Judging TV Performance In Store

[drjuicee]

I have been researching Plasma and LCD TV's for a few months on the internet and in store. Here's my dilemma's: First, how do you really judge the PQ in store when most of the TV's aren't hooked up with hdmi and aren't being fed an HD signal. Perhaps this isn't the case at every store in the world but it seems to be the case in my area. Any suggestions on how to judge pq with your own eye, like what to look for and whatnot. I've also checked many sites for reviews and was wondering if there is a site that is generally considered the best.

[Guinness7]

At the stores it is very hard to tell sometimes becaue they normally have the tv set to the highest setting to draw you in. You can find some some people have thought of tv in here. Also you can check for HDTV ideas
http://www.cnet.com/hdtv-world/?tag=arw

What it comes down to is getting a tv with the features that you want and one that looks good to you.

[hagar852]

I was caught between a LCD and a Plasma Samsung TVs

In the store the LCD looked better than the Plasma only because it looked brighter. In Best Buy there is was too much light and in an odd place compared to your house to judge how a TV will look.

You really won't know how well a TV will perform in your house unless you take it home...

So I took home a Plasma that night which looked washed out in the store and not as good as the LCD... Took it home and it looked 5x better than it did in the store... Could have just been the floor model having issues and not being calibrated correctly.

But I do think it is almost impossible to judge a TV in a store... Unless they have a dark room for it.

[jomari]

this is a reason why its always good to head to a specialty store. mom and pop stores normally would have a dedicated room to show off these items, and audition them for your convenience.

of course, its going to cost something close to the msrp, but then again, you are also contributing to the local economy versus that of the major stores .