Help with HD TV

[theCMNDER]

Greetings my fellow Escapions, I would like to enquire your help in purchasing a HD TV for all my eye candy gaming needs.

I don't know anything much about HD TV's except that I should get 1080p over 720i (it's not really quite HD is it?). I'm thinking of getting a 26"-28" because it's not oversized but isn't so small that HD is pointless.

So I basically know that I want a 26"-28" 1080p HD TV, but I have no clue about the best place to buy one or what make I should go for, I've read some people say some makes aren't as good quality, etc. as others and I don't want to waste my money!

Thank you for your time Escapions!

EDIT: I live in the UK in case that makes any differences to where I can buy said TV from.

EDIT: I've decided on my TV now, thanks to every for all the help.

 

[Flushfacker]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I have been told by a reliable source that you will not notice a difference between 720 and 1080 at the kind of screen size you are looking at, ie less than 32". Just a thought.

 

[Inverse Skies]

I have a Hisense 21 inch LCD tv which cost me around $700 AUS. It's really quite good, it has HDMI access and all the sorts of things you would want. I've only got a HD cable for my PS3 though, so thats what I link to the tv, but its really very good.

 

[The_Night_Walker]

I Have a Samsung R8 Series 26" LE26R87BD HD Ready Freeview LCD TV from play.com for £439.99 GBP

 

[theCMNDER]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I have been told by a reliable source that you will not notice a difference between 720 and 1080 at the kind of screen size you are looking at, ie less than 32". Just a thought.

Hmm thankyou this is good to know. I was wondering why I couldn't find many 1080p's at the size I was looking at online, this could be why.

I have a Hisense 21 inch LCD tv which cost me around $700 AUS. It's really quite good, it has HDMI access and all the sorts of things you would want. I've only got a HD cable for my PS3 though, so thats what I link to the tv, but its really very good.

I'll mostly be using it for a PS3 aswell, so Hisense is a make to look at, thanks.

 

[Inverse Skies]

I'll mostly be using it for a PS3 aswell, so Hisense is a make to look at, thanks.

No problem. Really all I'm going is telling you what I've got which seems to work alright, so hopefully you find one thats good for you.

 

[Tattaglia]

Get a Roomba instead - except it can't go into corners, and it sucks hard. Apart from that, it's... um...

Just get a Roomba.

 

[Frizzle]

Greetings my fellow Escapions, I would like to enquire your help in purchasing a HD TV for all my eye candy gaming needs.

I don't know anything much about HD TV's except that I should get 1080p over 720i (it's not really quite HD is it?). I'm thinking of getting a 26"-28" because it's not oversized but isn't so small that HD is pointless.

So I basically know that I want a 26"-28" 1080p HD TV, but I have no clue about the best place to buy one or what make I should go for, I've read some people say some makes aren't as good quality, etc. as others and I don't want to waste my money!

Thank you for your time Escapions!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16889187106
Pretty sure that's what I have. Not at home, so I can't confirm.

It's go a ton of inputs, and I can even get my laptop and desktop on there so I can use it as a monitor. I also hook my PS3 up to it. It's beautiful, doesn't get too hot, has crisp picture, and wonderful colors. I highly reccomend it.

I did get it on sale though, I didn't pay the 799US for it. Usually newegg.com has good sales on stuff like that.

 

[asamoah19]

Look at LG, if you are thinking sub 32" then flushfacker is right there is no noticeable distance, unless you screen will be over 25' away from you. and LG pretty much top the charts for reliability, function and display quality. I'm currently running an old 32LC2D-EC and a new 37LH5000 the older one still has its merits.

yeah I love LG ^.^

 

[beddo]

Greetings my fellow Escapions, I would like to enquire your help in purchasing a HD TV for all my eye candy gaming needs.

I don't know anything much about HD TV's except that I should get 1080p over 720i (it's not really quite HD is it?). I'm thinking of getting a 26"-28" because it's not oversized but isn't so small that HD is pointless.

So I basically know that I want a 26"-28" 1080p HD TV, but I have no clue about the best place to buy one or what make I should go for, I've read some people say some makes aren't as good quality, etc. as others and I don't want to waste my money!

Thank you for your time Escapions!

