New TV - recommendations

[GomiGirl]

Now being a total girl, I am pretty clueless about TV's. I don't think I have ever purchased a new TV in my life.

We are currently surviving on an old CRT that a friend left behind when she left Japan. It is very sad actually.

Of course hubbylicious wants a huge TV with all the bells and whistles - but he hasn't been in the market for anything Audio Visual for about 5 years so we are both out of the loop.

So we need some recommendations for brands etc. Probably looking at something in the 40-42inch range. But what brands are good? What features are important these days, and what sort of money should we be spending?

I have been to the usual electric shops but it is all so overwhelming and the noise just makes me ill. So I need to know what I am looking for before I drop the cash down.

We don't watch a heap of normal TV as we mainly survive on cable, DVD's and "others". I would love to hook up the TV to the computer to play divx files. The TV is not that far from the computer and all our files are on external hard-drives - or USB memory sticks for going straight into the Buffalo region free DVD player.

[Sarutaro]

I personally love our Sharp Aquos, but I think it's more a matter of comparing picture quality in the store. Features are more or less the same on all the flatscreens.

Now being a total girl, I am pretty clueless about TV's. I don't think I have ever purchased a new TV in my life.

We are currently surviving on an old CRT that a friend left behind when she left Japan. It is very sad actually.

Of course hubbylicious wants a huge TV with all the bells and whistles - but he hasn't been in the market for anything Audio Visual for about 5 years so we are both out of the loop.

So we need some recommendations for brands etc. Probably looking at something in the 40-42inch range. But what brands are good? What features are important these days, and what sort of money should we be spending?

I have been to the usual electric shops but it is all so overwhelming and the noise just makes me ill. So I need to know what I am looking for before I drop the cash down.

We don't watch a heap of normal TV as we mainly survive on cable, DVD's and "others". I would love to hook up the TV to the computer to play divx files. The TV is not that far from the computer and all our files are on external hard-drives - or USB memory sticks for going straight into the Buffalo region free DVD player.

[FG Lurker]

I suggest a Sharp with 120Hz refresh rate and LED backlight.

If you want to hook the computer up directly to the TV you want to make sure that either your computer has an HDMI output or that the TV has a DVI input -- or both for maximum flexibility.

[omae mona]

I personally love our Sharp Aquos, but I think it's more a matter of comparing picture quality in the store. Features are more or less the same on all the flatscreens.

I would recommend against comparing picture quality in the store. Picture quality is HIGHLY affected by the settings you can choose through the remote control. And the stores set them according to what inventory they want to move. You will like the picture more on whichever TV the store wants to sell.

Also, most people are attracted to the brightest and most colorful displays at first, but most of the time cranking up brightness and color actually is harming picture quality (in terms of accuracy, fine detail, contrast, etc.).

I suggest reading reviews. Unfortunately I am totally useless here since I, like GG's hubbie, have been out of the market (but it is 6.5 years in my case )

[Mock Cockpit]

I have a Sharp, can't complain except the cunting eco points thing started the day after I bought the bastard.
Make sure it has at least 3 HDMI ports, might as well get yourself a Bluray player while you're at it. Make sure it's the same brand as the TV to save yourself hassles.

[Taro Toporific]

I suggest a Sharp with 120Hz refresh rate and LED backlight...HDMI output or that the TV has a DVI input -- or both for maximum flexibility.

Good suggestions Lurker!

Also I would would add that Gomi-family should buy an LED screen and avoid Plasma screens unless you like to waste electricity (Plasma TVs use 40 to 200% more juice).
And remember: Anything but SONY.(tm)


(Yeh, yeh, i know that image quality of plasma is bit better than LCD, but my usage of a TV is to leave it on all day tuned to CNN, Bloomberg, et al.)

