Adam - TV Update?
I've also started looking for something that takes up less space. From in store observations, Vizio seems to have the best picture/color with Phillps second (of course these are only the TVs you see at Target/Circuit City/Sears etc - so its hardly an exhaustive comparison).
So I was wondering how your research matched up? If there's one pearson I can count on to over-research something... ;-)
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50 inches?
Submitted by Miah on Thu, 02/05/2009 - 6:51am.
Imagine playing Smash Brothers on that ;-)
It did seem to be that Vizio's crispness was as good as anything comperable priced - it wasn't until you added a couple hundred for the same size that other brands were as good. Of course, like you said, that was with in-store settings.
Thanks!
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Seriously
I spent way to much time reading about these things. I had to make myself stop thinking about it because I didn't have any money, so we couldn't afford a new TV. We'll probably have to wait quite a few months now, as we need to save our money for other things.
That being said, here is a readers digest of my findings:
Great brands: (can't go wrong here)
Sony
Panasonic
Sharp
Good brands: (probably can't go wrong here)
Phillips
Samsung
Best Value brand: (smart consumers)
Vizio (probably in or close to the "good" quality, but has a discount price tag)
It can be tough to compare in the store, as in-store settings on the TV are often not optimized. When I looked at TVs in the store, I was mostly looking for a good viewing angle, and crispness.
LCD vs plasma:
* LCD generally uses less power, and weighs a little less than plasma. (check power consumption charts here.) There are certainly some plasmas that have lower power consumption, and some LCDs with high, but the general trend is that LCDs use less.
* Plasma has better picture quality than LCD.
* Plasma burn-in is more of a concern with older plasma TVs. Newer models (generally 2008 and newer) have largely solved this issue).
* Plasma is cheaper than LCD.
Pricing:
The sweet spot for a cheap TV seems to be ~42". Prices start escalating above that pretty significantly.
My thoughts:
I was going to get a 50" (or was it 52?) panasonic 1080p plasma from Costco (it was $1200 last I checked, and was identically priced to the Vizio plasmas they had). Costco has a ridiculously awesome return policy (something like 6 months, no questions asked), and they add a year on to the manufacturer warranty. So buy there if you can manage it, as you can always just return it if you don't like it. They also have Vizios and some other brands there too. FYI, costco membership is about $35/year or so.
Good luck with your search!