best quality big screen hdtv image
Q. I'm looking for a 46" or 50" big screen TV. My budget is around $900 - $1100. I'm not to concerned with the type of TV, wether it's LCD, Plasma or Projection. Although, this new TVs main purpose is for gaming, so it must have HDMI and at least 720p. I'm also worried about latency as I've read that some newer televisions can be a little slow to display the image due to the image processing that takes place. Does anyone have any good recomendations as to a tv brand or type that fills all these criteria and is within my budget? I'm not opposed to purchasing online although I still want to stay within my budget after tax and shipping fees.
Answer
I do in fact have a recomendation and it's one shared by most experts in the audio/visual field. At this point in time the Hitachi f59 series is the absolute best bang for the buck available on the market, bar none. LCD? Plasma? DLP? Nope, it's got every set below $3000 covered hands down in every relevant category, be it picture quality, gaming performance or maintenance cost. The fact is that CRT is still the benchmark all others are judged by and at this point in time a High Def rear projection set such as the Hitachi offers the savvy buyer all the goodies without the hassles.
The F59 series is available in 51, 57 and 65 inch screen sizes, and as to price, well lets just say that on a good sale day you can pick up the 65 for between $1000-$1200 and the 57 for $999. Personally, I'd wait for the annual 'After the Super Bowl' sales as most retailers really offer some blowout pricing at this time, many close to those of 'Black Friday'. It was 'Black Friday' which put the 51 inch version on my doorstep at $699 shipped and I couldn't be happier with this set, heck I'd have paid full price and still considered it a steal. Yes, it really IS that good! But don't just take my word for it, take a look for youself at some of the factors which lead me to this purchase.
For instance lets look at the bulbs, or should I say lack of. ALL of the others technologies require an arc lamp bulb to provide the light source and it does a wonderful job...for about two years. 18-24 months is the average life expectancy of these bulbs under normal viewing conditions, then its time for replacement at a cost of $200. Average that out over the ten plus years you'll watch your typical CRT rear projection set like the Hitachi with ZERO bulbs and you'll see just what the latest 'High Tech' is really worth.
As you're a gamer this is the best choice once again due to a few things, the foremost being response time. CRT doesn't have to measure pixel response in milliseconds because there are none, thus instant and true image representaion is there 24/7/365. This is critical when playing first person shooters such as Halo on Xbox Live as the lag associated with the other technologies allows the slightest bit of lag. Sure, a 10ms lag doesn't seem like much but it is the difference in that hitting and missing those vital split second shots, the difference between tea bagging an downed opponent or cursing yourself blue over why your 'dead on' head shot failed to take out the bad guy. Of course the fact you require an HDMI port tells me you're of the PS3 persuasion but this set does indeed have and support HDMI so that's another base covered. Oh, and screen 'Burn In' isn't really an issue either anymore so than any other set, in fact less if proper caution such as not leaving ANYTHING paused for extended periods of time are taken.
Now as far as movie watching goes I certainly hope you have access to a lot of DVDs because viewing them on this set is more addictive than heroin or internet porn. My personal collection grows by the week now, even movies I've seen a million times gain new life on this set. And as for cable, well I have digital cable and see NO reason to upgrade to HD because the Standard def stations would remain the same and the combo of digital and this TV make you swear you were watching true High Def when tuned to any of the Discovery Network channels.
I'll not even go into the realm of picture quality, suffice to say 1080i with the true blacks and true color representation only CRT can deliver is still king of the hill despite every attempt to knock it off. So go ahead and pull the trigger on one of these bad boys, I promise, you'll not be dissapointed in any way, shape or form. Good luck and happy viewing
I do in fact have a recomendation and it's one shared by most experts in the audio/visual field. At this point in time the Hitachi f59 series is the absolute best bang for the buck available on the market, bar none. LCD? Plasma? DLP? Nope, it's got every set below $3000 covered hands down in every relevant category, be it picture quality, gaming performance or maintenance cost. The fact is that CRT is still the benchmark all others are judged by and at this point in time a High Def rear projection set such as the Hitachi offers the savvy buyer all the goodies without the hassles.
The F59 series is available in 51, 57 and 65 inch screen sizes, and as to price, well lets just say that on a good sale day you can pick up the 65 for between $1000-$1200 and the 57 for $999. Personally, I'd wait for the annual 'After the Super Bowl' sales as most retailers really offer some blowout pricing at this time, many close to those of 'Black Friday'. It was 'Black Friday' which put the 51 inch version on my doorstep at $699 shipped and I couldn't be happier with this set, heck I'd have paid full price and still considered it a steal. Yes, it really IS that good! But don't just take my word for it, take a look for youself at some of the factors which lead me to this purchase.
For instance lets look at the bulbs, or should I say lack of. ALL of the others technologies require an arc lamp bulb to provide the light source and it does a wonderful job...for about two years. 18-24 months is the average life expectancy of these bulbs under normal viewing conditions, then its time for replacement at a cost of $200. Average that out over the ten plus years you'll watch your typical CRT rear projection set like the Hitachi with ZERO bulbs and you'll see just what the latest 'High Tech' is really worth.
