If you are in the market for a 40" LCD, what would you buy?

polkatese

and why?

btw, so far I had identifed Samsung LN-S4095D and a Sony Bravia. If you think I should wait for any reason, please feel free to state that too.

Thanks, folks!

george daniel

I've owned a sony since march,no problems encountered.

univera

Check out this thread. I just got the Sony kdl40xbr2 and think it looks very nice, very real. I really did my research ahead of time based on the previous model. Great looking t.v. as well. No PIP, but other than that, seems to do what it is primarily designed to do (HD) damn good. Don't know your budget, but the XBR is better looking cosmetically and picture wise than the regular Bravia. The Bravia's are a bit cheap looking to me as far as all the plastic on the outside. Samsung was my second choice. Sony's blacks are more detailed. Look closely and you will see it for yourself. Got the Sony for a bit under 2700 delivered on Ebay, $800 less than Circuit City with tax considered.

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43590&highlight=sony+xbr2

mantis

Sony No question

polkatese

Thanks guys! I think it is unanimous then, Sony XBR it is. I have two XBRs Direct view, 27" and 35", the 27" is going down the crapper, hence the need to get one.

so what is this with the hoopla around XBR3?

MillerLiteScott

From what I have heard, Sony got the best LCD on the Market.

Sony II
Others O

MSALLA

I saw the sony and the picture was the best by far.

Mike Reeter

We just picked up a Sony LCD model KDF 46-E2000...Love it,don't know if it is offered in a 40" screen or not.

univera

polkatese wrote:

Thanks guys! I think it is unanimous then, Sony XBR it is. I have two XBRs Direct view, 27" and 35", the 27" is going down the crapper, hence the need to get one.

so what is this with the hoopla around XBR3?

The XBR3 is the exact same t.v. only it comes standard with the sweet looking, piano black bezel. The XBR2's have several available colors of bezels you can swap out for the ripoff price of $300 from Sony. From what I have been told, dealers don't get the bezels or add on parts cheaply and likely can't do much better on price because there really isn't any profit margin for them. I will say the gloss black on the old XBR2's looked nice and I eventually will let myself get ripped off on a black bezel. I appears that that the piano black only comes on the XBR3 and that the other black isn't gloss. If you can find a difference between the two, let us know. The price is exactly $300.00 more the XBR3.

Trust me when I tell you that looking at these sets online does not compare to seeing them in person as far as the cosmetics are concerned. They are the slick and I am sure even sweeter in black. I personally will see if I can order the piano black bezel as a repair part as it should work on my set. It looks a bit classier to me than the velvet black offered on the XBR2.


http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_DisplayProductInformation-Start?ProductSKU=CRU40X1%2fB&Dept=tvvideo&CategoryName=tv_TVDepartmentAccessories_Designer_Color_Accessories

http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_DisplayProductInformation-Start?ProductSKU=KDL40XBR3

polkatese

Thanks, Univera. Looks like you have done your homework on this one. I'll check the demo over at CC tomorrow!

peteran

I would check out the Westinghouse brand. I bought a 32" last December and very pleased with the ratio, money/value/PQ

Jimbo64

http://lcdtvs.com/lcd/dlp_LAND.asp

I bought two TV's from these guys, no hitches.
i bought the PANASONIC PT-61LCX65 61-IN LCD Projection HDTV and the SAMSUNG LN-R328W. Best price I could find.

sickicw

get the sony xbr2, or the cheaper sony 1080p model that is about to come out. yes it is more expensive than the westinghouse, but worth it. It has a wider color spectrum and when you tweek the settings you can really get the colors to pop. Also on a note about the samsungs, they are good as well, but the blacks are not as good as the sony, and they use overscan with hdmi which means it will crop off a small part of the picture.

EDIT: i bought the xbr246" and got it about $900 off the price from bestbuy by price matching the set and externed warrenty to other sites. Check out circuitcity.com and crutchfield.com for the extened warranty. Also askem how much more off the price they will take if you buy it that day. gotta bait em slowly, but they will eventually cut the price.

sickicw

If you demo the sony set, try to use these settings...

Note: these comments below are not mine.

