My Turn v. Buying new TV...educate me please!

another +1 for samsung

what about the new LG LED TV’s with true LED back lighting and local dimming which samsung currently does not have. plus they seem a lot cheaper than the new 8500’s that are coming out

first, and foremost, LED is still an LCD. in the past LCD’s used fluorescent lighting for backlighting. about 3 years ago, they came up with the LED backlit tv’s. keyword is backlit. those new ultrathin samsung and the sonys that are about to come out are edge lit. the difference is that there are LED’s along the edge of the frame with fiber optics strung between the LED’s to give you your backlighting.

on the plus side you have an aesthetically pleasing, thin, state of the art looking television. on the downside your picture is horrendous.

LED LCD TV’s were made with the intent of bridging some of the gap between plasma and lcd picture quality. with local dimming (or full array), you get backlighting adjusted for each pixel. as a result, you get much more detail that you previously didn’t get in LCD’s. Every full array LED LCD i have seen has impressed me much more than the edge lit ones. LG’s new TV’s are nice. Last years LED LCDs from samsung and the year before that were pretty good. Sony’s XBR8 was incredible with a proper setup done to it.

I would reserve judgment though. I want to see what Samsung does with their new 8500 series before I write off LED LCD’s entirely.

so what do I need to look for in a LCD?

atleast 120 Hz?
1080p?

I have only been looking at Samsungs. what about higher end Vizios?
it will be my main TV in my living room and will also be used for the PS3.

what about calibration? I was in BB the other night and NBA Live and madden looked like I was sitting at the game

LOL

LCD’s suck for gaming.

120 Hz is ideal if you are going to use an LCD for gaming. 240 Hz is a waste of money. calibration is an awesome service if you do an ISF calibration, but I would first pull the user menu settings from Cnet or HDguru and see how you like it. An ISF calibration will get you better color than that will, but it might not be worth the money on a TV like that.

any opinions on this TV?? I would love a 46 but i wanna stay under 800

I’ve heard a few rumors that electronic places will alter the display of TVs to make other TVs look better and sell better. Samsung is probably the Maserati of LCDs. I’ve got their ToC monitor and it is incredibly bright and vivid. As Dex said the 240 Hz monitors have yet to show an advantage to them over the 120s. I’m going to be looking into replacing my current Sharp 42" LCD with a 55" Samsung LED TV.

what about sharp and sony bravias?

Sharp

Sony
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/category.aspx?c=us&category_id=6815&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~ck=mn&p=1

Im not a big sony fan at all tho

Yeah Sony’s are kinda hit or miss. The Sharp I have looks great IMO.

a 50 inch samsung plasma just caught my eye for 897. what are the pros and cons to plasma. I hate having to rush this choice. Damn free interest and free shipping is over tomorrow

best deal you’ve posted so far. a much better move than that vizio pile.

have you looked at the S1 series from panasonic? it’s going to be a much better move for gaming man. edit: or the x1 series from panasonic.

cons: bad for bright rooms with DIRECT sunlight.
pros: better for anything involving color accuracy or fast motion.

I always heard good things about Sharp LCDs

i think I found my TV.

http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/cyber-monday?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&dgc=EM&cid=50383&lid=1312110&acd=JCTJIP-DQIVP-IGDU4H-A5B9U6-GH0OK-v1

People hate on Vizio but my 120hz 42" LCD has been great. Had it a bit over a year, no problems, great picture and the thing is used all the time. Cost $999 when Circuit City was closing so you can probably get them a bit cheaper but the 120hz is awesome for gaming.

people hate on Vizio because its American or something like that, its not from Japan its not worth looking at haha