Need advice as what 2 look for when it comes to LCD HDTV's.?

Question

I am looking into buying an LCD HDTV for my bedroom and need some help as to what to look for. I've heard people say to check the contrast ratio and make sure it's high...what range is good for that? Also what else is key when buying an LCD TV? What are some of the better ones out there on the market? Help! Totally clueless! I don't want to get ripped off, hahaha.

Answer 1

First of all, the contrast ratio doesn't make a whole lot of difference on an LCD panel TV. the contrast ratio regulates how dark your blacks are and how light your whites are. The contrast ratio is really only important on plasmas because of the speed at which they degrade. Because LCDs don't have the same problem, they don't need a contrast ratio as high. Also, keep in mind that there is no gov't or any other standard for contrast ratio. But, for an LCD, it should be (on average) 700:1 to 1400:1. higher than that and they're charging you heavily for it.

Other than that, avoid uncommon brands. Their reliability is highly suspect, but I can give you the rundown on the brands that I sell the most of at CostCo in no particular order.

Sony Bravia: These are the best LCDs money can buy right now. Invest in one of these and have no worries. Be aware though, they are costly. 32"=$1499 40"=$1699 46"(1080p)=$3049

Panasonic: Panasonic knows how to make a great television. That's all there is to it. They are pretty close to Sony and are comparably priced. 32"=$1399 37"=$1799

Sharp: They tend to be a little darker and are a little run of the mill but don't drop the pricetag much. 32"=$1299 37"=$1499 45"=$1999

Phillips: These are actually higher quality than Sharps and are at a better value. However, because they have the speakers on the side in most cases, they may be harder to fit. 37"=$1299

Toshiba: Hardly worth the money. Honestly, I don't sell many of these. They just don't seem to be well made. Toshiba should stick to laptops and Plasma televisions. 32"=$1299

Vizio: These are Great televisions for the dollar, but make sure you get the new models. Last years had a defective panel. If the production date is later than June 2006, you should be very happy with the set. 32"=$699 37"=$999 42"=$1499 46"=$1899

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.

Answer 2

This is a very difficult question as there are tons of sites dedicated to reviewing all of them. The prior contributor has one of the main sites which has tons of information.

I personally would go for a more reputable brand with a good warranty. It's a very expensive investment and you want it to last and have good warranty if something does go wrong.

I ended up buying a Samsung 32" LCD recently thru Amazon because I've had very good experience with Samsung. I've also went to several stores and made sure the quality of the Samsung was par with other major brands. In reality, it's just so hard to compare at times between brands but at least you can rule out some of the worse quality pictures. There are just so many variables also as to how the TV is setup in that environment and cables used, etc, etc.

I would stay with the major brands such as Samsung, Sharp, Sony, Philips, Panasonic.

Oh, another thing, if you plan to get HD signal from your Basic Cable without having to pay the expensive HD package to your cable company, I recommend getting a TV set with a built in QAM tuner. The ATSC tuner which most all LCD TV has that built in will only allow you to pull HD signal from the AIR using an old fashion antenna. A QAM tuner allows you to split or receive the HD signal from your cable but only for the major network stations. No premium HD content will be received as that you will have to pay.

I agree with uncletoon. If Costco has the TV you want, I would highly recommend getting it there because they have an excellent return policy and excellent customer service.

Answer 3

hey huni! even as my hubby and that i first offered our residing house, we offered a 32inch liquid crystal show Samsung flat show screen and used that for type of the first three hundred and sixty 5 days... then we moved that into our bedroom and offered a 42in LG flatscreen for the front room... and we adore it to this point! Its 1080 and HD and all that junk! you'd be shocked at how a lot a huge difference 10 inch makes on a television! We purely paid good round $1100 for it, so your good on with your budget! i have by no potential had a very good adventure with Sony for some reason, so i have tried to stay remote from there products... yet Samsung or LG are the finest in my opinion! Heck, I have a Samsung refrigerator! lol

Answer 4

Read this darling.
http://www.avguide.com/features/bg-flat-panels/flatpanels-p2.php