So with Blu Ray really starting to kick in with releases and become more prevalent and affordable I've decided that it's finally time to upgrade from my big old CRT TV to an HD capable flat screen.

But it's obviously a very overwhelming decision. There are so many companies, with so many models, and so many specs to worry about, so it's difficult to choose.

I don't know tons about it, but basically I'm worried about many of the older, non-Blu Ray DVDs and DVD-rs (trailer comps, etc.) looking really crappy and pixelated on the new set up. Will this be the case? I know the average consumer is only worried about the newest releases and therefore the newest technology, but most of you know that while I like big blockbuster stuff, a lot of what I enjoy is older, trashier, grindhouse fare that will never make it onto fancier formats (and I almost feel as if it would actually detract from the films if it did).

Should I go for full 1080? Is it worth it to spend the extra $ for 120hz? I would like as little motion blur or visual distortions as possible?

Can anyone with more experience lend me some expert opinions? I know some of you guys have nicer TVs than I do.

It would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

There's probably people on here that can help a lot more than I can. But this is the little that I've learned from my cousin's husband - he engineers huge audio/video installation projects for Vulcan:
1080 isn't a noticeable upgrade over 720 unless you're getting a really large TV (65"+). What's more important is contrast ratio.
Plasma has less motion blurring than LCD. Plasma also offers better blacks than LCD. However, to get the most out of the plasma picture you want low light levels. If you're in a bright room an LCD will look better than a plasma.
Go as big as you can - you won't regret it.
His brand of choice for consumer TVs is Panasonic. I think this is probably what we'll get when we finally buy a new TV: http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Panasoni ... d+Item+Mod

For LCD go with a Sharp Aquos. The only real choice because they are so far ahead of the other company's technology with regards to Black levels.

But for my money (and cheaper than the Aquos), I would go with a Panasonic Plasma. Best picture for the money hands down. They have the very best black levels, and color and contrast are great. And don't worry about screen burn in. Most new Plasmas, especially the Panasonics, have a less likely chance of burn in then do conventional CRT Television sets.

I have each of my Televisions tuned by Louis Carliner, who is an ISF (imaging and science foundation) Master Specialist. One of only 4 or 5 in the world. Most newer LCDs, escecially those by Samsung have digital picture manipulations of various kind, that makes TV's look great in a bright showroom but lacking detail and overall fidelity in the living room.

If money is no object you can look at some of the higher end Pioneers Plasmas or the 1080P XBR Sony models.

I have a 50 inch 1080P Panasonic comercial grade plasma monitor delivered by DigitalAPex.com. Great prices with unbeatable service after the sale. They will replace any monitor with even one dead pixel, with free shipping for the replacement, the works. Check out the AVSforum for more info.

This is a great link with solid, unbiased reviews on Plasmas and LCDs.

http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/plas ... views.html


Good luck!

i agree with Stealthtank. If you can get a plasma, do that and big thumbs up to Panasonic.
I did a lot of research before buying my latest tv (a 46in Panasonic, 1080) and all the feedback
I received steered me toward the Panas.

Agreed. I just got a 46" Panasonic Plasma 1080 a couple months ago and love it. Check the post office and get the "Moving Kit", it had a Best Buy 10% off coupon and I went online a got a special that included the Geek Squad's Calibration Package thrown in for free. Definitely have it calibrated a month or two after you get it, it really makes a difference in picture quality.

I just got a Toshiba LCD TV along with one of their DVD players. They do this "REGZA Link" thing when they're hooked up together with an HDMI cable. Regular DVDs get upsampled to 1080p and they look gorgeous. The player also plays DivX files, which is great.

Wait a couple of weeks and you may be able to save a lot of money. Apparently a lot of the electronics retailers have overstock on flat-screen TVs.

I had always heard bad things about plasma. Isn't there some weird thing that if the power goes off you have to "recharge" it or something?

That's the only reason I was looking at LCD, but I just read a bunch of comparison stuff and it seems like plasma is better all around.

And they are much more affordable than I figured they would be.

I'm gonna look into it more. Thanks for the info guys.

If you can wait until the holidays, I'd recommend that.
Prices are plummeting right now on LCDs and Plasmas.

I gotta disagree, these are excellent choices for LCD:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6889102203
This TV is crazy cheap at Newegg, $1,258 with free shipping!

The 46" in the A650 line is $1,518. Excellent deal too.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6889102198

and

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/sto ... 1665532056

The Sony is more expensive, but the XBR chip is amazing. You could get this for around $1,800 if you look around the internet, I got mine a while back for $1,750 shipped.

Remember that 1080p resolution for a TV is really only needed on a 40" and above sized display.

