Best choice of an HDTV these days. I have been out of the loop.

bradtemple87

Mickey's Coach
10 Year Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2011
Posts
590
For Megagriffin and any other curious parties:

As I mentioned, I sell these televisions everyday. Come by the Nashua NH Best Buy store on the Mass state line and you will find me in the Magnolia Home Theater room. I am certified by our vendors and the various training programs available. I can sell you the right tv for YOU, and not what your buddy or family member likes.

Each technology has its perks, but here is a brief reason why people love the plasmas and especially the Panasonic line. Panasonic is the highest selling plasma line on the market. My store never keeps them in stock for long! What separates one plasma television from another is the type of glass and the black filter, this is always the major difference. Plasma is not "outdated", so dont let anyone tell you that shit. Also, I have seen plenty of two year old LED tvs bite the dust! There is NO GUARANTEE on lifespan, regardless of manufacturer or technology you buy. A Vizio television may not be a Sony, but they would not be so popular if they did not do at least a few things right. Plasma does not utilize the same type of light system as an LED, which results in improved motion refresh rates and black levels. Almost every LED on the market, easily 95% are EDGE LIT panels that move light to the center of the screen for the back-light to push forward to the viewer. Local dimming takes advantage of smaller screen sections as the light moves resulting in extra detail and improved contrast, think like graph paper. Samsung calls this "Pro" and "Ultimate" local dimming. The BEST LED panels on the market are like the Sony HX950 that utilize FULL ARRAY lighting. This technology has sheets of LED lights and illuminates specific sections or zones of the screen for much improved black levels. All of the full array panels I sell go for around $3K and up, so if you find a $1000 tv and they sell it as fully back lit, they are feeding you a big fat lie! Plasma takes the native 60hz or 30fps technology and works in smaller sections, compared to an LED that creates supplemental frames to smooth out the motion rate of the television. This is why a plasma says 600hz (60x10), compared to an LED that goes up to 240hz (two supplemental frames in between every two frames of a movie reel. The LED LITERALLY makes these frames up from scratch based on an image of the original frame A and B. They never existed! Nothing beets plasma in terms of speed and black levels.

The big point here is to buy the television that YOU like! Tell your friends to screw off because its your money!
 

StealthLurker

Naomi Yamazaki's Wingman
Joined
Oct 27, 2003
Posts
2,422
I can't believe the shout outs to Sony.

Sony DIED when the CRT did. All they can do is play catch up today. However they still price things as if they were still the best.

Best you can get from top to bottom today for a direct view panel HDTV:

1. Runco (Expensive... think of a Pioneer Kuro Elite fused with a multi-thousand dollar stand alone video processor box into one package)
2. Sharp *ELITE* (handed the reigns from Pioneer)
3. Panasonic
4. Samsung

Since you mentioned a cap of $1,000 and below, shoot for a Panny or Samsung. Probably won't be able to get the flagship model line at your desired price though.

And still the king in terms of overall Picture Quality:

Plasma > LCD / LED based LCD

If you must go LED LCD, try and stay away from edge lit backlighting. Ideally you want fully localized backlight control for better contrast levels. However I doubt you'd be able to find one with your specified budget.


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