It depends where you are and what you are going to use your HDTV for. If you are not using it for any 1080p (Full HD) material then the picture will actually look worse than on a 720p (HD TV). This is because it has to stretch the image over more pixels making the image appear poor.

I'll go through the equipment you are most likely to connect:

Xbox 360 - Can upscale to 1080p however the quality of the material is questionable, it's barely better than 720p because that's what most of the in-game assets were designed for. In my opinion the XBox 360 at 720p on an HDTV looks better than at 1080p on a full HD TV.

PlayStation 3 - In theory it should be the same as the Xbox 360 however, I've not seen the difference so I can't say for sure.

Wii - The best picture the Wii can deliver is 480p. The Wii looks worse on a 1080p tv than a 720p tv.

Standard TV - Standard TV(SDTV) will look worse on a 1080p TV than a 720p TV

DVD Player - Will look worse on a 1080p TV than a 720p TV

DVD Player Progressive Scan - Much better than non progressive but still; will look worse on a 1080p TV than a 720p TV.

DVD upscaler 1080p - Will look worse on a 1080p TV than a 720p TV, also will run at cinema aspect over HDMI meaning only the middle third of your TV will play the picture. FYI-Set upscaling DVD players to 576p for best picture size/quality ratio.

Sky HD - The picture runs at 720p which again looks better on a 720p than 1080p. If they upgrade to 1080p then the reverse will apply.

Blu-Ray - Blu-Ray outputs at 1080p and will look better on a Full HD 1080p TV than a 720p TV.

PC - 720p TV is almost useless for doing any computer work, Full HD is much better for a computer.


Basically unless you're using this as a PC monitor it's pointless getting a 1080p Full HD TV unless it is larger than 32", when you sit back you just can't tell the difference. Save yourself some money and stick to HDTV.

EDIT: A cinema ratio TV from Philips is coming out: [link]http://www.consumer.philips.com/consumer/en/gb/consumer/cc/_categoryid_TELEVISIONS_CA_GB_CONSUMER/[/link]

Personally I'd go with a projector with a cinema lens, save some money and get a bigger screen.

 

[theCMNDER]

Woah so many replies, I knew this would be a good place to ask this Still not quite sure what make to go for though, I'm thinking Sony or Samsung atm -which no one seems to have suggested lol, but I've been reading many reviews. Atleast now know I don't have to worry about it not being 1080p which is good. Now I just have to decide exactly which one to get.. thanks for the help guys and gals.

EDIT: @beddo That's a lot of info there! I'll be using it primarily with a PS3 so 720 is sounding good, and whilst the projector sounds pretty sweet I think I'm going to stick with the TV. ^^

 

[paladinkratos]

decent looking TV
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9244668&type=product&id=1218066285003
it is a 32 inch television 1080p 120hz with a 80,000:1 contrast ratio for 799

 

[Virgil]

Greetings my fellow Escapions, I would like to enquire your help in purchasing a HD TV for all my eye candy gaming needs.

I don't know anything much about HD TV's except that I should get 1080p over 720i (it's not really quite HD is it?). I'm thinking of getting a 26"-28" because it's not oversized but isn't so small that HD is pointless.

So I basically know that I want a 26"-28" 1080p HD TV, but I have no clue about the best place to buy one or what make I should go for, I've read some people say some makes aren't as good quality, etc. as others and I don't want to waste my money!

Thank you for your time Escapions!

How far away is is going to be from where you sit, and what are you planning on using it to do?

As mentioned, at that size a 720p television is probably a better fit than a 1080p one, if you're going to be sitting on a couch a few feet away playing console games or watching movies. You won't really be able to see the extra detail. If you're going to be sitting closer to the screen though, you can see the difference.

If you're looking for a brand recommendation I've been very happy with the Samsung screens - that's what I have at home. Sony also makes some nice displays, but I could never see enough of an improvement to make up for the price difference.

If you don't need a built-in TV tuner and aren't that far away, you can get a nice display cheap by buying a LCD monitor with an HDMI input (this one is $299, from Dell [http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/products/Monitors/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=320-7345]). It's a bit more limited in inputs than a TV (HDMI, VGA, DVI), but it will run at 1080p and look quite nice. I use a monitor connected to my Xbox 360 with the VGA cable, and it works well.

