TV Thread

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reikoshea

HS Troll...And Mod
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Football season is upon us once again, and I just purchased a new TV (from Amazon, so it won't be in until next week).

I figure we should start a thread on who's got what, their experiences with retailers and with the set itself. If you want to include sound systems or any other peripherals be my guest.

I'll use my current TV to get us started. I still haven't invested in a sound system since I'm in an apartment and I don't want to be a dick bag to my neighbors.

Model: Panasonic TC-P50S2
Retailer: Best Buy

I know anyone that talks to me on here is going to be surprised as hell that I bought a TV from Best Buy, and if best buy carried the TV I just ordered, I would have bought from them again. Here's why: Their online price match. I wanted a new TV and I wanted it that day. I walked into the store, told them the exact model I wanted, my wife got to see it and approve, and then told them B&H Photo had it for $300 cheaper. No hassle, no nothing, got it at the same price (before tax of course) and went home with it that day. My brand new tv was so big it wouldn't fit in the back seat of the accord while it was still in the box, so two guys came out to my car, help me unbox it, and get it securely into my car, and then they kept the box in the store room for 2 weeks and called me to make sure it was working alright so they could ditch the box.

After that wall of text let me just say quickly I had an awesome experience at best buy...and I'm as surprised as anyone.

Now for the TV itself, this was our first HDTV and in our little living room the thing was absolutely massive. Since we'd been watching on a 27" tube for the last forever, it was kind of strange watching a 50" Plasma. While the phosphors break in you can see rainbows in motion scenes, but that only lasted a few weeks, it eventually was just as I imagined it would be. Awesome contrast levels, movies looked amazing, everything was going perfectly...until...the dreaded mother in law.

So, we had an MediaCenter PC, and an XBOX plugged in, and I told her while we were out of town to make her self comfortable. Try to turn off the TV when she went to bed, but if she forgot it shouldn't be too big of a deal since...or so I thought.

For those of you that read that burn-in is a thing of the past on Plasmas think again. To this day the netflix logo still lingers (but eventually goes away) when I use it on the xbox, but the thing that really killed it was the default screen saver for windows media center. It has a white boarder around each picture it displays on the screen, and every picture is in the exact same spot. Well after my mother in law left the TV on the screen saver for 3 straight days, that white border was burned in permanently. I tried running an app to invert the colors on the screen and leaving the screen saver on for another 3 days, but it did not fix the issue, if anything the bars are more pronounced now than before.

It's been 2 years and the burn-in is still there, but unless it's a solid color background you really have to try to see it. Overall the S2 is decent, but the burn-in has made me much more cautious. Games are still great, movies look good, and sports were perfect. I just watched Peyton throw 7 touchdowns on that thing and I'll be honest, I didn't even notice the burn-in.

I loved my old TV, but I just let my wife have it because my new ST60 should be in by next monday. I'll spend this weekend at Buffalo Wild Wings, and then next weekend, it's on like donkey kong. Review on that to follow (and yes I know it's not a good TV for gaming, I'm a PC gamer, with very few console games).
 
Yeah... plasma isn't supposed to burn in anymore. I guess I'm glad I stayed with LCD on the last few TVs.

So I have:

Master bedroom:
LG 55LH40, 55" edge lit CCFL LCD panel with Mark Levinson bezel speakers. Pretty decent panel, but has delay issues with audio that can be corrected with a hard to get flash update or by routing audio through a receiver before it hits the TV. I got this one as a "sweeter than Black Friday" deal a few weeks before Thanksgiving back in 2009 for $1115, and the price didn't match that for another 9 months. Linky: Amazon.com: LG 55LH40 55-Inch 1080p 120 Hz LCD HDTV, Gloss Black: Electronics
No external speakers hooked up yet, but I have a refurb Onkyo receiver and an old 5.1 set that will be hooked up to this along with the Roku, BD player, and HTPC.

Living room:
LG 55LM4700 Amazon.com: LG 55LM4700 55" 1080p 120Hz LED 3D TV w/ Soundbar: Electronics
Picked this up last Black Friday on a 4-hour unadvertised Fry's deal. Edge-lit LED LCD screen with some flashlighting issues in the corners (that's where the backlight LEDs are) that I mostly fixed with about 20 minutes of tweaking in the settings. Nice accurate picture, 3D support that I haven't used yet, good solid panel for not much cash. I sold the sound bar that came with it, so my cost was $750.
Hooked up to: HTPC, PS3, 360, Roku, BD player and a newer Onkyo receiver with a 5.1 Klipsch speaker setup. Good value system for the living room.

