Vanity: Please tell me which LCD TV to buy....

[StrictTime]

I'm just numb from doing research, so I'm opening up the floor to take suggestions from FReepers.

I hate to think that I'm going to be dropping $2K on a TV that has a life of 2 years (Samsung, Vizio, according to the interwebs). Looking for a 46" LCD with a matte screen (brightly lit room).

Anyone actually happy with a brand/model? Mostly interested in comments about reliability, since I HATE shopping for stuff like this every couple of years.

[nascarnation]

I bought my 42 inch Sony Bravia z-series from Amazon.

Outstanding Mexican assembled quality.

[Eepsy]

http://reviews.costco.com/2070/11314986/reviews.htm

We bought this one two years ago and it’s been great. My husband loves the motionflow and I love getting streaming netflix over the Internet Video Link. There are better options if you pay for them, but the link was free and we like it.

We bought a Sharp LCD from Costco and lived with it for two days, but ended up taking it back as picture quality wasn’t up to snuff. No problems on the return, and we got the Sony instead.

[Walkingfeather]

Let me see if I understand your problem. You want to know which tv to pay thousands of dollars for in order to see lame ass sports and tv shows that force you to watch their commercials that will get you to spend more money? All while you numb your mind and rot your productivity and creativity?

Okay guess it doesn’t matter which one.

[kara37]

I just bought a LG 55” LED. I love it. I got it online at Best Buy. They had it on sale for $1797.00, and they were offering a wi- fi blue ray included. (350.00 value).

I really didn't want the blue ray, but free is free. However, the blue ray showed up at full price in my shopping cart, and the TV was discounted down to $1447.00.
So, I ordered both, and returned the blue ray to the store for a full $350.00 credit.

Best Buy does things like that all the time. Sometimes you need to play around with things in your shopping cart to find really great deals.

[Sybeck1]

I have a Vizio 47 inch LCD. it show the stammering Cowboys defeat quite impressively last night.

[mass55th]

I'm glad you've had luck with Samsung products. I've had nothing but trouble. I bought a Samsung 50 inch HD rear projection TV in 2005, and within the first year, I had to have the fan replaced, and pay to have the bulb replaced. Thankfully, I took out the extended 5 year warranty when I bought it. It needed extensive service two more times after that. At least I got my money's worth out of the warranty. I understand that Samsung doesn't produce the rear projection screen TVs anymore. The picture has always been great, but the quality of the product, and its need for continued service turned me off Samsung. The warranty has expired now, and I'll keep this TV until it costs too much to fix it.

I had also bought a Samsung home theater from Circuit City, and took the warranty out on that too. It's a good thing I did, because the DVD player was in the shop 4 times for repair in the first two years I'd had it. This spring the damn DVD player burned out. I called the warranty service, faxed in a copy of the original receipt, and they sent me a refund for the full purchase amount.

[callthemlikeyouseethem]

42” samsung here. Love it! Great pic from all angles in all lighting conditions. After reading all of the reviews, shopped online for best price and got it for under $500! Must admit that we hooked up an inexpensive (under $100) sound system that we already had and use that instead of the TV’s internal speakers.

[garykfd]

I have a Mitsubishi 60 inch DLP that is great.. replaced the bulb 1 time in 3 yrs and it was under warrenty.. but if your set on LCD The concensus on this thread is probably correct

[antiRepublicrat]

I’ve been disappointed with Visio. While low-price, the general cheapness gets annoying after a while, especially the inconsistent lighting. After lots of study and gnashing of teeth, in the end I just picked an LG over a Samsung for my last 32” buy. You can’t go wrong with either, and they have good prices too.

If you are only using it as a TV, 1080p is pretty much wasted at normal viewing distances on anything smaller than around 50” IIRC since your eyes can’t distinguish the pixels. So if you’re not getting a big one you can save money and get a 1080i/720p. A 120Hz TV is a good buy since content at 24 frames per second (film movies), 30fps (TV) and 60 fps (also TV) go into 120 evenly, meaning all the added intermediate frames are evenly spaced. This is especially true for fast-action content. A TV that only does 60 Hz may not be as good on 24fps content because of the irregular adding of frames required.

[avacado]

I'm talking about Samsung LCD HDTVs. They are the very best. I have a 2005 42" that still works like a champ. The new Samsung LCD HDTVs are second to none in black contrast etc.

[Unassuaged]

Ditto on COSTCO for the Warranty — They took back my Vizio due to a Wii remote impact (less than 30 days), so I am pretty loyal to them.

[avacado]

Yep, I have a 2005 42” Samsung and it still works like a champ!

[Gadsden1st]

Does anyone know of a method of getting those pop up ads for shows, etc. off of the bottom of the screen. It is so distracting to see some actor from another program appear on the bottom corner to advertise their show. I hate to have to tape a 6” strip across the bottom of my screen to keep that c&@p out of view.

[Varda]

Since modern plasmas have a half life of several decades, I imagine an LCD lasting longer than that is a moot point. After twenty years I’d want to buy some newer tech.

[antiRepublicrat]

Does anyone know of a method of getting those pop up ads for shows, etc. off of the bottom of the screen.

Watch a channel that doesn't use them? Sorry, that's about all you can do.

[Varda]

I second the tip of spending time on AVSforum. Since I found that site I’ve been very happy with every electronics purchase I’ve made.

[AFreeBird]

Samsung... Oh, and go with LED.

[Oldhunk]

Another vote for Costco. I had a 42” LCD fail after about a year and a half. For some reason, the manufacturer did not want to repair that model. Costco gave me a full refund and took it back.

I turned around and bought a 47” Vizio with an AMEX card, which adds another year warranty to the 2 year Costco warranty.

[CommonJudge]

Been there, done that. We bought a 47” Visio that we dearly love. And we bought it at Costco in case it failed for some reason.
We thought we were limited to a 46” size, but the dimensions just fit in our entertainment center.

Good luck.

[Nepeta]

I am quite pleased with my 26" Toshiba from Sam's that I have had for 2 years.

26"??? Yes. I don't like room-filling screens, and the 26" wide-screen replicates the screen height of the 19" Sony that died and the Toshiba replaced.

Something to consider is the number and kind of connections into the tv. These tvs have on-screen signal source menus, and if you have a variety of inputs (antenna, DVD player, recorder, VCR) you want to be able to connect them all.

Antenna??? Yes. If you have an outdoor antenna, you want to try it with your new tv. Over the air pictures in digital are all or nothing--either you have a great picture or you have nothing.

If you don't have an antenna, and want to play with one, do a search for "Gray-Hoverman" antennas. That isn't a brand name, it's a design. I made my own Gray-Hoverman with a sheet of cardboard, wire, tape, and the appropriate cable and balun, put it in a window that faces the local channels and I have wonderful local over the air reception.

Most stations now have one or more subchannels, and they aren't all on cable--you only get them over the air.