A note about the 120Hz... I actually don't care for it. It reminds of someone who just went buck wild with a sharpening filter in Photoshop. Its excellent for sports in HD, if that's your thing. Totally useless for DVDs and SD television, looks terrible. I wouldn't make it a buying priority unless HD sports is something your into.

In the beginning, there were a flood of substandard Korean made plasma panels that were released by a broad range of companies that suffered from a myriad of issues from screen burn in to picture warbling at high altitude and overall crappy black levels. I say black but they were more like light gray, and that throws of the entire color spectrum.

Panasonic, however, released only panels developed and manufactured in their own Japanese factories, and improved plasma panel quality by leaps and bounds very early on. One year they would come out with unbelievable black levels, the next they improve overall contrast by two fold, the next they improve the lifespan to levels greater than conventional crt tvs, and the next they virtually eliminate burn in altogether.

Anyhow, Panasonic has essentially gained market share in the very Japanese manner of high quality product sold at very competitve prices.

The real challenge with any "panel" television monitor is careating a realistic black level. Because black is essentially the absence of light, it was easy to reproduce in CRT's because all you had to do was not project light through that portion of the picture tube. Panels have it much different; they have to actually draw black. This is why substandard plasmas and lcds moreso ususally have black levels that appear more gray than black. And "gray" blacks greatly diminish detail and shading and accurate color representation, etc.



The best pure picture in conventional tv sets can be found in larger cabinet DLP lcd sets that use the cabinet to enhance black levels by creating shadows and limiting light projected onto the rear of the screen. However these sets are typically heavy and can take up floor space and can be very expensive. If you are a renter and plan on ever moving, go for a panel tv (lcd or plasma).

The problem I have with both of these is they both use a type of video enhancement that cannot be fully turned off, even in the service menu (which is only accessible by a trained technician or if you know the code to enter it). Samsung has DNle. I have a Samsung 23 inch lcd right next to my 50 inch panasonic monitor and the difference is like night and day. Detail, black levels, you name it.

Sony has similar circuitry, described below, however thankfully it can be limited in the service menu a bit, but not completely, and even then only on the HDMI inputs.

From the specs on your link:

This sounds all well and good, however it is artificially changing the image from what was originally broadcast and was intended to be viewed, and is usually added to mask the inherent weakness in the lcd panels which is dull blacks and reduced detail. You can turn all of these things off, which is what a trained ISF technician will do, and you will see a much clearer and accurate picture, but with less pop and vibrancy you can get from a better tv. Does this make sense? It is only after the set is properly calibrated, calibrated with a color spectrum analyzer (not the naked eye) where you really begin to accurately reproduce a film like image in a home theatre environment. Even with HDTV and Blu-ray. However, you can buy or rent the Digital Video Essentials DVD/HD DVD/ Blu-ray to calibrate the set yourself in a pinch and it will still look infinitely better than what it looks like straight out of the box. I know it looks great when your contrast is cranked up all to hell, but lowering it to proper levels will greatly increase the picture accuracy and extend the life of the set at the same time.

There's always the Pioneer Elite PRO-111FD, it's only $3,500, but it's the best HD TV out there.

I agree with stealthtank in that Panasonic makes the best Plasmas (second only to Pioneer), but I prefer LCD.

Panasonic TH-50PZ800U is an excellent buy at $1,600 shipped!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6889187086

It's worth noting that all the LCD TVs I mentioned in my previous post have really excellent black levels, 3,000:1 contrast ratio (or 50,000:1 DCR).



Yeah, I do understand what you're saying. Honestly, the most important thing is that the 120Hz can be turned on/off, I'm really pleased with what the XBR chip does. My set had really excellent settings out of the box, but I went over to AVS Forums and snagged settings from some pros over there. The revised settings did make an improvement. I am extremely happy with my XBR6.

Oh and of course...
http://www.oppodigital.com/dv981hd/dv981hd_index.html
Best upscaling DVD Player you can get (well, the best that's reasonably priced anyway).

It also depends on what you will be primarily viewing on the set.

I bought my Samsung LCD to play video games on and to watch sportscenter and cnn. Games look very bright and vibrant and Sportcenter in HD and Discovery HD theatre both look superb! Mostly because they are broadcast using Digital Cameras.

Where problems start arising, for me especially, is when I want to watch a film whether it be on dvd, blu-ray, digital cable, whatever.

