Plasma / LCD TV. What size?

[JB4310]

Thanks everyone. You've convinced me that at least 42" is right for us this time.

alchemysa,
I know you didn't ask about comparing to DLP, but in my Opinion you can get a much larger dlp for close to the same money and it will not be to big. If you like Nascar, sports, nature shows etc it's awesome with the bigger screens.

2 years ago I shopped and compared for my first big screen, money was not really a big concern, I wanted to be happy. I know this is gonna go against the grain here but I honestly believe DLP is the best picture, I was looking in the above 50" range and plasma and lcd were way more expensive in the larger sizes, but like I said money was not the big concern. So I compared them for pic quality side by side and I thought the plazma and lcd picture looked IMO fake, not as true to life with to much color, not enough depth.

I got the 57" dlp and it is 1080P, never had an issue of picture quality, never seen pixelation, burn in, skipping or what ever the other problems are, watch it from extreme angles no problem. Only problem is that lamp and the worst case scenario that it burns out right before the super bowel when you have some friends over.

What ever you get make sure they have a liberal return policy so you can try at home first and change it if your not satisfied,
Of course when you first bring in a new TV that's bigger/higher quality picture than what you have now your gonna be impressed, but watch it for a few days and then decide.

Good luck, JB.

 

[woodchuckie]

I'm pretty sure the networks are broadcasting 1080i, not 1080p. Unless this has been a recent change that I'm not aware of.

Well I looked at each network again and at that time everything was either 720p or 1080i. It's seems it changes maybe according to what was used when recorded or whatever. I guess I didn't see an 1080i.

 

[Chuck52]

I don't have much to say about size....my Dell LCD measures about 37" diagonal and that, with the attached speakers, was the biggest we could put into our TV stand thingie. I do have a warning about Dell TVs however. Mine is working fine after about two years, but a buddy who got his a year earlier just told me his sound went out. He's an electronics tech, so he looked at it himself and found the bad board to be a simple amplifier setup. He checked online and found that that board is common to all Dell TVs and is a known weak point. He can't find a source for the board and Dell isn't helpful, but there is a place he could send it to be fixed for big $$$. Though he's good with this stuff, the board is multi-layer and has a number of components on it such that he can't really fix it himself. The irritating thing is that we both bought Dell because our perception was that they are a solid company with good customer support, mainly due to our positive interactions with them about computers at work. Fortunately, there are multiple ways to get around the problem with the sound. A surround-sound system wouldn't even use the same port that is messed up by this board, and there are also other workarounds available.

Chuck

 

[Heywood Jannockitov]

...and the worst case scenario that it burns out right before the super bowel when you have some friends over.

Now that would be embarrassing!

 

[dgl24087]

I got a Samsung 40" LCD about 2 years ago. Thought about getting a 42", wish I had gotten a 46". My viewing distance is about 10-12 feet.