The HDTV Help Thread. Ask questions here!

[Qarx]

We're considering getting an HDTV, but didn't really know what was what. Now, I'm not asking for which TV to get (I don't need 50 people telling me to get a $9001 TV), but I am asking how I can tell what's the best TV for us .

To begin with, we're not sure what the difference is between a "Plasma Screen TV", an "LCD TV", and an "LED TV". What would you say is the best investment/what makes them different? We are going for roughly a 32 inch TV if that helps.

I appreciate any help anyone is willing to give!

EDIT:

I have my own HDTV now, but if you have any questions about HDTVs, don't be afraid to ask here in this thread!
_________________

credits to Absoltastic and Pieman for making such awesome banners that aren't the one I made!
My Backloggery
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[Qarx]

We're considering getting an HDTV, but didn't really know what was what. Now, I'm not asking for which TV to get (I don't need 50 people telling me to get a $9001 TV), but I am asking how I can tell what's the best TV for us .

To begin with, we're not sure what the difference is between a "Plasma Screen TV", an "LCD TV", and an "LED TV". What would you say is the best investment/what makes them different? We are going for roughly a 32 inch TV if that helps.

I appreciate any help anyone is willing to give!

EDIT:

I have my own HDTV now, but if you have any questions about HDTVs, don't be afraid to ask here in this thread!
_________________

credits to Absoltastic and Pieman for making such awesome banners that aren't the one I made!
My Backloggery
Want a game suggestion, or have one for the community? Click here!

[RichardGHP]

It depends on what you are using it for, but I can personally recommend LCD.

[RichardGHP]

It depends on what you are using it for, but I can personally recommend LCD.

[youhas]

Once upon a time, it was Vitally Important(tm) that you ended up getting the right sort of screen for your personal viewing conditions. "If you're watching anything with fast motion, like sports or whatever, don't get an LCD: the pixels can't refresh fast enough, so everything gets all choppy and laggy looking!" "If you do your TV watching in a bright room, don't get a plasma: there's so much glare off of their screens!" "LCDs have crappy viewing angles; get a plasma unless you only watch to watch a TV from straight-on in front of it!" "Plasmas are subject to burn-in; don't get one of them if you ever intend on playing video games, with all their parts of the screen that don't change often enough to prevent it!"

Fortunately, you live in The Future. While there's still a kernel of truth to everything I said above, there have been an awful lot of advances in TV technology across the board. I've been to plenty of Super Bowl parties where the host had an LCD TV and no, looking at the screen from random oblique angles still looked just fine. I personally own a big ol' plasma TV and even in the ways we've abused it - "let's play 36 consecutive hours of Rock Band!" - I haven't had any problems with burn-in. If you're super-sensitive to some specific issues or do your viewing in extreme conditions - "my living room is surrounded by glass walls and has tons of skylights overhead! it is the single brightest point in the tri-county area!" - then it'll make a difference to you, yeah. Otherwise, I really wouldn't sweat it, and would go for something with the feature set and price point that suits you best.

(I did all my TV research before LED TVs were really a thing, so I'll abstain from even pretending to be able to competently comment on them.)
_________________

Amusing the world 140 characters at a time: http://www.twitter.com/youhas

[youhas]

Once upon a time, it was Vitally Important(tm) that you ended up getting the right sort of screen for your personal viewing conditions. "If you're watching anything with fast motion, like sports or whatever, don't get an LCD: the pixels can't refresh fast enough, so everything gets all choppy and laggy looking!" "If you do your TV watching in a bright room, don't get a plasma: there's so much glare off of their screens!" "LCDs have crappy viewing angles; get a plasma unless you only watch to watch a TV from straight-on in front of it!" "Plasmas are subject to burn-in; don't get one of them if you ever intend on playing video games, with all their parts of the screen that don't change often enough to prevent it!"

