Lcd Tv...???
 

I am looking to buy the wife one for her birthday. I have been doing research on several websites as well as CircuitCity's as I plan to buy it there. Looking for a 42".

Any suggestions, firsthand experience?

My advice is to buy a plasma.

Plasmas have better blacks and truer color than LCD.

Plasmas have better off angle viewing. You get an excellent picture from any chair in the room. LCD's picture fades slightly from the sides or slightly above or below.

Plasmas display fast action perfectly. LCD's suffer from motion blur.

If you are going to get an LCD, make sure the resolution is 1080p (or better).
I would stick with the better known names.

There was a thread about big screen TV's just a few weeks ago - might wanna search and take a look.

fwiw - I just got a Toshiba Regza 42" for xmas. Damn things gets me in trouble as it mesmerizes me with all this "stuff" I didn't/couldn't notice before; and I stay up later than I ought to.

Most of our stuff is commercial but we have a few home units and have had the best luck with the Sharp Aqous models as far as picture quality is concerned.

For plasma stick to Panasonic which would be my recommendation, if you are only interested in LCD check out Viewsonic or Sharp which are the best among its class in terms of color. Don't bother with SONY as Samsung makes all SONY LCD.

I went to buy an LCD last year, as I didn't like all I heard about plasma; burn-in, picture smear, high price, ect. But after looking, talking and drooling at Circuit City and Best Buy, I came home with a 42" Hewlett Packard Plasma. It was far better to look at than any of the LCD's that I looked at, and the price diff isn't much anymore. They supposedly have the other issues resolved. Here's hoping.

I'm not sure about off-axis viewing, but the latest generation of LCDs with the 120hz refresh rate have fixed the problem of motion blur considerably.

I'm buying a Sharp Aquos. Add a Bose Lifestyle V20 surround sound system to that, and you'll have a pretty nice TV! (When I was a kid, I watched a 13" B&W TV)

I can see a perfect picture from anywhere in the room on my Mom's LCD tv.

Plasma TV's burn huge amounts of energy. You might not like that on your power bill.

I wouldn't buy anything from Circuit City since they fired all their employees and hired new ones at less pay.
BASTARDS!!

Danny

Another thought on LCD TV's, some of our guys are getting the Olevias and having good luck with them. They go to the local trade show and hit up the sales reps for deals on the demo's when it's time to pack them up and take them home. The units are new at the start of the show so they only have about 20 hrs on them in the end.

Well, from the reading that I've done. Definitely not a Plasma. With the burn in and power issues and the limited life span no way. Alot of the major manufacturers are starting to abandon them also.

Circuit City has a deal right now on Sharp Aquos LCD TVs. You get a Blu-Ray player with a purchase of a TV. One Sharp TV has 1080p resolution and 3 HDMI inputs. From what I've heard the Sharp is the way to go. Circuit City also has 36 months interest free financing!

Going to buy a TV this week.

My thoughts exactly. That's a tempting offer.

I don't think the burn in thing is an issue on the newer plasma, but don't know about the power consumption. I've always liked the LCDs better, personally.

I bought a 36" Vizio 1080p LCD two years ago and have no complaints. Except that I wish I went with the 42" (but didn't have room at the time).

Toshiba Regza LCD
 

Bought a Toshiba Regza LCD about 3 months ago, 720P. I have no complaints at all. Great picture, no blurring, and I can see it from off angle. The angle thing is not a concern for me, I am either watching TV or not. Unless you have a huge room and sit at a 45 degree angle from the TV, I believe that the off angle viewing is not very important. Besides, if your room is that big, a 42" is too small.

There is a formula for sizing the flat panel, keyed to the size of the room and your normal viewing distance. Big screens don't look so great if you're too close, but you should still go as big as the formula recommends.

The store will probably only show HD content. Try to watch a standard broadcast program, since most TV is still 480i (well at least Comcast is), and see how well the set handles it. My Sony Bravia shows great HD, but some standard broadcasts look like old video tape.

Powerpig will know, there all over his house.

Personally, I like the Sharp Aquis(sp) followed by the Sony then Panasonic.