Plasma or LCD?

Thank you!!!!!!!!

"nospam" wrote in message
...
Sony KDL46V2500

Thank you very much, John!!!!!!!!!

"John Briggs" wrote in message
...
"Smitty" wrote:

...
LCD or Plasma? Three years ago, all I heard from the sale reps at a
number
of video stores was that "plasma screens die after a few years". Wive's
tale? Urban myth? True?

I wound up with and LCD tv but would not have turned down a plasma because
of such fears. I would have trusted a modern, name-brand plasma.

LCDs will give you higher resolution than plasma. There is no risk of
burn-in or image-retention with LCD. LCDs generally do better with bright
scenes. LCDs are far less prone to glare and relections (this was the
deciding factor for me because the wall opposite my TV has two windows and
two light fixtures -- plasma would have been unwatchable).

Plasmas have better black levels and do better with dark scenes. Colors
may
be richer with plasma.

Also does anyone know of the largest TV, LCD or Plasma, that will fit into
this opening (it's 24" deep x 48" wide x 48" high")? The opening is built

A quick visit to the Vizio (my brand) web site shows that their 47" LCD
will fit (44.5" wide) but their 50" plasma is a skosh too wide (48.8"
width). These have speakers on the bottom.

into the frame of the house so it can handle the weight. I can't seem to
find anything larger than a 42" that will fit. Doesn't anyone make a 45",
or even a 48", that has a physical width of no more than say, 47" (so I've
got a half inch on either side...)

My guess is that almost any up-to-47" with bottom-mounted speakers will
fit. I haven't looked at plasma TVs in quite a while so I don't know if
there is much if anything in plasmas bigger than 42" but smaller than 50".
There are lots of LCDs in that range.

Obviously, I want only good brands.

From my research (fairly extensive) and experience (pretty limited), Vizio
is a good brand at a great price. Westinghouse has its advocates, too.
Those were in my price range. I have seen a Samsung or two listed at under
$2000.00 and I would rate them above Vizio in reputation. After that, you
get into he big leagues, Sharp and Sony and such.

I am happy with the picture quality of my Vizio 42" but have had some
as-yet unresolved issues that incline me to return it to Costco. If I do,
I
would be stroongly tempted to go with a Vizio 47" and hope I have no need
for service from Vizio. (In their defense, I gather they have shipped tons
and tons of flat-screens this holiday season and are yet to catch up in
the
area of service.)


--

John Briggs Phoenix, Arizona, USA)

On Jan 15, 7:19 pm, "Smitty" wrote:

I'm buying a new house and this 52" TV (the physical width of it is 50")
won't fit into the opening (48" wide) of the built-into-the-wall
entertainment center of the new home. It will probably cost less to buy a
new TV than have the house modified.

Also does anyone know of the largest TV, LCD or Plasma, that will fit into
this opening (it's 24" deep x 48" wide x 48" high")? The opening is built
into the frame of the house so it can handle the weight. I can't seem to
find anything larger than a 42" that will fit. Doesn't anyone make a 45",
or even a 48", that has a physical width of no more than say, 47" (so I've
got a half inch on either side...)

Obviously, I want only good brands.

Highly recommend going to a store and seeing the Samsung 46-inch 1080p
LCD (44.4" wide x 28.8" high) or the 46-inch Sharp Aquos 1080p that a
previous poster mentioned. Both have really bright breathtaking images
with eye-popping colors. I don't get the same effect from a Vizio or a
Westinghouse. But it's a subjective thing, you need to see for yourself.

"James" wrote:

On Jan 15, 7:19 pm, "Smitty" wrote:

....
Obviously, I want only good brands.

Highly recommend going to a store and seeing the Samsung 46-inch 1080p
LCD (44.4" wide x 28.8" high) or the 46-inch Sharp Aquos 1080p that a
previous poster mentioned. Both have really bright breathtaking images
with eye-popping colors. I don't get the same effect from a Vizio or a
Westinghouse. But it's a subjective thing, you need to see for yourself.

