Wow! All tv's suck!

MacLeod

Ive been reading everything I can find on the different display types out there over the last 3-5 months and Im here to tell ya, I wish I hadnt as apparantly they all suck!

Here is what Ive learned:

Plasma has the best picture quality bar none with the best color and no artifacts in motion or rainbows and they last a long time. However you cant play video games on them, you cant watch anything with black bars on them or any channels with a logo icon on them and you have to break them in over the first 2 months of ownership. Bottom line, the picture rules - you just cant watch it.

LCD has a great picture quality almost as good as plasmas although their colors never looked quite as natural to me. Plus theyre much lighter weight which is nice for moving, put out a lot less heat, will last longer and are more reliable than plasmas and its nearly impossible to burn in any image. But if you try to watch a normal DVD or an SD broadcast, its going to look like crap and forget about watching football cause itll just be a blur. And God help you if you ever try to watch an old VCR tape. Your head might implode from the horrible PQ and all those artifacts and pixelation going on. Bottom line, more durable than plasmas but unless youre watching slow moving HD content, move on.

DLP have a picture quality as good as a plamsa with great contrast, black levels and colors. It also impossible to burn anything in with them. Plus theyre close to $1000 cheaper than their plasma/LCD counterparts. The downside is if you can get one home before it tears up on you, youll be in the minority. I dont think Ive found one single review or post from a DLP owner that hasnt had to have at least one service call out to their house to fix something. Then if your vision is perceptive enough, youll likely have induced seizures from all the rainbows. Oh and dont forget the $300 bulbs that need replacement every couple years. Samsung has come out with an LED set that doesnt need bulbs replaced but these things are apparently tearing up faster than the DLP sets. Then theres that whole screen door effect. Bottom line, youll enjoy the great picture so long as you have a technician as a roomate.

3LCD.....yeah right. Moving right along.

LCos/SXRD at first seemed to be the only display type worth having but not after you dig a little deeper. Its as cheap as DLP, has the picture quality of a plasma has no screen door and much smoother motion. Reliability does seem to be a problem with many mentions of service calls although you dont find as many complaints about them as DLP although there is a class action lawsuit going on against Sony for their older versions of SXRD for shoddy gear. There are also a lot of complaints about the color being screwed up after long term use. There have been a few **** about geometry issues tho and Ive even found some mentions of burn in but they were in extreme cases. Yeah, this one has $300 bulbs too. The biggest downside is they seem to be on their way out. It is rumored that Sony is going to abandon its SXRD line which will leave only JVC with this technology and theyll probably succumb to market pressure eventually and go all flat panel like everybody else. Bottom line, great picture but same reliability issues as DLP but not as bad but still got a $300 bulb and they wont be made much longer.

Ya know, I may just go out and buy one of those 36" Sony Grand Wega CRT sets for $600 and be done with it. Bulletproof build quality, excellent picture quality from VHS all the way up to HDDVD and no burn in. Sometimes I think its best to just buy the shiniest thing in the showroom and not do so much research.

hearingimpared

Wow it's a good thing I didn't get one for Christmas!

beardog03

WOW !!

Thanks for doing all my homework !!

I have reading /looking into the same thing and have come up with just about the same thing !

I decided to have the 36" Toshiba CRT fixed and be done with it !

Soon you will be hard pressed to find a CRT I think....

Maybe not...with all the things you said before, it sounds like technology may have to take a step back until they get it right

okiepolkie

At least get the 34" XBR CRT

MacLeod

Im leaning most heavily towards Sony LCD's right now. Ive been a fan of DLP's PQ since the beginning but have been sufficiently scared off by all the problems. Ive demoed the Sony's at Circuit City a ton and last weekend I asked the sales guy to switch the demo sets from HD cable over to plain old regular SD Comcast cable. They did look a little grainy but didnt look bad at all and actually looked better than any other LCD set on the wall and as good as the Panny plasmas. I sat there and watched a football game for a good 30 minutes and never noticed any motion blurring really at least none that I could pick up on. And since I do play a lot of video games and dont want to have to worry about burn in, it seems Sony LCD is the lesser of all the evils. Samsungs dont look shabby either. If it wasnt for the burn in, I would go with a plasma.

okiepolkie

I typically don't sell Sony, as their dealer requirements are too steep for my small company, but their LCD's are def above par right now. Planar is about the only lcd that comes close at a reasonable price point.