Other bedrooms (2):
Sceptre E328BV 32" 1080p LED LCD Amazon.com: Sceptre E328BV-FMDC 32-Inch 1080p 60Hz LED HDTV (Glossy Black): Electronics
Another BF deal, $200 apiece. Couldn't pass it up, and I'm very thankful with 2 kids and in-laws that are here quite often. Dad-in-law can watch his "stuff" in one room while the kids are zoning out on Sesame Street in another while wife watches Downton Abbey and I head-shot zombies. Each one of these is hooked up to a Roku only. Super lightweight, super thrifty on power, and great value on 1080p LED lit panels.

So my philosophy- buy the best cheap decent panel you can, add on your own smart functions that are well supported and not dependent on the TV manufacturer. Add your own sound system too, even if you're in an apartment- it'll sound better even at low volumes. My dad has a single 40" Sony in his living room that has a beautiful picture, but the built-in speakers only lasted a year or so before giving up on the majority of the frequencies that make up human speech. Not good.
 
I was about to ask you about how you like your LGs because of an issue I saw with them in our break rooms at work. Apparently Tru-Motion is a menu option, and it is the most maddening 'feature' I've ever had the horror of witnessing. It feels like everything on the screen is running at 1.2x to my eye.

Do you run with it off, or do you even notice it?
 
i just picked up a 2 year old Toshiba 55g300u LCD for $700 to replace my toshiba 56hm66 DLP that recently stopped working

was a huge upgrade. i thought my TV was awesome but damn, what a difference 6 years in technology makes!
 
I have a 32Inch LCD LG in the sun room

I have a 51 Samsung Plasma in the living room(debating a sound system for it, wife is against it)

I have a Samsung 51" LED in the basement(not 100% sure of the model #) hooked up with an insane sound system which consists of:

TV's from PC Richards

Yamaha RX-V671receiver-From Amazon

Amazon.com: Yamaha RX-V671 7.1-Channel Network AV Receiver (Old Version): Electronics

BIC Acoustics Cinema 6 Home Theater Speakers..(i believe the new set they sell is now this
Klipsch Speakers for sale, polk audio, polk speakers, home theater systems, thx, speakers, premier acoustic, In Wall Speakers, In Ceiling Speakers Call 800-691-6914)

From Sounddistributors.com


acoustechpicture.jpg


The Acoustech Cinema Series H100 subwoofer fills a room with clean bass that highly enhances music or deep rumbling bass for exciting home theater sound. This subwoofer is a super value. A sleek cabinet with high gloss houses a heavy duty 12" front firing woofer. 500 watts dynamic peak output. Performance guaranteed to knock your socks off especially at it's price..
Woofer - Long-throw 12".
Power - 500 watts dynamic peak output (150 watts RMS continuous).
Max Acoustic Output - 115 dBSPL
Frequency Response - 24 Hz - 200 Hz (+/- 3 dB)
Enclosure - vented
Dimensions - 17" H x 15 W x 18 1/4" D
Crossover Frequency Range - 40 Hz - 150 Hz

Each Acoustech HT-75 tower houses dual 6" woofers combined with a high efficiency horn tweeter or a true theater like experience. Wide dynamic range up to 116 dB output. High gloss tops and bottoms also add to a sleek cosmetic design. The new Acoustech high efficiency Cinema Series delivers performance rich in clarity and guarantees large spectrum theater-like sound.
Design - Video shielded, two-way, three component tower.
Frequency Response - 35 Hz - 20 kHz (+/- 3 dB)
Drivers - Dual 6 1/2" woofers, one 6 1/2" mid/high frequency horn neodymiu magnet
Sensitivity - 96 dB @ 1 watt,1 meter
Power - 10 - 150 watts per channel.
Dimensions - 40" H x 9 W x 8" D Impedance - 8 Ohms
Limited Warranty - 2 years parts & labor

The new Acoustech HT-65 Center is a high efficiency Cinema Series delivering performance rich in clarity and guarantees large spectrum theater-like sound. The center houses dual 6" woofers combined with a high efficiency horn tweeter for a true theater like experience. Wide dynamic range up to 116 dBoutput. High gloss tops and bottoms also add to a sleek cosmetic design.
Design - Video shielded, two-way, three component center.
Frequency Response - 55 Hz -
20 kHz (+/- 3 dB) Drivers - Dual 6 1/2" woofers, one 6 1/2" mid/high frequency horn with neodymium magnet.
Sensitivity - 96 dB @ 1 watt,1 meter
Power - 10 - 150 watts per channel.
Dimensions - 8" H x 22 W x 6" D
Impedance - 8 Ohms
Limited Warranty - 2 years parts and labor.

