videophiles help!

[MR_MADHATTER]

I am looking to by an HDTV tomorrow and I could use some expert advice. My 40" Samsung LCD that I bought at Xmas 2006 is starting to go on the fritz. It started with taking longer and longer to turn on...then it started giving me multicolor vertical lines. Now I can't turn it off and let it cool down because I'm afraid I'll never get it started again or without spending 5 minutes of turning it on and off to warm it up enough to make the lines go away. I think it's the power supply (Samsung sells the power board on their website). I will keep this TV and do something with it (computer room) but it's time for a new set.

I'm looking for:
1. Great picture.
2. 46" or more.
3. Long life and reliability.
4. I would like to get it for less than $2000. (but I can spend more if it's worth the extra money)

Other than that, I am not partial to any brand name or technology in particular. Samsung, Sony, LG, LCD, LED whatever. NO PLASMA THOUGH.

I went to Best Buy to look at sets yesterday. Of the 60 or 70 sets on the wall only about 3 caught my eye. One in particular was very interesting. It was a 46" Samsung LCD on the bottom row (120Hz & $1000.00). It was like looking through a window. It had that "live action" look as if you were standing next to the camera while it was being filmed instead of seeing it on a TV. Almost all the other sets were sharp...with good color and contrast...some even better than this one. But only two others had the "live acton" look. The set in the middle row was a 46" Samsung LED (60 Hz & $1400.000). Nowhere near as good looking a picture and no "live action". The set on the top row was a 46" Samsung LED (120Hz & $1900.00). Better picture than the middle one but still not as good as the one on the botttom. It almost had the "live action" look. All 3 were identical externally.

I asked the salesperson why the one on the bottom was cheaper than the other two but had such a noticeably better picture even though it was an older technology than the LED TV's. He said that LED did not necessarily mean better picture but it did use less power and would last longer. I am still curious as to how they know LED TV's will last longer seeing as it is brand new tech. The other two TV's that had the "live action" look were larger (50"+) and way over priced IMO.

Need Help ASAP.

[MR_MADHATTER]

OMG!!! What a collossal waste of time! I drove all over L.A. today...2 Fry's, Best Buy, and a mall. Nobody seems to be able to show me, let alone sell me a TV. The 2 Fry's stores I went to (Burbank and City of Industry) were playing some messed up video on their TVs. I couldn't tell if it looked that bad because of the rotten video or the sets wern't calibrated right or the TV wasn't up to it. The only one that looked halfway worthwhile was out of stock. The only thing they had going for them was the price. Best buy had some of the same problems and their prices sucked. The zillion acre mall I went to didn't have 1 single electronics store in it. It was almost exclusively clothing stores. I even stoped at a Super Walmart but they just had old junk. You can buy a Plasma or a DLP of any size for next to nothing, but I don't want one.

I am doing more research tonight and heading out again tomorrow. I am tempted to bring a claw hammer with me for some of these idiot salespeople but why mess up a perfectly good hammer.

[Skud]

I wish I could help, Mr. M. but I'm not really up on today's TVs. Somebody here must have some advice....

[Apache Warrior]

Some Electronics stores make the picture quality on their cheaper sets look worse than it can. It makes it easier for them to up sell you to a more expensive TV. Get the sales associates to set the TV's so they are equal in brightness, contrast, and color. Then take a Blue Ray or DVD that you are familiar with and try it on the TV's you are interested in.
Apache

[Rand{CLR}]

What you really need to do is find a boutique dealer who specializes in home theater. They'll be able to show you everything you need to know. You can always buy from whoever has the best price, but to see what you need to see to make a choice, look to the specialists. They'll know what they're talking about and they don't set their brightness and contrast levels to maximum in an attempt to draw the unknowing eye.

We had three of them serving this area: Myer Emco, Tweeter, and The Big Screen Store. The first two are now out of business.

-Rand

[Apache Warrior]

We had three of them serving this area: Myer Emco, Tweeter, and The Big Screen Store. The first two are now out of business.

-Rand

Because people go to them for info but, buy from the cheaper stores with the employees that do not know crap.

