OT: Need Advice on New TV

Two friends have a 40 inch Samsung LED with the 100 Hz refresh rate. A 3d tv will have a sharper picture and better contrast than a non-3d tv even if you never use 3d.
Costco downunder had them for $860 and the 46 inch is more than double the price. I'm guessing your price will be way lower. The TV also isn't made in China if that matters but of course its still made in SE Asia. They don't sell the 42 inch models here or I would get one in that size.

You will save a lot of money if you go mail order. First, decide on the top three models that interest you. Next, you start shopping for those models online. The Dealnews website that jnk listed is an excellent place to begin price shopping.

I have a 55" Sony Bravia that I got for way less than I would have paid at a retail store, and I paid no sales tax, and the shipping to my door was free!

If you're interested, once you narrow your choices, PM me, and I will do an Internet search for you.

Bruce

reasons to buy at costco
i am not a costco member and walmart is closest to home. best buy is not always a best buy period
but when you buy any electronics at costco you have i think its a 90 day return policy for any reason like i didnt like it. costco extends the mfg warranty 1yr and if you buy with the costco charge card amex? you will get another yr of warranty coverage. that my friends is like getting an extended warranty wo paying for it

unfortunately i bought my t v at bj's before i found all this out
luckily i didnt need a warranty with my vizio

btw - i think it is samsung who makes most of the tv screens even sony whoda thunk it samsung?

DoriC wrote:Granny, Thanks for this OT. We just received a $500 gift certificate for Best Buy for our birthdays because a little birdie told our nephew we were thinking about a new TV. Our den isn't very large so we can only go with a 40". I'm interested in the best sound quality so Mike can catch all the words. What brand is best known for it's sound quality? What's the difference between LCD and LED? And what is the difference in resolution number?

There are no actual LED TVs available. All the TVs labeled as "LED" are actually LCD TV's that use LEDs as backlights instead of a fluorescent tube. LED is probably a little better, but it's really the same technology. LCD displays are sort of like a piece of film that changes color and light shines through from behind. "LED" TVs simply have a different kind of light source.

There are lots of companies working on true LED TVs, but that's years away.

Pay attention to the specs, but also look at the TV in person. There can be fairly big differences in "off axis" performance. If you look straight at an LCD/LED TV, you will see one thing, but if you look at it from either side or from above or below at an angle, the contrast may vary quite a bit. Look at this and consider if it will matter for how you use the TV. Some are particularly bad above or below the ideal viewing angle.

For sound, and for other reasons, get the model number, go online and look for the specs and the owner's manual online. Read through the owners manual to find out the features and usability. These days, I'm reluctant to buy anything that doesn't have a manual available online in PDF form. That way, I can keep the manual on my computer and don't have to worry about losing it.

Be sure the TV has an audio output that can be fed to a separate audio system such as a stereo or some wireless headphones. Even if you don't do it now, it gives you a lot of additional options, such as hooking up to a cheap computer audio system that you can sit right next to Mike or to headphones.

We have a Vizio 3D 47" and a 50" Panasonic plasma and like them both. Plasma TV's are good. The main issue is that the screen is reflective so glare can be a problem in a bright room.

The Vizio 3D was reasonably priced at Walmart. Vizio makes smaller 32" and 42" models. Ten 3D glasses cost around $20 at Amazon. A 3D Blueray player is needed to play 3D movies.

1080 resolution is only displayed with Bluray.

If you want better sound quality, buy a soundbar. TV's usually have little speakers. Both of our TV's have the Vizio VSB200 soundbar. Excellent sound for the price.

Sounds like Vizio is doing something right.
I also have a 32" Vizio in the bedroom.
Good picture and sound quality is OK.
We have a Blue Ray DVD player connected to the living-room TV which is a Hitachi Plasma that's at least 8 years old and working great.
It was expensive at the time but prices have dropped of course.
As far as accessing Netflicks through the DVD player all I can say is it works, but it's a pain in the rear.
It is involved and my wife just hates it.
I have to switch everything on and select Netflicks then she takes over and watches a movie.
My cousin bought a network ready TV and it's much easier.
He bought it on line from Wal-Mart and picked it up at the local store.
My next TV will have network built in.

archangle wrote:Pay attention to the specs, but also look at the TV in person. There can be fairly big differences in "off axis" performance. If you look straight at an LCD/LED TV, you will see one thing, but if you look at it from either side or from above or below at an angle, the contrast may vary quite a bit. Look at this and consider if it will matter for how you use the TV. Some are particularly bad above or below the ideal viewing angle.

hint measure how far you will be sitting in the room and look at any new tvs from that distance anything else wont matter. we find our led vizio to be good from all the angles we have in our room

+1 on the Vizio brand. Have two and are very pleased with the units. The family room set has been on almost every waking hour for four years w/o a hint of trouble (my wife is retired).

