Thinking of getting a new TV...

[DudeEMETIB]

<-- wonders what Rufio decided on.


If I'm in NJ, I'll take you up on that offer Brian. lol

[BrianAlt]

Originally Posted by DudeEMETIB

If I'm in NJ, I'll take you up on that offer Brian. lol

Cool! Watching the Giants-Eagles right now. Could probably use some company so I don't completely lose my mind.

[unrealrob]

I've been shopping around for new TVs lately as well. Finally settled on the LG 55" LE8500. This line of TVs produce the best picture I've ever seen... ever. They are a bit pricey and lack 3D (I don't give a shit about 3D), but if you're looking for a bitchin tv, go LED. Sony is incredibly over-priced for what it is btw, so I'd suggest the Samsung if you're thinking about those two brands.

Also, as retarded as it sounds, Vizio makes pretty much THE best LED tvs right now - great price point, amazing picture, and a nice matte screen so your tv doesn't turn into a mirror in bright light. Check out Cnet for some reviews, they are a good online resource.

[Sparta]

What is better TV of these 2
LG Plazma
-(1024x720) HD ready
-3 000 000 : 1
-42inch


or : I WILL BE AT 8 FOOT DISTANCE


Philips LED
(1920x1024)
Full HD
500 000 : 1
2ms
32inch
I will be using it most for games

[DudeEMETIB]

Originally Posted by Sparta

What is better TV of these 2
LG Plazma

Philips LED

You said the LG is "HD Ready" what do you mean by that?...720p? 1080p?
I'm personally a huge fan of Plasmas and LG as a manufacturer of them, but...that Phillips has a nicer resolution, and 32" is a decent screen size (it's my personal minimum).

What're the prices for the two?

The refresh rate is probably a lot faster on the plasma than the LED, they usually are. Great for gaming. But, I'm also a fan of getting the best for the lowest price...so really...cost would be a big factor...as well as knowing what is meant by "hd ready"

[unrealrob]

Originally Posted by Sparta

What is better TV of these 2
LG Plazma
-(1024x720) HD ready
-3 000 000 : 1
-42inch


or : I WILL BE AT 8 FOOT DISTANCE


Philips LED
(1920x1024)
Full HD
500 000 : 1
2ms
32inch
I will be using it most for games

Hey man. Two things: what are your viewing conditions (dark basement vs. bright living room); and what kind of games are you going to be playing (rock band-type games, shooters, action, etc)?

Just skip to the bottom if you want a direct answer from me, or you can read my ramblings and maybe get something out of that.

Like dude above, I think LG has become a wicked brand over the last couple of years. I also have a 42 inch LG plasma from a couple of years ago - still use it and still love it. Having said that, the LG set you mentioned tops out at 720p, not 1080p. Meaning that it isn't full HD. But, in all honesty, with a 42", you'd almost never be able to tell the difference between 720p and 1080p, so you're fine there. The biggest issues people have with plasmas is that they are bigger and more costly to run (your energy bill will be a bit higher with a plasma). On the other hand, plasmas produce some of the (if not the absolute best) black levels among all tv technologies, meaning that your picture will be very accurate in terms of lighting and will be nice and vibrant due to the high contrast. Plasmas also tend to have more accurate colour reproduction than that of most LCDs - but the LEDs are where they start to even the ground a little.

My parents own a Phillips LCD (not LED) and are really happy with it. And that's about as far as my experience goes with them. The HD picture is nice, but the standard definition is one of the worst I've seen. It could be their set I suppose, but from experience, manufacturers tend to build a reputation for SD picture quality. The dejudder tech in their model also isn't very good. I found the artifacts it caused were ridiculous. Not to say that LGs don't have issues with artifacts during dejudder processing, but Phillips is noticeably worse.

Another thing you'll want to think about is your personal opinion on dejudder technology (when tvs smooth out the motion of the picture making it look like everything is 60fps instead of 24). If you've seen these sets in store you might remember the direct comparison of scrolling text on the screen where it is easily readable with dejudder turned on and difficult to read when it is turned off.

