Suggestions For New Television

[Taosman]

Don't just buy a TV. Because the quality of the electricity your getting will effect it's performance no matter how good it is. Address the RFI/EMI issues by investing in a high quality filter for your electricity. Even get something like a PS Audio Power Plant(I did) to regenerate your power and protect your expensive gear. I found that you can buy a "factory refreshed" display model and save big money(I saved $800) on my PS Audio P3. How do you know the quality of your electricity? First listen to your whole system without any sound/music playing. If you hear humming/noise you got a problem. Some times you'll even hear the local church broadcasting. Or somebodies HAM radio.
A good source for a "factory refreshed" PS Audio Power Plant is AudioAdvisor.com. You get the full 3 year warranty, also.
http://www.psaudio.com/products/power/

http://home-audio.audioadvisor.com/search?w=ps+audio+power+plant&x=0&y=0

 

[cincibuck]

For too many years we had been watching TV and movies from a Sony 19" portable wedged into a corner. So I bought a Pioneer 42 inch Plasma in June of 2005 as a retirement gift to myself. Set it up with a Yamaha amp, Klipsch speakers and kicker box, Monster Power power control and eventually added a Sony Blue Ray DVD player to it along with Tivo and a two terabyte storage disc. A plasma screen set me back close to 4.5K then. All the wring was fished through the walls and my God son built a cabinet to hold all the components, plus a fair amount of storage. Final price neared $7K, but I feel like it has more than paid for itself.

The plasma picture is still terrific and the surround sound makes movie watching a real treat. The plasma picture is clear even when watching from a severe angle, I don't know if it still applies, but that used to be a weakness with LCD. This quality of the plasma screen pays off when I host game parties.

The biggest problem comes with the Tivo. Time Warner and Tivo don't like to work together and so I find myself having to reboot the Tivo unit as often as every other month. It's a pisser to sit down to watch a big game I couldn't watch live and discover that Time Warner and Tivo are feuding again.

I love being able to watch shows when I want to see them and blow by commercials. I've even been known to not start watching an NFL game until an hour past the kickoff so that I can fast forward past commercials and catch up with the live broadcast by the end of the game.

8 years later, I'd still go with Plasma, perhaps moving up to a 50, and I'd buy even more storage to keep OSU games on.

 

[ORD_Buckeye]

So, after unplugging it and plugging it back in several times, the power is actually working consistently......

however, the first time it came back on, I had a picture for about one minute and then nothing. Total black when the tv is on (sound though), no warm up screen, no blue "no input" screen when I change the source.

The god damn frustrating thing is that the tv was working perfectly Friday night and then nothing on Saturday morning. No warning signs whatsoever.

 

[BUCKYLE]

I went to Wal Mart with my federal refund about three years ago to purchase a 360. We had an old 42" tube TV at the time. A Guy I know was working near the TV displays, so I went over to say hi. There was a Visio 55" LED display marked down from 1400$ to 750$, along with several other discounted display models. I was asking about them, and dude told me while they usually display TVs for about a year before marking them down and selling them, the Visio had only been on display for less than two months. I ended up buying the 55" Visio...actually, not sure if it's LED or LCD. Regardless, it's almost four years old now and it still has a damn good picture. The only thing wrong with it is one of the four HDMI Ports quit working about a year ago. Other than that, it's solid. I think next refund, I'm gonna get something bigger. Looks like I'll be getting plasma this time.

 

[Taosman]

For bargain hunters, Walmart has a "back room" where you'll find great deals on returned TVs. People are given a TV and want a bigger or different one and return the TV for something bigger, better.

 

[buxfan4life]

I just purchased a 60" Samsung LED with the higher refresh rate, and I would put it up against the plasma picture any day of the week. I got it for anout $1,100 from BrandsMart USA (only 2 HDMI inputs, but since my tuner has 5 HDMI passthroughs, it was not an issue). I shopped for about 2 month comparing and contrasting and what it came down to was 2 things: Weight and longevity. Evryone i talked to about picture said Plasmas were the best, but after a couple years you will get burn in, especially if you watch anything that has the tickers at the bottom of the screen. LEDs are extremely light, and that was a factor so i could easily moved the TV out by the pool without throwing my back out.

I was VERY tempted by the new 4k TVs they had, but $5k for a 65" was a bit to steep for my tatse.

Also, I started out looking for a smart TV, but the more I looked into them, I realized my PS3 already does everything I need (Netflix, Amazon prime, etc.) I figured the extra cost, and something extra to go wrong with the TV, wasn't worth it.

 

[jwinslow]

I just purchased a 60" Samsung LED with the higher refresh rate, and I would put it up against the plasma picture any day of the week. I got it for anout $1,100 from BrandsMart USA (only 2 HDMI inputs, but since my tuner has 5 HDMI passthroughs, it was not an issue). I shopped for about 2 month comparing and contrasting and what it came down to was 2 things: Weight and longevity.

