TV's

[sunbunny]

Is 1080 really that much better than 720? Plasma over everything else?

[Johnny Rockets]

1080 no questions and I prefer LCD. Just my personal preference.

[Guest]

If you have a bright room you will be disappointed in the plasma. Screen is very shiny. 1080 yes. 120hz is the best right now for LCDs, but still high $. I"m waiting to see what happens to prices after the super bowl...

[sunbunny]

We'd be switching from a dlp that was a 1080.

Yeah, the room can be a little bright at times. With the dlp, we don't notice at all.

[Guest]

dont waste your time at Circuit City. As others have said in other threads, the "blow out sale" is a rip off. I stopped by there today and saw a TV that I've had my eye on "reduced" for the same price I've seen it elsewhere. The place was total chaos too.

[sunbunny]

We don't even have a CC, and they're still building the best buy.

[TerriblePizza]

Go with an LCD for anything smaller than 52 inches. I found this article very helpful:

http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/16/lcd-vs-plasma-in-2009/

[d-dave]

Oh boy, here we go!

LCDs and Plasmas are getting very close to being nearly identical. what you first need to do when you're thinking about a TV is 1) plan a budget, 2)determine where the TV will be and how far you are sitting from it, 3) think of the environment of your room, 4) Are you concerned with your energy bills?

Also, visit the HD guru's website www.hdguru.com for lots of good information about HDTVs.

About resolution and the other snake oils you see when they advertise TVs. 1080p is only good if you are buying the right size for your seating distance. The human eye can only distinguish so much detail. If you are thinking about 120hz, go to a store and look at some TVs with the 120hz demos on. I personally hate the 120hz. It makes a good blu ray movie look like it was shot on my SD camcorder. To me, it looks less like a movie, and more like a soap opera.

Things to really look for when shopping would be contrast ratio, off axis viewing, and adjustable settings. Contrast ratio is basically a measurement of how accurately a TV can move between shades of grey. TVs with good real life performance in contrast ratio will display a lot of image depth. Generally TVs with better contrast ratios will give a darker black which really brings POP to an image and is very satisfying. Also look at the colors of the TV. How do they look? Are fleshtones of an ESPN game too red? Is green grass a little too green? That's where the more adjustments you have, the more you can work with. Off axis viewing refers to a TVs ability display an image to the extreme left and right.

So what's the relative strength or weakness of the technologies?

LCD: Better ambient light performance. Since LCDs are backlit in the screen, they can deal with ambient light (from windows, lights, etc) much better than plasmas. They generally have a less reflective screen too. LCDs are much, much more energy effiecient than plasmas. they are also a good deal lighter than plasmas. If you are going 42" or smaller, LCD is the only option.

Plasma: Better black level and contrast ratio performance. They are energy hogs. Better pricing 42"+. Issues of burn in and image retention are not a big deal because most modern plasmas have special software to prevent such issues.

So there's my opinion. Think about what you want. If you are looking at 1080p, take your diagonal screen size and multiply it by 1.5. if your seating distance is bigger than that result, then you are not getting the value out of the 1080p, you just can see the extra pixels. For a 720p TV, then multiply your screen size by 2.

Good luck, and happy hunting. Read lots of reviews.

www.cnet.com

www.hometheatermag.com

www.ultimateavmag.com

www.soundandvisionmag.com