| GalacticPenguin said: Ok, so i am in the market for a HDTV. The main purpose of the TV would be for Blu ray movies and PS3 games, like Final Fantasy and things of the sort. I watched Final Fantasy 7 Advent Children Complete on my parents 50+inch HDTV, i think it was a LCD and it looked beautiful. I watched it in 720 because my friend said that 1080i was actually worse than 720p. Something about how 1080i was = 550p or something of the sort. Anyway i have been looking around to see if the difference in 720 and 1080p is truly noticeable and worth the money. I always hear both sides of it and just need someone to shoot me straight so i don't waste my money on a T.V. It would be a tv i would take to college with me in the dorm. As far as money goes, i am willing to save up to high amounts. My first instinct would say get the 1080p, but some would argue otherwise. Also what are the best brands/ Type of T.V. to go if i am wanting it to last a long time and get the most out of my PS3 |
Determine how much you are willing to spend, how big a TV you want, and what you will be using it for. Find a few TV's online that interest you and head to the store (you have no obligation to buy from the store you are visiting, so pick one that works well with customers and has all the TVs you are interested in)
Want to watch Blu-Ray movies? Take a movie that you love and know very well (preferably new rather than an old film updated to blu-ray). Ask the store clerk to load that movie into the player and compare the two TVs side by side (well, in the same store so you can walk back and forth). Play with the TV settings to make it look the best possible, as anyone could have adjusted them, and store defaults really could be anything.
Buy the TV that looks the best to you for the money you are willing to spend. All the bells and whistles mean nothing if you can't notice a difference.
Plasma TV's are great if you can control the light level in the room and are the cheapest, however I believe the new LED TVs are superior in most situations as Plasmas don't work so great in brightly lit rooms. I've seen equivalent LED and LCD tv's from the same brand side by side and the LED look so much more vibrant. In theory any type of TV on the market today (with exception of projectors) will last 10 years under normal use. Obviously sometimes electronics break and they'll die early, but bulb life and burn in shouldn't be a problem unless you run the TV 10hr/day every single day.
As for brands, Sony and Samsung are considered among the top. I personally like to buy Vizio as it is a nice compromise between cost/features/quality. They make a quality TV with a good warrnary (no bright pixels). Mine still works great 3.5 years later compared to my parents Sony which has 1 stuck pixel right in the middle of the screen and a bright spot in the lower left corner. Obviously there is a bit of luck in if you have a problem. Vizio, Panasonic and LG rank higly on CNET right along with Sony/Samsung. Which is the most reliable, I don't really know.
