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Thread: Anybody happy with their TV? |
    
Gold Member Username: Chitown
Post Number: 1357
Registered: Apr-05
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| Posted on Monday, April 21, 2008 - 05:11 pm: |
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Looking at this forum is such a bummer with all the broken, zapped, zipped and otherwise screeching to a halt TV's that people paid a lot of money for. Anybody actually happy with what they got? Tell us some brands etc, that you have been very happy with so perhaps someone could get some idea as to what to buy instead of what not to buy.
Also tell stories about what setup actually improved your viewing experience. |
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Gold Member Username: Samijubal
Post Number: 3799
Registered: Jul-04
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| Posted on Monday, April 21, 2008 - 11:40 pm: |
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When people buy cheap crap like Vizio what do you expect? There's a reason name brands cost more.
I've got a Panasonic plasma, it's great. |
Gold Member Username: John_s
Columbus,
Ohio
US
Post Number: 2240
Registered: Feb-04
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| Posted on Tuesday, April 22, 2008 - 08:43 am: |
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My "cheap crap" 37-inch Vizio in my bedroom is very good. It's not perfect, but I'm still a happy camper. |
Gold Member Username: Chitown
Post Number: 1358
Registered: Apr-05
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| Posted on Tuesday, April 22, 2008 - 10:29 am: |
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I suppose the upside to the "cheap crap" is that you can return it to costco in 90 days and get another one. I didn't really have any idea about Visio's technical quality, I just didn't like the picture quality,but looking at this list I suppose one should stay away from it. Still I wonder if many people are simply impulse buyers walking by the rack there and just deciding there is a $1000 poking a hole in their pocket instead of researching around and reading up on this stuff before buying one. |
Gold Member Username: Samijubal
Post Number: 3800
Registered: Jul-04
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| Posted on Tuesday, April 22, 2008 - 01:22 pm: |
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You won't be a happy camper when that cheap crap Vizio dies and it costs a few hundred to fix it.
I definitely believe in paying more up front and buying better equipment. Not only does it last longer, it performs much better. Buying decent brands has served me very well with the exception of buying a Sony HD CRT that I knew better than to buy. I know how bad Sony reliability is, but the PQ was so good I couldn't resist. It lasted less than 4 months. |
Gold Member Username: Chitown
Post Number: 1359
Registered: Apr-05
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| Posted on Tuesday, April 22, 2008 - 02:23 pm: |
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Once my $650 DVD player (300 carousel) died twice and never played MP3's to begin with (to protect Sony's main business), I forswore Sony forever, but what do you have David now? |
Gold Member Username: Samijubal
Post Number: 3801
Registered: Jul-04
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| Posted on Tuesday, April 22, 2008 - 03:08 pm: |
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I have a 42" Panasonic plasma in my bedroom, where I watch TV. There's a 14 year old 27" Panasonic CRT in the living room, the huge entertainment center won't hold anything bigger. That's why I watch TV in the bedroom. The 6.1 surround is in the bedroom too. |
Bronze Member Username: Funkmeister
Post Number: 70
Registered: Nov-07
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| Posted on Wednesday, April 23, 2008 - 01:58 pm: |
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Panasonic plasma rocks. Outstanding PQ, proven reliability. Samsung sucks. |
New member Username: Peterhead
Post Number: 8
Registered: Apr-08
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| Posted on Wednesday, April 23, 2008 - 01:59 pm: |
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Jimmy ain't never lied. |
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Bronze Member Username: Jvigne
Post Number: 17
Registered: Apr-08
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| Posted on Wednesday, April 23, 2008 - 02:02 pm: |
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Panasonic plasma all the way. Only Pioneer plasma is better (excluding CRTs) but you pay a premium. |
Bronze Member Username: Funkmeister
Post Number: 71
Registered: Nov-07
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| Posted on Wednesday, April 23, 2008 - 02:05 pm: |
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For LCD, consider Sony XBR series. If you buy Samsuck, extended warranty is a necessity, not an option. |
New member Username: Peterhead
Post Number: 9
Registered: Apr-08
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| Posted on Wednesday, April 23, 2008 - 02:06 pm: |
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Toshiba Regza series is also a strong contender in the LCD segment. |
Gold Member Username: Chitown
Post Number: 1361
Registered: Apr-05
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| Posted on Wednesday, April 23, 2008 - 05:22 pm: |
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I live in a very brightly lit house. There are windows all around. Plasma was out of the question for me. I actually liked the Samsung, but I didn't like all the bad reviews about its power switching on and off like by itself. I ended up with a Mitsubishi 46" diamond series. After some playing with various cables, I am seriously happy. The happiness came to a screeching halt at the end of the Pistons/76er's game on Sunday when the P's blew it. The quality of the picture and the pleasure of watching a game on it did not make up for the loss  |
Gold Member Username: Samijubal
Post Number: 3803
Registered: Jul-04
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| Posted on Wednesday, April 23, 2008 - 07:18 pm: |
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I had a Mitsubishi projection TV back in the CRT days, good PQ for it's time. Plasmas definitely aren't for a bright room. I've got mine in a totally dark bedroom where it's pretty good. There are a few minor flaws, but all TVs have flaws, there's no such thing as a perfect TV.
