the Buck goes to Plasma. All in all, your only valid plasma objection is weight.
More thoughts. Remember, the bigger, the heavier. Compression...even OTA stations compress, and even more so depending on the number of sub channels they "Jam" into their frequency. Refresh rate is what eliminates the stutter/jumpiness...all sets are about the same today. And most retailers just open a box and plop the TV on the counter. Little or no effort is made to maximize their potential.
More thoughts. Remember, the bigger, the heavier. Compression...even OTA stations compress, and even more so depending on the number of sub channels they "Jam" into their frequency. Refresh rate is what eliminates the stutter/jumpiness...all sets are about the same today. And most retailers just open a box and plop the TV on the counter. Little or no effort is made to maximize their potential.
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As for negotiating the price, it depends on the store. Walmart and Best Buy, most likely will not negotiate, but will gladly match the advertised price of any other store. HHGregg and some other stores are often willing to negotiate. Smaller Audio/Video stores are almost always ready to negotiate, but their price is often higher to begin with.
Since the OP can see all the colors I would suggest to check out this one?.
Sharp - AQUOS Quattron / 70" Class / LED / 1080p / 240Hz / 3D / HDTV - LC70LE735U
Sharp - AQUOS Quattron / 70" Class / LED / 1080p / 240Hz / 3D / HDTV - LC70LE735U
I agree pretty much with everything Ilya and KAB say. I have both plasma and LCD sets in my house, and the plasma (Panasonic) is by far the best at color reproduction.
The sets at the store are left at the factory settings. The factory sets them to a special 'vivid' mode which bumps the brightness, contrast and color saturation. It also sets the color temperature to 'cool' which gives a definite blueish tint to everything. Try bringing up the menus and look at the mode presets. You will generally find things like "professional", "Movie", or "THX" which will give a fairly good representation of what a properly calibrated unit is capable of. The sales droid will likely follow you and set it back to 'torch' mode, but you will be able to judge the set accurately. One warning is that a properly calibrated set looks dark and lacks 'punch' when sitting next to several other sets that are in vivid mode. You need to learn to ignore the others.
You mentioned the sets occassionally freezing. This is generally not a problem with the set, but a problem with the received signal. If the antenna is far away, it could be atmospheric effects, multipath reflections, or even a passing airplane. Not much to be done short of getting a better antenna. The fast motion stuff is because they try to place too many signals on a single channel and run out of bandwidth. Again, this is not the fault of the set, but rather the broadcaster deciding that the viewer prefers more content over quality.
Most connections are hard to reach when the set is mounted. They are designed to keep the wires hidden. However a good mount will have a positive lock, so the set can be tlted on the mount without worrying about it coming loose. If it is properly mounted, I wouldn't worry about tipping it.
I find that high mounts are a problem, even in a bedroom. I never can find a good viewing position, sitting up or lying down and eventually get neck strain. I have had more success with a lower position. Just something to consider.
The edgelit LED sets are the lightest units by far. You can also purchase mounts for these sets that are like picture hangers and will place the set flush against the wall.
The best way to get a wide range of digital content is to look at an external box, such as a Roku. The built in internet apps on TVs are still very limited.
The best way to deal with connections and audio is to have a separate receiver and speakers. Most TVs have terrible audio, but that adds cost and complexity. The overall experience is much better though. We can help advise if you decide to go that route, and help decide between a soundbar, a HTIB (home theater in a box) or a receiver and speaker set.
Best of luck and feel free to keep asking. We love to help spend other people's money
The sets at the store are left at the factory settings. The factory sets them to a special 'vivid' mode which bumps the brightness, contrast and color saturation. It also sets the color temperature to 'cool' which gives a definite blueish tint to everything. Try bringing up the menus and look at the mode presets. You will generally find things like "professional", "Movie", or "THX" which will give a fairly good representation of what a properly calibrated unit is capable of. The sales droid will likely follow you and set it back to 'torch' mode, but you will be able to judge the set accurately. One warning is that a properly calibrated set looks dark and lacks 'punch' when sitting next to several other sets that are in vivid mode. You need to learn to ignore the others.
You mentioned the sets occassionally freezing. This is generally not a problem with the set, but a problem with the received signal. If the antenna is far away, it could be atmospheric effects, multipath reflections, or even a passing airplane. Not much to be done short of getting a better antenna. The fast motion stuff is because they try to place too many signals on a single channel and run out of bandwidth. Again, this is not the fault of the set, but rather the broadcaster deciding that the viewer prefers more content over quality.
Most connections are hard to reach when the set is mounted. They are designed to keep the wires hidden. However a good mount will have a positive lock, so the set can be tlted on the mount without worrying about it coming loose. If it is properly mounted, I wouldn't worry about tipping it.
I find that high mounts are a problem, even in a bedroom. I never can find a good viewing position, sitting up or lying down and eventually get neck strain. I have had more success with a lower position. Just something to consider.
The edgelit LED sets are the lightest units by far. You can also purchase mounts for these sets that are like picture hangers and will place the set flush against the wall.
The best way to get a wide range of digital content is to look at an external box, such as a Roku. The built in internet apps on TVs are still very limited.
The best way to deal with connections and audio is to have a separate receiver and speakers. Most TVs have terrible audio, but that adds cost and complexity. The overall experience is much better though. We can help advise if you decide to go that route, and help decide between a soundbar, a HTIB (home theater in a box) or a receiver and speaker set.