I am no audio/videophile but one thing I am fairly sure of is that getting
even a _decent_ brand will be a huge step up over an ordinary CRT or other
analog definition TV. And, once you get your HDTV home and adjusted for
your specific lighting conditions it will look even better because there
will be no Sony, Sharp, or Samsung right next to it to to make you question
your purchase.

If you have a more generous budget, get what you really, really like (and,
yes, there are noticeable differences in quality) but if you are on a
tighter budget first try a value brand bought from a store with a good
return policy. If you don't like the TV after all take it back and eat
Ramen noodles for a couple of months to save up for what you really, really
like.

--

John Briggs Phoenix, Arizona, USA)

John Briggs wrote:
snip

I am no audio/videophile but one thing I am fairly sure of is
that
getting even a _decent_ brand will be a huge step up over an
ordinary CRT or other analog definition TV. And, once you get
your
HDTV home and adjusted for your specific lighting conditions
it will
look even better because there will be no Sony, Sharp, or
Samsung
right next to it to to make you question your purchase.

snip

Well said. Presently we are beta testers for the "HD" TV
assemblers.

Display technology is moving quickly - such always happens in a
"hot" market.

We can get tomorrow's news today, but we can not buy tomorrow's
??TV screen today. And we do have budgets and aesthetic values
to consider. Fortunately, the number of choices is growing and
the prices are shrinking. Yet, whatever we buy now will be
tomorrow's cow!

I've no idea which technology is BEST? I do feel this way: most
HDTV broadcasters are using 1080i, two that I know of are using
720p, both look good on a 1080p display. No broadcaster is
1080p - most PCs are or can be. I also know that there IS no
comparison between typical 4:3 CRT images and typical 16:9 HDTV,
bigger screen, flatter screen, brighter picture, lower
reflectivity, smaller or zero footprint displayed images. It's
like sex, once you've tried it - there's no turning back - and a
whole lotta confusion; is this one better than that one, did I
make the wrong choice, did I adjust it correctly, etc.;-0)

As one hedonist in the group said: just do it!

It will not be the last TV purchase we ever make FOR SURE.

NadCixelsyd wrote:
I know Vizio is an off brand, but ...

the TV guy at Costco said that, to the best of his knowledge, no one
has ever returned a Vizio TV. Costco has quite a liberal retrun
policy. So I bought a Vizio for my son for Christmas. It's only a 20"
and it's only a month old, so this isn't an in-depth endorsement. With
that in mind, their 47" LCD would seem to fit in your space.
www.vizio.com/products lists it for $1899, but it's on sale at Costco
for $1650. I know it's what I've got my eye on to replace my analog TV.

I returned my 42 inch Vizio because it had a lot of backlight leakage
that made dark scenes cloudy.
I did try another one, and that one didn't have the problem at all. I'm
real pleased with it. I certainly couldn't tell enough diffrerence
between any of the other LCDs to justify spending 1-2 k more.

"John Briggs" wrote:

I am no audio/videophile but one thing I am fairly sure of is that getting
even a _decent_ brand will be a huge step up over an ordinary CRT or
other
analog definition TV. And, once you get your HDTV home and adjusted for
your specific lighting conditions it will look even better because there
will be no Sony, Sharp, or Samsung right next to it to to make you
question
your purchase.


I completely agree with this but do have an anecdote to share.

Last weekend, we was fortunate enough to stumble across a local store that
had the 46" 1080p Sharp, Samsung, Sony XBR2 and Sony V2500 lined up in a row
and not in a dark corner. They were all hooked up to both satellite and an
OTA antenna, and the sales guy was full of clue. Remotes were available,
and we were able to play with the settings for as long as we wanted to. We
did a lot of staring and comparing.

Result? We've dropped both the Sharp and the Samsung from the short list
and will probably buy the Sony V2500 since neither one of us could see a
hair's worth of difference between the picture on it and the one on the
XBR2.