LCD TV Shopping

[doubleurx]

The new Samsung LED LCD's are awesome, but much more than $1000. Costco had them recently. The picture on those is the best I've seen.

[bluestreak]

The best deals I have ever seen on LCD TV's are on Newegg right before the superbowl - free shipping, and occasionally they have free 4 year warranties.... That is when I am getting mine, I just have to decide 46" or 52" and 120hz or 240......hmm

[100_Percent_Juice]

52", that was easy.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by 100_Percent_Juice

52", that was easy.

I dunno. For a given price, I think I'd take a 46" over a 52" because it'll be a much nicer set. A $1000 46" LCD is a damn nice TV... a $1000 52" LCD probably isn't going to look so nice...

[cody]

^Exactly why I'm looking for a 46". $1K is my budget and I'd prefer not to spend that much.

[100_Percent_Juice]

TVs are dirt cheap now. I just don't know when I will be buying another one. I remember about 4 years ago I bought a brand new VIZIO 50" Plasma for $2500!! Luckily I bought it at Costco when they still had the no time limit return policy so I was able to return it later and get a nicer TV(though smaller) and about $1500 back in my pocket. I don't think I will go smaller than 50" for my next purchase.

[cody]

I'm thinking of grabbing this despite reports that it interferes with some cable boxes. Newegg is great with returns. TOSHIBA 46" 16:9 8ms 1080p LCD HDTV 46RV525U - $799 shipped - 2% Bing CB

But for a bit more you could get the 120hz version with this CR review.

Toshiba 46XV645U 46" Regza LCD HDTV - 1080p, 1920x1080, 120Hz, NTSC, ATSC, QAM, 3x HDMI » for $899.99 at CircuitCity.com - 5% Bing CB

Reviews & Recommended - Toshiba REGZA 46XV645U

CR's Take

This 46-inch 1080p LCD from Toshiba delivers a lot for the money, making it a CR Best Buy. Picture quality was excellent, though viewing angle was somewhat limited. The set includes Toshiba's ClearFrame 120Hz technology. Its 40-inch sibling was also reviewed, and performed similarly.

HighsExcellent HD and standard-definition picture quality. It did an excellent job displaying the finest detail in top-quality HD content. Color accuracy was very good. Contrast was good, typical for most models we've tested. Brightness level was good, suitable for most rooms. Excellent, smooth reproduction of scenes with subtly shaded light-to-dark areas, such as a sky during sunset. Excellent film-mode operation (3:2 pulldown) effectively eliminated jagged edges -- "jaggies" -- on our 1080i HD and 480i SD movie content. Our 1080i HD video clip with motion detail (de-interlacing test) looked very good with just a hint of visible jaggies. Has Toshiba's ClearFrame technology that doubles the TV's frame rate -- we found it effectively reduced, but did not eliminate, motion blur. Sound was good, fine for typical TV programming.

LowsWe were able to optimize color only after we fine-tuned the individual RGB (red/green/blue) color controls in the advanced menu, a more complex process. Viewing angle was somewhat limited -- the picture lost some color, contrast, or brightness as we moved off from dead center. Sound's midrange and treble were uneven.

Edit: Then there's this deal: SONY CORPORATION Sony BRAVIA 46-inch KDL46V5100 1080p LCD HDTV with BDP-S360 Blu-ray Disc Player » for $1017.99 at Dell.com

[cody]

The 46XV645U is at Costco for $899 but they say they don't extend the warranty to 2 years. American Express does but my only Amex is my company card. I'm sure my boss won't mind if I charge a new TV to it.

I'd go down and look at it and maybe grab it, but Amanda is the Costco member and she's out of town this weekend. Anyway after reading lots of reviews, it seems to get extremely high marks especially for the price. Many on AVSForum think it's actually a Samsung panel. I'm really leaning toward it. I'd probably grab it from CC since it's free tax and shipping plus 5% CB. Hmm.

Edit: Amazon has it for 899 too. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B001TOD3IM/ref=ord_cart_shr?_encoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance

[cody]

Pulled the trigger on the CC deal so I could get the 5% cashback. Gotta wait 60 days to get it, but $45 is $45. Hopefully I don't get screwed. It's obvious that it's just Tiger Direct rebranded...and TD sucks at customer service...

[cody]

I know Kevin W. is at least reading this thread so I forgive myself for quadruple posting.

