I'm in the market for a new HDTV, and I'm thinking I'd like to get one before Skyrim releases.  However, Black Friday is closing in fast and its very tempting to wait on, but do I want to deal with the crowds and standing outside in the freezing cold for hours on end at a chance at a deal that could sell out before I even get in the store!?  {And last year the few online deals I was interested in for other items were activated earlier than the 12 midnight as advertised, and were already sold out}

I've been doing a ton of research on HDTVs in the past week or so, cause I've learned very quickly that asking an employee of any electronics store for information is futile, and 'dain bramaging'!  I've read through countless professional and user reviews, and its come to my attention that LG & Samsung are among the best brands, {Sony is too but meh, I hate Sony...they don't deserve my money}  I've also heard some good things about Vizio too.

Thus I've narrowed my choices down to these 3 HDTVs as my top picks currently: {Unless there is something even better in my price range I've overlooked} {Also, I'm not at all interested in a 3D display, as they make my already 24/7 migraine condition even worse!}

LG 47" 1080p 120Hz LCD TV ~ $799.00

Samsung 46" 120Hz LCD 630 Series TV ~ $849.99

Vizio 47" 120Hz LCD ~ $699.99

I originally was interested in this 46" Philips 240Hz, because it has some great features, but then I found a video review on it, and the menu shown and talked about was horrendous with very few settings.  Less than what I already have with my 40" Proscan. 

My budget I suppose is around $900 w/ tax, but basically about $600, cause I'm planning to sell my current HDTV for about $300-$350 to help fund it.  I also want it to be 46"-47", as my current HDTV is 40" ~ might as well go bigger while upgrading! I went to a few stores today and was able to take a good look at the LG and the Samsung posted above and I really like the LG's menu ~ it had tons of nice options and settings, and was easy to navigate.  I cannot recall the Samsung's menu for some odd reason{will check it out again tomorrow}, and I've yet to check out the Vizio.
 

I recently found out that my current HDTV's native resolution is only 1366*768 when using an HDMI cable, and I'd much rather stay with the 1600*1200 via VGA or go all out and get a new HDTV with a native 1920*1080 resolution.  I do recall why I never bothered to use the HDMI before, because my last GPU was a GTX 275, and it did not support a DVI-HDMI cable {I know odd ~ even EVGA confirmed that for me}.  So for the past 2 yrs I've been using the VGA port to game on with my PC, and I just suddenly got an inkling that I should start to take advantage of my high-end PC, now that I have the GTX 580, and there are some damn good games on the horizon, that I want the best image possible for!

Anyway, help would be greatly appreciated!  Maybe someone who reads this owns or has experiened one or more of these HDTVs and could help me decide!


 

the LG seems to rate the higest arounf the web, but to be honest they would probably all be good choices. Vizio has established itsef as a good buget brand, but id consider sticking with the LG personaly. or the samsung if you want a #1 brand name.

I own a Samsung 24" ToC Series LCD monitor and a Samsung 46" 1080p ToC Series 120Hz HDTV. I love them both. Samsung makes in my opinion the best LCDs. But the price can be steep. Although since the LED HDTVs are the big thing now and they're actually amazing, LCD prices are rapidly dropping. I always look around on Sundays at Wal Mart and Best Buy  along with my NewEgg app open on my phone. Like as mentioned earlier, Vizio is a budget, but still a quality TV. I've owned 2. Best budget brand thats almost on par with brand named manufacturers. Aside from Olevia when they were still around. The Samsung if you're really budgetting with that much, would be my personal choice. I would go find a place that has both and compare. The LG is right there with Sony, but from what I've seen after searching for 3 months when I was in the market for a new TV the Samsungs colors were always more vibrant. In any case however, they're all great HDTVs. So you won't really lose out from buying any one of them. If you go with Vizio, you'll have a few extra bucks that you could devote to something else. LG will give you something a LITTLE bigger. A half inch extra added on both sides. But they have nice features. And the Samsung if you just want a great visual experience with 1080p movies. The only drawback is that since it does produce such a strong 1080p signal, it can tend to blur or edge pixel some images of lesser quality. Not that great as a monitor. But I only use mine with my HTPC. Vizio actually looks pretty nice from a PC. Don't know how LG does in that area but I know a couple of people that have have LGs and play WoW, Aion, and Rift on them.

Originally posted by Kotatsu

 And the Samsung if you just want a great visual experience with 1080p movies. The only drawback is that since it does produce such a strong 1080p signal, it can tend to blur or edge pixel some images of lesser quality. Not that great as a monitor.

Well, thats good to know, cause I'll be using this new HDTV as a monitor 95% of the time!

I'll go take a look at the Vizio better in the next day or two, and I believe they had the LG nearby as well.  If I can get a near enough performance with the Vizio as with the LG, I may just go with that to save some money then.  Shall see!

Thanks for the info...

Personally recommend LG, never had any problems with them and the picture quality has always been great. I myself just got a new 50' LG for 600 but really 800 with all the extra costs. 