As you're a gamer this is the best choice once again due to a few things, the foremost being response time. CRT doesn't have to measure pixel response in milliseconds because there are none, thus instant and true image representaion is there 24/7/365. This is critical when playing first person shooters such as Halo on Xbox Live as the lag associated with the other technologies allows the slightest bit of lag. Sure, a 10ms lag doesn't seem like much but it is the difference in that hitting and missing those vital split second shots, the difference between tea bagging an downed opponent or cursing yourself blue over why your 'dead on' head shot failed to take out the bad guy. Of course the fact you require an HDMI port tells me you're of the PS3 persuasion but this set does indeed have and support HDMI so that's another base covered. Oh, and screen 'Burn In' isn't really an issue either anymore so than any other set, in fact less if proper caution such as not leaving ANYTHING paused for extended periods of time are taken.
Now as far as movie watching goes I certainly hope you have access to a lot of DVDs because viewing them on this set is more addictive than heroin or internet porn. My personal collection grows by the week now, even movies I've seen a million times gain new life on this set. And as for cable, well I have digital cable and see NO reason to upgrade to HD because the Standard def stations would remain the same and the combo of digital and this TV make you swear you were watching true High Def when tuned to any of the Discovery Network channels.
I'll not even go into the realm of picture quality, suffice to say 1080i with the true blacks and true color representation only CRT can deliver is still king of the hill despite every attempt to knock it off. So go ahead and pull the trigger on one of these bad boys, I promise, you'll not be dissapointed in any way, shape or form. Good luck and happy viewing
What should I be looking for in a big screen TV?
annie
I have heard that plasma is no good, LED is good (lasts about 15 yrs) and LCD is the best (lasts a lifetime). What are some recommendations on buying a big screen TV, as in things to look for?
Answer
Well, none of those statements are true!
Plasma and LCD last about the same amount of time...depending on brand! There is no way to know for sure how long LED will last since it is a new technology.
When looking for a new HDTV, the first step is to figure out what your budget will be. A key piece of advice here is "You get what you pay for"! Meaning if you go with a TV brand that is considerably cheaper then another, there's a good reason for that! Super cheap brands of TVs are not reliable and generally do not come close to name brand TVs in terms of picture quality!
Top 5 brands in terms of product reliability and overall picture quality:
1. Panasonic
2. Samsung
3. Sony
4. LG
5. Sharp
Other things to consider are LCD or Plasma....Screen size...720p vs 1080p...and so on! Size and resolution(720p vs 1080p) can be determined by knowing what distance from the TV that you sit. Typically the most common size range for the living room is between 42" - 50". Here is a nice chart that will help determine what resolution you actually need based on your seating distance and screen size(pay attention to the green & red lines and/or shaded areas only): http://s3.carltonbale.com/resolution_chart.html
Let me know if you need more help with the chart!
As for the LCD vs Plasma deal, it basically comes down to your preferences and viewing conditions! LCD TVs come in a wider range of sizes and resolutions but are more expensive and not as good with fast motion!
Plasma TVs on the other hand only come in sizes 42" to 65". But are much better at producing sharper images with fast motion content like sports, movies & gaming! They also have deeper blacks and more vivid and rich looking colors!
For more info on LCD and Plasmas, see here: http://www.plasma-lcd-facts.co.uk/
Hope this helps!
Well, none of those statements are true!
Plasma and LCD last about the same amount of time...depending on brand! There is no way to know for sure how long LED will last since it is a new technology.
When looking for a new HDTV, the first step is to figure out what your budget will be. A key piece of advice here is "You get what you pay for"! Meaning if you go with a TV brand that is considerably cheaper then another, there's a good reason for that! Super cheap brands of TVs are not reliable and generally do not come close to name brand TVs in terms of picture quality!
Top 5 brands in terms of product reliability and overall picture quality:
1. Panasonic
2. Samsung
3. Sony
4. LG
5. Sharp
Other things to consider are LCD or Plasma....Screen size...720p vs 1080p...and so on! Size and resolution(720p vs 1080p) can be determined by knowing what distance from the TV that you sit. Typically the most common size range for the living room is between 42" - 50". Here is a nice chart that will help determine what resolution you actually need based on your seating distance and screen size(pay attention to the green & red lines and/or shaded areas only): http://s3.carltonbale.com/resolution_chart.html
Let me know if you need more help with the chart!
As for the LCD vs Plasma deal, it basically comes down to your preferences and viewing conditions! LCD TVs come in a wider range of sizes and resolutions but are more expensive and not as good with fast motion!
Plasma TVs on the other hand only come in sizes 42" to 65". But are much better at producing sharper images with fast motion content like sports, movies & gaming! They also have deeper blacks and more vivid and rich looking colors!
For more info on LCD and Plasmas, see here: http://www.plasma-lcd-facts.co.uk/
Hope this helps!
Powered by Yahoo! Answers
No comments:
Post a Comment