For $50 more and 6.5% Bing CB instead of 5%, they'll throw in a free Blue Ray player now.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...MeMYAV0FvD7zfw

I wonder if I should try to cancel/reorder and get a BRP I don't need.

Edit: Canceled my order and was promised my card won't be charged so I'm going to snag the deal with the Blue Ray player I don't need. I'm sure I can sell it.

[cody]

Oh man. Not sure how I can pass this up.

Samsung 50" PN50B530 1080p Plasma HDTV + Samsung HT-Z320 5.1 DVD/DivX Home Theater System $776 Or $753

[cody]

Originally Posted by cody

Oh man. Not sure how I can pass this up.

Samsung 50" PN50B530 1080p Plasma HDTV + Samsung HT-Z320 5.1 DVD/DivX Home Theater System $776 Or $753

Couldn't pass it up. Got one right before the deal died.

Crutchfield says it averages 200W of power consumption. Seems fine to me.

[cody]

Originally Posted by sperry

Sony is hit or miss for me. They seem to have two divisions, one that makes incredible high-end stuff, and one that makes garbage. Usually you can tell the difference by the price tag... so I'm always hesitant when it comes to "good deals" on Sony gear.

IMO, if I'm going to drop $1000 on a 46" LCD, I'm going Samsung all the way. If you keep an eye out, I'm betting you'll be able to find the LN46B650 or LN46B630 for around $1000 in the near future. You might even find the LN46B750 which is the 240Hz version.

Here's a good run-down of the Samsung line-up: http://www.lcdtvbuyingguide.com/sams...msung-lcd.html


Edit: See, you already found one!

$900 at newegg!
http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1670618

I'd snag it for sure if I didn't already have the 50" on the way. Man, that deal was great, but Dell pushed my ship date back a week.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by cody

$900 at newegg!
http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1670618

I'd snag it for sure if I didn't already have the 50" on the way. Man, that deal was great, but Dell pushed my ship date back a week.

So... how do you buy something that's sold out?

[cody]

Sorry about that. It still appeared to be alive on SD. I should have checked.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by cody

Sorry about that. It still appeared to be alive on SD. I should have checked.

That was a pretty nice deal though. What I'd rather have though is the LN52B530 at around that price... 52", with the matte screen, but a 5-series instead of a 6-series.

[cody]

You don't care about the 120hz? Also, apparently there are additional differnced between the 630 and 650 beside the matte/shiny panels. The 650 has DLNA compatibility, apparently.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by cody

You don't care about the 120hz? Also, apparently there are additional differnced between the 630 and 650 beside the matte/shiny panels. The 650 has DLNA compatibility, apparently.

I don't care about dlna or 120hz. At least not enough to pay a premium for it. Chances are I'll have the 120hz turned off all the time anyway if it makes things look surreal.

[cody]

Yah, the individual reveiws are seriously mixed on 120hz, but Sony and Samsung do it well, apparently. They also do 240hz the best, FWIW. I really think it's going to come down to personal preference. I never knew image judder was an issue but my LCD is a little 26".

Certainly won't be a problem on the Plasma if Dell every actually ships it. Some are speculating that the Dell deal was a mistake and all our orders will be canceled since BestBuy has the exact same deal but with a 720p Samsung Plasma...and Dell has canceled orders in the past when it was a "pricing error".

Also, in the thread I linked to for the LN46B630 from Newegg, many are saying that that TV has one of 3 panels and only the TV with the Samsung panel is good. Something about you should look for a "PP" on the box label or something. Kinda sketch.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by cody

Yah, the individual reveiws are seriously mixed on 120hz, but Sony and Samsung do it well, apparently. They also do 240hz the best, FWIW. I really think it's going to come down to personal preference. I never knew image judder was an issue but my LCD is a little 26".

Certainly won't be a problem on the Plasma if Dell every actually ships it. Some are speculating that the Dell deal was a mistake and all our orders will be canceled since BestBuy has the exact same deal but with a 720p Samsung Plasma...and Dell has canceled orders in the past when it was a "pricing error".

Also, in the thread I linked to for the LN46B630 from Newegg, many are saying that that TV has one of 3 panels and only the TV with the Samsung panel is good. Something about you should look for a "PP" on the box label or something. Kinda sketch.

Wait... Samsung sells LCD TVs that *don't* have Samsung panels in them?

[Kevin M]

Yeah, I thought it was Samsung making all the good panels to begin with?

[cody]

Apparently.