Best of luck and feel free to keep asking. We love to help spend other people's money
I will third (or fourth) the praise for plasma, and panasonic in particular (although sammy and LG both make fine sets as well).
I have 2 panny plasmas at the moment, and have owned 3 others. All are fantastic, and have been trouble free except for a lightning incident a couple of years ago that took out an HDMI port. Get this, panasonic fixed it for free, a week out of warranty (and warranty in most cases wouldnt cover lightning anyway). They literally sent someone to pick it up, fix it, and brought it back to my home, free of charge.
Service like that, coupled with the fantastic PQ is why, as long as they make quality sets, I wont buy anything else for my main viewing set.
I have 2 panny plasmas at the moment, and have owned 3 others. All are fantastic, and have been trouble free except for a lightning incident a couple of years ago that took out an HDMI port. Get this, panasonic fixed it for free, a week out of warranty (and warranty in most cases wouldnt cover lightning anyway). They literally sent someone to pick it up, fix it, and brought it back to my home, free of charge.
Service like that, coupled with the fantastic PQ is why, as long as they make quality sets, I wont buy anything else for my main viewing set.
What do you guys think about this?
It's a 50" Panasonic plasma and will be on sale at Best Buy for $600.
I saw it listed here first, Best Buy Black Friday Ad
I could walk in and buy this one cash outright.
It's a 50" Panasonic plasma and will be on sale at Best Buy for $600.
I saw it listed here first, Best Buy Black Friday Ad
I could walk in and buy this one cash outright.
I think the $800 price is reasonable, and definitely the $600.
edit: 54lbs without the stand...not bad
edit: 54lbs without the stand...not bad
So I should go for it?
What about the refresh on it?
I read that 60hz is BAD stuff. People say get the 120hz or 240hz.
This thing says it's 600hz so I assume that's a misprint that should read 60hz.
Or could that be right?
For $600 I should go brave the crowds? Would it be likely they might be sold out if I get there late? I'm thinking I should just stay up all night and go before the sun comes up.
Yes no?
The 600 is accurate. Mine's that way. IIRC, the 60/120/240 is pertaining to LCD's. If you buy, you might consider the "black tie" extended warranty.
Ah ok.. Thank you...
Well, I've never bought anything big from BB, I did have some computer "repair" problems with them once so I don't know much about them.
The particular store I am going to, I've never been to before. And I've never been shopping on Black Friday. I've never thought it was worth the misery to fight the idiots over trinkets that I could go buy a few days later for nearly the same price. But I guess with this the savings is substantial enough to make the exception, this one time.
I suppose they won't have restrooms available.
I'll have to cease consumption of fluids tomorrow afternoon if I'm going say, two hours early. OMG....TWO HOURS....
Now I'm going to be one of those people I always see on TV sitting in parking lots in the cold rain while I laugh at them and call them idiots.
My turn.....
Oh, and what is the Black Tie thing? I know nothing about BB..
Thanks!
Dee Ann,
IMO Panasonic makes the finest TV on the market. I own two Panasonic Plasmas, a 42" from 2005, and a 58" From 2009. Incredible displays. Only issue with plasmas are they run hot, and they use more power than a comparable LCD. But to my eyes you will not get a better picture than with a plasma. Don't worry about the refresh rate, any plasma you buy on the market today will be more than good enough.
NOW, would I stand in LINE for it? Probably not, because chances are they gonna sell out before you get one, because there WILL be jackasses that buy 5 or 6 of them at a time right in the front. I am not a fan of extended warranties in general, but its your money. Nor do I trust Best Buy's merry group of "tech's". If you can arrange for help bringing it home, you can set it up yourself. If you can handle getting FTA going, you can handle getting a Plasma going.
Good Luck!
IMO Panasonic makes the finest TV on the market. I own two Panasonic Plasmas, a 42" from 2005, and a 58" From 2009. Incredible displays. Only issue with plasmas are they run hot, and they use more power than a comparable LCD. But to my eyes you will not get a better picture than with a plasma. Don't worry about the refresh rate, any plasma you buy on the market today will be more than good enough.
NOW, would I stand in LINE for it? Probably not, because chances are they gonna sell out before you get one, because there WILL be jackasses that buy 5 or 6 of them at a time right in the front. I am not a fan of extended warranties in general, but its your money. Nor do I trust Best Buy's merry group of "tech's". If you can arrange for help bringing it home, you can set it up yourself. If you can handle getting FTA going, you can handle getting a Plasma going.
Good Luck!
Black Tie is/was their top tier extended warranty. I bought the 4 year one for my Samsung after my Vizio died one month out of warranty. The TV you are looking at only consumes 106 watts when turned on...that is amazing, considering my Vizio used 500, and my Samsung uses 200-250, I think.
I agree with stogie, unless you're the first few in the door, you will not likely get the TV. They won't have but a few sets at that price. Don't ask how I know.
I agree with stogie, unless you're the first few in the door, you will not likely get the TV. They won't have but a few sets at that price. Don't ask how I know.
I bought an S series Panasonic plasma 3 1/2 years ago. It has continued to give perfect service for me. Yes, the 600 Hz means that the refresh rate is lower and there is some 3:2 pulldown. However, I never notice it and don't worry about it. Some people get very hung up on specs, but if it is something you can easily live with, then it is worth it.
BTW, my 50-S1 cost me $1100 so prices continue to drop. I also agree that unless you are already standing in line, you are unlikely to get it at $600.
BTW, my 50-S1 cost me $1100 so prices continue to drop. I also agree that unless you are already standing in line, you are unlikely to get it at $600.