If I watch a movie like say Wong Kar Wai's In the Mood For Love for example, where I remember watching it in the theatre and I know how the fleshtones are supposed to look and I know that the cinematographer Chritsopher Doyle uses an intentinally "green tinted" pallette, etc, there is no way that I can find an acceptable picture reproduction on any lcd currently available, at any price level. For example, the Sony Bravia set (as is evident in many of the lcd sets available) is famous for "red push" where the skin tones of any person on screen are noticeably redder, which would normally not be a problem if not for it is the opposite of what the filmmaker intended. This to me is unacceptable for a tv in this price range, and the issue happens to be very difficult to correct on a digital panel. You cannot just turn off "red push" like you could on the older crt Sony XBRs. Now you have to trial and error yourself to death before you get a picture even close to the NTSC standard. Also, edge enhancement is normally much more evident in the lcd panel when a film is being shown. All of these issues are exponentially exacerbated the cheaper the lcd tv is you buy.

So it comes down to what you use the tv for most and how filmlike you want your picture to be.

Incidentally I used to be a contributor to the Keohi HDTV enthusast website many years ago, and have spent hours in front of sets trying to tweak every last setting the set has. So I am most likely much more sensitive than the average tv viewer is to bad picture. Most sets available on the market now are leaps and bounds better than what you could get even a couple of years ago and at much cheaper prices with more features. One example is how the Vizio LCD sets come with an internal HDTV broadcast tuner, where you can hook it up straight to the cable from your cable company and get HDTV wiithout having to pay for digital cable or HD Cable.

I concur with the Oppo.

I have one myself!

i have a 46" sharp aquos 1080p (not 120mhz though).

its got some decent blacks, i do notice some pixelation at times.
But for the price I paid for (a black friday bargin last year), it was way worth it.
PLaying wii on it looks great.

I have a toshiba HD-DVD player (yikes!) that does great upconverting at least. THat was only 100 bux.
And I have the blade runner box set in HDDVD, thats all i need.
Will get a bluray eventually.

Some great deals on TVs right now.

Panasonic TH-42PZ80U ($798.02) + Free Shipping
Display Resolution 1080p
Contrast Ratio Native: 20,000:1
Dynamic: 1,000,000:1
Compatible Signal Formats 1080p/1080i/720p/480p
480 Hz Sub-field Drive
24p Playback(2:3)
http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?t=1005329

50" Panasonic Plasma - TH-50PX80U $833.96
* Native Resolution: 1366x768 (720p)
* Tuner: Integrated ATSC/NTSC/QAM
* Inputs
o 3x HDMI
o 2x Component
o 2x Composite
o 2x S-Video
o 1x SD Card (SDHC Compatible)
* Outputs
o 1x Composite
o 1x Audio (Analog)
o 1x Audio (Digital)
http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?t=1006059

Wow! That's an amazing deal on the 50" Panasonic! Still, I'd wait until after T-Giving.

Holy crap.
I wish my ten year old Sony TV would shit the bed...

You're afraid you're going to disrespect it while it's still alive? How do you know it won't haunt your nightmares from beyond the grave if you get a new one after it passes into the afterlife?

Zeniths grazing at your grave
Sonys grazing at your grave

TV casualty, TV casualty
We're all right

Regardless of the reviews/price I wouldn't buy a 50" TV with native res 720p.

That price for the TH-42PZ80U is a steal. Skylar, this might be for you!

I just bit the bullet last month and grabbed a 50” Pioneer Kuro LX508A Plasma.
Utterly incredible. Supposedly the last Kuro to be manufactured totally in Japan.
Everything about it is quality with such an attention to detail. Incredible Blacks!
My only criticism is it has slow channel changing, but I understand most plasmas do.

Also Panasonic is rumoured to be manufacturing Pioneers panels from now on.

My second choice would have been the Panasonic TH-50PZ800A.
A lot cheaper and with excellent black levels.

Only reason I went with the Pio was I got a great deal on the 07 Kuro.

You should take Stealth Tank's suggestion. I have a Panasonic Plasma. The only downside is that it eats up lots of power = $$.

You will notice a huge difference when you watch DVDs that have lots of details and motion. eg. StarWars Episode 3 beginning battle scene. I watched this scene on all the LCD TVs and it can't keep up with the redraw. Plus the blacks with detail is just lacking compared to a plasma.

Why? I've heard from someone I trust very much that there is no noticeable difference between 720 and 1080 unless you're going with something HUGE. I'm curious as to why you say to stay away from 720 on a 50" because that's what I'm planning on buying eventually.

Skylar - let us know what you get.

Thanks to everybody - keep the recommendations/discussion coming. Like Skylar, I'm (hopefully) going to be in the market for a new set soon, and this is helping immeasurably. I had been pretty dead-set on an LCD, but this thread is really making me reconsider the plasma option. Didn't realize how much the price on the had gone down, and I certainly wasn't aware of the color issues.