Fortunately, you live in The Future. While there's still a kernel of truth to everything I said above, there have been an awful lot of advances in TV technology across the board. I've been to plenty of Super Bowl parties where the host had an LCD TV and no, looking at the screen from random oblique angles still looked just fine. I personally own a big ol' plasma TV and even in the ways we've abused it - "let's play 36 consecutive hours of Rock Band!" - I haven't had any problems with burn-in. If you're super-sensitive to some specific issues or do your viewing in extreme conditions - "my living room is surrounded by glass walls and has tons of skylights overhead! it is the single brightest point in the tri-county area!" - then it'll make a difference to you, yeah. Otherwise, I really wouldn't sweat it, and would go for something with the feature set and price point that suits you best.

(I did all my TV research before LED TVs were really a thing, so I'll abstain from even pretending to be able to competently comment on them.)
_________________

Amusing the world 140 characters at a time: http://www.twitter.com/youhas

[fUNC]

I've been selling TVs for six years now, and here's the short answer: EVERYTHING is good for gaming now. Games hurting the TV like they did with old projection sets? Not an issue. Burn-in? It's still possible, but only if you leave the TV on a static image for a week- even then, nearly every single set has some sort of whitewashing feature... and so on and so forth. A quick-and-dirty rundown of what's out is below- head to the bottom if you don't feel like reading all of it.

Picking a good TV is like going to a buffet- everybody's tastes are different and most of the work comes in picking and choosing which features you want, but it's all pretty damn delicious. Here's a quick rundown of what you see as the price goes up on 32s-

Plasma- if you're looking at 32", it's irrelevant. The smallest plasma I've ever seen was 37", and that was five years ago. 42" is a more common starting point, and they start at around $450 should you decide to go that route. Best bang for the buck out there as long as you don't mind the glare from the glass panels, and they're fantastic for gaming.

LCD/LED- An LED IS an LCD, especially at 32". Seriously- same exact panel and everything. The only difference is that LCDs are backlit, whereas any LED under $1500 or so is edge-lit- hence being only 1" deep instead of 4". LEDs do consume about 60% of the power that LCDs do, which is a plus, and because they're higher-priced anyway they tend to have company x's better video processors. Response time- again, because you're a rhythm gamer- is going to be identical between the two- i.e., not a problem. So, long story short, LEDs are thinner, more power-efficient LCDs with a touch more (read: almost non-existent) glare and a slightly better picture at about a 15-30% higher cost.

720p/1080p- resolution, which I'm sure you're at least a little familiar with if you're on this site. 1280 pixels by 720 or 1920 by 1080, or just under a million pixels compared to 2.1 million. If you have the source to match it (a blu-ray player, newer 360/ps3 games, or a smattering of TV broadcasts) and are sitting close enough to see the difference, a 1080p set will blow the same 720p set out of the fucking water. However, if you sit 10+ feet away in your living room from that 32", it won't make a difference because your eyes can't see the extra detail.

Refresh rate (60/120/240...Hz)- there's a lot of misinformation out there about this, so here's the short answer: a 120Hz (I call it "double refresh" when I sell) will make things like games and sports that move quickly look less blurry and run about $50-$100 more than a 60Hz set. Anything beyond that looks unnatural and makes people look like cardboard cutouts that stutter as if they're on crack. You'll see 600Hz on plasmas, but it's a bunk statistic because they produce images differently than LED/LCDs do.

Internet connectivity- Android/iPod-like apps for TVs. The 360 and PS3 do Netflix/streaming radio already, so whether the TV has this is useless to you unless you're a 360 owner that really wants Hulu+ early. Very, very few have built-in wi-fi, but again, the gaming system makes that a moot point. The glaring exception is the new Google TV, which actually gives you full media sharing, web browsing, apps, and controls your cable/satellite box to boot. Be prepared to fork over $800 for a 32" though.

3D- doesn't start until you hit 40", and even then at $1000+. Again, irrelevant for what you're after.

Contrast ratio- if anybody still lists it or touts it as a factor, ignore everything they have to say. For reasons I won't get into here, it's the most useless and misleading statistic ever produced, which is saying something.