Picture MENU
Mode = custom
Backlight = 5
Picture = 90
Brightness = 52
Color = 46
Hue = 0
Sharpness = 27 (I see a lot of people having this up in the 50-60 range... adds a lot of digital noise on my set)
Noise Reduction = OFF (turn this OFF...it just adds blurring to the image - if you drop your sharpness control down you shouldn't need to have it on, except maybe on SD programs)
DRC mode = mode 1 (standard setting of 1 seems to work best for me... when I turned it off, the picture didn't seem as clear... but its content dependent, sometimes its hard to tell any difference... haven't played around with setting 2)
DRC palette = reality = 5, clarity = 5 (I haven't played at all with this yet... I just have it at the default settings.... cant wait to start fiddling with this...
Advanced Settings sub menu
Black corrector = OFF (I turned this off, but it really depends on the lighting environment in your room... seems to darken the picture a bit too much, sacrificing a bit of black detail, but I can see having this turned on in certain situations)
Advanced C.E. = LOW (I have this on low, again, it really depends on the amount of ambient light in your room, I can see changing this at different times of the day)
Gamma = OFF
Clear White = OFF
Color space = WIDE (I belive this turns on the Wide Color Gamut (WCG-CCFL) circuit, reproducing over 102% of NTSC color according to Sony...in any case, it does make the colors more vivid, BUT, you have to then offset this by dropping your main COLOR setting above, otherwise it gets too saturated. This is really a personal preference setting, but I really like how colors pop when this is on)
Detail enhancer = MEDIUM (I actually have this at medium, but notice my sharpness control is turned down to 27, I can see this going down to LOW or even OFF, I suggest playing around with the interaction of the sharpness control with this setting to what looks best.
Edge enhancer = OFF (I didn't really notice much of a difference at the low setting, so I figured I'd turn it off)
White balance sub menu (No changes here... all default settings)
R gain = 0
G gain = 0
B gain = 0
R bias = 0
G bias = 0
B bias = 0

---

Screen Menu (I think these settings are pretty standard for most.)
Wide mode = Full
Auto wide = on
4:3 default = off
Display area = normal
Horizontal center = 0

polkatese

Cool! thanks guys!

unc2701

I'm eyeballing those exact same ones... Amazon has them way cheaper than CC, too. But check them out locally.

One thing to keep in mind- I've read in many acticles and seen for myself at the store that the 40 inches is right on the line for having true 1080 be worth it. At the distances that you'll be sitting from the TV, you can just barely tell 1080 from 720.

Anyhow, I get my bonus check in about 23 minutes- depending on what it looks like, I might be making up my mind pretty soon.

disneyjoe7

I would and or consider Sony video anything first. But I did buy a Panny 42" Plasma and for $1900 I don't think you could go wrong. So why are you only considering a LCD?

unc2701

If you've got a bright room, LCD is the way to go; if you've got dark room, go plasma.

disneyjoe7

Well not sure if any room could be brighter then mine. Plasma in Family room which has 15' wide by 10' tall slider facing pool which faces east in Florida

I still wonder why LCD? Price but at that size does it really make a difference?

faster100

3700 is a chunk of coinage, we paid i think 1600 for a 42" plasma and love it.. Not sure how it ranks amongst others, but we bought it because of price and looked good in the store.. Not sure how much better more then double the cost it could get.

polkatese

disneyjoe7 wrote:

I would and or consider Sony video anything first. But I did buy a Panny 42" Plasma and for $1900 I don't think you could go wrong. So why are you only considering a LCD?

it's for the bedroom, and I need a wall mounted technology, since my mattress is high (bed is higher than usual). The other option is Plasma, but now we are talking about twice the investment...

unc2701, nice deal with the bonus check there!

faster100

LCD is view dependent.. so if your off to the side or laying down you may not see it very well... for a bedroom rig i certainly wouldnt spend 4k but that's just me, and i wouldnt say plasma is alot more.. just depends what your looking to spend and achieve..

unc2701

Check was bigger than I expected! Might have to go to the 46"!

Anyhow, LCD and plasma have converged more than anyone expected, a lot of the old drawbacks of each are gone so in most cases it really does come down to the dark room/ bright room. LCDs are generally brighter and have less glare on the screen; Plasmas generally have much better contrast. LCDs can be had in full 1080 at less than gigantor size... Plasmas are slightly cheaper at 40inches and 720ish resolution (usually 768). Beyond that, it's personal taste... I've got a super bright room, so that forced my choice.


Faster: The off angle thing (much like plasma burn in) really isn't an issue so much any more.

univera

Just some thoughts regarding the above threads. The review I read on my Sony did say that 40" wasn't quite large enough to take full advantage of 1080p, but I'd bet it looks better using a HD-DVD than a 720p set. This set does NOT cost $3700. That is the Sony website retail price, so the idea of it costing twice as much as comparable brands is not accurate. I bought mine from gear4less on Ebay. I like the fact that they opened the box and added packing material and it shipped from them directly and was in stock. When I received it and saw the box was open, I was immediately suspicious. I called, left a message, and the owner called me back and explained that had he not opened it and put in additional packing, it would have never made it in one piece. They use UPS which is cheaper to ship. I feel like if there was a problem, he would take care of it. And, going through Ebay actually gives you a good deal of protection vs. buying on the web. This is where Paypal/Ebay become your friend-as a buyer.

I agree w/anonymouse that yes, these will be much cheaper by Christmas, but I'd already waited several years and even more intensely waited the past few months for these to drop. I feel like the technology in regards to LCD's has finally just about caught upto plasmas, so from that standpoint, I feel I waited just right. This Sony is the top of the line, brand new model, so it will be around for a bit. It has plenty of HDMI connections (I'm not using them at all nor have I tweaked my picture at all and it looks great.) Plus, if one keeps waiting and waiting, you lose the time you could be enjoying your set.

