Trying to help 42" LCD or Plasma

[MATTYBLU2]

hello,

was wondering if i could get some input from you tv goo roos. my best friend and his wife are in the market for a 42" tv and they are upgrading from old school 36" 4:3 crt tv. they want a 42" widescreen HD tv. i tried helping as much as possible and gave them my advise.

what is a great tv in a 42" 1080p?

my friends wife has been convinced from a store salesperson that not to buy plasma because of ambient light in the room they have, too much reflections? is this true? they were told that LCD does not reflect the light as much and looks better. i told them that i would prefer a plasma and that i dont think it reflects light as much. i mean i am at the stores looking at tv's and coming online and reading hear and i dont see where an LCD favors over the plasma in that area. i kinda told them that the plasma would perform better with the dragging effect and screening of the LCD, but they are convinced now not to buy a plasma???

what should i tell them? i am going over on friday to go out with them to buy one and set up their home theater room. they are not the type to buy the best or spend tons of money, they are pretty simple people. not a tech junkies like us. anyways let me know your input.

they are trying to stay under $1500 for the price.

thanks

[CptGreedle]

Personally, I love my Sony Bravia 46" (i think a 42" model is available as well) LCD HDTV.
However I hear many LCD TVs do not have as good darks or contrast as plasma, i have no complaints with my TV.
It is best to go to the stores and look at them in an optimized setting. Make sure it is not in a room with 100 TVs all on the same channel. Look at one in a room by itself or with 1 or 2 other TVs. Make sure the video is optimized as well for best quality colors.
Things to look for include screen door effect, viewing angle, color quality, brightness, reflections (highly reflective surfaces tend to have darker darks, but reflect light/people easily while matte surfaces have little reflection but duller darks), etc.
Make sure the TV supports FULL 1080, or 1080p. It should also have an HDMI connection.
Also important is the AV Receiver. In order to get the best sound and image, the HDTV should be hooked up to an AV Receiver that uses HDMI. In fact all the devices (cable/sat, BD player, etc.) should be hooked to the AV receiver, and it will take care of the rest, giving you the image and the surround sound. If their existing AV receiver (aka amp to some) does not have HDMI, I highly recommend upgrading that as well even though it can be connected without it.

[MATTYBLU2]

Originally Posted by CptGreedle

Personally, I love my Sony Bravia 46" (i think a 42" model is available as well) LCD HDTV.
However I hear many LCD TVs do not have as good darks or contrast as plasma, i have no complaints with my TV.
It is best to go to the stores and look at them in an optimized setting. Make sure it is not in a room with 100 TVs all on the same channel. Look at one in a room by itself or with 1 or 2 other TVs. Make sure the video is optimized as well for best quality colors.
Things to look for include screen door effect, viewing angle, color quality, brightness, reflections (highly reflective surfaces tend to have darker darks, but reflect light/people easily while matte surfaces have little reflection but duller darks), etc.
Make sure the TV supports FULL 1080, or 1080p. It should also have an HDMI connection.
Also important is the AV Receiver. In order to get the best sound and image, the HDTV should be hooked up to an AV Receiver that uses HDMI. In fact all the devices (cable/sat, BD player, etc.) should be hooked to the AV receiver, and it will take care of the rest, giving you the image and the surround sound. If their existing AV receiver (aka amp to some) does not have HDMI, I highly recommend upgrading that as well even though it can be connected without it.

thanks for your input. i dont think he is in the market to buy a new receiver now, he has an older pioneer DD receiver 5.1 and he says thats good enough for him. he also has a small surround sound system, but he is not big into home theater as we are. he is pretty simple and just wants a nice tv to watch. he just went out today and upgraded to comcast HD and got his new receiver with DVR built in. he is getting excited to watch football this weekend in HD for his first time. so like i said it just the tv for now. thanks again

[MATTYBLU2]

Originally Posted by CptGreedle

Personally, I love my Sony Bravia 46" (i think a 42" model is available as well) LCD HDTV.
However I hear many LCD TVs do not have as good darks or contrast as plasma, i have no complaints with my TV.
It is best to go to the stores and look at them in an optimized setting. Make sure it is not in a room with 100 TVs all on the same channel. Look at one in a room by itself or with 1 or 2 other TVs. Make sure the video is optimized as well for best quality colors.
Things to look for include screen door effect, viewing angle, color quality, brightness, reflections (highly reflective surfaces tend to have darker darks, but reflect light/people easily while matte surfaces have little reflection but duller darks), etc.
Make sure the TV supports FULL 1080, or 1080p. It should also have an HDMI connection.
Also important is the AV Receiver. In order to get the best sound and image, the HDTV should be hooked up to an AV Receiver that uses HDMI. In fact all the devices (cable/sat, BD player, etc.) should be hooked to the AV receiver, and it will take care of the rest, giving you the image and the surround sound. If their existing AV receiver (aka amp to some) does not have HDMI, I highly recommend upgrading that as well even though it can be connected without it.

how much do the sony bravia's go for in that size roughly?

[MATTYBLU2]

anybody else with any thoughts for me to pass on?

thanks

[quetzalcoatl]

I agree that plasmas tend to reflect more light. I got a 40V3000 sony earlier in the year and it is a very good machince. It is a 40" with Sony you go from a 40 to a 46. And the 46 is out of the price you set. The 40 is abit higher as well at $1700@BB right now. So it can be got for less online.

Guess I should point out the reflection is because the plasmas are more a gloss finish where the LCD's are matte.

[MATTYBLU2]

well my friend and I are going out tomorrow to pick up a 42" LCD 1080p tv for him and his family.

we have done some research and have boiled it down to 3 or 4 choices

42" sharp aquos 1080p lcd
42" vizio 1080p lcd
42" toshiba regaz lcd
42" philips lcd

any thoughts or suggestions. he is very simple person and is not going to upgrade to blu ray yet. he will use a upcovert DVD palyer for now and has an older pioneer receiver with no hdmi on it.

so going from a jvc 32" crt tv to a HD 42" widescreen tv for him is a big move and he is very excited about it. let me know your thoughts

thanks

[MATTYBLU2]

if anyone cares

my friend ended up buying the sony 46" bravia lcd 1080p hd tv. i think model number v2500. nice tv buy the way. got it back to his house and i hook up his entire system for him. took a little bit to work with what he had, but it got done. he is very happy and now into the HD world. blu ray hopefully down the road for him, but not now.

[sydney]

plasma if you can control the lighting and lcd if you cant

[richard lichtenfelt]

If they're looking to stay under $1500 I would be looking for a 1080i lcd tv. A Sony bravia 1080i is going to look better than almost all other tvs that size at 1080p. Besides a Sony 1080p, and even then at that size you might not be able to tell the difference, or a Pioneer. Resolution is not the most important determinant of quality, and to step up to 1080p at that price range they would have to get a bargain brand. A 42" 1080p plasma will run more along the lines of $2,000+.
http://www.jdpower.com/corporate/new...spx?ID=2007228

[Frode]

Good for him. Now get that set calibrated, and it'll be even better .