The low down dirty shame- it's all about your budget. If I were you, I'd look at a 1080p/120Hz LCD or LED, but subtract stuff as you see fit if it's not in your price range. Mini-theater soundbars have gotten incredibly cheap, too, so being the music gamer that you are you should check a few of those out while you're there. Samsung, LG, and Sony are your world-beaters as far as brands go, with Panasonic, Vizio, Sharp, Toshiba, the occasional good store brand TV below that.

Sorry for pulling this out to book-length, but feel free to ask here or send me a PM if you have any other questions.
_________________

~Kyle~

Scorehero's #1 Chiefs fan and L4D2 player

[fUNC]

I've been selling TVs for six years now, and here's the short answer: EVERYTHING is good for gaming now. Games hurting the TV like they did with old projection sets? Not an issue. Burn-in? It's still possible, but only if you leave the TV on a static image for a week- even then, nearly every single set has some sort of whitewashing feature... and so on and so forth. A quick-and-dirty rundown of what's out is below- head to the bottom if you don't feel like reading all of it.

Picking a good TV is like going to a buffet- everybody's tastes are different and most of the work comes in picking and choosing which features you want, but it's all pretty damn delicious. Here's a quick rundown of what you see as the price goes up on 32s-

Plasma- if you're looking at 32", it's irrelevant. The smallest plasma I've ever seen was 37", and that was five years ago. 42" is a more common starting point, and they start at around $450 should you decide to go that route. Best bang for the buck out there as long as you don't mind the glare from the glass panels, and they're fantastic for gaming.

LCD/LED- An LED IS an LCD, especially at 32". Seriously- same exact panel and everything. The only difference is that LCDs are backlit, whereas any LED under $1500 or so is edge-lit- hence being only 1" deep instead of 4". LEDs do consume about 60% of the power that LCDs do, which is a plus, and because they're higher-priced anyway they tend to have company x's better video processors. Response time- again, because you're a rhythm gamer- is going to be identical between the two- i.e., not a problem. So, long story short, LEDs are thinner, more power-efficient LCDs with a touch more (read: almost non-existent) glare and a slightly better picture at about a 15-30% higher cost.

720p/1080p- resolution, which I'm sure you're at least a little familiar with if you're on this site. 1280 pixels by 720 or 1920 by 1080, or just under a million pixels compared to 2.1 million. If you have the source to match it (a blu-ray player, newer 360/ps3 games, or a smattering of TV broadcasts) and are sitting close enough to see the difference, a 1080p set will blow the same 720p set out of the fucking water. However, if you sit 10+ feet away in your living room from that 32", it won't make a difference because your eyes can't see the extra detail.

Refresh rate (60/120/240...Hz)- there's a lot of misinformation out there about this, so here's the short answer: a 120Hz (I call it "double refresh" when I sell) will make things like games and sports that move quickly look less blurry and run about $50-$100 more than a 60Hz set. Anything beyond that looks unnatural and makes people look like cardboard cutouts that stutter as if they're on crack. You'll see 600Hz on plasmas, but it's a bunk statistic because they produce images differently than LED/LCDs do.

Internet connectivity- Android/iPod-like apps for TVs. The 360 and PS3 do Netflix/streaming radio already, so whether the TV has this is useless to you unless you're a 360 owner that really wants Hulu+ early. Very, very few have built-in wi-fi, but again, the gaming system makes that a moot point. The glaring exception is the new Google TV, which actually gives you full media sharing, web browsing, apps, and controls your cable/satellite box to boot. Be prepared to fork over $800 for a 32" though.

3D- doesn't start until you hit 40", and even then at $1000+. Again, irrelevant for what you're after.

Contrast ratio- if anybody still lists it or touts it as a factor, ignore everything they have to say. For reasons I won't get into here, it's the most useless and misleading statistic ever produced, which is saying something.

The low down dirty shame- it's all about your budget. If I were you, I'd look at a 1080p/120Hz LCD or LED, but subtract stuff as you see fit if it's not in your price range. Mini-theater soundbars have gotten incredibly cheap, too, so being the music gamer that you are you should check a few of those out while you're there. Samsung, LG, and Sony are your world-beaters as far as brands go, with Panasonic, Vizio, Sharp, Toshiba, the occasional good store brand TV below that.

