So, after working a job I hated for 6 years, then being a poor student for 2, and now working a job I like/can see myself doing, I'm in the market for a TV (FINALLY) to replace my 24" Sony Wega.

When I bought it, I was confident that (other than size) it was the best TV I could get. Now I don't know a thing about current TV tech. Plasmas seem scary cheap, like they're trying to give them away, and I know LCD has been getting better. Also know/think LED is the future for now, so I'm leaning toward a Samsung 55" LED so far. Better than 2x the size of my current Sony... Yay!

Is there any site I can check out to get a good/accurate rundown of the current state of affairs in TVs? I refuse to make an uninformed decision on any electronic purchase ever, but there seems to be so much to sift through with tvs these days..

Thanks for any pointers!

tomcat

avsforum.com has a lot of info, but it can be tough to find what you need because there's so much there.

I usually look up reviews in many places and try to find a consensus, like from cnet, Amazon, etc., and go from there.

In my opinion, plasmas have the best image quality overall, and certainly the best for the money. They do use more power, run hotter, and have burn-in issues, but nothing insurmountable. Many of them buzz a little bit, which some find distracting.

LCD sets are getting better from an image-quality standpoint, but to get one that closely matches a plasma is really expensive. The blacks are where LCD sets are typically weak, which also keeps the colors from "popping" sometimes.

LCD sets are usually brighter overall, use less power, don't have burn-in issues, usually have less reflection on the screen. Because of the lack of burn-in, they make better choices for doubling as a computer monitor or being used for gaming.

Keep in mind that the LED you see referenced is the backlighting used for LCD sets - there isn't any true LED TVs that I'm aware of.

Just found out it's the backlighting that's LED before checking my mail and seeing you replied Arthonon. Do LED backlit TVs, or regular LCD TVs need bulb replacement? Or was that projection? I was over at a friend's (he has a DLP Toshiba that we watched some of Revenge of the Fallen on, woow!) last Sunday watching his TV and he mentioned he had to replace the bulb recently. It's a 52 or 55", I was considering a 47 until I saw his, wow, as long as I'm not sacrificing image quality I would like a big TV as it turns out.

Thanks for the tips!

Lack of reflections is the reason I decided to go with LCD (I have a Sharp 32in 1080p set).. The picture quality is, well, Sharp.

It looks like 3D technology is going to be the next big thing, so it may be an idea to look into that too.

Yeah, I was thinking that Paul.. Hmm, pay for it now and bet on it not catching on, or not get it and be kicking myself in a year? When I bought my Sony in 2000 the only decision was brand and screen size. I was thinking my system would be to just buy the best reviewed TV in my price range, I may just have to do that.

It's a gamble because the technology is moving so fast. I won't be doing the 3D thing any time soon because my LCD set is just a year old. It was also more expensive than any CRT television I had previously owned, so I will be keeping it for a while.

The lack of a real standard in 3D is one reason why I am not jumping into it right away. Plus, not ready to drop a load on a new TV just yet.

LCD TVs have backlights, but they're just like the ones used in LCD monitors, so you can expect a similar life, most likely. When you hear of bulb replacement, that's almost always referring to rear-projection sets, like DLP. DLP sets are cheap for the size, and decent picture quality, but some people (like me) can see rainbow trails from bright objects due to the method they use to create the image. The DLP chip is only black and white, so it has to draw the image in multiple passes with some sort of color system (a wheel is common, but Samsung started using different colored LEDs).

LEDs on LCD TVs offer better light, longer life, and potentially more control over the image, where some light can be dimmed or turned off to increase black levels, but those TVs are pretty spendy.

My friend has Samsung A950. Highly impressed, especially with auto increased frame rate.

I got a Vizio 47" 120hz LCD for Christmas and it's great. Got a WD Live TV hooked up to it so I can stream my collection of videos to the TV and it just makes it better.

I'm trying to make the plasma or LCD decision myself. One of the things I'm weighing heavily on is sound features. I am looking at sound leveling so that the commercials don't come on so loud and Voice enhancer. It allows you to seperately contol the voice volume. I have some significant hearing loss and voices seem to get lost in all the other noise. This is particularly true in action movies where there is a lot of action sound and the people start whispering. So I miss important dialog.

I've found reviews can often lag behind model launches, particularly magazine reviews, so it is hard to know where to go to get reviews on the kit actually in the shops.

I did a lot of research before I bought my LCD TV and this is what i found:

Plasma's have the most natural looking colors (warm tone) and the most accurate blacks, specially if you look at the Pioneer series plasmas. However, the draw back is the reflection if you are in a bright room. Also, there is no worries about ghosting as the refresh rate on a plasma is more than a human eye can handle (over 300mhz).

LCDs have more vibrant colors and the blacks on it depends more on the TV (cheaper LCDs show more of a charcoal than a true black). From what I noticed, SONY has the best blacks whereas Samsung has more color vibrance. Also, due to the matte screen and color vibrance, the LCD's handle bright rooms a lot better.

To compare, I watched Dark Knight on a Plasma and a LCD set right next to each other, and I could notice the difference in the black tones in the Hong Kong scene on the Plasma, whereas on the LCD it sort of blended in to a point where batman at times got lost in the background.

However, I chose a SONY LCD because we have a huge bay window in the room and the room is always pretty bright. But I would have chosen a plasma if it wasn't for the bright sunlight in the room during the day.

Some of the new Panasonic plasmas have a pretty good anti glare screen, look for the ones that the glass looks greenish when off. I don't like the matte anti reflective screens because the picture loses a lot of depth but if your room needs a matte screen then there isn't much you can do.