My local Fry's has the 46b550 for 799 so you are not getting a vey hot price on the bestbuy samsung.

Everyone should be aware that these models are involved in the samsung panel lottery. Samsung uses three different panel types for this tv all with varying quality. You may want to make sure there is a return policy when ordering online. On the box sticker there should be an AA, SS, CC. you want SS as it is a samsung panel and will have the best PQ. I'm willing to spend a little bit more at my local Fry's($999) to ensure I get a samsung panel. Just my .02.

http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthr...l#post24709172

It's funny because one of the positives of the Toshiba I originally ordered was that it had it supposedly had a "Samsung panel". I'm sure some searching on AVSForum or similar could clear it up.

[cody]

Don't think this is a great fit for you, Scott, but it's a good deal and it's a 52" LCD.

Best Buy 4 Day Sales Starting Sunday 11/22

Sony 52” 1080P LD HDTV Plus Slim Play Station 3 $1499.99 includes delivery and setup

http://slickdeals.net/?sdtid=1674272...3798&cp=1&lp=1

http://slickdeals.net/?sdtid=1674272...9476952&st=ps3

http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1674272

[JC]

Originally Posted by Dean

Last I knew, plasmas were real power hogs... Save up for a LCD. Even my 5+ year old 55" 3 LCD projector uses 20 Watts less than that plasma and it has a large high output incandescent light bulb in it. And no matter what they say, Plasmas lose brightness over time and are basically disposable because of that.

Plasmas use a little more power than LCDs but who cares? You are talking a couple bucks a year maybe. Plasmas do lose brightness over time but it's not as bad as you are making it out to be, a Plasma will last longer than a CRT and when's the last time you threw one of those out because it was too dim? The advantage to a Plasma is deeper blacks and better motion handling than an LCD. I'd buy a Plasma if I was getting a huge TV again, picture quality for money they are hard to beat.

Originally Posted by Dean

Come on, it wasn't that bad. HTPC is a Home Theater Personal Computer. Basically, HDTVs work great with an appropriate PC hooked up using them as the monitor. They do all the same stuff a PC can, plus they can be a Personal/Digital Video Recorder and best yet, play all the content out there on the web on your big screen.

The world is moving away from watching TV when it is broadcast to when they want. With a HTPC, you can watch most any major broadcast network series direct from the web. We are also headed for the day when everything will be like Netflix on-demand watching movies and such without a physical disk. In the meantime, a HTPC can have a DVD/BluRay player in it eliminating another physical device.

Another choice that I am not as familiar with is getting a PS3 and using it for DVD/BluRay and streaming net video, and oh, it is also a gaming console.

Also, there are good setup guides for many HDTVs out on the web using the test patterns on many DVDs you may already own, and even better stuff for HTPCs. Many are just for the basic brightness, color, etc. and others get into the "Service menu" settings tweaking each color individually, geometry, etc...

Dell recently released the Zino HD, it should be a good easy setup HTPC. Just make sure to step up to the dual core processors.

http://www.dell.com/us/en/corp/deskt...zino-hd&s=corp

Originally Posted by cody

This seems like a good deal.

Sony KDL-46W4150 for $999 shipped

There's not a lot of info on this TV but every review from people who buy it gives it high marks and they had nothing bad to say about it on avsforum.com. It's got an 18 month warranty but the fact that that's not indicated on Amazon and that it comes from some random seller with a 95% rating tells me to steer clear, I guess.

Specs: http://www.crutchfield.com/s_15846W4...50.html?tp=161

I couldn't find it on Sony's site.

My parents have that Sony TV and they love it. I think the picture is really good but they don't have Blu-Ray so I can't say how it looks when really pushed. The TV itself is really nice looking too, more upscale looking than my Samsung.

For my money I'd pick up a Panny Plasma...
http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-VIERA-TC-P50G10-50-Inch-Plasma/dp/B001UAEWUS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1259024003&sr=1-2
For your money I'd go baller and pick up a Kuro. I go to CES and they are the only production TVs that make you go wow. Too bad they stopped making them.
http://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-PRO-151FD-built-widescreen/dp/B001CE0594/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1259024172&sr=1-1

[cody]

I'm still waiting to see if I get the Sammy 50" Plasma and Home Theater/media system for ~$750. Man, if Dell comes through, it's gonna be the deal of the century. The only bummer is the reflective screen. Watching TV during the day may require some better blinds in the living room.