If I am Buying an HDTV Watch should I be getting?

Question

I am very unfamiliar with which to purchase.
Is LCD Better,DLP or Plasma.Does one have a better life span?
Has anyone heard of problems with either?
I have heard of things like 1080 or 780 pi or something can anyone expain the difference.
How does this affect regular televison?
Must You have an HDTV Cable box?
How does it affect the look of older DVD's?
Im kinda of a newb at this stuff I would appreciate the help.Right now i have a Samsung 32" HDTV.

Answer 1

DLP Rear projections are the cheapest per square inch. The problem with them is that you'll be replacing the bulb every two to three years. This can ultimately make the cost higher than any of the others. If you're looking at Rear Projections, don't do LCD rps. They just aren't that good. There is a third rear projection technology called Lcos. The only manufacturer that i'm aware of that makes this is JVC and they call it an ILA system this is the BEST rear projection I have ever sold.

RPs have an infinite life, but the bulbs are going to cost $250+ to replace. In ten years, add a thousand dollars to your purchase price.

Plasma flat panel TVs are okay. These will be the cheapest flat panels you can buy but they have many issues.
- they over heat. If you place one over the fireplace, you'll regret it. this is how most plasmas are killed. the heat from the fireplace basically fries the television.
- They have a glass front which is HIGHLY reflective. If you have many windows in the room, shy away from plasma.
- They have issues with color bleeding which make them kinda fuzzy up close.
- They still have burn in problems. don't get one if you play a lot of video games or use it as a large computer monitor.

Plasmas produce 150-240 lumens. (Brightness)

LCD panels produce 380-430 lumens. CLEARLY BRIGHTER.

LCD flat panels are the sharpest and best television you can buy. They have all the benefits of plasma with none of the cons. They are an incredible picture with no burn in, they don't produce a lot of glare and they work well in well lit rooms. HOWEVER, they are also the most expensive. LCD's and plasmas last just about 25-30 years now.

Get an LCD flat panel if you can afford it. Trust me, you won't regret it. The only down side is that a 46" is the largest you can get at a reasonable price.

You must have an HD box to get an HD signal out of your cable. You can pick up HD with an antenae, but you are limited to local channels only.

No it doesn't affect the look of older dvds. But i can tell you older dvds are put out a 480p signal. ANY HD is going to be vastly superior.



Now, onto Resolution:


First of all, and no offense to whoever wrote this, but a bigger tv isn't going to show a bigger difference regardless of bandwidth. This is because the resolution is per sq. in. as opposed to spanning the entire screen.

720p = 720 lines per square inch. P stands for progressive meaning every single line is refreshed every single frame at about 60 frames per second. This is as opposed to i which stands for interlaced meaning ever other line is refreshed ever other frame.

1080p is the same thing, but with 1080 lines every inch.

Yes, there is a big difference, but unfortunately, unless you have particularly good eyesight, you won't be able to see it. typically, only younger children can clearly tell the difference. The biggest thing you will likely notice is that the color correction is better on a 1080p.

So is it worth the difference?

If you want the best? Absolutely. But in all honesty, I can't tell you if we're ever going to use it in the near future on anything but gaming systems.

Why?

The reason we're moving to high definition is because the FCC is selling off the analogue bandwidth (normal def.) to cell phone companies which means we have to use digital bandwidth, which gives us a better resolution. But keep in mind, this resolution only come in 720p or 1080i NOT 1080p. The FCC isn't pushing for a 1080p signal because it takes twice the bandwidth and therefor costs more money that they don't want to spend. IF the FCC isn't pushing for it, i can safely say that i don't think it will happen in the near future.

HD is nothing new. Japan has been using it for over a decade now and haven't moved to a 1080p signal. If the USA does it, it will be because certain individuals pay more for it.

Movies will most likely not be moving that way because in order to get a 1080p movie, you would have to shoot it with a 1080p camera. These cost several hundreds of thousands of dollars. When it's not necessary, they probably won't do it. To get Television in 1080p, the network producers would have to do the same thing. Again, not something that's likely to happen.

And here's the real kicker. Make sure you do your research. Just because the panel is capable of 1080p doesn't mean that the inputs in the back are.

And i know Blu Ray players are capable of inputting a 1080p signal. That means nothing. Just because it can, doesn't mean it will. Why? Because blu ray isn't designed to produce that high of a signal. It was produced to put more on a disk.

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If the above is the "laser eye" if a HD dvd player or a regular dvd player, then the below is the eye of a blu ray player.

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BIG difference. But it was created so that a HD movie could still have all the bonus features on there. Look at an HD disk vs a Blu Ray disk. The blu ray still has all of your bonus features. HD has little or none. IF we move to 1080p, then blu ray will have less features defeating its purpose.

So personally, no 1080p televisions aren't worth it. They may be in five years, but for now, NO.


IF you can, buy your TV from CostCo Wholesale. If there's not one near you, you can buy online. It costs fifty dollars a year to shop there, but it's well worth it.

Why CostCo?

Because of the warranty. The way we put it is that we give you a 100% satisfaction guarantee. We don't put time limits on it because you can't be 100% satisfied if we tell you how long you have to be so.

Meaning?

If your television completely burns out in five years, bring it back. When you spend over a thousand dollars on a tv, you are expecting it to last a good number of years. If it doesn't CostCo will refund your purchase price. Buy it online? Get your shipping and handling back too. You don't pay anything for this but your membership fee. If you return one television in ten years, you've easily made up for this just through potential cost of repairs or replacement.

Best Buy claims we sell last year's models. No we don't. We can offer lower prices because we buy in groups of 20,000 plus of ONE ITEM.

Why does the warranty work? Because we don't sell cheap stuff. We sell stuff cheaply. If a manufacturer sells us a bad product, we get a full refund. If we don't, we don't work with that manufacturer anymore. So what? One company right? But imagine if you were Toshiba and we buy over a million items from you a year when most of it costs over a thousand dollars per item. That might hurt. lol.

Let me know if you have any questions.

If this doesn't help, well, i quit. lol.

Answer 2

How about you turn the channel to watch someone who has more hair. Don't forget Bowl season is about to start soon and Monday Night Football will end. It's week 15 ya know.

Answer 3

If you really want to know alot about this stuff check this link out. Be sure to follow the link to The Telecommunications Act of 1996 and tell anyone you know that uses an antenna instead of cable or sat. that their tv wont work without an ATSC receiver after Feb. 17th 2009.

Answer 4

do you really mean an HDTV **WATCH** as in a thing you plonk on yout wrist??

1080 780 etc refers to the number of pixels in one direction or the other -eg: 1280 x 720 or 640 x 480 (this one would NOT be HD)

Edit the question please so we know quite what you mean

Answer 5

Most technical advice is hard to understand but the general norm is to look at the picture and see how well it shows the color black and how well it shows fast motion. Go with what you like best and forget the tech talk about resolution.