Fireman32

Ive had the Mits DLP for 3 years now and have not had a single issue with it. I would recomend it to anyone.

madmax

Plasma works good for me. I can get a little short term retention if I let a title page stay up for a long time but it goes away and I try not to let it happen. Bars don't seem to matter much because they seem to be in different places on most movies and its LONG term stuff that hurts. LCD's have become much faster and no longer bother me too much with blur when things start moving. Still more into the plasma though.

MacLeod

I agree Max. I have always thought the plasma PQ is the best, especially the Pannys, Pioneers and Sammy's and when you add in that theyre also a lot cheaper than LCD's theyre a great bargain. That $1700 50" Panny just calls to me whenever Im in CC and beck in November when I noticed the 50" Sammy was on sale for $1400 with no interest til 2009, my wife had to drag me out of the building feet first!

That retention just scares the hell out of me. Im not a gamer but have been known on several occasions to sit and play Max Payne or Doom3 for 3 hours or so straight and dont want a status bar burnt into my $2000 tv or have to worry about stopping every 30 mintues or so to change the channels to refresh the screen.

jtgranby

Plasma has the best picture quality bar none with the best color and no artifacts in motion or rainbows and they last a long time. However you cant play video games on them, you cant watch anything with black bars on them or any channels with a logo icon on them and you have to break them in over the first 2 months of ownership. Bottom line, the picture rules - you just cant watch it.

I agree Plasma has the PQ.

My sons play the Wii on my Panasonic plasma. Burn in is a non factor old school plasma's had burn in problems. Like Chuck said image retention will happen but once you play a full screen pic for awhile it disappears,there is a technical term for this. Break in is much better these days,just change your settings from the factory default which is set very bright . I love my plasma.I would not buy another TV with a lamp bulb again at $300 a pop to replace them.


MacLeod That Panny can be had for around $1400 from Sears.
Good luck in your search.

Jim

powerlord

Fireman32 wrote: »

Ive had the Mits DLP for 3 years now and have not had a single issue with it. I would recomend it to anyone.

I've had my Samsung DLP for a over a year with no problems.My brother has a grand wega and I personally think that the pic rivals and is in some cases better than mine.

BaggedLancer

People still watch TV?

mrmusicman

You also need to keep in mind if you by a wide screen tv, and lets say your watching a SD program and its not broadcasted wide screen format (as in most channels)your screen will not be filled and you will have to stretch the picture which also degrades the pq and kinda eggshapes people...or don't stretch and use the black bars.The Sony RP lcd tv I purchaced 2 1/2 years ago(knocks on wood) has performed to my satisfaction with no issues.The sony also had a better stretch mode than others which was a factor in the purchace.

Good Luck Shopping
mike

Serendipity

okiepolkie wrote: »

At least get the 34" XBR CRT

Try to find a used 34" XBR CRT like the KD-34XBR960. The one I have rivals most other displays! (except for a 9" CRT projector stack such as a Barco Cine 9 or G90)...

mantis

Ok let me help you remove your hate for new tv's.

Plasma. Yes you can play video games, you can't have the brightness turned all the way up or you will burn in your tv just like rear projector tv's and anything crt based from the past. You can watch shows with black bars but not for a full day in a row or yes you will burn it up. I have tons of customers who have PS3 , xbox and Wii and all have no problems. Even 3 year old Pioneer Elite tv's with all 3 games on it...no problems. A guy at work has 2 Pioneer Elite plasmas and games on both for hours at a time.... no problems. It's like anything else, follow the rules and you will have your killer plasma tv for many many years....just like crt.

Lcd. Sony is the only company who makes a great one. Rest of them just about suck so here I agree. Motion is still a problem even with Sony but It's not that bad on the Sony's as the sets look almost as good and better then most plasmas except Pioneer Elite.

The rest of the technologies forget about them. DLP in my opnion is horrible. Mitsubishi everything is horrible and it's a shame as they used to be one of the very best in rear projection tv's. I'm so disappointed in even there brand new diamond series. It's just sucks. Yes it's huge but hey even in tv's , size isn't everything.

yeah man I do however feel your pain. I have been wanting to upgrade my 1080i sony 46 rear projection tabletop tv which is HDMI 1.1 but everything except the Pioneer Elites fully impress me. So thats how I'm going. I game just about everyday and my son everyday. He has his own game setup in his room but does use my system as well.
I fear not buying a Pioneer Elite 60 inch Kuro.

