LCD and Plasma

I am assuming I am the last Dinosaur that still does not have some sort of flat screen in there house. I want a TV on my wall, so I have been looking at the Phillips 47 inch LCD with ambilight. Full 1080P and 3 HDMI (whatever all that crap means). retail price is like $2300..OUCH!
What do you have? Do you like it? Regrets?

I do not have a flat screen or even a decent TV - and I am happy for it.

Go fishing!

Our set in the living room is a toshiba 57" projection tv its big, bulky (weighs 250lbs) but has a great hd picture and sound. Id love a wall unit but im not ready to sink 2 g's plus into a tv especally since I dont watch that much tv.

I have a 60" plasma t.v. in my family room from Sony, don't know how much it was, but it's nice!

I have a plasma in my flamily room and a 26" flat plannel lcd in my basement I love the picture on both although my 26 is only used for my ps2.
I want to get the 60" but cant spare the money at this point

Wayne

I am the proud owner of a 42" Jvc plasma tv.

I have a 32" LG (780) LCD in my living room. I bought it last november for 900. It was onsale from 1200. It has a few component inputs and 2 HDMI inputs. Prices have gone down quite a bit in the last year. Its definitely not top of the line, but I love it. Most of them are pretty **** good. I also think that unless you are some type of expert, you won't be able to tell a major difference between a really good TV and an average TV unless they are set up right next to one another. I'm really happy with the LG for the price. I have heard not so good reviews about the Phillips. Generally, Samsung, Sony, and Sharp are considered some of the best for LCDs. I just got the '08 Consumer Reports buying guide. Let me know if you want me to look up a specific model for you. Good luck. The world of electronics can be an intimidating one.

We are in the process of searching for a flat screen... We want a 42 inch Sony..... but are waiting until after xmas

Jim, I don't have a flat screen either. You're not alone.

My mom got a Sharp 42" LCD 1080P this past spring, after having a Zenith with a "clicker" since 1982. Big upgrade! No complaints, except non-HD channels really look bad.

I'm not convinced that the ambilight feature is worthwhile, although I haven't looked at one closely.

JustFishN said:

We are in the process of searching for a flat screen... We want a 42 inch Sony..... but are waiting until after xmas

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Have you seen the ones they have at BJ's? Are you a member there. They have some nice ones too.

nicdicarlo said:

I have a 32" LG (780) LCD in my living room. I bought it last november for 900. It was onsale from 1200. It has a few component inputs and 2 HDMI inputs. Prices have gone down quite a bit in the last year. Its definitely not top of the line, but I love it. Most of them are pretty **** good. I also think that unless you are some type of expert, you won't be able to tell a major difference between a really good TV and an average TV unless they are set up right next to one another. I'm really happy with the LG for the price. I have heard not so good reviews about the Phillips. Generally, Samsung, Sony, and Sharp are considered some of the best for LCDs. I just got the '08 Consumer Reports buying guide. Let me know if you want me to look up a specific model for you. Good luck. The world of electronics can be an intimidating one.

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Nicdicarlo,
If you don't mind looking at the consumer reports, The model I was looking at is philips 47PFL9732D. I wonder if it is in there. Chances are we will go with the sony, but the ambilight feature is supposed to enhance the colors. Who knows, it could be a gimmick for all i know. I have been conned before.

Jim, I'll check it out and let you know if they reviewed it this year.

hey Jim
I have been doing research on HD TV system for a couple of months and came to the conclusion that if you are going to do HD then you should do full HDMI. So that means HDMI from the cable box to receiver from the receiver to the TV, I have seen some people plug their HD tv'S TO regular receiver, the basic idea is to try to not covert the signal too many times. For example we don't have much control from the cable company it is going to be non-digital signal, then the cable box coverts it a digital signal , the big mistake people do is send that signal over non-digital signal to the recvier or TV. Anyways for LCD samsung I think have the best picture and color, you will notice that it does not pixalate as much as others, then I would with a song. For plasma Samsung then sony again, but thats where you need to decided LCD = Blurry screens, and Pixelates or plama = short life..

What do you mean by "pixalate"? We've been thinking about going to an LCD type tv, but it's so dang confusing to understand. We may just stay with the flat screen 25" Philips tv we currently have. I like the flat screens due to the reduced glare on the screen.

Xmytruck, Component cables will keep the signal digital as well I believe without converting it to analog. Component and HDMI cables are the only ones that will carry an HD signal. Regular video (red and white) or S-video cables (yellow) only carry an analog signal, which is fine for a VCR or something like that. I have an HDMI now and have used Components before on a previous TV that I ended up returning. I really can't tell the difference, except that HDMIs are about 2X as much (although I have never compared the two cables on the same TV). Its also nice because itS only one cable as opposed to 3. It would probably make more of a difference if you had a full 1080 set or something really high end. My buddy has a 42" samsung and the HDMI cable causes "ghosting" while the component cables don't. I think its personal preference, althought they claim the HDMI carries a cleaner signal.

Jim, as for the set you are looking at, consumer reports doesn't review that exact model, but they do review some Phillips sets. I'll PM you the details.

I have had my plasma tv for 6 years now and the picture still looks new
mine doesn't have the hdmi connections on it so i had to use an adaptor
i also have verizon fios tv the hd channels are fantastic and much better than cable.

quality wires are the key to a good picture

What do you mean by "pixalate"?

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Pixelation is the display of a digitized image where the individual pixels are apparent to a viewer.

Component and HDMI cables are the only ones that will carry an HD signal. Regular video (red and white) or S-video cables (yellow) only carry an analog signal, which is fine for a VCR or something like that.

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I agree with you that Componet and HDMI will carry the HD signal and that the red,white and yelllow or S-video(from sony) will only carry analog. As for the difference it will only be a small difference but I beleive it can make and break an HD TV. If the HD tv that is not that good to begin with coverting the signal more than it needs to will only reduce the qualtiy. It kind of like a internet modem for example when your computer sends a digitized single over the phone line the modem needs to convert that digigtal signal to analog and over the distance it has the possibly of becoming distorted, and if it does be come distorted it is considered a transmission error .Two different techongies but the they both fall under the same principles of analog transmission. It is the interferance from other sources that are avoid when sticking with a pure digtail signal and it elimantes distortion. Again most people can not tell the difference, for example my sony TV (NON-HD) uses Componet for the DVD and I use Gold moster cables for TV and I can see a night and day difference, and if I don't use the moster cable and use cheaper cable I can also see the differnce but is not as night and day as the DVD. Going from good cable to HDMI will only have small difference.

Thx
X

xmytruck said:

What do you mean by "pixalate"?

Click to expand...

Pixelation is the display of a digitized image where the individual pixels are apparent to a viewer.

Click to expand...

Thanks

NP

Well....we made the purchase! 42" LG lcd hdtv. We pick it up saturday from Circuit City. After reading and reading and reading. We decided to go with this one. My uncle has this in a 37" and it was a beautiful tv. I just wanted a bigger version. This set was on sale plus I got an additional 10% off of it! Cant wait.

https://reviews.cnet.com/flat-panel-tvs/lg-42lc7d/4505-6482_7-32385734.html?tag=prod.txt.1