NEW TVs ???

i have been seeing tvs getting reasonable.
based on your exp. which is better led,lcd or plasma? and brand.LG,INSIGNA,SAMSUNG,PANASONIC OR SONY? also,i saw a tv with 600hz. electric only comes at 50 or 60 hz. thanks.

Not trying to be funny and don't know the term for what I'd avoid, so will say it with my hands (watch close)...

Never heard of insignia, but there's prolly nothing wrong with them..

If you have an active house, especially with cats and dogs that like to watch TV, you should avoid the one that leaves a trail as you run your finger across it (plasma??).... Otherwise, decide the size/features you want and buy cheap (you don't have to tell anyone what you paid, just pick it up after midnight at walmart and let em guess)... May not be the case anymore, but used to be if you bought Samsung or LG, you knew you were getting a korean made product, no telling what countries were represented in the others...
We've got 3 in the house (whatever the ALDI store had on sale at the time), a samsung an LG, and a panasonic and don't see a difference in picture quality

I wish we had a Aldi store closer to us 50/60 min ride, that no frills is my style (And price) reflects.


http://aldi.us/us/html/service/store_locator_ENU_HTML.htm

IMHO, the LED's are much better than LCD's or Plasma.
If you have a problem with the Plasma might as well junk it costs way to much to fix. LCD's are prone to wear out the bulb and the OEM bulb costs as much as a new set. After market bulbs are cheap but they wear out faster also.
LED's will outlast you & I, capable of many 1000's of hours of use & still have a very sharp & bright picture.
I bought a cheap, $210, Westinghouse 32'' LED and the picture is head & shoulders better than the Sony LCD I have.
Can't speak to the brand issue but whatever you make sure it's a LED 1080i with a high refresh ratio & you'll be happy.

I think the plasma are the ones you want for an active house. The screen is glass.
Our neighbors had the others and the little rug rats soon had them not working from touching the screen. They finally got a plasma and based on them that's what we got too.

The 600hz is refering to the refresh rate of the flashing PICTURES that make up the moving image. Mine is 120hz didnt know they went that high now.

Ive got 4 flat screens in the house. The main one is a Sony LED. The only downside Ihave is when your watching a dark show, like maybe a sci-fi movie, the dark sections have the little squares. Its not like that all the time, just on darker scenes in some shows. Both my kids have a small 26" in their rooms, both are LED Vizios, and they do the same thing, butthey very seldom have them on. The one in my bedroom is some cheap off brand I picked up for 30 bucks at a yardsale. Im not sure but I think its LCD. very grainy picture, but when I hook up the laptop, its much clearer.

You can't trust the brand names anymore. Bean counters have gotten wise and are now putting once-respected brand names on cheap junk. It's so bad that you have to go by individual TV model. Same model could be sold under multiple brands, with different face plates.

bought new flat screen dissapointed in picture went to 3 cables not coax now great picture

Personally I'd stick with samsung.

They've made a good name for themselves in tvs recently. Highly rated by consumer reports, etc. I'm very happy with mine.

And I have to say stay away from Sony at all costs.

Every single sony product I've ever owned has broken prematurely.

Back from the days of the sony walkman - I never learned my lesson. tape players - cd players - vcrs - televisions - recievers - amplifiers - camcorders.

Literally every single sony product. They always LOOK like a good product, and they price them right in between high end and low end so you feel it's a good compromise. But I've always regretted it.

Finally in my old age I have learned and will NEVER purchase another sony product.

Personally I'd stick with samsung.

They've made a good name for themselves in tvs recently. Highly rated by consumer reports, etc. I'm very happy with mine.

And I have to say stay away from Sony at all costs.

Every single sony product I've ever owned has broken prematurely.

Back from the days of the sony walkman - I never learned my lesson. tape players - cd players - vcrs - televisions - recievers - amplifiers - camcorders.

Literally every single sony product. They always LOOK like a good product, and they price them right in between high end and low end so you feel it's a good compromise. But I've always regretted it.

Finally in my old age I have learned and will NEVER purchase another sony product.

I have 2 vizios both have been good sets. The one that is on the most is a LED LCD.

From customer statements that I have seen on other websites, LG products in general do not have a very good reputation. The only LG product that I have ever had was a cell phone and it was a dud.

we bought a samsung several years ago. big screen placed on wall. it was off the wall more than on it. capacitors in power supply went, then developed lines in screen. more problems with power supply, etc, etc. finally went out all together, no picture. we will not buy a samsung now at all. others have had good results with them. we replaced ours with a phillips from costco. they extend the warranty to two years and we bought another three for about $70 so we have a five year warranty on it. probably never have a problem but for five years someone else will pay for fixing it. Good luck.

