Topic: I'm looking into getting a new TV

[Quemaqua]

How is Phillips?  Only thing I've ever used from them is a CD player, and the thing is a total piece of junk.

[scottws]

Yeah I consider Philips to be a pretty low-end brand.  But that's just my gut and experience talking.  I have no idea about the quality of their HDTVs.

[K-man]

Yeah I consider Philips to be a pretty low-end brand.  But that's just my gut and experience talking.  I have no idea about the quality of their HDTVs.

Not great.  I rank Philips HDTV's slightly above polaroid in terms of quality.

Que, I'll throw another vote toward Vizio.  I love mine and got it for a steal.  The company seems to be really taking off too, which is a good sign. 

[Quemaqua]

Thanks dude, I appreciate it.  I'll definitely have to give them a look as I haven't yet.  My father in law had a Sony plasma that he bought when the technology was new and it kinda' died... so we're probably going to go looking at stuff soon.

[Raisa]

Philips has some higher end stuff but they're more expensive and harder to find and a pain to have fixed according to my cousin who's dealt with Philips.  He said if you want good customer service, dont' go with Philips

Samsung has good ones too... 

A video editor I know said he uses Toshiba - it wasn't his first choice but that's what he ended up getting and it's fine so far.

[iPPi]

Toshiba makes good products.  My 62" DLP is a Toshiba.  Great TV overall, though I no longer like the tech and felt a need for a newer TV.  That's why I got the 52" Samsung LCD.  Colors are excellent.  Like with all LCDs, the blacks aren't as dark as I'd like them to be, but it's a great TV otherwise.

[beo]

Toshiba makes good products.  My 62" DLP is a Toshiba.  Great TV overall, though I no longer like the tech and felt a need for a newer TV.  That's why I got the 52" Samsung LCD.  Colors are excellent.  Like with all LCDs, the blacks aren't as dark as I'd like them to be, but it's a great TV otherwise.

you have too much money. if you don't figure out a way that we can all enjoy your wealth, we're going to have to hate you.

[K-man]

I dunno if this would help anyone's decision, but I felt it worthy of posting.

I've had my Vizio since March 07.  I've had a consistent problem where the HDMI video would take 20-25 seconds to finally show up on the tv.  Sometimes I'd have to turn the TV off and on multiple times to get a signal to show.  I emailed Vizio 2 days ago about it, asking what I needed to do.  Didn't get a response until today.  Guy apologizes for the length of time it took to get back to me and informs me that upon my OKing it he is going to arrange an IN HOME repair at no charge since i'm under the warranty period (1 year).

You won't find that with many manufacturers.  Of course it's a tad bit easier for them to do it because they're an American manufacturer.  But still, VERY nice gesture I think.

[Quemaqua]

Yeah, I've seen people talk about support issues from different folks.  Sounds like you got one of the good ones.  I've heard some people in the States say that Panasonic was able to send people out to fix their stuff that was still under warranty, which I guess at least partially negates some of the negatives surrounding the smaller TV I was looking at earlier.  I've heard some reports of really bad stuff regarding support too, but I forget which companies now.  My brain kind of melted after looking at so many TVs in two days.

[Cobra951]

HDMI is a fucking nightmare because of HDCP.  It has to validate the data coming through.  It's going to be like cable-box (and sat-box) woes when things go awry, except it affects the stuff you used to be able to use without a hitch.

[KontrollerX]

Well this is the TV I ended up ordering yesterday guys. 

 http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=7811041

I almost got a Vizio at another poster's suggestion since that was cheap too but this was a bit cheaper with apparently almost all the same stats as the Vizio model I was looking at.

I'm wondering what your opinion is of my TV choice though Cobra, Pug or others extremely knowledgeable about this stuff.

I plan to use it mostly for gaming with a little bit of DVD watching here and there and was wondering how you guys would rate its quality or lack there of.

Thanks. 

[Raisa]

looks fine to me... hehe something i would buy if i had to!  i would personally get something smaller though.. not really into big TV's since it's just me.

[K-man]

I hope you have better luck with Polaroid products than I have had.

[Cobra951]

It looks like it's 1366x768 resolution, same as mine.  You have every input you could possibly want, and audio out, which means you can use your TV as a switchbox for everything and still get audio to come out from good add-on speakers.  (Don't expect much from the built-in speakers.)  I know nothing about Polaroid TVs.  Here is a thread for owners of your set.  I'm sure they know a lot more.   I hope it works out for you.

[K-man]

The repairman came by today.  Vizio had him replace both the logic board AND the power supply....so discounting the panel itself I basically have a brand new television.

I'm very sold on this company.

[KontrollerX]

Hey thanks for all that info Cobra.

Going above and beyond the call of duty for me in finding that link to a forum about my tv and other tvs like it. 

Anyway I finally got it a few days ago and I'm blown away.

Never imagined HD to look this good.

It works perfectly for both the Wii and Xbox 360 in my experience so I lucked out compared to another owner of my set who said in that topic that the Wii looked washed out almost completely on his set.

My only problem with the tv is a very slight one that I'm told seems to be the case with all LCD HDTV's and that is a slight washed out look to all the channels running in standard definition. Its not so bad its unbearable but it took a bit to get used to compared to using my previous tv with overall darker colors.

The posters on the site said that they are still working on finding out optimal settings for the set so I hope those are up soon.

The videogame consoles again though I have absolutely no complaints with. They are absolutely stunning on this set with I think Wii topping out at 480p and 360 at 1080p.