[mapes]

OMG!!! What a collossal waste of time! I drove all over L.A. today...2 Fry's, Best Buy, and a mall. Nobody seems to be able to show me, let alone sell me a TV. The 2 Fry's stores I went to (Burbank and City of Industry) were playing some messed up video on their TVs. I couldn't tell if it looked that bad because of the rotten video or the sets wern't calibrated right or the TV wasn't up to it. The only one that looked halfway worthwhile was out of stock. The only thing they had going for them was the price. Best buy had some of the same problems and their prices sucked. The zillion acre mall I went to didn't have 1 single electronics store in it. It was almost exclusively clothing stores. I even stoped at a Super Walmart but they just had old junk. You can buy a Plasma or a DLP of any size for next to nothing, but I don't want one.

I am doing more research tonight and heading out again tomorrow. I am tempted to bring a claw hammer with me for some of these idiot salespeople but why mess up a perfectly good hammer.

I bought my 52" Sony off of Amazon. Price was 200 bucks cheaper than Best Buy and came with free shipping. they even unwrapped it, made sure it worked and took away the empty box

[Rand{CLR}]

Because people go to them for info but, buy from the cheaper stores with the employees that do not know crap.

I bought my first HD from Myer Emco. They rocked.

-Rand

[ViTO]

As with all electronic purchases ... I feel its relative from what your coming from to what your going to.

Case in point, I have a much older 65" Sony 1080i Rear Projection its friggin huge BUT a dinosaur by todays standards. Still has an excellent Hi-Def picture, even for today standards depending on what channel is broadcasting of course and sits in the formal living room even today.

When I needed to buy a flat screen for the family room a few years back, LCD were just coming into their own and commanded TOP DOLLAR !! I was able to get a 50" Plasma for almost 1/2 the cost

It had a better quality then the rear projection and although not the latest technology it has served the family room faithfully to this day.

Its all relative ... what are coming from to what your going to.
You dont NEED to spend on the latest and greatest, unless you play video games of course.

[DougBob]

MH, I usually go off a review of specs and then a gut feeling after seeing the picture quality in stores. I never go off of salesman knowledge.

With that said, I have the 52" Samsung LCD for about 3 years now and I still love it. If the cheaper 46" Samsung caught your eye I would say it's a safe buy. The Samsung usually has a contrast ration of 10,000 and up and if it's a 120Hz you should be very happy with it. The only thing to check is if it has the inputs you want for your home configuration.

[juneau]

What you really need to do is find a boutique dealer who specializes in home theater. They'll be able to show you everything you need to know. You can always buy from whoever has the best price, but to see what you need to see to make a choice, look to the specialists. They'll know what they're talking about and they don't set their brightness and contrast levels to maximum in an attempt to draw the unknowing eye.

We had three of them serving this area: Myer Emco, Tweeter, and The Big Screen Store. The first two are now out of business.

-Rand

This is the best advice you can use. In most major electrical stores they either share a HD singal, or even worse, run SD. Then they're set on the stupid high contrast setting usual called dynamic and have all the post processing junk turned on instead of being properly calibrated. Some TV's even have a showroom setting in the service menu.

If you want something that has better build quality look at Sony and Panasonic for LCD's. Get something that's 120hz which will help for sports and games. Not so much for movies. But make sure you can turn frame interpolation off. FI is nasty!!

Twinky asked about TV's sometime last year.
Cain's Lair Forums

You may want to have read through it.

I frequent these boards quite a lot.
http://www.avforums.com/forums/index.php

The Sony EX500/700 Range appears to be getting really good reviews.

[MR_MADHATTER]

Well, after doing extensive homework and going to some more stores to find a decent display, I came up with a winner.

http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/t...tail&returnurl

It's like looking through a window! I am very pleased with it. Although the last set I had looked every bit as good as 90% of the sets at the stores, this is completely different. I have never seen a picture look so real before. Even my DVDs look better even though I'm still using the same BD player. I will have to watch every movie I have all over again because they all look so different now. I thought about a new 3D set but this is as good as 3D. If you are looking for a new TV, I can highly recomend this one.