Need advice on buying a TV?

Question

I am looking to get a TV for my husband for X-MAS. I want to get a flat screen that can mount on the wall. Plasma TVs are out of the question because they are more than I can afford. What are the pros and cons of an LCD? And what is better? Wide scrren or full screen? I really can't spend much more than $1000. Thanks for any tips!

Oh yeah, and the other thing I meant to ask was what are the better brands and what are not so good?

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.

In your case, I would suggest a Vizio, they are great tv's at a wonderful value. GO WIDESCREEN. In 2009 the fcc is switching to the 16:9 format (widescreen) so if you don't have it your picture will suffer.

I don't know who said lcd tvs only last 10,000 hours, because that's a lie. Any decent LCD will be rated for 50,000- 60,000 hours. That means that watching your tv for 6 hours a day everyday, you'll get about 25-30 years out of it.

Less picture quality? Maybe five years ago. Now LCD's have much better quality. They are brighter, sharper and have a faster refresh rate than plasmas.

Please email me if you have any specific questions on models. I sell consumer electronics for a living and can answer most of your questions. If I'm not up to date on this stuff, then I'm out of a job.

Answer 2

Some pro's for LCD. Screen will not get a glare from light. Very light weight, does not generate heat. Cons - image isn't as sharp, can have a dead pixel which will result in a black dot on the screen. Either plasma or lcd will only last about 10 - 15 years. Be sure you get 720p. Some of them are EDTV which is NOT high def and usually cheaper. For about $1,000 you're probably looking at a 32" screen and typcially plasma and lcd are about the same price.

Answer 3

Get an Olevia. You can buy a 32" for about $699. They are a really good LCD tv company. Very good quality. The only downfall to LCD screens are they only last for about 10,000 hours. The good thing is you probably only watch tv for 3 hours a day. So 3 hours times 7 days a week times 52 weeks a year is only 1092 hours a year so it should last about 9 or 10 years.

Answer 4

this website has the lowest price on new tv. if you dont really care about brands. u can get a 32" hdtv for like 500 buck but here check this website out and it even tells you the pros and cons about lcd but it mostly gives you cons cause lcd is far more superior to plasma or dlp etc in terms of price picture quality size weight longer life like 60,000 hrs http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?CatId=386& hope that helps.

Answer 5

i love the concept-about a Plasma television. i'm gazing into figuring out to purchase a Panasonic 40 2". yet they make a impressive 50" besides. attempt to attend till after large Bowl, as prices ought to somewhat drop. also attempt to get 1080p, it truly is imagined to be a significantly better image.

Answer 6

smckech is right, though I haven't seen any dead pixels...

Get widescreen; go to Best Buy, etc and check out tv's you like in your budget.

Then compare prices for these online (I used nextag.com) and found a really good price which allowed me to get a better tv.

Hope this helps..