Any advice for purchasing a LCD TV for a couple who are completely ignorant on the subject?

Well if you want a good TV but at a reasonable cost then I believe the minimum specifications should be the following for what you seem to want

1080p future proof
Contrast ratio 100,000:1 minimum (this is one of the most important factors)
Screen Refresh Rate 100hz or above
Screen response time at 8ms or less probably 6ms actually

reply to post by TDawgRex


LOL on the man cave TDawgRex, since I was the one to clear the junk out of that room first I have dibs on the use.

All kidding aside, we are looking for a TV that will last us as the one we are using now is a 20 year old Sony. We have another Sony, still works, but doesn't even have hook ups for the DVD (guess that says how old it is). So what we buy now, we still want to be able to use many, many years down the road. As Iwinder mentioned earlier we really don't watch much TV except in the wintertime.

If understand correctly HDMI inputs are for Blue Ray, and we may have one of those some day...do all the newer TVs still have the red/white/yellow RCA plug connections? Those are what my DVD player has, or would I need to get some kind of adapter. We really appreciate all the insights & help you are offering, had we not bought new furniture that takes up more space I would still be using the old set for doing my workout videos. And that TV is as heavy as a boat anchor so it's much easier to put the newer one downstairs until the other one stops working.

Thanks again and keep the comments and suggestions coming.
Namaste,
YogaGinns

LOL on the man cave TDawgRex, since I was the one to clear the junk out of that room first I have dibs on the use.

I must reply to this post, just who's junk was it?
Case closed and I sentence you to cleaning the garage tomorrow

Regards, Iwinder

reply to post by Iwinder


Not a bad punishment as there is no junk in the garage.

YogaGinns

Originally posted by YogaGinns
reply to post by Iwinder

 

Not a bad punishment as there is no junk in the garage.

YogaGinns

Jeesh and I wonder why they are called man caves, you have to leave room to throw a Bison on the BBQ!
Regards, Iwinder

I have owned several high end LCD, Plasma, LED tv's and after just moving back to the U.S. from England, I wanted to save money so I bought the following: www.walmart.com...

Yes, you read right, its a 50" LCD 1080P TV for $500!

I have to say, this is the best deal I ever got. The T.V. has a brilliant picture and has everything most people need. I coupled this with a philips soundbar and subwoofer for better sound ($98) and I really couldn't be happier.

Originally posted by AkumaStreak
reply to post by AzureSky

 

I think burn-in is a thing of the past at this point, but perhaps still a possibility in a room like that where it could be left on and forgot about for a long time.

I do agree, LED is a great (the best) option if you can afford it. You won't regret any of these options though (LCD or plasma or LED). Forgot about LED.

edit on 8/5/2012 by AkumaStreak because: (no reason given)

It is still sadly possible to get burn in even with a modern plasma if you have static pictures/logo showing for extended period of time. The risk is much less now compared to past though.

Originally posted by DARKJEDIG
I have owned several high end LCD, Plasma, LED tv's and after just moving back to the U.S. from England, I wanted to save money so I bought the following: www.walmart.com...

Yes, you read right, its a 50" LCD 1080P TV for $500!

I have to say, this is the best deal I ever got. The T.V. has a brilliant picture and has everything most people need. I coupled this with a philips soundbar and subwoofer for better sound ($98) and I really couldn't be happier.

edit on 5-8-2012 by DARKJEDIG because: (no reason given)

Thank you for that information, will need to check into it further. Would imagine the cost to be higher here in Canada but its worth investigating. Always good to hear first hand what people think of the items they buy.

Just out of curiosity what size room would a 50" be best suited to?


Namaste,
YogaGinns

Originally posted by juleol

Originally posted by AkumaStreak
reply to post by AzureSky

 

I think burn-in is a thing of the past at this point, but perhaps still a possibility in a room like that where it could be left on and forgot about for a long time.

I do agree, LED is a great (the best) option if you can afford it. You won't regret any of these options though (LCD or plasma or LED). Forgot about LED.

edit on 8/5/2012 by AkumaStreak because: (no reason given)

It is still sadly possible to get burn in even with a modern plasma if you have static pictures/logo showing for extended period of time. The risk is much less now compared to past though.

Juleol,

Appreciate your clarifying the burn in aspect, doubt that we would go the plasma route but it good information to know.

Namaste,
YogaGinns

reply to post by Iwinder


Forget Sony. By all means. Bad screens, many troubles with some nasty cheap iodine-based adhesive. And they always blame the customer. Google-it if you don't believe me. I have Philips. Made in The Netherlands, assembled in Portugal. Backlight & all. Almost 7 years, used 24/7 and no trouble at all.
I did pay €2,000 for it though. Newer & cheaper models should be available now, for sure. Sony died with Akio Morita. All that is left is an expensive name. Nothing else.

I would check into the electromagnetic field aspect - I read that EMF can jump from a plasma tv to the house next door.

SO pls. do your homework and do not pollute your neighbors - the college kids next door have a plasma tv and I am guessing it is polluting my living room.

Field meters can do testing - I am pretty sure you should avoid the plasma type.

Pls. let us know what you decide. You may want to read the work of MagdaHavas.com and .org

She teaches at Trent U. on Ontario.

She co-wrote PUBLIC HEALTH SOS - the Shadow Side of the Wireless Revolution - the back cover has a small pic of a cell phone tower with the caption: WHO CARES?

I bought 20+ copies of her book - about $20.

reply to post by Iwinder


My advice to you is to go down to a Best Buy or other store and actually look at the TV's. You should get the one that looks best to you.

In my experience the top 2 tv brands are Sony and Samsung.

I myself have a samsung 46 inch LED 1080p tv.

LED tv are good at saving power and compare now with plasma's.

Plasmas are a bit power hungry but look good.

lcd's are decent enough. But for me the blacks just aren't as black.

Get a 1080p tv. The 720p's are an older technology.

Make sure that whatever tv you buy that it supports DLNA.
That will let you stream music or video from your computer to your tv.
If you have win 7 this is easy to do.

Some tv's have apps. So you can watch netflix and other things on your tv. Just plug your tv into your internet router and your good to go.

I would suggest that you figure out how much you want to spend. And then read the reviews for the tv's within your budget via google search. I spend about 900 bucks on my tv and it's been great!

Money no object?

Well .. LG 55-inch 3D OLED (late2012/mid2013)

Originally posted by michael1983l

Originally posted by lonegurkha


Brands to look at are sharp,these are the best hands down. these guys invented the technology,

Actually LG did and for a time nearly every flat screen TV on the market had a screen in it made by LG. Sharp are a budget brand as are Toshiba. In my opinion Samsung are a good brand for a mixture between quality and price but if you are looking for simply the best then it is Panasonic all the way, no other brand can get close to them.

Manufactured by and invented by are two different things. Sharp invented the technology and they are not cheap. I still look at them when I'm shopping for other things and they are still the most expensive. Their quality is still better than any others I have seen lately. I looked at panasonic when I was ready to by and the quality wasn't there. One of the cheap brands and the picture quality shows it.Samsung is one of the middle price brands. The picture is good but some sets lack features that I wanted.

We want to once again thank everyone for the great information provided in this thread, Now here is what has got our interest right now......
A 46" LED Samsung
1080p
Connect Share.....Watch movies through the USB port.
2 HDMI inputs and 2 USB ports
The price is $799.00 Canadian
Rough math here it would be about $910.00 Total.....?

Looking for any opinions or thoughts, I know the US dollar and our are even so chime in if you have time.
Thanks once more, Iwinder and YogaGinns