So I gotta a choice between getting either a plasma or lcd tv. I care only about picture quality. I dont want the top of the line or anything. I just need it to watch tv shows from the PC and occasionaly a dvd or two. I will be hooked up to a PC more often than not to watch tv shows. I dont want to spend more than 1.5k on it. Any recommendations????? I dont care if it has a tuner or not. I would appreciate any in put all this crap about HD @ 1024x768 resolution on plasma!! has me really confused???? HELP ME find something decent I can use for the next 4 to 5 years!!!! Thanks

5/17/2006 10:30:18 AM

Quote :

"I dont want to spend more than 1.5k on it"

32-37" lcd. I like olevia.

5/17/2006 10:46:12 AM

?????!!!!!!??????

5/17/2006 12:17:28 PM

^^ very nice. that's what i have and other than issues with the cables that came with it, no problems at all.

5/17/2006 12:30:25 PM

yeah I have a lt32hve, it's pretty damn nice. still waiting for damn rebates though (going on 5 months)

5/17/2006 12:39:02 PM

DLP. LCD if you have to, but definitely not plasma in that price range.

5/17/2006 1:34:18 PM

plasma sucks

5/17/2006 1:38:18 PM

Quote :

"32-37" lcd. I like olevia."

Yep, I have the 32" olevia and my dad has the 37" olevia with built in ATSC tuner. They're probably the best bang for your buck, espescially if you hunt down the right sales. If you already know you're getting digital cable with the HD box, then don't worry about built in hd tuners. Otherwise, the free over-the-air HD signal from the local stations (all the big ones now are broadcasting in digital) are actually very impressive. WRAL is impressive in particular becuase they broadcast in 1080i.


^^^Check on that man, we got ours in about 30 days.

[Edited on May 17, 2006 at 1:46 PM. Reason : ]

5/17/2006 1:45:11 PM

I've never been that impressed by LCD maybe its just me

5/17/2006 1:57:41 PM

plasma blows

well, not in terms of picture quality, but overall quality/life of the equipment, it sucks

[Edited on May 17, 2006 at 3:41 PM. Reason : well]

5/17/2006 3:39:28 PM

No. Overall life is the same as any other television out there. LCD panels dont last forever either.

5/17/2006 3:44:52 PM

Yeah, with the newer ones at least. The older plasmas gave all plasmas a now-underservedly bad reputation. The newer plasmas don't burn in nearly as easily and don't lose a full 25% of their brightness in the first year. They're pretty comparable to lcd's in most ways and have better blacks. They are not really suitable for dual use as a tv/monitor though and for anything under 37" you'll probably want an LCD.

5/17/2006 4:05:01 PM

Well I can get a plasma for that price range and its a 42 inch. I have to choose between a pansonic ED 42 for 1300 with shipping

http://www.techbargains.com/j/2.htm?afsrc=1


Harsper 42 HD for 1400 with shipping

http://www.techbargains.com/u.cfm?afsrc=1&id=62986&u=1

OR

I can get a 32" LCD NIKO from Tigerdirect for 760

5/17/2006 5:44:02 PM

Looks like neither of them support 1080i natively (maybe the second one, but it's still not quite there.) I wouldn't get either.


I'd suggest

http://www.plasmahouse.com/itemdesc.asp?ic=LT37HVS

or

http://www.plasmahouse.com/SYNTAX-LT42HVI-PLASMA-TV/LT42HVI.HTML

or just different plasmas that actually support 1080i...

[Edited on May 17, 2006 at 5:55 PM. Reason : ]

5/17/2006 5:48:22 PM

for the computer get the LCD, if it was just tv then it's more of a toss up (plasma edge)

5/18/2006 1:43:04 PM

^^ 1080i support is completely worthless unless its got a native 1080i resolution (which NO sub 4-5K plasma/lcd is going to have).

You are much better off getting one that supports native 720p or like the second one you mentioned with 1366x768 resolution, and having your ATSC tuner do the conversion.

5/18/2006 1:54:42 PM

Westinghouse 37" 1080p LCD HD Monitor
1920 x 1080 pixel resolution
Best Buy Price: $1,699.99

Sharp LC-45G@## 45" LCD
1920 x 1080 pixel resolution
Sub $3000.00 at lots of places

5/18/2006 2:09:20 PM

1080p lcd's look like complete garbage with anything less than a 720p source. even with the 720p source they dont look as good as other lcd's with a 720p native res

[Edited on May 18, 2006 at 2:19 PM. Reason : most tv is still 320x240]

5/18/2006 2:19:22 PM

Quote :

"(which NO sub 4-5K plasma/lcd is going to have)."

Umm... my dad's does and it was 1700...

Also, 1080 is visibly better looking my my tv (the 32" olevia) than 720p.

[Edited on May 18, 2006 at 8:38 PM. Reason : ]

5/18/2006 8:35:08 PM

^ It probably has 1080i support, but 1080i equates to a resolution of 1920x1080. Most of the 40 inch plasmas you see can do 1024x768, so from my understanding, you get a downscaled image.

5/19/2006 5:11:23 PM

^that would be 1080p, 1080i is something x 540 effectively

5/19/2006 5:33:35 PM

I've got a Sharp 37" Aquous LCD panel, and I couldn't be more happy with it. CLearest picture I've ever seen on a TV, and it only cost me $900.

5/20/2006 7:01:45 AM

What if I have like $2500 to spend? I was leaning towards DLP. With all this talk about native resolution, what are some key features I should make sure the tv should or should not have??

5/20/2006 7:23:13 AM

My uncle got one of these recently. It's pretty amazing and fairly massive. It upconverts 720p very well and is pretty damn amazing looking.

http://www.plasmahouse.com/SAMSUNG-HL-R6178W-PLASMA-TV/HLR6178W.HTML

Here's a mixed review of the larger version (uses same internals):

http://reviews-zdnet.com.com/Samsung_HL_R6768W/4505-6484_16-31335745.html?tag=txt

The DNIe thing can be kind of weird but I didn't really notice it in the movie I was watching. I imagine something like bladerunner or a smililarly dark movie may have noticeably changing blacks.

[Edited on May 20, 2006 at 10:35 AM. Reason : ]

5/20/2006 10:34:49 AM

For plasma's in that price range I'd look at this one:

http://www.plasmahouse.com/itemdesc.asp?ic=PDP505CMX

For an LCD in that price range I'd suggest this:

http://www.digital1234.com/product.jsp?x=LVM42W2

Now I know some guys out there are going to say "oh but 1080p displays suck with anything less than 1080p" but you're going to see a lot more stuff support it (in better upconverting more than actual content) in the next year and the content is on the way, slowly. If you're looking for something that would hook up well to a media pc this is the thing to get. The resolution is unmatched in the price range for something above 30". All the customer reviews I've seen have been 10/10 or 9/10 as well.

5/20/2006 2:06:03 PM