In the end though, you'll be totally happy with either one I'm sure. My recommendation... go with a Sony or Samsung BUT! if you're down to these two sets I'd definitely say shoot for the LG. It's bigger, brighter, and in the end it's the better brand. Good luck dude.

[EthanK]

Felt the need to post here for some input as an artist/gamer/movie fanatic that has invested quite a bit of time into researching monitors and televisions to look past the marketing nonsense that companies provide.

I think in the case of TV's the best way to go about a purchase is to ignore MOST of the stats, honestly they are irrelevant for the most part.

For instance, companies like to use the term dynamic contrast ratio versus static contrast ratio, because the number is much higher and looks better on a box. This is misleading because dynamic contrast ratio really doesn't do much and static contrast ratio is really the important factor here, but the kicker of the WHOLE contrast ratio aspect is that there is NO INDUSTRY STANDARD FOR MEASURING CONTRAST RATIO. Each company does it differently, so when comparing contrast ratio of a vizio versus LG you are comparing apples and oranges. Additionally LED TV's have been really heavily marketed as something they aren't (probably taking advantage of the OLED fame from smartphones). LED TV's are the SAME thing as LCD TV's but with an LED back light- which does has it's perks, it is much lighter, thinner, and more energy efficient, but offers NO difference in video quality whatsoever.

The more important factors of a TV are the obvious ones:

1. Size
2. Viewing angle range (LCD's typically have a poorer viewing range than plasma but are pulling ahead)
3. Brightness/Surface (if you are a neatfreak a glossy display is always nice because its easy to clean, but a matte surface prevents glare and diffuses less light, giving a very small boost of vibrance.

If you can find a TV you enjoy in all three of these categories I will put money on you enjoying your purchase. Even resolution in my opinion is somewhat trivial, I'm not much of an HD whore to begin with, but a lot of programming/movies/games don't play at 1080p so it's irrelevant in a lot of cases.

One last point and this I think if you want to get into technical aspects IS one of the most important points: refresh rate. Typically in TV's it's displayed in Hz (30 hz is a standard CRT television). Videogames typically play at 30 or 60 Hz, television and movies play at 24 Hz (yes blueray as well), soap operas play at 30 Hz (this will come up again in a second). The human eye starts noticing frame discrepancies below 30 hz, so anything over 30 is practically overkill. BUT taking math into account, if you would like to play games and movies at a framerate that has no jutter, you would need a 120 hz tv. This is where it gets a little interesting because some people love it and others hate it, it's called the 'soap opera effect,' that is, everything has the same 'glidey' feeling a soap opera has. This is because standard tubes played at 30 frames per second, and soap operas were filmed at 30 frames per second. Me personally, I like a slight jutter, 3:2:3:2:3etc. is what I'm used to while watching a movie, any smoother and it feels cheap, but some people love it, again. I may not have explained this last part well enough but if you are interested I've given you enough info to do additional research. Note: most 120 hz tv's also come with the option to disable interpolation to get rid of the soap opera effect, so 120 hz is probably a save bet AND there is absolutely no such thing as 600+ hz tv, at that point the frames are just subfielded, meaning that no more frames are actually played, just that frames are repeated 10 more times, which is realistically trivial as far as any noticeable quality.

[BrianAlt]

I have no idea what youre talking about that Samsung plasmas hum or bleed.

[EthanK]

Originally Posted by BrianAlt

I have no idea what youre talking about that Samsung plasmas hum or bleed.

Troubleshooting - Samsung Plasma TV FAQ

All plasmas have potential to bleed and Samsung acknowledges the humming, a lot of companies have similar problems when they use cheap capacitors a buzz is noticeable in certain conditions.

[DudeEMETIB]

Originally Posted by unrealrob

Hey man. Two things: what are your viewing conditions (dark basement vs. bright living room); and what kind of games are you going to be playing (rock band-type games, shooters, action, etc)?

Oh yeah, I forgot to ask about lighting, cause light is a plasma's worst enemy. It might just be me, but I hate glare, and if there's a lot of sun coming in, or the lights are on (and coming from a source in front of the TV) it's pretty annoying.