Which HDTV?

Question

I'm going to buy my husband a HDTV. I want to know which brand is the best and what size would be the best?

Answer 1

If you want the best of the best, Sony XBR is for you.

Sony comes in all different sizes, 26,32,37,40,46,52,72.

The sony 40" XBR 2 are a really good value.

For LCD stick with Sony; best company support, most reliable, excellent picture quality.

For Plasma; Pioneer, Panasonic, Hitachi.

For Rear Projection DLP, Toshiba, Panasonic

Rear Projection LCD, Sony, Panasonic,

Answer 2

NOTE: You must upgrade your home CATV or Sat service to HD to really get the improved picture in your home. Budget for this or your great new TV wont impress.

Note 2: Be careful. Guys love their toys and he may want the fun of doing the research and picking out a unit himself. Buy the HDMI cable, upgrade the CATV service and present him with both and a card for the TV you select. This way he can go with what you found or he can pick it out himself.

SIZE

Measure how far away you are going to sit, then punch different numbers into the viewing distance calculator below until the THX Recommended distance is close to your distance. When in doubt - go a size up.

If you want to hang the thing on the wall like a picture - you have to go with Plasma. These are a bit more expensive, and you have to add $200 for the wall-bracket and perhaps professional installation.

The less expensive DLP and LCD units are stand-alone televisions, but they are much thinner and lighter than the "Big Screens" of old. These are generally the best value for the money.

All 3 types will give you a fantastic picture. Dont let how they look in a showroom dictate what you buy. The showroom models are often turned up into 'torch' mode to get your attention, but image quality tends to suffer. They are all great and they all last about the same amount of time.

Stick with name brands like Sony, Samsung, Hitachi, Pioneer, and even (gasp) LG (Lucky Goldstar)

If money is an issue, I have been hearing about a budget-but-full-featured line called "Insignia".

WHAT TO LOOK FOR:

As many HDMI inputs as possible. Hopefully they are 1.3 version of HDMI. 1.2 is fine.

The TV should let you jump straight to a input (Antenna, Component2, HDMI2) without making you toggle through all the sources. This allows the TV to work with a universal remote.

A dark bezel around the screen is better than a sliver one to improve the contrast.


CABLES:

Do not buy store cables. You can save a lot of money by buying HDMI cables from the internet. Short runs (under 15 ft) can come from Monoprice. But longer runs should come from BlueJeans.

Dont let the salesman sell you a $100+ cable because HD signals are 'special'. HDMI carries digital signals which are very insenstive to the cable. I am using a $38 HDMI cable from BlueJeans and the picture is perfect.

Answer 3

get one as big as possible, brands dont really matter but i guess sony remains "the best tv brand"