HDTV question

[gh4chiefs]

Yeah, so far I"m happy with it but I haven't been able to get a HD cable box yet. Hopefully I'll get that tomorrow.

 

[Immolatus]

First, I recall reading that if your screen size is a certain size or smaller, then 720p is good enough and you really can't tell the difference if you jump up to 1080p. Does anyone know what size screen that is?

37" is the number I've read in most places, though some people also say 42" as the threshold where 1080p doesn't matter.

Secondly, and this is the specific question, has anyone had any experience (good or bad) with the Wal-Mart brand of HDTV, Vizio? (Yes I know, it's Wal-Mart, but I'm trying to be objective and not have a knee-jerk reaction.)

I've read that Vizios tend to not last as long as the competition--apparently the sets have significant issues that don't appear until later on including dying prematurely. From what I gather, it seems to be a matter of "you get what you pay for".

I have a Vizio in the bed room and I have no compliants at all. I know people who spent big bucks on name brand HDTV's and still got crap.

 

[the_wildcard]

I've only heard that Vizio uses second hand materials, which I can only assume means like old materials from used LCD's. In either case, I've only "heard" and not see anything concrete.

My friend has a Vizio and has not had any problems, so it's really just up to the consumer to judge.

 

[gh4chiefs]

I have a Vizio in the bed room and I have no compliants at all. I know people who spent big bucks on name brand HDTV's and still got crap.

Well you're right about that. I've read enough reviews of HDTV's in the last week or so to make me worried about all of them. The two complaints that I saw with Vizio was that the TV "emitted a loud buzzing noise" and they had shorter life spans.

But I also saw that "name brands" had problems too. This Samsung that I ended up with seemed to have a very high percentage of positive reviews (nearly 100%) so I'm hoping for the best. But I may have just thrown my money away and the Vizio might have been just fine.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

I have a 42in 1080p LCD and to be honest i should have saved money and just gone with 720p.....I originally bought it to play HD games at 1080p, but the 360 mostly upscales games to 1080p so its not the same as true native 10809p, and the PS3 seems to going the same route as having most its games appear on native 720p.......and I'm not on the blu-ray wagon yet due to the price's they are charging for one blue-ray movie...

So unless you are a HD movie buff then i think a nice big 720p only TV would be your best bet...... i could have went for a nice big 50in plus 720p TV for the money i payed for a 42in 1080p TV, which I'm just not using or have anything to use at 1080p.

 

[gh4chiefs]

Well I do have a HD-DVD player that I can hook to it for 1080p (and a suprisingly large number of movies) but I also intend to hook up a blu-ray player to it at some point.

 

[Scout101]

Excellent choice! I think you're going to really like that one. I've got almost the same one, but a couple generations back (and sadly, only one calendar year). LN-T4661.

Prices have fallen quite a bit in a year, too! I paid $2250 for mine, and only because I got a deal and tricked them into some pricematching (it was $2800 on the showroom floor at the time).

Excellent tv, though, no complaints at all. As far as the LCD TV market is going at the moment, Samsung definitely seems to be one of the leaders. And is usually priced a lot better than the comparable Sony models (and with fewer problems/flaws.

With all the improvments LCD has made over the past year or so, and the falling costs, it's actually kind of suprising that plasma is even still around as a serious choice...

 

[gh4chiefs]

I got impatient and picked up a Sony Blu-ray player tonight. And it looks great in full 1080p. I just thought I had HDTV before.

I have my next HDTV question. I've heard a lot about "calibration" in these HDTV threads. What exactly is that and how does one go about it?

 

[Immolatus]

I got impatient and picked up a Sony Blu-ray player tonight. And it looks great in full 1080p. I just thought I had HDTV before.

I have my next HDTV question. I've heard a lot about "calibration" in these HDTV threads. What exactly is that and how does one go about it?

try blu-ray.com. It's a pretty good forum. It will point you in the right direction

 

[gh4chiefs]

Thanks.

 

[Scout101]

better yet, go to this forum on AVS Forum:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=166

and select your TV model. Audiophile nerds far better than you or I have run every color test they can come up with, and have posted their optimized configurations for your specific TV...

 

[gh4chiefs]

Great, I'll do that.

 

[mrcoaster]

AVS Forum is definitely THE place to go for all this stuff. When I'm looking, I post and research everything starting there.