I would never touch anything Samsuck makes. Toshiba makes some decent products, just don't use them a lot, they tend not to hold up so well with heavy use. It's pretty hard to beat Panasonic reliability, especially for the price. |
New member Username: Peterhead
Post Number: 10
Registered: Apr-08
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| Posted on Thursday, April 24, 2008 - 07:42 am: |
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Panasonic use to make a few LCDs but they didn't really push them. I remember taking a look at their website about a year ago and they actually stated that we sell LCDs, but if you really want the best picture, buy our plasmas. In a bright room where you can not control the light, you're limited to LCD (CRTs if you can find one that will meet your size requirements) or some of the new rear-projection models. As for LCDs, I would choose Sony first with Toshiba a close second. I must honestly say however, that, in general, TVs are not really designed to compete with brightly lit environments. Even with LCDs, if you have to pump up the contrast and picture settings to gain a watchable image, much of the picture is actually lost or distorted in the process. But we do what we have to do. |
Gold Member Username: Samijubal
Post Number: 3805
Registered: Jul-04
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| Posted on Thursday, April 24, 2008 - 12:49 pm: |
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I just saw a Panasonic LCD in an ad this morning, I don't know if it was an old model or a current one. I tried an LCD before going plasma, they definitely aren't for a dark room. I didn't look at plasma until there was no other choice because of all the bad things I'd heard about them, which all turned out to be not true for me. They don't suck massive power, at least not at my picture settings, the 42" plasma sucks about half as much power as my 34" CRT Sony did, the plasma doesn't get hot, barely warm at my picture settings. Plasmas are rated at pretty high wattage and the TVs in electronics stores are definitely hot, I guess if the contrast is cranked up then the heat and power consumption is probably true. I don't know who leaves a TV in torch mode though. |
Gold Member Username: Chitown
Post Number: 1362
Registered: Apr-05
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| Posted on Thursday, April 24, 2008 - 04:07 pm: |
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I didn't really have to adjust much of the coloring or brightness to make mine look how I would like it. It has a matte screen and very little bezel around it, so there is practically no glare from the screen.
It does seem like Pioneer and Panasonic have stuck to making really great plasma and practically everyone else has moved onto LCD, kind of giving that market to those guys.
I don't think the CRT market can bear anything any more. I mean who really wants it? My new 46" replaced a 27" panasonic CRT that weighed about 5 pounds more. |
Bronze Member Username: Peterhead
Post Number: 12
Registered: Apr-08
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| Posted on Thursday, April 24, 2008 - 05:27 pm: |
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Yeah Stof, it seems thin is irreversibly in. |
Gold Member Username: Chitown
Post Number: 1364
Registered: Apr-05
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| Posted on Thursday, April 24, 2008 - 05:35 pm: |
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True all around too. A McDonald nearby my office has replaced all their menu with LCD screens. I suppose that will let them change the food prices by the hour the way things are going now. I also saved a ton of desktop space changing my behemoth 21" monitor with a flatpanel 22" that weighs less than 1/5, uses less energy and is bigger to boot. |
Gold Member Username: Samijubal
Post Number: 3806
Registered: Jul-04
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| Posted on Thursday, April 24, 2008 - 05:45 pm: |
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Pioneer anounced a month or so ago that they were going to quit making plasmas and go to LCD. I wasn't at all impressed with the Sharp LCD I tried before buying plasma, it didn't even look good on OTA HD channels, no matter where the picture settings were. Hopefully Panasonic will stick with plasma the way they have with RAM. If they quit plasma there won't be anything good left.