The new Acoustech HT-63 high efficiency Cinema Series delivers performance rich in clarity and guarantees large spectrum theater-like sound. The HT-63 bookshelf speakers have a unique angled cabinet for wide dispersion of sound. Each unit contains a 6"woofer combined with a high efficiency horn tweeter. A 5" x 7"passive radiator is also utilized. Wide dynamic range up to 116 dB output. High gloss tops and bottoms also add to a sleek cosmetic design.
Design - Two-way, three component bookshelf.
Frequency Response - 60 Hz - 20 kHz (+/- 3 dB)
Drivers -Dual 6 1/2" woofers, one 6 1/2" mid/high frequency horn with neodymium magnet.
Sensitivity - 96 dB @ 1 watt, 1 meter
Power - 10 - 150 watts per channel.
Dimensions - 14" H x 9 W x 8" D
Impedance - 8 Ohms
Limited Warranty - 2 years parts and labor.
 
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I have a 32" 720p Phillips straight from Target (Pronounced Tarshay). Paid like $200 for it 4 years ago and its going strong.

I need a new livingroom tv actually. Been browsing slick deals and I'm waiting for a 60" 120hz LED to fall under 600. I've seen 600+.
 
40" Samsung LCD (LNT4066F) hanging in the room
42" Samsung Plasma in the living room
 
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I like my 50" panasonic plasma, but it did take getting used to at first. The picture seemed to improve over time. Football looks great (works good with the fast motion), and dark movies on blueray are breathtaking. The LED sets are brighter, but the plasmas are more realistic. I was just at my cousins house watching football on his 65" led and it was almost too bright, colors seemed kinda fake.
 
I was about to ask you about how you like your LGs because of an issue I saw with them in our break rooms at work. Apparently Tru-Motion is a menu option, and it is the most maddening 'feature' I've ever had the horror of witnessing. It feels like everything on the screen is running at 1.2x to my eye.

Do you run with it off, or do you even notice it?

Turned off on mine. I definitely notice stuff like that. Super picky, especially about artifacting/ghosting.
 
I have no idea how people can tolerate that TruMotion crap... I'm sure in a few years the kids will be recoiling in horror at our stuttery 24fps movies but trumotion just looks like utter dookie.
 
I have a 46" Samsung LED/LCD.

My previous TV (that got stolen :mad:) was a 42" Panasonic plasma. picture was beautiful. Plasmas definitely have the best picture but they also are heavy and use a lot more power. maybe they got better over the years, but my plasma was rated to use nearly 500W. whereas my LED now pulls like 20W or less. that's significant.

the plasma puts off enough heat to actually affect room temperature. nothing sucked worse than trying to watch tv... on the plasma... in the summer... with no AC :(.

my electric bill is much happier now.
 
I had a rear-projection TV from 1995 to just a few months ago.

I picked up some Visio (Er vizio, or whatever. Who cares) 55" LED thing something or other.

Everything looks like it was filmed with a handicam and now Serenity looks totally stupid.

I miss my projection TV. Plus it was a wood console, so I could put stuff on it. And it had wheels.
 
The handicam effect is smoothmotion.

it seems counter intuitive, but if you turn it off it'll look more like you're used to.
 
I had a rear-projection TV from 1995 to just a few months ago.

I picked up some Visio (Er vizio, or whatever. Who cares) 55" LED thing something or other.

Everything looks like it was filmed with a handicam and now Serenity looks totally stupid.

I miss my projection TV. Plus it was a wood console, so I could put stuff on it. And it had wheels.

I see those on the side of the road all the time.
 
I actually bought mine from a tag sale .. so it was old when I got it. Paid $25. Re-calibrated the guns. Had to replace the red bulb like 4 times.
 
The handicam effect is smoothmotion.

it seems counter intuitive, but if you turn it off it'll look more like you're used to.


that is exactly what i'm dealing with. movies and shows filmed in poor quality, really shows.
 
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