+2 on Costco for all the reasons mentioned above w/ emphasis on the easy return policy and automatic warranty extension.

-10 on BestBuy... It took almost three hours to return a TV I bought there some years ago. The gun/collar (a tube TV) was misaligned and the image was crooked. After three hours (skip the TOO long story) they finally agreed to accept the return and told us it would be six to eight weeks until the corporate office sent us a check. I have not crossed the threshold of a BestBuy store since. YMMV.

Article re: LED vs LCD vs Plasma:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2387377,00.asp

A Samsung from Costco is a good deal. They also have a very reasonably priced extended warranty (I believe it's call Square Deal, or something like that). I highly recommend the extended warranty. A few years ago, when prices were much higher, we bought a Mitsubishi 46" set for about $1,700, some problems appeared on the LCD screen within 3 years. A replacement screen would have been over $2,000! After some negotiating with the company we'd bought the warranty from, they gave us nearly enough money for the better Samsung at Costco.
If you can, you might want to compare the sound quality. For casual viewing, we have a Sony with decent sound, the Mitsubishi sounded like a horrible speaker phone, the Samsung is passable (I have a big 6.1 surround system for movies). If you find the sound isn't too you liking when you get it home, you can always add a sound bar.

also check out hh gregg. we got a very nice 46 inch, 4 hdmi, 1080 sony led tv with wireless internet (google chrome) for a good price. very happy. no complaints. looks great from all angles.

archangle wrote:
There are no actual LED TVs available. All the TVs labeled as "LED" are actually LCD TV's that use LEDs as backlights instead of a fluorescent tube. LED is probably a little better, but it's really the same technology. LCD displays are sort of like a piece of film that changes color and light shines through from behind. "LED" TVs simply have a different kind of light source.

There are lots of companies working on true LED TVs, but that's years away.

LED tvs today should be called "LED backlight" but the real LED tvs will be called OLED when they come out because they can put the word "organic" in there.

The newer higher end LED tvs will dim the backlight per frame for darker picture and the older fluorescent tube can't dim quick enough to be used that way. The dynamic backlight control can drop the power used by a large TV by 40 watts for some shows since the range tends to be 70 to 40 watts compared to fluo tubes at 150 to 200 w. So and LED tv will be cheaper to run and much cheaper if you like watching dimly lit shows.

-tim wrote:

archangle wrote:
The newer higher end LED tvs will dim the backlight per frame for darker picture

The LED back-lit sets come in two flavors, the "back-lit" ones that dim, don't dim the entire frame, they dim sections of the frame where the picture is dark, to give the appearance of a blacker black. The other LED sets are edge lit, which don't do the dimming, but make for a thinner set. Our Samsung is edge lit, and I don't have any complaints about the blacks not being black enough. When you get the set home, and you are not comparing one against the other (which are all turned up unreasonably bright in the store anyway), they all look good.

edm_msu wrote:1080 resolution is only displayed with Bluray.

No. Over the air broadcast TV is often broadcast in 1080 resolution, and I believe many cable or satellite TV programs are full 1080.

JeffL wrote:

-tim wrote:

archangle wrote:
The newer higher end LED tvs will dim the backlight per frame for darker picture

The LED back-lit sets come in two flavors, the "back-lit" ones that dim, don't dim the entire frame, they dim sections of the frame where the picture is dark, to give the appearance of a blacker black. The other LED sets are edge lit, which don't do the dimming, but make for a thinner set. Our Samsung is edge lit, and I don't have any complaints about the blacks not being black enough. When you get the set home, and you are not comparing one against the other (which are all turned up unreasonably bright in the store anyway), they all look good.

The "LED" TV's may be better than fluorescent backlit TVs, but they're not LED TVs.

Or my 1970's model TV is an LED TV because it has a little red LED that lights up when you turn the power off.

Oh, I need to get back to this. Thanks for all the comments.

I spoke briefly to DH about the TV and he said to watch out about the digital audio output. He has a very nice but older non-HD hifi set that we use with the old tv and we understand that the new tvs do not have the RCA audio plugs.

DH said to ask if you could buy an adapter to plug a non-HD audio receiver into the tv's digital audio output. He does not want to give up this big set for a soundbar.