Flat panels do have advantages over CRT, no geometry problems, no convergence problems. My 34" Sony CRT HDTV weighed 190 pounds. Getting the tank from the bedroom to the living room to be worked on when it died was fun. Flat panels don't have the vividness and 3-D look of a good CRT though. I'll take that sacrifice to get rid of the geometry and convergence problems. |
Bronze Member Username: Funkmeister
Post Number: 75
Registered: Nov-07
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| Posted on Friday, April 25, 2008 - 07:50 am: |
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You've got to be kidding? Plasma is Pioneer's strength. Must be an economic issue. |
Gold Member Username: Samijubal
Post Number: 3807
Registered: Jul-04
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| Posted on Friday, April 25, 2008 - 11:26 am: |
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I saw an $1800 Pioneer side-by-side with a $1000 Panasonic, the only difference was the Pioneer had a little better blacks, other than that they were virtually identical. Not worth the $800 difference, especially when Pioneer projection TVs had a lot of problems and Panasonic TVs are probably the most reliable TVs made. |
Gold Member Username: Chitown
Post Number: 1365
Registered: Apr-05
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| Posted on Friday, April 25, 2008 - 12:01 pm: |
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Don't they use the same FP screen?
I really like the color scheme for the Pioneer Elite when I saw it at a friend's house, but was really disappointed with the motion blur. Somehow though my friends said that went away when he switched from component to HDMI |
Gold Member Username: Samijubal
Post Number: 3808
Registered: Jul-04
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| Posted on Friday, April 25, 2008 - 12:55 pm: |
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That's strange the motion blur, that's an LCD thing. I wonder if it's the source. I never see that on my Panasonic. |
Gold Member Username: Chitown
Post Number: 1366
Registered: Apr-05
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| Posted on Friday, April 25, 2008 - 01:11 pm: |
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No it's there in the FP screens regardless of the technology. The bigger the TV, the more obvious it becomes. Take a look at how you can see each blade of grass when the offense is set up. Once the quarterback goes back and throws the ball downfield, the whole field turns into a green blub. It's just that the processors are not fast enough to keep up with the amount of data coming in and the refresh rates on some of these screens don't help. The faster processors seem to do much better with that and after a while you eyes adjust anyway, but it's definitely there |
Bronze Member Username: Funkmeister
Post Number: 76
Registered: Nov-07
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| Posted on Friday, April 25, 2008 - 01:50 pm: |
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Stof is right. But it is generally much more of an issue with LCDs for which the newer 120 hertz technology is designed to address. |
Silver Member Username: Mccambley
BREEZY POINT,
NY
USA
Post Number: 487
Registered: Jun-05
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| Posted on Friday, April 25, 2008 - 02:36 pm: |
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Pioneer Elite PRO-1150 what a picture. Took setting that were used by Ultimate AV magazine for the PRO-110 till I can get it calibrated and the picture is wonderful, perfect no. |
Gold Member Username: Samijubal
Post Number: 3809
Registered: Jul-04
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| Posted on Friday, April 25, 2008 - 03:02 pm: |
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There's no such thing as a perfect TV, there never was and probably never will be. You just have to weigh strengths and weaknesses and what's right for your environment and budget. I still question if that blur isn't the source. Mini dishes and cable aren't the best HD sources. |
Gold Member Username: Chitown
Post Number: 1367
Registered: Apr-05
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| Posted on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:54 am: |
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There is no doubt about that. You guys should read this very interesting story about how Comcast further compresses videos for certain channels to save bandwidth.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9806E2DE1F3FF934A35757C0A96E9C8B6 3&scp=2&sq=Comcast&st=nyt
So the reception we are getting is not even 1080i. However some of what we can see is dependent upon certain sensitivities as well. Some people swear they can see the flicker caused by the mirrors switching in a DLP projector. I don't, but I definitely did see blur even when playing a Blue Ray DVD player in a store. |
Bronze Member Username: Funkmeister
Post Number: 77
Registered: Nov-07
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| Posted on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 04:35 pm: |
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Well all of this consumer HD stuff is still in its infancy. One day, we will have the holograms "commonly used" on Star Trek & Star Wars. But even with its current imperfections, it's a hell of a long way from my first remembrance of tv as a black and white console dependent on rabbit ears or roof antenna. I'm just glad to be alive to see the historic changes we have witnessed over the past 40 years or so. Who would have imagined that one could carry around 200 tunes (admittedly with serious compromise in audio quality) in a device that will fit in the shirt pocket? Cool stuff, these electronics. |
Bronze Member Username: Peterhead
Post Number: 13
Registered: Apr-08
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| Posted on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 04:37 pm: |
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You ain't never lied. |
Bronze Member Username: Jvigne
Post Number: 18
Registered: Apr-08
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| Posted on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 04:38 pm: |
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Ditto. The other Vigne. |
Gold Member Username: Chitown
Post Number: 1368
Registered: Apr-05
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| Posted on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 04:46 pm: |
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Oh no |
Bronze Member Username: Funkmeister
Post Number: 78
Registered: Nov-07
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| Posted on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 05:40 pm: |
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Stof, what's wrong? |
