Hi everyone,
I just got added to this list as my wife and I are ready to purchase a new television. Our current one is...nearly twelve years old.
I don’t watch any television at all, except for sports (football mostly) but I rent and watch movies a great deal. My wife does watch a great deal of television (I don’t know how she does that, but I am sure she thinks the same of my Internet habits...:)
Anyway...I know you folks are going to laugh at this. We decided it was time to get a new television, so...we took a walk through Best Buy, and after we walked out, my wife said to me...guys, get ready...
“Well, I guess we are going to have to spend about $5000 dollars to get something decent...”
LOL...I nearly fell on the ground! It was all I could do to kind of mumble “Yeah...looks that way...”
Anyhow...my way of doing this kind of thing is to buy the biggest and best I can afford, and keep it for a long time. So, I started asking around. My buddy works at Bose, and he asked some of the engineers he works with, and he heard them say Vizio a few times. I notice there are a few folks on here who like them as well.
I am looking to get a 60” model, 1080p, but...I have a few questions:
1.) Why do you need more than one HDMI input? I guess the old way (my current way) of doing things requires that you wire stuff through one component to the next to the next...if you use HDMI, do you plug every component directly into the HDTV set? Does it all automatically interact and interopt that way? I had bought a Harmony remote a few years back, and my wife thought I was whacked out paying $250 for a remote (something you can do when you don’t have a DOG that eats them, like a friend of mine does!)
2.) I am a computer guy, and I noticed the ethernet port on the back of some of the sets I saw, but not all. What do they use them for? Are they for streaming from your computer, to be used by a company for diagnostics, or do you connect some cable systems that way?
3.) It sounds like some of the disadvantages of plasma that were present in the past have been somewhat overcome, but on the other hand, it sounds like LCD is getting larger and cheaper. I am definitely not interested in DLP or projection. Any thoughts on this?
4.) This is going to sound like a kind of silly question, but remember...we don’t have cable, and our television is 12 years old...are things like picture in picture standard on these things, or is that more a function of peripherals you would buy or install?
5.) Wall mounting looks like a great option to me...is there anyone out there who has mounted their unit and wished they didn’t, or the other way around? Anything to look out for?
6.) What is the best location for the connections...I presume the back kind of bites especially if you want to wall mount, but should I go for the bottom, the side or both? (I saw only a few sets that offered both...is it worth being that picky?)
I know these are a lot of questions (and might be kind of noob-like) but having been on FR for a few years now, I don’t expect to be tortured much for my ignorance...
I hope...:)
Out 52” is wall-mounted; IMHO that is the way to go.
Just bought a 60” DLP from Best Buy. I’m wondering why you’ve ruled out DLP so quickly...It has a great picture, incredibly realistic, slimmer than the 32” it replaced and goes a whopping 60 lbs. Not to mention that it’s half the price of a comparable LCD or Plasma unit.
It also has several HDMI connections. I have the Blu-ray plugged into one, the cable into another, I can plug the computer into the third if I’d like...I can change between input sources via the remote, they were all auto-detected by the television. I also have a USB port so I can view photos from my digital camera or computer flash drive, also auto-detected. Anyways, I’m very happy with mine—and I wish you luck whichever direction you go.
1. HDMI inputs for your cable box, blu-ray player, xbox 360 etc. If you get an HDMI compatible receiver for sound you can run all those things through your stereo and get amazing sound from blu-ray discs as well.
2. Never ran my computer to my tv’s.
3. The burn in problems of plasmas are long gone as is the life cycle of them, plasma’s are great now. My Sony LCD’s are “rear projection” (not the rear projection of years back) and give an incredible picture, I haven’t seen any DLP that compares to it, it can be subjective though. Personally I’ve never liked the DLP picture, it’s good not great, a friend of mine had a top of the line samsung dlp and it didn’t compare to my lcd, a couple of 3rd party friends who saw both tv’s strongly agreed.
4. PIP seems to be standard in most tv’s.
5 Wall mounting is nice, but my lcd’s at the time were a LOT less than the panels, prices have come down on the panels recently.
6. I, like most people prefer all the connections in back, it’s nice to have one in the front though too, I’ll occasionally pop something in the front, the ones in the front are usually hidden by a flap when not in use.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16889101137
There’s a 65 inch for 3500, you have money left over for a PS3 (blu-ray) and an hdmi compatible Onkyo receiver, hdmi cables for 5 bucks a piece at monoprice.com and you’ll be set.
If she’s going to let you spend 5k, you should also give a look at the Pioneer and Panasonic plasmas, check how much the kuro line is selling for. The Kuro gives the best picture on the planet.
Muuuust SSSuuuuppppresssss UUUuuurge tooo Maaaake CCooomment about BBBBose.
Whew.
If you are ready to spend $5000, I would not look at LCD. You can get into very high quality plasma at that price.
I can’t quite understand how you are wiring up your current component. A high dollar set is going to have inputs on the back and side. This allows convenient wall mounting and the ability to add a component without pulling the whole thing off the wall.
I have several HD sets, none of them have PIP but on the otherhand, my budget was not $5000. You can check the features on the internet.
Personally I prefer to shelf mount a TV but that is just me.
With HDMI, you will need a separate cable for each device that you use with the television. I have 3 devices connected to my TV.
I have a 50” Panny plasma on cable, my buddy has a 47” Vizzy LCD on SAT. We watch the big games at my house. For sports, I think the plasma is better for regular shots, but LCD is better for close ups. Regular TV shows their equal. Nature shows, plasma wins.
Wall mount: Unless you already have a $1600 piece of furniture for your set, wall mount. My buddy's is in a beautiful piece, and it looks great. Mine is wall mounted, and I love it. (hint, buy a small A/V stand for your components, then you can poke a hole in the wall behind the TV, and another behind the stand, and snake the wires through the wall. Nice clean look.)
You want back connections for your cables, but some front connectors (behind a drop down panel) are nice to have for quick, short term hookups.
Take some extra cash and get a good quality theater system. Just be sure both TV and system have optical hookup. Then you can have full time “surround” sound ( not true surround all the time, but close).
However big you decide to get, buy the next size bigger. Trust me.