12-10-2009, 10:31 AM

So the wife and I moved to Hungary a few months ago and we're ready to purchase a TV. Flat panel or bust...

LED ? LCD ? Plasma ? I'm leaning towards the former two. I also really like the look of most Samsung's, LG's look alright, but then again.. I haven't really seen many other makes which DON'T look good when properly calibrated.

I know that some people don't like the look associated with the faster 100 and 200 Hz speeds, but I do happen to like it, so I guess I'll throw that into the mix.

Problem is, I'm not sure if I should read reviews on U.S. based sites since the model numbers might be different from those based in EU and I might get stuff confused. Though, I could be wrong.

Looking for suggestions on where to look for reviews on some good TV's, but I don't want to break the bank, either. I'm not looking to spend very much over $1000 USD because we might not even stay here for that long. Even so, we will likely buy a house or apartment which it can just stay in while we rent it.

Other things to note: We don't have a BlueRay player YET ,but I suspect we will venture into that area sooner or later. I'll likely get an Oppo model at some point. I don't game, but it wouldn't be totally out of the question for me to get either an Xbox or PS3 system sometime down the road either.

It would also be cool to be able to hook up one of the MacBook Pro's to the TV for streaming stuff etc..

Suggestions ? Opinions ? Where should I look for reviews and prices? I've been completely out of this loop for years.

Doug

12-10-2009, 04:00 PM

Whatever turns you on, Doug, but as a suggestion purchase either a Panasonic Vierra or Sony Bravo only as they are the top performers.

12-10-2009, 05:19 PM

Regarding review sites, here are some good resources.

hdguru.com - excellent reviews
revision3.com/hdnation - weekly show (can subscribe in iTunes) that is excellent, on all things HDTV related
avsforums.com - mostly AV related but some good info on tv's

The main thing to first decide is LCD vs Plasma. (LED is a type of backlight for LCDs')

Plasma - better contrast (ie better blacks) and viewing angle, etc but also heavier and thicker, and use more power.
LCD - the high end ones are almost as good as plasma for picture quality now. If you get the faster refresh ones, you can always turn off the "smoothing" feature that many ppl don't like

The reason for LED-lit LCD's is lighter, better local dimming, lower power consumption, and can be made thinner. They come in two kinds - edge-lit (thinner), and local-dimming (better blacks). Non-LED lit LCD's are lit by CCFL (compact fluoro).

If you go plasma, the Pioneer Kuro is considered top notch. Others are good too. And for LCD, the Sony Bravia, and Samsung higher end ones are good, as are others. It varies by model, so it does no good to try to recommend a whole brand as being "best". I'd stay away from the low-end ones though like Vizio, although even those are plenty good for most folks.

Right now plasma is less popular, so you can get some really good deals on them. But if your room is really bright, lots of sunlight, you may need to go LCD as they can be made brighter.

Whatever you do, make sure to calibrate it properly. Factory settings are crap. There are good calibration DVDs and BluRays out there, and you can even pay a pro. The HDNation show I linked above has some episodes on calibration.

As for Blu-Ray, since you mentioned wanting to get Blu-Ray and maybe getting a gaming system down the road, I'd recommend the PS3. It is considered a quite good Blu-Ray player, and costs about the same as higher end consumer Blu-Ray players do.

I'd still look at reviews on US sites, because the model numbers might be slightly different, but typically the "line" of TVs will be the same. So for example, with Samsung, there are usually four or five levels of LCD, and the specific numbers might be different, but you can tell which ones are the comparable product.

Hope this helps!

Oh, and one other thing, don't expect any of these HDTVs to have decent speakers! Invest in a receiver and some some speakers, it's well worth it. Get a receiver with extra HDMI ports, then you can just run one cable to your TV and everything just goes into the receiver.

12-10-2009, 05:24 PM

Don't know what brands/models you have access to over there, but it's getting harder and harder to purchase a bad set anymore. The screens have come a long way in the last 2 years. I do recommend staying away from what are known as the throw away brands - pretty much all of the cheaper ones. If they break after the 1st year warranty, you're looking at purchasing another set, because they don't make the parts for repair.

As harryb, I'm partial to Panasonic & Sony for both televisions and blu-ray players. The other two brands I look at are Toshiba and Hitachi. They have both been putting out some very nice televisions the past several years. Hitachi has been putting out some of the best computer monitors for over 10 years and it does carry over to their TVs. Samsung is also producing some good televisions, but can't in good conscience recommend them as their customer service is by far the worst in the business.

I just put in one of the current generation Panasonic plasmas. It's a great looking screen. Although, so was the Toshiba it replaced. The individual that bought my old Toshiba is still oohing and aahing 2 months later.