[Bucky]

We bought a Panasonic 42" HD Plasma TV last fall. One thing that impressed me on the one we got was that the picture was good not only from straight on viewing, but when you looked at the picture from an angle, the Panasonic was still very viewable. Some of the other TV's we considered were not nearly as bright or clear when viewed from a side angle.

[Tsuru]

Good suggestions Lurker!

Also I would would add that Gomi-family should buy an LED screen and avoid Plasma screens unless you like to waste electricity (Plasma TVs use 40 to 200% more juice).
And remember: Anything but SONY.(tm)


(Yeh, yeh, i know that image quality of plasma is bit better than LCD, but my usage of a TV is to leave it on all day tuned to CNN, Bloomberg, et al.)

The quality difference between LCD and plasma mostly has to do with blacklevel and the resulting lower contrast achievable with LCD technology. When you get an LED TV which is basically an LCD TV with segmented white LED backlight this quality difference is negligible. I'll second Taro's recommendation to get an LED TV.

We have a 2009 Philips 42" HD LCD, I'm very impressed with the viewing angle on this one as well. (blacklevel not so much though, but that's OK )

[FG Lurker]

I'd just like to point out a difference between marketing and reality: The current TVs marketed as "LED TVs" are not at all LED TVs. They are LCD TVs with LED back or side lights. LED backlighting with localized dimming gives the best current LCD picture quality but LED sidelighting makes the set a lot thinner.

OLED will change everything but it has been very slow to come to market. 2011 and 2012 should see some larger OLED TVs out but the prices will be insane. Realistically priced OLED TVs probably won't arrive until 2013 or even 2014. (The original predicted time line was for 2010...)

[Adhesive]

I would recommend against comparing picture quality in the store. Picture quality is HIGHLY affected by the settings you can choose through the remote control. And the stores set them according to what inventory they want to move. You will like the picture more on whichever TV the store wants to sell.

Also, most people are attracted to the brightest and most colorful displays at first, but most of the time cranking up brightness and color actually is harming picture quality (in terms of accuracy, fine detail, contrast, etc.).

I suggest reading reviews.

Couldn't have said it any better. Read reviews before making any tv purchase.

I'd suggest waiting for OLED but it may be a long wait, and like Lurker said, the current offerings are not OLED...unless they are 11" displays.

I have a 58" Panasonic Viera Plasma, a 42" Panasonic Viera Plasma, and a 32" LCD TV. The Plasmas blow the LCD away in terms of picture quality, there's really no comparison. But, my LCD is a cheap Korean make, and I'm sure there's better LCD makes out there that will give plasma a run for its money (I've just never personally seen one).

With that in mind, you have to decide if you want 720p or 1080p (do they still sell 720p-only sets in Japan?), and as someone with both, you really wouldn't be missing much with a 720p set at 42" or below. It's not worth the additional price unless you go with a bigger screen. That being said, in the U.S. you can pick up a 42" 720p Panasonic Viera Plasma for about $549 on Amazon, whereas a 1080p can be had for $724. ALthough I got my 42" 720p on sale from Dell for $475, so there was an even bigger difference in price, and it just wasn't worth it for such a small screen.

And congrats on the decision to upgrade, if you're a movie buff, and you have the right tv and sound system, you will never have to go to the theater again.

[Kuang_Grade]

Hmmm...I guess Samsung isn't an option in Japan...While I've been happy with the two Samsung's LCDs I've gotten in the past, I've been sorely tempted by some Panasonic models but their promotions/price cuts never seem to be around when I'm ready to buy...although previously I had bought 3 Panasonic CRT TVs over the last decade (all replacing 20+ year old Sony's that finally reached their end) that worked out quite well. Here in the US, Panasonic has been trying hard with reasonable pricing and value added items (although some would call gimmicky) including things like ipod docks and build in SD card readers for showing photos from digital cameras to stand out from crowd.

At this stage, you should shoot for at least 2, if not 3 HDMI ports, although you might want to look to see if they also have at least one composite (one for yellow, then white and red plugs for stereo audio) on the side so you can plug in something like a video camera for playback/a video game system that niece or nephew brings over without having to turn the TV around to get the plugs in the back.