Out of curiosity, what was the going rate at a company people have heard of? Sounds like you scored a sweet deal while folks like me would have stuck up their noses at the reseller.

Evryone i talked to about picture said Plasmas were the best, but after a couple years you will get burn in, especially if you watch anything that has the tickers at the bottom of the screen

Maybe on the really old ones. We've never had that problem.

Some will tell you to watch for burn in at the very beginning, but after that (if not sooner) it is smooth saling.

 

[ORD_Buckeye]

So a little googling around the interweb tubes, and it seems as though either the fuse in the y-sustain or the board itself popped. It also seems as though Hewlett Packard televisions were notorious for this, so I guess I should consider myself lucky that I had 6 1/2 years of perfect service out of the thing. If it's not the fuse, then I guess the actual board would be completely unavailable so long after the televisions were discontinued.

I just can't see paying over a grand for a television again. I popped for a new watch this Summer and have two trips (Berkeley for the game and Vegas for Don Rickles) planned next month. If a tv is only going to last 3-4 years, then I'm going to set a firm ceiling of around 800 clams before tax.

 

[buxfan4life]

Out of curiosity, what was the going rate at a company people have heard of? Sounds like you scored a sweet deal while folks like me would have stuck up their noses at the reseller.
Maybe on the really old ones. We've never had that problem.

Some will tell you to watch for burn in at the very beginning, but after that (if not sooner) it is smooth saling.

BrandsMart USA is about the only way to go for appliances and electronics down here. I think they are strictly Florida and Georgia. I bought all of my appliances there when I bought my house last year and saved about $1,000 compared to the other national chain stores.

Best Buy and hhgregg had the same TV for $1,600 when i bought mine.

 

[Dryden]

Call a repairman?

Your symptoms sound like blown capacitors on the power supply board. Literally a $5 part.

I'd recommend just calling a qualified repairman and paying him the $100 for the service call because he'll do clean soldering work and know enough to not electrocute himself touching undrained caps (there could be nearly 40,000 volts within them).

 

[cincibuck]

Call a repairman?

These guys still exist? The last one in Anderson went into the home brewing supplies biz about 2 years ago. Really.

Thinking about it, I was able to get my late 80s Sony CD player repaired in Mt. Washington, about a 10 minute drive away.

 

[ORD_Buckeye]

Call a repairman?

Your symptoms sound like blown capacitors on the power supply board. Literally a $5 part.

I'd recommend just calling a qualified repairman and paying him the $100 for the service call because he'll do clean soldering work and know enough to not electrocute himself touching undrained caps (there could be nearly 40,000 volts within them).

No dice. I called two places today, and they knew immediately what I was talking about and told me that, since the tv was so far out of date, the board was impossible to replace. Apparently, they had a wave of these come in around 2009 and 2010 and said I was lucky to get as many years of good service out of it as I did.

And I think I have it narrowed down to this unless someone tells me to stop.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Panasonic+-+VIERA+-+50%26%2334%3B+Class+(49-9/10%26%2334%3B+Diag.)+-+Plasma+-+1080p+-+600Hz+-+Smart+-+HDTV/8130126.p?id=1218864361009&skuId=8130126

 

[ORD_Buckeye]

So, I went cheaper on the television since it seems to be the highest risk for a lemon.

http://www.microcenter.com/product/412557/DW46F1Y1_46_1080p_120Hz_LED_HDTV

46" 1080p/120hz LED on sale for 350 clams.

Upgraded my home theater (since old one was a decade old and didn't have any digital audio inputs to be compatible with new tv) with a Yamaha 5.1 system and a Panasonic wireless and netflix compatible blue ray player.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Panason...ayer/8342058.p?id=1218874431443&skuId=8342058

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Yamaha+...ofer/4566089.p?id=1218487076724&skuId=4566089

And a new logitech remote to tie it all together.

All in for less than 1000 clams, which coincidentally was what I paid for the plasma (on sale) in Aught-7.

 

[ORD_Buckeye]

So, here's what I find interesting. I'm not really seeing much impact from the jump to Blue-Ray/1080 from my old DVD/720 set up. Was I expecting too much, or is something wrong?

 

[jwinslow]

So, here's what I find interesting. I'm not really seeing much impact from the jump to Blue-Ray/1080 from my old DVD/720 set up. Was I expecting too much, or is something wrong?

You bought the TV equivalent of RC Cola. There are a lot of great 46-50" TVs out there for 500-650. You can save even more if you opt for 720p. There are ways to go for second tier brands (TCL) with better quality. Westinghouse is basically the bottom of the market.

TVs also plateaued in price, so manufacturers started inflating the price with "smart" TVs.