Dan

billbillw

MacLeod,
FYI:
Any CRT set (the Sony XBR) is just as susceptible for burnin as a modern plasma. In fact, modern plasmas are pretty much resistant to burn in after the first 100 hours (if they are broken in properly) as long as you aren't being completely stupid with them. They do have image retention, but this is not the same as burn in and its not a problem with norma viewing.

Today, If I were buying, it would be a Pioneer Kuro, or a Sony SXRD set. Nothing else comes close in pic quality.

Edit: I have a Panny Plasma from last year and I watch things with letter bars, pillar bars, etc. Burn in is not a problem, just have normal varied programming and you will be fine, no matter which Plasma you buy.

Speed3

I sell Pioneer Elites mostly the Pro-150's and there is no such thing as "Burn In" on these Plasmas. Now the LG's that we sell to our more lower end customers burn in within 30 seconds.

Frank Z

Don't say I never gave ya nuthin'...

Serendipity

billbillw wrote: »

MacLeod,
FYI:
Any CRT set (the Sony XBR) is just as susceptible for burnin as a modern plasma.

Depends on how hard you run it. Aside from the brightness, it's the contrast control that needs to be lowered too. Or else you'll get insanely fast burn-in when playing games.

danger boy

CRT, still the best display out there.. no artifacts, best blacks, best whites, excellent colors.. and they do HDTV. they just weight a ton.

Sherardp

Tvs do suck, go front projector.

danger boy

get yourself two TV's.. why not? one for the home theater.. and one for gaming.

Phasearray

buy a plasma, gothca!

PolkThug

Crt Ftw!

venomclan

MacLeod wrote: »

LCos/SXRD The biggest downside is they seem to be on their way out. It is rumored that Sony is going to abandon its SXRD line which will leave only JVC with this technology and theyll probably succumb to market pressure eventually and go all flat panel like everybody else. Ya know, I may just go out and buy one of those 36" Sony Grand Wega CRT sets for $600 and be done with it.

I feel your pain and am in the same boat, waiting to upgrade my TV. The Sony rumor is correct, Sony relesed a statement on 12/21 that they will no longer support SXRD. They have actually stopped production back in May and anything for sale now is in lomited supply. I have my eye on the 60", but hate the limited angle, rainbows and hotspots on RPtv's. That is shy I cannot let go of my 36" Wega.

I think that Plasma is the best bet out there as burn in is pretty much non-existant with the new sets.
Venon

wallstreet

umm, CRT's have the same burn in problem as plasmas. You remember those old ATM's, don't you? LCD's now have 120HZ refresh rates that's supposed to address the blurs. But I'm securely in the FP crowd. HD at 106" is a nice way to watch TV.

MacLeod

Pioneers do rule dont they? I remember the very first one I saw at Ultimate Electronics in Austin, TX a few years ago. It looked better than reality. But gawdamighty they are expensive!! 50" 720p for $2500!!! Thats a $1000 more than a comparable Panasonic!

Its encouraging to hear you guys vouch for plasmas and gaming. Thats one thing you dont find too much of in forums and magazines - effects from video games. Ive still got a month or 2 before I got the scratch together to get one and Im still waiting to see if we're getting this house or not (yes = 50"+ / no = 42") so Ive still got some shopping to do.

We just watched Bourne Ultimatum on my 27" Sony complete with letterbox. Let me tell ya, I cant get a big screen FAST ENOUGH!!

Sux to hear Sony is getting out of the RP business. I think if they couldve just perfected it, it would be the best choice. Samsung seems to be giving it the old college try with their new LED sets. Theyve eliminated the color wheel but it still seems to have a ton of bugs in it. If they can get it squared away, it should take off pretty good. 50" 1080p sets for $1500 is hard to beat!

And yes its true CRT's have burn in too, but its much MUCH harder to do this. It takes days for this to happen on CRT where with plasmas, it takes a few hours.

jcaut

I've got one of the Samsung 56" DLP sets with the LEDs. I've had it for a little over a year- no problems so far and I've been very satisfied with it overall. Except that I don't watch TV.

Regular progressive scan DVD looks real good on it though, and my HDV camcorder footage does too.

SolidSqual

Check out the new Samsungs w/ the 120Hz refresh rate and proprietary 3d Filters. These LCDs are the best pictures on the market. All of the negatives you mentioned in your first post are non-existent with these TVs. I promise.

F1nut

Tubes rule video as well as audio.

ledhed

Fireman32 wrote: »

Ive had the Mits DLP for 3 years now and have not had a single issue with it. I would recomend it to anyone.

Same here. Dad replaced the bulb awhile ago but found a wholesaler online and got it somewhere around $100 I think.