Circuit City HDTV sale

snaz16 · Post by **snaz16** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 10:12 am

There are 2 ads that caught my attention and I'm hoping the usual suspects, Jon and Sport,and whomever else might want to chime in(come on db,I know your lurking out there)
Although I'm a big Sony fan,they just don't want to give any breaks. The 2 that caught my eye are the Toshiba 65" 1080p DLP,at $1500,and the other is a Sharp Aquos 46"1080p LCD at $1300.
This would be mostly for tv watching in the main room,as I have my own setup in the back room for gaming.
Any pluses or minuses that anyone knows about,that could be sent my way? Thanks.

Sport73 · Post by **Sport73** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 11:21 am

Though many may disagree, I just don't feel good about DLP sets - at least not until they're putting 3 chips in for a competitive price.

DLP Sets introduce:

- A spinning color wheel, adding noise and a reliability concern
- The (small) percentage of people who will see 'rainbows' or get headaches thanks to the flashing fields of color.
- Wobulation to produce 1080p - the tiny mirrors pivot one pixel very fast during each frame to 'double' their physical arrangement.
- All the bulk, warm-up time, and bulb replacement of other RPTV.

If you're going to go DLP, go for Mitsubishi - I think they have a model on sale in the same price range.

Between the 2 you mention, I recommend the Sharp. I'm not thrilled with Sharp's on-screen menus or logic for dealing with 4:3 images, but the picture quality is bright, detailed, and colorful.

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 12:28 pm

Sport,

What do you think of this deal @ CC:

Olevia 247TFHD 47" 1080p LCD HDTV for $1099 w/ free shipping. You might be able to stack a 10% off coupon found on Ebay or AAA. Thanks chazjr.

greggsand · Post by **greggsand** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 3:16 pm

Between the DLP or LCD, go with sharp lcd all the way.

jondiehl · Post by **jondiehl** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 11:41 pm

I'm pretty format neutral when it comes to HDTV displays.

I have two LCD's (Sharp 42" and Panasonic front projector @ 110"), two DLP's (Panasonic 50" and Toshiba 56"), and a CRT (Sony 36").

I can tell you that I prefer my DLP sets for watching anything dark or with alot of motion. The LCD's are nice for bright rooms because they won't wash out or have any glare. We normally watch movies on the HD DVD system on the 110" LCD projector setup, the 42" Sharp LCD is in the kitchen/hearth room. It mainly gets used in the mornings or around dinner time and gets alot of sun and both times... no problems for this bright bad boy. The DLP's are in the family room and master bed rooms. They get watched at night primarily and are nice and smooth. No macroblocking or artifacts like you can get with less than top of the line LCD's and inky blacks are the norm. We use these sets for watching mostly network HDTV shows.

Sport is correct on his DLP comments, although I've never met anyone in person that has had issues with rainbows on either of my sets. Much of this has been corrected since the 3rd generation or so of DLP as the color wheels have gotten much faster. Noise is never a concern with any of my setups... either the hard drive from the DVR, or the fan from the console are louder than the HDTV... and that's when the sound is off. I'm hard pressed to hear anything other than the dialog from the screen from any of my DLP rear projector sets. Like any projection setup (front or rear) they do have to "warm up" but we're talking under a minute. I've never replaced a bulb, but then again I'm not using any one HDTV for a primary viewing spot. They all get worked into the rotation. Even so, they'll last thousands of hours and when they do need replacing it's very easy and not all that expensive if you buy the lamp online.

My recommendation with any LCD setup is DO NOT go for a budget model. You'll be sorry, very sorry. Those prices are attractive for a reason, the technology inside that thing sucks. I was at Sear's the other day and worked over the Pro-Scan 42" 1080p model for an evaluation for my neighbor. It's only $899 there tomorrow and he was all hot to trot. The thing was awful. Blacks looked gray no matter how much I tried to tweak it in the video menus and it had major problems with motion and artifacts. We then looked at a Sharp 46" LCD that was only 720p and it looked far far better due to it's much higher contast ratio (and only $999 tomorrow).

As for the black friday deals... I'd highly recommend any of the Sharp LCD panels. Sure, you can get some stuff a little cheaper with Olevia, Polaroid and other generic type of brands, but Sharp makes a helluva LCD flat panel.

