Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater LCD TV Advice

Ahoj,

I was hoping to benefit from the collective wisdom of the Axiom crew with regard to LCD televisions. I have recently been offered a position with the Feds in Ottawa beginning this summer. I need to pick up a few things for the new pad and a tv is one of them. I have ~ 3 months before I have to pull the trigger.

I'm fairly set on going with a 37inch LCD and really can't justify spending more than $1300-$1400. I need to be able to connect my computer to it and would prefer 2 HDMI slots. Other than that, I am fairly flexible.

Also noteworthy - I am not particularly fussy about having the absolute best picture quality. I do want HDTV but I can never see much of a difference between the various sets.

Question time:
1) Should I stay away from the entry level brands such as Insignia, Protron, Prima, etc? I'm really reluctant to buy any of these even though the prices are tempting. I don't have any particular issues with the picture quality but am more concerned with the unit crapping out repeatedly.

2) It seems like a number of mid-level units (LG, HP, Sharp, Toshiba, Westinghouse) dip into my budget when Futureshop or Best Buy have sales on. Any recommendations?

3) What does a typical LCD warrenty sell for? Is it worth purchasing?

4) Any particular features specifications I need to look out for?

I would really appreciate hearing your advice.

All the best,

J

Jordan, get the HP LC3760N and don't get an extended warranty; flat panel LCDs have generally been quite reliable.

Wow, thanks for the wealth of replys

I actually had an opportunity to look at the HP today. I thought it looked great. However, I had the girlfriend with me and while she really like the look of the tv she prefers the 42 inch models.

The Sharps, Samsungs and LG stood out to both of us. The LG 42LC2D is on for the decent price of $1699 with a DVD player thrown in. Any thoughts?

Cheers,

Jordan

Hey Jordan,

I just bought the Sharp Aquos 42 1080P today. I went with the 1080P cause I figured I don't want to be buying another tv for at least 5yrs. I also really liked the pic compared to the others. From everything that I've read at avs forum it seems like Sharp comes up number one for lcd. Can't wait to get my HD Rogers Cable box! I was looking at the 46inch but in the end thought it was going to be overkill in my condo. I want the tv to blend in, not stick out like a sore thumb.

I'm sure no matter what, you'll enjoy the tv.

I thought the Vizio 42" was a good set of the price when I saw one. Now they have the 47" 1080P set for about $1900. That's pretty good bang-for-the-buck.


Vizio GV47LF

Check out the Samsung LS-4692D it has some good reviews and mine looks great! I wall mounted in my bedroom in front of the bed 12ft veiwing distance. LCD's are great in bright rooms and no burn in! Samsung check it out.

The Sharp was my favorite of the sets that I've seen. It seems to have a reputation for being one, if not the, best. If I can get a decent price on it I will certainly pull the trigger.

The same goes for the Samsung as well. I really like the look of it and am impressed with the picture quality.

I hadn't seen the Vizio before. They certainly are priced well. Where does one go in Canada to get a hold of one? Not really worth shipping it up here though.

Thanks for the feedback so far guys. It's appreciated.

Anyone have any experience with the LG's?

Cheers,

Jordan

For the US, Vizio is available at Costco, BJ's, Sam's Club (or direct from the company). Probably available someplace similar for our Northern neighbors?

I want to prefer LCD to PDP, I really do. I like the reduced power requirement (HATE cooling fans - took me 2 months to get my computer to be quiet enough...), and from a computer display standpoint I think LCD is superior to PDP. At least the off-axis issues appear to be better, but the color and black-level of PDP is pretty hard to beat.

I'm not concerned about PDP burn-in. From all reports this is now a non-issue. I am concerned about PDP screen reflection. But I watch a lot of sports and have heard that LCD isn't as good as PDP for fast-moving programs.

Argh! Why can't one technology be clearly superior? :-)

Jordan, I dont think you can get Vizio on Canada currently. If you end up going with a larger 42"(which is a nice size) and like watching fast moving action like hockey games, action movies or gaming have a look at the response times of the TV's.

Most LCD's are 8ms response time which is slower than other formats like DLP, LCOS, Plasma etc, which are 4ms. There are some new LCD's that are 4ms but expensive and I even saw one on Sharp on sale at Future Shop that was 12ms.

If you are in Ottawa, I hear that G&G Electronics is a good place to check out. If I was in the market for LCD, I would go with Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, Sharp, Toshiba as the top brands, then LG, Phillips, Westinghouse. LCD is pretty solid technology.

Good luck.

Jordan, since you are not in a hurry I suggest waiting since many new models are scheduled for release over the next 3 months. Even if you don't by a new model prices will come down on the current models as the new ones replace them. I would also look at Toshiba and also consider a 1080p model if you go up to 42".

[quoteYeah, it's kinda like picking a mate. You just have to find one who can give you what's important to you, and whose flaws you can live with, cuz they all have 'em.

---

And, you couldn't have told me this 20 years ago??????

Thanks for all the help mates.

This is so typical for me. It starts with, "hmm, do I really need such a large and fancy t.v." "to I must have a 42 inch, 1080p ...". It's tough not to get carried away with always wanting more. On the other hand, I don't plan to buy another t.v. for a long time so the 1080p and other goodies weighs heavy with me.

I'm pretty much decided on the LCDs. I actually prefer the picture slighty to the plasmas for whatever reason. I also like the idea of less power consumption.

I won't go with anything slower than 8 ms response time but may have difficulty finding something faster in my buget.

It seems that either LG or Samsung are my two choices right now. The new 1080p Samsungs just came out so I expect that to push the older units (which are still great) costs down.

I'll try to be patient and wait for a few months to see what happens.

Cheers,

J

And here is another lengthy read on the 720P vs 1080P dilema, long read though. In a nutshell one poster goes on about his research and cites many references and comes to the conclusion that on anything below a 50", buying a 1080P TV is wasted money as your eye can not see the higher resolution. He states you would need to sit about 3-4' away on smaller sets, even closer than the article ctown linked.

I precently purchased a Toshiba 42 1080 LCD - 42HL196 and highly recommend it. At $1600 it is $400 cheaper than 40 inch models from Sony and the picture from an OTA signal is fantastic.

Hi Jordan,

You can read my impressions of the latest LCD displays (mostly 1080p) at the January CES 2007 show here:

http://www.axiomaudio.com/CES_2007.html

I was most impressed by Toshiba's new 1080p LCD panels, as well as the Sharp and Sony LCD displays. Samsung are just a hairsbreadth behind, followed by LG (based on their CES booth demos).

And Jakeman is correct. In one demo of 720p vs 1080p, I had to move within 4 or 5 feet of the 50-inch display to discern any difference. The manufacturer had circled in red the areas of detail on each display to enable viewers to distinguish between them.

Regards,

Great article Alan. Its the first that I saw of it.

3 things I tend to view similarly that the mfg's are touting.

1. Faster response time in LCD to 4ms is a great improvement.

2. 720P vs. 1080P on "larger TV's" is subtle and you need to get close to really notice. (Its why the next 42" I get for my family room will probably be 720P).

3. Plasma and LCD both great pictures, but I prefer the "more nuanced image" from plasma. Plasma seems to have more depth to my eyes, but I'm not a fan of watching stretched SD images.

Thanks again for the article and the speaker advice earlier. I've got my M22's on order and building my Epic Grand master system in stages.

Good stuff!

I'm not too concerned about 1080p anymore since I will be more than 6 feet back from the screen. Thanks for the info.

I also liked the Toshibas that I viewed. It seems like it will likely be a Samsung, Toshiba or LG that takes the cake.

Cheers,

Jordan