So thanks again for all your help Cobra.

Oh and K-man I don't have to worry about Polaroid since I did a little research and it seems they had someother company that is competent at making these tvs do the job under their brand name so no wonder its a quality set lol.

Anyway glad Vizio has worked out well for ya.

[Cobra951]

Sure, man.  I'm glad I was able to help.   

[Quemaqua]

Anybody know anything about the Panasonic 46" Plasma TH46PZ85U?  That looks like it could be the perfect compromise for us, but it doesn't appear to be out yet (though Amazon.com and a couple other places are selling it... just no retail).

[Quemaqua]

Well, to bump this thread, I just got a new TV.  It's a 42" Panasonic Plasma, the TH-42PX80U.  It's a bit older, as it's only 720p instead of the newer one which is a full 1080p, but everyone says you don't notice that stuff at this screen size anyway, so who cares, right?  You can probably notice in truth, but honestly, the 720p looks so ungodly amazing that I really couldn't care less at this point.  The TV was dirt cheap compared to most others (I got it at retail, not online, for an even $1k), and the screen is big enough in our game room that Julia and I think we may just go and buy another for the living room instead of going for a bigger one.  The 42" is bigger than I thought it would be, and at that price, buying two sets is about the same price as buying the one new 50" Plasma we looked at, and only a couple hundred more than the older one.

I can scarcely imagine how awesome Pyro's new set must look at 52" with a full 1080p.  Even what we've got here is just mind-blowing.  Anyway, see the OWmeet thread for more story and possibly pictures!

[sirean_syan]

I did it too... GTA4 finally tipped the scales and I bit the bullet. Aimee and I walked out of Circuit City last night with the same exact TV Que got, so I get to thank him for all the research he did.

I haven't done much with it and just came home with a PS3 (and Assassin's Creed, it was on sale for $30). GTA might come tonight, but I still haven't decided if I'm going to do the midnight launch thing in order to attempt to snag a copy.

[poomcgoo]

My roommate is ADAMANT that 720p is "shitty looking."  And every time that motherfucker comes into my room and checks out what game I'm playing or what movie I'm watching he makes sure to remind me "This would look way better in 1080p, I don't think 720p even looks good."  Every time I want to slap the fucking grin off his face.  People who complain about 720p are fucking retards.

[sirean_syan]

Yeah. I haven't even put in a 720p source and I'm pleased with the results. I did see games running at Que, so I know what the TV can do in a realistic setting... and it's awesome.

A lot of games don't even offer 1080p though and I can't imagine that changing all that much. As people want better looking games, skimping on the resolution for the "inferior" 720p is the first thing developers are going to do.

[JacksRag(e)]

People can be ridiculously stupid and misinformed when it comes to HDTV and the different resolutions and whatnot. It's frustrating.  You should tell your roommate to take that extra 360p and shove it.

[Quemaqua]

Heh.  I did look at some 720p TVs in direct comparison with 1080p TVs, and while the difference is noticeable at certain sizes, even in the large sizes where you can supposedly discern it fairly easily the difference isn't that huge.  Sure, it's a bit better, but it isn't necessarily even worth the money for everyone, and at 42", the differences are almost entirely negligible.  720p on this 42" looks fabulous, and you couldn't possibly complain about it if you wanted to.  There simply aren't any resolution flaws to quibble about.

Also, damn you Sy.  I want to get GTA4 tonight, but I have the SE on order so I can't.  And I wouldn't have much time to really play it anyway.

However, I do still have $10 down on a regular copy at my Gamestop, so if you'd like we could head over there tonight and make that your birthday present.  As soon as you said you were going to get a PS3 my plan was to get GTA4 for you or pay for it in some capacity, so... yeah.  Even if you didn't want to do it at midnight, I could pick it up later and get it to you.  Or something.  Though there are probably enough copies to cover people without preorders.  At least I'd guess so.  Just a thought, in any case.  Let me know and stuff.

[Cobra951]

People can be ridiculously stupid and misinformed when it comes to HDTV and the different resolutions and whatnot. It's frustrating.  You should tell your roommate to take that extra 360p and shove it.

Particularly for games which are rendered at 720p.  I love it when people set their 360s to scale 720p up to 1080p just so their TVs can scale it back down to the native res, which is often 1366x768.  Then they'll say it looks so much better.  Haha!  Ignorance is bliss.  Doing it to 1080i is even more ludicrous.  Let's have both the resolution and the scanline format processed and artifacted twice.

[gpw11]

My roommate is ADAMANT that 720p is "shitty looking."  And every time that motherfucker comes into my room and checks out what game I'm playing or what movie I'm watching he makes sure to remind me "This would look way better in 1080p, I don't think 720p even looks good."  Every time I want to slap the fucking grin off his face.  People who complain about 720p are fucking retards.

So, exactly how much less did you pay fir your television compared to what he paid for his?  I've generally found those are the circumstances people do stupid shit like that in.

[Cobra951]

No doubt it's egoist elitist bullshit.  I remember the old days of high-end stereo, and it was the same set of snobbish attitudes.  I remember a $10,000 (equivalent to twice that now) power amplifier that was so overdesigned it could power an arc welder (as demonstrated).  Fanatics used to eat that shit up, and look down their noses at everyone who couldn't afford them.  (Some probably still do.)

[gpw11]

When shit like that goes down I like to point out that buying a $500 amp and putting the other $9500 into some sort of GIC or capital investment is a much more intelligent thing to do.  This is not the way to make friends.  I might make another post related to my recent love of doing this later.