The Sharp Aquos 46" 1080p for $1300 is awesome, although I'd still recommend the 720p version @ Sears for $999 as well. 1080p might not be necessary at that size or the distance you might be viewing it. Also, unless you'll be feeding it a 1080p signal (HD DVD or Blu-Ray) it's unlikely that you'll see a major difference with regular HD content (720p/1080i) unless you're sitting right on top of it. I have a 1080p HDTV (LCD) and can't honestly tell the difference when viewing 720p/1080i sources. With LCD, contrast ratio is far more important than 768p vs 1080p resolution, IMO.

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 10:17 am

Very good advice Jon. Going to take it to heart and check out the Sharp either later today or tomorrow.

Thanks!

hoserthehorrible · Post by **hoserthehorrible** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 10:29 am

Ultimate Electronics has a deal on a Panasonic 50" Plasma for $998. It's the Panasonic TH50PX77U model and it's very highly rated by CNET, Consumer Electronics and the ratings people.

I have it and it's a great TV. At $998 you can't possibly go wrong or find a better deal for that type of quality. The picture is outstanding on HD and it's pretty decent on SD as well. Sporting events and lot's of motion look great and it's got an anti-glare screen which works great in a big room with lots of windows.

I highly recommend it.

Naples39 · Post by **Naples39** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 12:02 pm

Jon gives great advice. He is more knowledgeable than I am on the subject, but when I bought my HDTV last year after a lot of shopping around, I ended up going with a high contrast ratio 720p LCD as well. Couldn't really tell the difference between resolutions, but I instantly noticed the contrast ratios in most sets.

Nozzleman_216 · Post by **Nozzleman_216** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 3:34 pm

Not all budget model's are bad. Olevia and Vizio both make quality LCD's. I love my Vizio!

jondiehl · Post by **jondiehl** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 3:48 pm

SEMINOLE wrote:Not all budget model's are bad. Olevia and Vizio both make quality LCD's. I love my Vizio!

True. I'd much rather have a Vizio than a Syntax Olevia (read some unbiased reviews of Olevia LCD's. Major QC issues, buzzing, cheap construction, etc).

Vizio isn't quite on par with the LCD panels from Sharp, Sony and Samsung... but they're certainly better than a Polaroid, Sanyo, Audiovox, Sylanvia, Insignia/Westinghouse, etc....

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 3:49 pm

What is considered a good contrast ratio? I looked at a 40" 1080P Sony Bravia yesterday that was priced at $1200, but only had a contrast ratio of 7000:1. Sitting right next to it was a Samsung 40" 1080p for $1500 that had a contrast ratio of 25000:1 and it definitely looked a lot better.

Now, I'm looking at a 42" 1080P LG with a contrast ratio of 10000:1. It seems these contrast ratios are all over the board!

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 4:52 pm

SEMINOLE wrote:Not all budget model's are bad. Olevia and Vizio both make quality LCD's. I love my Vizio!

Just purchased a 42" 1080P Vizio from CC a few days ago. I am very impressed, but then again I'm not a high tech tv junkie. I got what I thought was a pretty good deal @ $1199. In a couple days, the same tv will be on sale @ Sears for $999. So, I'm heading back to CC to get them to match the price.

kicko · Post by **kicko** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 10:53 am

sportdan30 wrote:
SEMINOLE wrote:Not all budget model's are bad. Olevia and Vizio both make quality LCD's. I love my Vizio!
Just purchased a 42" 1080P Vizio from CC a few days ago. I am very impressed, but then again I'm not a high tech tv junkie. I got what I thought was a pretty good deal @ $1199. In a couple days, the same tv will be on sale @ Sears for $999. So, I'm heading back to CC to get them to match the price.

I just bought that same TV at Costco's. I played my 360 on it and damn near stained my sofa. I have been pretty pleased with it so far. Can someone explain when i watch HD channels some(not all) have the very bottomline of the picture displayed at the very top. This only on few HD channels and if i have the screen on zoom it fits perfect, and the line is gone. I have Comcast cable also. Beyond that the TV is kicking ass.