Sorry for pulling this out to book-length, but feel free to ask here or send me a PM if you have any other questions.
_________________

~Kyle~

Scorehero's #1 Chiefs fan and L4D2 player

[Qarx]

Alright, I've been informed that in addition to getting a new TV, we're getting a new entertainment center. This means that we'll have room for as big as a 42" TV. However, our budget limits how much we can spend to no more than $600 on the TV itself, but would prefer to spend less than $500.

The distance from our TV set to the farthest seat is around 8', so we'd like a 1080p one, and would rather not settle for 720p. We'll be using it for watching TV, movies on DVD and Blue Ray and for playing non-music PS3 games (Why non-music? Cause I'm not the one who owns it XP) such as Red Dead Redemption, Call of Duty Black Ops, and so on. We also don't watch sports (at all), but we'll still consider that 120 Hz refresh rate if we can afford it.

So given those parameters (mostly given to me by my sister), what might you recommend?

Oh, and thank you very much for all that information you've given me so far!

EDIT:

I'd also like to know if there's any brands more trustworthy than others, or if there's any brands in particular that I should avoid?
_________________

credits to Absoltastic and Pieman for making such awesome banners that aren't the one I made!
My Backloggery
Want a game suggestion, or have one for the community? Click here!

[Qarx]

Alright, I've been informed that in addition to getting a new TV, we're getting a new entertainment center. This means that we'll have room for as big as a 42" TV. However, our budget limits how much we can spend to no more than $600 on the TV itself, but would prefer to spend less than $500.

The distance from our TV set to the farthest seat is around 8', so we'd like a 1080p one, and would rather not settle for 720p. We'll be using it for watching TV, movies on DVD and Blue Ray and for playing non-music PS3 games (Why non-music? Cause I'm not the one who owns it XP) such as Red Dead Redemption, Call of Duty Black Ops, and so on. We also don't watch sports (at all), but we'll still consider that 120 Hz refresh rate if we can afford it.

So given those parameters (mostly given to me by my sister), what might you recommend?

Oh, and thank you very much for all that information you've given me so far!

EDIT:

I'd also like to know if there's any brands more trustworthy than others, or if there's any brands in particular that I should avoid?
_________________

credits to Absoltastic and Pieman for making such awesome banners that aren't the one I made!
My Backloggery
Want a game suggestion, or have one for the community? Click here!

[endstille]

Honestly not even trying to be biased, but my manager at Target told me 42" LCD's are going on sale for $250 on black friday and the following week, if that helps your decision at all. Although i'm not sure if that's nationwide, but that's just my two cents.
_________________

I play every GH/RB game on 360 now, but my PS2 scores are still up, just outdated. Just FYI.

Why aren't religious people considered conspiracy theorists? They believe there's a "behind the scenes" operation going on.

[endstille]

Honestly not even trying to be biased, but my manager at Target told me 42" LCD's are going on sale for $250 on black friday and the following week, if that helps your decision at all. Although i'm not sure if that's nationwide, but that's just my two cents.
_________________

I play every GH/RB game on 360 now, but my PS2 scores are still up, just outdated. Just FYI.

Why aren't religious people considered conspiracy theorists? They believe there's a "behind the scenes" operation going on.

[fUNC]

[fUNC]

[Vampyromaniac]

This thread has been very informative.
So do plasma TV's have a noticeable lag on rhythm games? Cuz on my old curved-screen tv there's pretty much no lag, and I never have to adjust the lag, but my friend's 60+" flat-screen (which I think is a plasma) is so far off I've never even been able to adjust it enough to be able to pass expert guitar songs on rock band (granted the RB timing window already gives me a small amount of trouble), and every rhythm game will be about 1/3 second off by default (which is a huge amount!).