I would definately go for the Samsung one - I am getting a simlar model soon too.

My experience with Samsung montors and TVs in the past has been nothing but great. My famliy and friends have had LGs anre the build quality is just not there. They are generally cheap and nasty - I would avoid.

Thank me after you've purchased. Bought this TV, a lot cheaper then what you're looking at, and damn cooler.

3D, 42 inch, theater glasses, internet apps, 1080p, etc.

http://www.ecost.com/p/Vizio-Consumer-Electronics/product~dpno~8819346~pdp.giefjba

I bought a big flatscreen tv a few months ago, and after studying the market the Panasonic plasmas very almost uniformly considered the best in their pricerange.

I'm not sure how good plasmas are as gaming screens, I remember they were either better or worse hehe.

I've got the G30 42", and it's a great picture. Some don't care for the design much, and you could say it looks like an overgrown monitor. But I guess it is either an issue or none at all.

http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/tvs/panasonic-viera-g30-tx-p42g30b-review-50003809/

Discussion of Plasma as a gaming screen: http://www.avforums.com/forums/plasma-tvs/522311-using-plasma-tv-gaming-good-idea.html

And: http://www.ehow.com/about_4778221_plasma-vs_-lcd-gaming.html

LG  or grab the Sam if you're okay with an un-noticeable performance increase.. but hey it looks cooler imo

Go look at them. If at all possible ask to hook your laptop up to the floor model to see how your computer looks on the unit.

Aside from that, it doesn't matter what brand or even what price, it matters what looks good to you at a price you can afford.

You can't tell anything by spec sheets on the internet, reviews on the internet, or anything else. You have to look at them. What looks good to one person may look horrible to another. Everyone has a slightly different perception with sight, and monitors exaggerate this.

I love my Samsung 51" 3D plasma tv I got recently.  I got the deal where you get Shrek 3D collection (includes 2 glasses - battery powered) with it.  The picture is awesome.  3D looks extremely nice and the 2D to 3D feature does work properly if not as good as watching a real 3D movie.  The tv is going for $999 to $1089 or so and again includes the Shrek pack.  It really is a good deal if you can find it anywhere.  The worst part about these plasma tvs though is the reflection off the glass screen.  I still need to change up my tv room so I can have a darker atmosphere to watch things in.

For that price, get something with WebTV features.  TVs with internet access are going to be used more in the coming decade in regards to channel providers.  ATT and Cable providers boxes now come with ethernet outputs for a reason.  I would probably go with the Vizio with your budget.

I wouldn't go out of my way though to pay for WebTV support at this time and it isn't hard to make an HTPC computer to use with your tv instead of using something a company puts on a tv and you end up having to pay a sub so the features work.

To all that keep suggesting 3D, sorry but I already said I'm not interested and it makes my head hurt ever more.  And as for the Web TV stuff, no thanks also.  I already have a high-end desktop PC, and don't need anything useless like that, plus I don't watch TV and movies regularly.  Don't even have a subscription to any TV service, nor will I anytime soon.

Oh and I do believe Plasma is not that great for being used as a monitor, or so I've read, and been told by many.

As I said, this is primarily being used as a monitor for HD gaming, with the very occasional TV show or movie that I DL or stream from netflix, however, it is tempting to get a Bluray player someday and rent a movie every now and then from a local RedBox or whatever...heh

And I slept late today and wasn't able to get to the stores in time to check out the Samsung closer, but thus far I really enjoyed what I saw from the LG, so we'll see.  Now I just need to hold out a little longer and not spend the money yet, cause Black Friday isn't too far off.  Hopefully since I'm in a toss between some rather high-end brands, they will have some good deals ~ $200-$300 off one of the above models would be great!

Well too bad cause 2 of those 3 come with wireless or wired internet access.  The LG is not a good gaming television due to a 60hz refresh (customer reviews show this to have a slower response then 120 hz)

Originally posted by Khrymson

 

"Oh and I do believe Plasma is not that great for being used as a monitor, or so I've read, and been told by many.

 As I said, this is primarily being used as a monitor for HD gaming, with the very occasional TV show or movie that I DL or stream from netflix, however, it is tempting to get a Bluray player someday and rent a movie every now and then from a local RedBox or whatever...heh"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  You are kidding right ?  Plasma not that great for being used as a monitor ?  Plasma produces the best quality picture of any tv technology.  It produces the best black also by far.  Yes tvs have a slower response time but it isn't anything really noticeable.  Seriously many people play with monitors that do not have 2 ms response time and still pwn and enjoy gaming.  You will not notice the slower response time at all. LOL 

  Plasma HD = kick *** !!!!!  Seriously whoever told you it was not good for HD gaming is completely off their rocker LOL

Plasma TV's are very nice as long as you are sitting far enough back. But then again, all TV's look kinda poor if you are sitting too close. Again, it all comes down to what you prefer. Personally, I love LED backlit screens over Plasma, but my brother prefers his plasma. My stepfather loves his LED projection screen. Some people prefer TN fluorescent backlit screens. It comes down to personal preference.