120hz is certainly nice to have (esp for things with fast moving images like sports) but you'll probably pay a premium for it at the moment, although as the 240hz TVs start to roll in 120hz will likely become a standard feature on most TVs in 2-3 years.

DVI ports seem to be standard on some brands of TVs and uncommon on others...also, at least on my samsung, the DVI port is shared with HDMI port (they are separate ports but only one can be used, so if one was to use the DVI port, my #3 HDMI will not work.

If hooking up your computer works for the layout of your room, great....but if it doesn't, you might want to an external media player. While some come with drives, most are just hard drive enclosures with video hardware built in to let you interface with the files through the TV without using a computer at all and they come with a remote control. These sort of things are relatively new and many of them seem to be made by pretty small/oddball companies...but some of the hard drive manufactures are moving into this market with more polished products, although they tend not to be as robust in supporting umpteen codecs as some of the oddball companies do.

There are huge debates on thar interwebs about 720 Progressive (720P)/1080 Interlaced(1080i)/1080 Progressive (1080P)...1080P TVs generally cost more (here in the US, about $100 more)...some people say they see the difference between 1080P vs 1080i...Personally, I don't see that much difference and certainly not one large enough to justify $100/20% price premium, but that's just my opinion. Most of my viewing is at 720P and I think it looks pretty good, although I do watch DVDs/blurays at 1080i and it is pretty sweet.

[GomiGirl]

I ended up buying the Sharp Aquos LC-40lx1 (40 inch LED, stereo sound built in.)

It was delivered this morning and it is HUGE. Hubbilicious is now very happy camper.

But the only thing I can't figure out now is how to adjust the screen size.. when the cable is on, there are times when the picture is just a fraction too large for the screen. It says a few times, "Adjusting to picture size" or something like that.

Have tried to find an English Manual on-line to download, but can't find the equivalent product on the Sharp site. Perhaps there just isn't one.

Anyway, it will be a learning curve from the super basic model we had before.

Thanks for everybody for their suggestions - it was a huge help when choosing.

[FG Lurker]

Nice choice GG!

[GomiGirl]

Thanks FGL. We are ditching our stereo now as the digital sound is fantastic on this model.

Getting the "ecopoints" whatever they mean. But plan to use them towards an upgrade to the media player/Blue ray.

Any advice on models? Needs to be region free, play .avi files, connect to computer to play our collection of movies we have stored on our external hard drives, accept USB memory stick.... anything else I need to think about? I don't want to get anything more for a while after this.

[FG Lurker]

Thanks FGL. We are ditching our stereo now as the digital sound is fantastic on this model.

Getting the "ecopoints" whatever they mean. But plan to use them towards an upgrade to the media player/Blue ray.

Any advice on models? Needs to be region free, play .avi files, connect to computer to play our collection of movies we have stored on our external hard drives, accept USB memory stick.... anything else I need to think about? I don't want to get anything more for a while after this.

You may have trouble getting a single device that will do everything you want.

I recently had to replace our region free/multi format DVD player and ended up getting an LG from Costco. They aren't region free when you buy them but are easy enough to make region free post-purchase. It plays multiple formats including DivX and will read USB sticks / hard disks. It has a network port but I don't think it supports streaming video from a remote computer. LG has BD players with similar features (and Costco sells them) but I am not 100% sure if they can be made region free or not. Also, the LG BD players are lower-end devices and the image quality from them (while still very good) is not as good as a more expensive player.

I am hoping to have a custom wall unit built into my house later this year that will become the basis for a redone home theatre system including a 40" to 46" TFT television. As I will be replacing the entire AV system at the same time I am starting to do some research now on what I want to buy. If I come across anything that will do all of what you would like I will certainly let you know.

[Mock Cockpit]

[Russell]