Early Xmas present

[Mish]

So I decided to give myself an early Xmas present this year. We had a decent TV in my previous place, but I moved to my new home with my old 51cm TV. It does the job, but to be honest I would prefer something that doesn't require squinting when I'm having dinner in the living room. I'm thinking of getting myself a 32 inch LCD screen to replace it. I figured 32 Inches are neither too small that I'll have problems seeing it, nor too extravagantly big that will leave me with huge electricity bills (I'm thinking of getting LCD over Plasma also for these exact reasons). Since it's "almost" Xmas discounts for these things are coming right and left.

So my question is, does anyone know the market for LCD TVs? What's good out there at the moment? What would you recommend?

[ecojeanne]

this is the best magazine to buy when interested in buying gadgets and technology

here's the website;

they test and compare products

[url]http://stuff.tv/[/url]

i used this magazine to figure out what to buy my brothers, its excellent. i don't know if you can get it in australia but hopefully the website can fill you in

good luck with your search

[1averagejoe]

Check out costco.com they usually have some pretty good deals on decent TV's.

Let's start with a simple question, 1080 or 720? Keep in mind 1080 is obviously going to be a bit more expensive.

[Mish]

Thanks Eco and Joe, I'll check out the sites you posted

Let's start with a simple question, 1080 or 720? Keep in mind 1080 is obviously going to be a bit more expensive.

I think 720 will do me for now. For the 32 Inch screen it probably won't play that much of a difference.

[Indignant]

I've had a 42" Pioneer for the last 5 years that is still in awesome condition. highly recommend.

[Mish]

I'm thinking along the lines of something like that

[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-LN32A450-32-Inch-720p-HDTV/dp/B00141AYIC/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1228369068& sr=8-1[/ame]

Has anyone seen it in action?

[1averagejoe]

Never seen it in action but I'm a big fan of Samsung, they make pretty good stuff for the price.

My sister has a 22" HD LCD monitor/TV. I have a 24" HD monitor/TV 1080p. My parents have a 61" DLP 1080p HDTV. They've all been great and for the price the picture quality is great on all of them. The picture on my parents is incredible, probably one of the nicest images I've seen from a DLP.

Oh ya, and I just looked at bestbuy.com. They carry that model if you want to go and see it in action.

[Gribble]

According to my grandfather who is the most frugal buyer on the planet, Samsung is the best buy right now. Better than Sony or anything else. He reads all those consumer report articles and stuff. My only problem with the Samsung in question is that it's 720p instead of 1080. I'm not sure how much more a 1080 would run you, but if it's not outrageously more expensive I'd consider saving up a bit more and springing for the superior TV. If you're all ready spending $500 or so why not cough up another $150 for the better picture?

[tooxshort]

You could check out [url]www.crutchfield.com[/url] ... I don't know if they deliver to your neck of the woods though ...

Also, there are some awesome deals on ebay ...

[Mish]

According to my grandfather who is the most frugal buyer on the planet, Samsung is the best buy right now. Better than Sony or anything else. He reads all those consumer report articles and stuff. My only problem with the Samsung in question is that it's 720p instead of 1080. I'm not sure how much more a 1080 would run you, but if it's not outrageously more expensive I'd consider saving up a bit more and springing for the superior TV. If you're all ready spending $500 or so why not cough up another $150 for the better picture?

A 1080 is about $350 (AUD) more I think (In our shops anyway). Though does it really make that much of a difference for a 32 Inch screen? I was thinking that for a 42" + it might, but 32" is not really big enough to justify extra spending. I compared a 32" Samsung 720 and 1080 running a DVD and a Blue Ray at a store and honestly couldn't tell the difference in picture quality. Do you know of examples where the difference would become noticeable?

[1averagejoe]

According to my grandfather who is the most frugal buyer on the planet, Samsung is the best buy right now. Better than Sony or anything else. He reads all those consumer report articles and stuff. My only problem with the Samsung in question is that it's 720p instead of 1080. I'm not sure how much more a 1080 would run you, but if it's not outrageously more expensive I'd consider saving up a bit more and springing for the superior TV. If you're all ready spending $500 or so why not cough up another $150 for the better picture?

At 32" 1080 isn't going to make too much of a difference in image quality. There will be a difference but not a huge one. It makes a large difference in larger screens. Just think about it. 1080 refers to the resolution of a screen. 1920X1080 lines or 1280x720. The 1080 and 720 refers to the number of horizontal lines. When the screen is smaller having 1080 across isn't going to make that big of a difference compared to 720. But as the physical screen is increased, it will become more noticeable. Kind of like taking a lower resolution picture and increasing it's size...it will get blurry.

Mish, I forgot to ask you, do you have an HD service or a bluray player? Or do you just plan on using a DVD player with upscalling?

If you don't have the first two, or plan on getting one of the first two going to 1080 is just a waste of money imho.

Also the 1080 version of that TV is LN32A550 which on amazon is about $170USD more compared to the LN32A450(720 model).

*edit* you posted too quick.

[Mish]

Mish, I forgot to ask you, do you have an HD service or a bluray player? Or do you just plan on using a DVD player with upscalling?

The HD service is only now starting to kick in here and I don't have a bluray player yet, I might get it built in with PS3 sometime next year, but I don't think I'll be getting into blurays any time soon since I have pretty much all of my favourites in my DVD collection.

I think mostly I'll just use it to watch DVDs, TV and play games. Might hook up my PC to it as well and use it as a monitor

[1averagejoe]

Even with a bluray player or HD service 1080 vs 720 on a 32" isn't going to make a huge difference. I say save the $150 and put it towards a bluray/ps3.

Oh ya and if you didn't know...you can play DVD's on a bluray player.

*edit*
My dad got a Sony Bluray player at costco during the Thanksgiving sales for $150...

[IndiReloaded]

I think mostly I'll just use it to watch DVDs, TV and play games. Might hook up my PC to it as well and use it as a monitor

I dunno much about television but I was going to say just make sure it connects to your computer. Nothing else makes much sense these days.

[Gribble]

I use my 32" 720p as a monitor. It's great.