Also keep in mind: 120Hz doesn't necessarily mean you will get to use 120Hz on your computer. In fact, I don't know of a single model that will let you use 120Hz; most every TV I know of is "interpolation" where they just upscale a 24/30/60fps source to a 120Hz refresh in order to make it look crisper. You see this faster refresh rate while in some special mode (like "Sports Mode" or something), and when you go to hook up your PC, you still get plain old 60 or 30 Hz options.

Also, you want to make sure your TV has a "Game Mode" or something similar where it turns off all post-processing effects. Many TV's have things like color enhancement, picture smoothing, and other gizmos, and it can actually cause lag on your computer games. It's very significant on my TV if I don't remember to turn on the Game Mode (A Samsung UNB8000).

A good thread if your interested:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1439444

As far as web apps - yeah I agree, mostly gimmicks, but I do say that I would love it if my TV had a Netflix app, because that's about the only thing I use it for anymore and I wouldn't have to fire up a console or my HTPC to just watch Netflix. But, seeing as how I have consoles and HTPC's that do do that, I wouldn't stretch to pay a lot of money for that either.

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Originally posted by DeViLzzz2007

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Originally posted by Khrymson
 
"Oh and I do believe Plasma is not that great for being used as a monitor, or so I've read, and been told by many.
 As I said, this is primarily being used as a monitor for HD gaming, with the very occasional TV show or movie that I DL or stream from netflix, however, it is tempting to get a Bluray player someday and rent a movie every now and then from a local RedBox or whatever...heh"
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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  You are kidding right ?  Plasma not that great for being used as a monitor ?  Plasma produces the best quality picture of any tv technology.  It produces the best black also by far.  Yes tvs have a slower response time but it isn't anything really noticeable.  Seriously many people play with monitors that do not have 2 ms response time and still pwn and enjoy gaming.  You will not notice the slower response time at all. LOL 
 
  Plasma HD = kick *** !!!!!  Seriously whoever told you it was not good for HD gaming is completely off their rocker LOL

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Plasma really does kick ass. Plasma TV's have CRT-like response times (none) so you don't get the motion blur that still exists on LCD screens. The only issue with plasma's is burn in but new plasmas have corrective logic that prevents it well. Might be a little careful when playing a game that has a static UI for 8 hours but I haven't seen any issues on mine.

I would buy a plasma monitor over an LCD monitor if plasma were possible in < 30" screens :(

If anyone wants some quantifiable comparison of motion blur in Plasma vs LCD you can use this tool: http://www.prad.de/en/monitore/testsoftware/pixperan.html

Doing the readability test I can get 6-7 on my LCD screens, and 30 (max) on my plasma..

Originally posted by Khrymson

To all that keep suggesting 3D, sorry but I already said I'm not interested and it makes my head hurt ever more.  And as for the Web TV stuff, no thanks also.  I already have a high-end desktop PC, and don't need anything useless like that, plus I don't watch TV and movies regularly.  Don't even have a subscription to any TV service, nor will I anytime soon.

Oh and I do believe Plasma is not that great for being used as a monitor, or so I've read, and been told by many.

 

As I said, this is primarily being used as a monitor for HD gaming, with the very occasional TV show or movie that I DL or stream from netflix, however, it is tempting to get a Bluray player someday and rent a movie every now and then from a local RedBox or whatever...heh

 

 

And I slept late today and wasn't able to get to the stores in time to check out the Samsung closer, but thus far I really enjoyed what I saw from the LG, so we'll see.  Now I just need to hold out a little longer and not spend the money yet, cause Black Friday isn't too far off.  Hopefully since I'm in a toss between some rather high-end brands, they will have some good deals ~ $200-$300 off one of the above models would be great!

 

 MBP ...

I use a 40' 2011 3d Sony led lcd as my primary pc gaming monitor and i can understand exactly what you are going for.

First its good you dont want a tv for the 3d...its horrible on tv's and pc gaming.

Second, go with the Sammy. Samsung is much better, and I actually regret getting this more expensive Sony over the Samsung, which clearly has better picture.

Third, I really wouldnt recommend anything above a 40". Not only is it over kill, but the bigger the screen, the more jaggies you start to see. Remember the pixels dont stay the same size as the tv size goes up..the pixels get bigger and you lose definition unless you sit farther away.

I might even go as far as to recommend just getting a projector as its size can always be adjusted, but otherwise get a Sammy. The other option is to get one of the newer big screen monitors... or two of them and double your resolution from it. But thats just me.

As great as PC gaming on a 40' 3dtv is... i realized the monitor just gives better performance and color. Then again I also want to do more 3D gaming, which is amazing if done right. The new nvidia 3d technology and monitors actually fixes the dark screen effect current 3d has.

Samsung is the best choice if you have to make it.

-cheers