Need advice-New TV

[MILOIOWA]

My inlaws had a power surge(or something) and it knocked out the sound board in their big screen tv and they want to use the $$ from the insurance to buy a new one rather than repair the one they have. They were told that plasmas have less of a life expectancy than an LCD type, as well as less problems. I am trying to steer them towards a DLP type since they are quite a bit cheaper and they don't care as much about "stellar" picture quality. Any advice?

 

[LUVourMarriotts]

I can tell you that 2 of my friends bought DLP instead of LCD/plasma because of the price difference. At the time it was a decent difference. I think the gap may have widened even more now. They are very disappointed in their decision every time that they come to my house and watch my 46" Sony LCD. There is noticable difference in quality. It is weird because they are all at 720p, but the quality is just different. Of the 2 DLP's, one is a Samsung and the other is a Toshiba.

Even if they don't care about stellar picture quality, they may decide that they made a bad decision once they see the differences. It's usually hard to tell the true quality of a TV in a store because of the number of splices.

The longevity differences from plasma to LCD have been pretty much resolved. They can probably be considered equals now. The decision of plasma or LCD should be made on the room and their viewing tendencies. (ex. do they watch TV with the lights out, do they have the TV near a window with sun glare possible, etc.)

Consumer reports has a good write-up about the different qualities of the TV types. You should check that out.

 

[MILOIOWA]

So the lcd/plasma will eliminate the sun glare, or light reflection? That may be enough to make them go that route. They are used to a big projection 50" and one of the main complaints is that the glare from the sun at times makes it hard to see from certain angles. I will do some investigating. Thanks for the reply.

 

[Icarus]

Plasma requires light control in the room. LCD has less glare problems.

Plasma is also an energy hog, but it generally has better black levels than LCD.

-David

 

[Karen G]

LCD has less glare problems.

We love our new LCD HDTV and have it mounted on a wall mount arm that allows a slight tilt that further reduces any reflections of light in the room.

 

[Kal]

Stop by a showroom and look at the LCDs and plasmas side-by-side. Pay very close attention to the reflection and glare from the plasmas. For me it's an absolute deal-killer once I saw that issue with the plasma. A few models have a coating which reduces some of the reflection, but that coating reduces picture clarity and sharpness.

Go with an LCD.

 

[MILOIOWA]

Ok, we are going LCD. Now, what does it mean whe it says it has 2 tuners? Also what does a HDMI input allow you to do?

 

[Icarus]

Ok, we are going LCD. Now, what does it mean whe it says it has 2 tuners? Also what does a HDMI input allow you to do?

You want at least 2 HDMI inputs, 3 would be better. HDMI is a single cable that carries both HD video and audio.

You only need tuners if you plan on getting your programming over the air (via an antenna) and even then, you can use a separate tuner. Two tuners would allow you to do picture in a picture, using over the air reception as the source. If you have cable or satelite, you don't need any tuners.

-David

 

[MILOIOWA]

Gotcha-Thanks!

 

[MILOIOWA]

After going with them and researching, I talked them into a 61" Samsung DLP LED tv. My fatherinlaw wanted the biggest he could get for the least $$ and that fit the bill. The LED's supposedly last about 15 years where the bulbs in the other DLP's anywhere from 1-5 years. The picture is not quite as good as an LCD or Plasma, but for 2 grand and 61" of tv you can't go wrong. Thanks for the advice!

 

[pwrshift]

I think this is an important point ... 3 is better, and even better is one of HDMI inputs is readily accessable so you can easily plug in your HDV camcorder, etc. There are different times you want to plug in something, perhaps temporarily and wall mounted might make that more difficult especially if the inputs are all centre back.

Brian

You want at least 2 HDMI inputs, 3 would be better. HDMI is a single cable that carries both HD video and audio.

-David

 

[MILOIOWA]

It has 3 HDMI ports, and like 5-6 rca type hookups, 2 s-video ports, etc. Very loaded and they are all on the right side-very accessible.

 

[LUVourMarriotts]

I think this is an important point ... 3 is better, and even better is one of HDMI inputs is readily accessable so you can easily plug in your HDV camcorder, etc. There are different times you want to plug in something, perhaps temporarily and wall mounted might make that more difficult especially if the inputs are all centre back.

Brian

Wall mounting isn't a concern with DLP, unless you want the TV sticking a couple of feet off of the wall, and you have a very heavy duty mount.