As a lot of people have said, plasma beats LCD or LED backlit LCD for picture quality hands down, the most expensive LCD you can buy isn't as good a mid high line plasma. Also 120/240Hz refresh rates can have some really bizarre effects on movies. It's really noticeable during camera pans. In just about every TV we've reviewed we ended up turning the feature off because the slight motion blur was preferable to the high refresh rate effect. It was least bothersome on high end Sonys on most bothersome on LG and Samsung no matter what line.

For the best value for picture quality I can't recommend the Samsung PN50B550 plasma enough, if I was in the market for a new TV that's what I would get. Everyone in the office was blown away by that set.

This is important!

If the room you're going to put it in has a lot of sunlight pouring into it, LCD is better than plasma - which is why we made the decision that Mohawk did as well (Vizio 55" LCD and it rocks).

Much appreciated folks, I'm getting a lot out of this thread. I'm leaning heavily toward a Samsung 6 or 7 series at this point, I think I'd be happy with the 120hz vs 240+, plus they have low response times which should keep stuttering down shouldn't it?

I wanna lean away from plasma TVs because of our living room (apparently burn-in is pretty much solved these days) being bright, but there are some GREAT prices on them. It's like they're trying to get rid of them.... Which scares me. Are there any downsides besides bright room performance that I'm not thinking of? Durability? I'll have to see one to judge just how bad they react to bright rooms.

I've also discovered that people have some sort of idiotic obsession to call Panasonic "Panny" and Samsung "Sammy". Why do they do it and why does it drive me up the wall?? Apologies if anyone here does it.

Keep in mind your room size and how far from the set you will be sitting. About 2x the screen size is about right.

Bright rooms are an issue with most plasmas, mostly from a reflection standpoint. Burn-in is less of an issue than it used to be, but can still happen. You'll also get "image retention," which is basically temporary burn-in, but it goes away over time. Most plasmas also buzz a little bit, which bothers many people, so if it's going to be in quiet area with the volume set low, you'll probably notice it. Plasmas also don't work, or don't work correctly, above 5000ft over sea level, so depending on where you live that could be an issue.

The actual display technology is not as important I don't believe as the features of the set for future compatibility. By that I mean that having a digital tuner, enough ports, etc., will probably have more of an impact on the set's useful life than the fact that it's plasma, so even if they stopped selling plasmas tomorrow your set would still work with new stuff as well as any other type of TV with similar features.

I've had CRT sets, a CRT rear-projection set, a DLP rear-projection set, smaller LCD sets and a plasma, and hands down the plasma has the best picture. I have not owned upper-end LCDs, so I can't compare it to them, but from what I understand it compares favorably at worst. However, it's not as care-free as an LCD, uses more power, runs hotter, and is more prone to reflection issues, so you will certainly want to consider your environment before making any choices.

With my older sets, I was constantly making adjustments to the picture, trying to get stuff in the shadows to show up while not having other areas too bright, stuff like that, and my girlfriend got tired of it. With the plasma all she has to put up with is me saying, every so often, "wow, that's a good picture - I really like this TV!"

I am extremely happy with my Samsung LN46B750....

If you want a better deal, you can't go wrong with the Samsung LN46B650. the older version.

My parents (basically the last people I know who didn't have a flat panel TV) recently bought an LN40B550 which I think looks great. I assume the 6xx etc mean higher end/capabilities? I kinda like the Touch of Colour too. Even if it's red and not my fave colour, blue, it still looks nice IMHO.

And just to muddy the waters a bit as to me getting plasma or LCD, I'm about 100 ft ASL here in NS, so plasma would work just fine.

As far as Samsung model numbers go yeah the 650 is higher end, 750 higher than that and so on. 2009 models are B, 2008 A and the new 2010's which are just coming out are C. LN is LCD, UN is LED backlit, PN is plasma. So it's type, size, year, series.

Ahh, cool! Thanks Jeevz, I was drooling over a UN55Bx000 and wondering what the UN meant.

Don't let the prospect of replacing a bulb on an LCD projection TV become a major factor in your choice.

I have a 42" Sony LCD projection set since 2004 and have had to change the bulb twice. It's no big deal and the bulbs are available at various suppliers on line for $80-90 dollars.

Bulbs have come way down in price and are replaced from the front after removing two thumb screws and a panel. They come in a housing unit and plug into a receptacle.

Just in case anyone's still checking this thread, I came up with a question while watching the Cannonball intro in the film openings thread: If I didn't see any judder (apparently that's a word I've learned while obsessing over/getting a much needed crash course in TVs) while it was panning on my laptop, keeping up with the Countach, think I'll notice on a TV? Are the principles even the same? I'm thinking in terms of refresh rate, response time, etc are comparable aren't they? I've only got a basic Dell laptop but I assume the display is LCD.

It might give you some idea, but I'm not sure it's a direct comparison. First, the source will make a difference, so watching something from the Internet won't compare directly to something off of DVD/Blu-Ray (Internet will almost always be worse).

But the TV is using different circuitry to process the image, and is probably a lot larger than your laptop screen, so things that might not be noticeable on a laptop might be easier to see on a large TV screen.

Ahh yes I was thinking that display size might be misleading. I'm planning on buying the tv with a referral bonus I'll be paid once a friend of none has worked where I am for 3 months. The Samsung 7000 series I have my eye on has been out since last (I think) June, so hopefully it's price will keep falling on the meantime.. Thank again for all the advice and input.