And, look at Westinghouses and other sets. None look as cool as this set, and yes, that is important when it is the focal point of your room or wall. I found the Westinghouses and step down model Sony's had too much plastic. Even the speakers on this set are hidden. I haven't looked at the newest models of step down Sony's or Samsungs, so I can't comment on those.

Yes, Westinghouses are nice and cheap and have great reviews as far as bang for the buck and that is where I initially was headed. But, when I really took a few months to look and research, they just didn't cut it. It all comes down to whether or not you want the best. Period. For me, had I bought something other than Sony, I would always be thinking about the fact I knew there was something with a better pic. I feel that t.v.'s are different than audio gear in that you can get a great sounding audio setup that will take many components to get right and still not have the top of the line sound, even though it may sound fantastic. And, as has been discussed previously, audio, IMO, is much more subjective in terms of individual opinion/preferences. Even after spending thousands...Audio requires multiple selections of gear to get it right and get a nice sound.

With the t.v.'s, you can get the absolute best for a few thousand or whatever price it may be and you have THE BEST set out there until it gets upgraded by the company. You only have one piece to buy and you will be looking at it for many years as people don't tend to swap out t.v.'s like they do audio gear. It will also be hanging/mounted on your wall, so it is somewhat of a fixture. Trust me, if you are looking at your set and see a thick, dark object with little to no detail and you've seen a set that does it better, it WILL bug you. Sony's black details are the best.

With all due respect, I just can't see spending what is still a good bit of money on a lesser quality set with the idea in mind that they will all drop in price and then you can buy the super deluxe model. Now, your lower priced and lower quality set is going to be lower priced on a comparible scale to the higher priced, higher quality set, so what have you gained?

Let's say the Westinghouse is $1600 and drops 1/2 price in a year. You could have a similar WH t.v. with likely better picture/features for $800.00 savings. Let's assume that set now has the a picture as good as the current Sony.

The Sony, which by the time you purchase can likely be had for $2600 shipped, drops 1/2 to $1300 a year from now. You will have saved $1300 on the Sony vs. $800.00 on the WH. That's a difference of $500.00 more to enjoy the best set for a year. And, although they all have good track records so far, this is still relatively new technology. If you were likely to have a problem, which set would you bet your bucks on would fail first?

I'd bet sets WON'T be 1/2 of their current price a year from now. That is a huge drop, especially when the majority of folks still have chunky tube sets and HD isn't nearly as available as it should be. I don't know the exact date, but I am sure someone can tell us when HD broadcasting will become mandatory. I believe all stations have to be broadcast in digital sometime within the next year, so that will be a picture upgrade in itself. I think total HD broadcasting is more likely to make prices drop and even then will take some time as companies wait to get everyone lining up to get all the channels in HD. I think there is still more money than that to be milked from these sets before critical mass occurs and everyone buys, so the idea of a 50% drop, especially on high end models, to me is a very rosy picture of price prediction.

I have adopted Doro's and other's motto on buying gear: "Go big or don't go at all." If you have the money (and can afford to buy the best), do it. Then you will have no regrets.

polkatese

univera wrote:

I have adopted Doro's and other's motto on buying gear: "Go big or don't go at all." If you have the money (and can affort to buy the best), do it. Then you will have no regrets.

Yes, Doro is a good man!

Actually, I think he said: Go Big or Go Home!

Thank you for the write-up, believe me, having spent $6000 on a Pioneer Elite DTV in 2002 when HD was still heavy on pixelation, I know what you meant.

univera

polkatese wrote:

Yes, Doro is a good man!

Actually, I think he said: Go Big or Go Home!

Thank you for the write-up, believe me, having spent $6000 on a Pioneer Elite DTV in 2002 when HD was still heavy on pixelation, I know what you meant.

Yea, he did say "Go big or go home," but I didn't want to sound like an ****:) Not everyone can afford to make a top of the line buy. I certainly can't when it comes to audio, but the t.v. became more and more of a top end purchase the longer I looked.

polkatese

Getting a 1080p LCD/Plasma is also an excuse for me to check out a Toshiba X2 HD-DVD. Too bad there is no HD DDD (Debbie Does... ) available yet.

polkatese

Just came back from CC, comparing the 40" and 46", I can't help myself not to think that the 46" has a lot more impact than the 40" from the distance that I will be viewing them. Damn!

unc2701

Yeah, I'm measuring the armoire that mine has to go in (per the wife) and I'm 1/2" short of clearing the hinges with the 46"... gonna have to find a work around.

Sherardp

you cant go wrong with Sony or a Panny, I have both. 61in XBR in the bedroom, 60 inch panny in the living room, both are awesome screens

univera

unc2701 wrote:

Yeah, I'm measuring the armoire that mine has to go in (per the wife) and I'm 1/2" short of clearing the hinges with the 46"... gonna have to find a work around.

One downside to this set is the fancy bezel makes it larger than comparable screen sized sets...