Just curious because violet lightning hit my neighbors house a few weeks back and made my monitor and tv screens purple, lol.
_________________

[/u]

[Vampyromaniac]

This thread has been very informative.
So do plasma TV's have a noticeable lag on rhythm games? Cuz on my old curved-screen tv there's pretty much no lag, and I never have to adjust the lag, but my friend's 60+" flat-screen (which I think is a plasma) is so far off I've never even been able to adjust it enough to be able to pass expert guitar songs on rock band (granted the RB timing window already gives me a small amount of trouble), and every rhythm game will be about 1/3 second off by default (which is a huge amount!).

Just curious because violet lightning hit my neighbors house a few weeks back and made my monitor and tv screens purple, lol.
_________________

[/u]

[fUNC]

[fUNC]

[Cabanon]

[Cabanon]

[fUNC]

Also, each store just got a metric ton of the 42" 1080p Panasonic plasma sans anti-glare screen (and, hey, if it's going to be in a cabinet or away from windows anyway...), so if you're going to be waiting a week or two anyway, I'm willing to bet it'll drop to around $550-$600 whenever it gets advertised.
_________________

~Kyle~

Scorehero's #1 Chiefs fan and L4D2 player

[fUNC]

Also, each store just got a metric ton of the 42" 1080p Panasonic plasma sans anti-glare screen (and, hey, if it's going to be in a cabinet or away from windows anyway...), so if you're going to be waiting a week or two anyway, I'm willing to bet it'll drop to around $550-$600 whenever it gets advertised.
_________________

~Kyle~

Scorehero's #1 Chiefs fan and L4D2 player

[CloudFuel]

Samsa3, I've played with you online for a LONG time now and had NO IDEA that you sold tvs nor that you knew so much about them. I definitely learned quite a bit with your info posted and I'll definitely be coming to you in the near future for more advice.
_________________

[CloudFuel]

Samsa3, I've played with you online for a LONG time now and had NO IDEA that you sold tvs nor that you knew so much about them. I definitely learned quite a bit with your info posted and I'll definitely be coming to you in the near future for more advice.
_________________

[PiemanLK]

Thanks for all the info fUNC. I'm thinking of buying a TV myself for Rock Banding, maybe not even as big as a 32", because I'm sick of my 19" CRT that I use now. Anything I should know about TVs smaller than 32"? Also, is there any way to completely remove lag?
_________________

[quote=''Otend'']Id come up with a long post, but Pieman said what we are all thinking, as usual[/quote]
[quote=''youhas'']EDIT TO ADD: Hey, post #3000! Neat! I will eagerly anticipate my set of ScoreHero-branded steak knives within six to eight weeks.[/quote]

[PiemanLK]

Thanks for all the info fUNC. I'm thinking of buying a TV myself for Rock Banding, maybe not even as big as a 32", because I'm sick of my 19" CRT that I use now. Anything I should know about TVs smaller than 32"? Also, is there any way to completely remove lag?
_________________

[quote=''Otend'']Id come up with a long post, but Pieman said what we are all thinking, as usual[/quote]
[quote=''youhas'']EDIT TO ADD: Hey, post #3000! Neat! I will eagerly anticipate my set of ScoreHero-branded steak knives within six to eight weeks.[/quote]

[Qarx]

Alright, we finally got this one. It looks great, and although I haven't played many games on it (or with anything other than an NES, using a coaxial port), I haven't noticed any lag, either. Thanks for all your help!

Well, my problem has been solved, but I'd like this thread to go on to help other people who need help . What should I call it: The HDTV Help Thread?
_________________

credits to Absoltastic and Pieman for making such awesome banners that aren't the one I made!
My Backloggery
Want a game suggestion, or have one for the community? Click here!

[Qarx]

Alright, we finally got this one. It looks great, and although I haven't played many games on it (or with anything other than an NES, using a coaxial port), I haven't noticed any lag, either. Thanks for all your help!

Well, my problem has been solved, but I'd like this thread to go on to help other people who need help . What should I call it: The HDTV Help Thread?
_________________

credits to Absoltastic and Pieman for making such awesome banners that aren't the one I made!
My Backloggery
Want a game suggestion, or have one for the community? Click here!

[fUNC]

[fUNC]