 

[Baby Tea]

This is what I got:
http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=0770HDS0010099946&logon=&langid=EN&test_cookie=1#
IT might be a bit big, but even I have it...and I live in what amounts to a thimble. Crazy small apartment. I have to duck under stairs and crawl over my couch in order to get to my kitchen...two steps away from the 'living room'.

But MAN this TV is freaking sweet. I love it.

 

[theCMNDER]

How far away is is going to be from where you sit, and what are you planning on using it to do?

As mentioned, at that size a 720p television is probably a better fit than a 1080p one, if you're going to be sitting on a couch a few feet away playing console games or watching movies. You won't really be able to see the extra detail. If you're going to be sitting closer to the screen though, you can see the difference.

If you're looking for a brand recommendation I've been very happy with the Samsung screens - that's what I have at home. Sony also makes some nice displays, but I could never see enough of an improvement to make up for the price difference.

If you don't need a built-in TV tuner and aren't that far away, you can get a nice display cheap by buying a LCD monitor with an HDMI input (this one is $299, from Dell [http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/products/Monitors/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=320-7345]). It's a bit more limited in inputs than a TV (HDMI, VGA, DVI), but it will run at 1080p and look quite nice. I use a monitor connected to my Xbox 360 with the VGA cable, and it works well.

I will be sat pretty close, my current TV is about 2 feet away right now (I have my PC and TV+PS3 set up next to each other ^^). The monitor sounds pretty good but I don't know enough to know the difference about the inputs, I suppose what I want to ask is what will I not be able to do with it?

Also, to everyone, I should have mentioned I live in the UK, might affect what places I can buy things from without being charged shipping - I'm most likely going to buy from amazon though.

 

[Flying Dagger]

research how good your eyesight is. HD is wasted on so many people who simply do not have a good enough eyesight for it to make any difference.

 

[Virgil]

The monitor sounds pretty good but I don't know enough to know the difference about the inputs, I suppose what I want to ask is what will I not be able to do with it?

If you're at that distance, you could definitely notice the difference between 720p and 1080p, even on a smaller screen. As a bonus, a 1080p TV will work very nicely as a PC monitor as well (at 1920x1080 resolution). Unfortunately, it's also going to be difficult to find a 1080p TV at under 32".

I don't know what appropriate prices are in the UK, but I took a glance at Amazon UK and this [http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-LE32A656A-Widescreen-1080P-Freeview/dp/B00188ZR8S/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1240240479&sr=1-9] is probably the one I'd go with in that size range at 1080p. I own a larger screen size of that same model myself, and have been very happy with it.

If you need to go smaller than that, for space if nothing else, then you'll likely end up with a 720p TV instead - I'd probably go with this one [http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-LE26B450C4-720p-Ready-Freeview/dp/tech-data/B001UE8LUQ/ref=de_a_smtd].

 

[theCMNDER]

~

If you're at that distance, you could definitely notice the difference between 720p and 1080p, even on a smaller screen. As a bonus, a 1080p TV will work very nicely as a PC monitor as well (at 1920x1080 resolution). Unfortunately, it's also going to be difficult to find a 1080p TV at under 32".

I don't know what appropriate prices are in the UK, but I took a glance at Amazon UK and this [http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-LE32A656A-Widescreen-1080P-Freeview/dp/B00188ZR8S/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1240240479&sr=1-9] is probably the one I'd go with in that size range at 1080p. I own a larger screen size of that same model myself, and have been very happy with it.

If you need to go smaller than that, for space if nothing else, then you'll likely end up with a 720p TV instead - I'd probably go with this one [http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-LE26B450C4-720p-Ready-Freeview/dp/tech-data/B001UE8LUQ/ref=de_a_smtd].

Wow thanks a bunch! I will probably have to go for the smaller one due to funds, I was looking for one around £300, so the £600 32" is kind of out of the question.

I think I'm sorted now as that coincides with my idea of going Sony or Samsung, thanks for all the help guys!

 

[similar.squirrel]

Does HD really make that much of a difference?I use a 19inch monitor with 1440x900 resolution and it looks quite nice.

 

[Corpse XxX]

Go for Panasonic, Sony or Pioneer.. They have without a doubt the best tv's..

Also i wouldnt buy anything smaller than 42", since they are so cheap anyway..