Picture quality depends on the signal comming in. I have Directv so I get a very good quality picture. Satellite or cable is the only way to go those roof anntenas just can't recieve the same picture quality.
I have a 73 in 1080P 3-D so I need the best signal possible. My surround system is 1080I so I can't run the sat receiver though the sound system and get 3D it cost $500 to upgrade and Moma is already mad about my $1450 medical bracelet.
Walt

LCDs work like a piece of film. It needs a backlight to shine through to see the picture. An LED is just an LCD with LED baclights. The advantage is that the LEDs should last the life of the tv where the non LED may need replaced at some point. A plasma produces the picture with little lights for each pixel. They are brighter but will not have the life an an LCD. I have no opinions on brands but I would buy an LCD before an plasma just because will most likely need replacing sooner than the LCD will.

Refresh rate is how fast it redraws the screen. 60 is slow for quick action. 120 is good, 240 is probably tops a person would notice, 600 would be advertizing gimic?

Contrast ratings are some magic number that don't relate well from one manufaturer to the next (tey all lie about it....), but is the most noticable 'feature' I see on TV's. It affects how the color black is seen, and if you like sports one way is better, if you like movies in a dark room a different way is better. I'd suggest looking at various models in a store, to get a feel for that contrast rating - what _you_ like, this seemed to be the biggest differences in sets when we were looking, and their is no right singgle answer.... Personal prefference.

Plasma is really neat if you are a video junkie tended to be the high-dollar sets, but often they glare and reflect lighting in the room something awful, and probably are not as long-lasting. When first came out, Plasma was the top of the line, but LED/LCD has caught up for most part, you'll probably be happiest with a LED/LCD.

We bought Samsung but that's been 5 years ago, things change. At that time, Samsung was most pleasing to us on that contrast deal, we really like Sony at that time, but their shades of black (the contrast) wasn't quite the same.

Wherever we looked, the only really bad looking set was always Westinghouse, they looked washed out back then, terrible.

--->Paul

I have had a Westinghouse flat screen tv for at least five years. Never had any trouble so far. Great HD pictures I think.

LCD is cheaper to operate. Samsung seems to be the best at WW and they have been in the business as long as anyone. I currently have a 24" wide screen LCD by another mfgr, but if it ever crapps out I think I will replace it with a Samsung.

What's absolutely marvelous, is technology. Here you have the best of what science can offer and by waiting for several years for the bugs to get worked out and the volume to increase to the point that this superb technology is reasonably priced is absolutely fantastic.

I used to moonlight in a TV shop back in the days when color TV first came out. I guarantee you, the viewing consumer has no earthly idea as to where technology is today vs then and can't appreciate the accomplishment.

Mark

"Best" is a relative term. A few facts though. LCDs are not more efficient then Plasmas in many case. It's silly that Plasmas have been banned in some areas as "power hogs." That rumour started because LCD
TVs can be "tuned down" to a low-power picture and draw less current. Problem is - hardly anyone watches them that way (low quality mode). When run at "avergage" screen settings, Plasmas and LCDs use around the same power per square inch of viewable screen.

And for those that say you can't get same picture quality over-the-air as with cable? That is pure nonsense. If you live in a area where the reception is possible - the HD quality with a roof-top antenna is just as good as with a dish or cable.

LED TVs are LCD TVs with some LEDS used inside for light power. So, an LED/LDC TV can use less power then a conventional LDC TV.

Main differences between TVS that mean anything are theses (at least in my world). A Plasma can be viewed from any angle and in bright light. An LCD has a narrow viewing angle and is not all that great in bright light. The advance to LDC is the many screen sizes available. Much more limited with Plasmas. Another thing that's important only to people who use roof-top antennas is the quality of the TV tuner and tuner software. Some get better reception then others. If you use only cable or a dish though, you'll never know the difference.

good stuff. thanks.

For what it is worth.....

I suggest going with a plasma, led, or the new oled. The Oled ones are very nice. They project the led lighting from around the perimeter making them very bright. Even brighter than led ones. My second choice would be the LED. Just make sure you get one that has a high refresh rate or it will pixilate (little squares on screen) during fast moving shows or ballgames.

I prefer the larger brands as far as quality goes. You can't go wrong with Samsung in my opinion.