What HDTV TV should I buy?

I'm moving into a new apartment on Friday (first time living by myself!) and I don't own a TV. However, I love movies so I'm going to buy one this weekend. You easily know more about this kind of thing than any other friend of mine, so I was wondering if you had any pointers? Things to look for - LED vs plasma, etc?

Basically, I just want to watch movies on it. I'm not a big videophile (or audiophile for that matter). I'll probably get a 40" with a Blu-Ray player and call it a day. But I don't want to make the wrong choice, so I figured I'd ask Dave. Thanks for any advice. Most people are steering me toward a Vizio at CostCo because they're pretty cheap. I just want to watch something like Wall-E and have it look incredible.

Dave's Answer:

Thanks for your question. It's a great one because there are so darn many choices and because it's tricky to know what's important until you've already bought something and set it up in your house, just to realize... well, you know...

In terms of Costco, I have seen the Vizio TV's and they're decent. The trick is to test it out: bring in a Blu-Ray disk of your choice -- and a regular DVD -- and try both on the TV. You need to ensure that the TV is full 1080p and check the number of HDMI inputs it has: many have fewer than you want. I use four on my (Sony) HDTV: 1 for my cable box, 1 for my Blu-Ray DVD player, 1 for my AppleTV and 1 for my other video player device.

Something else to be aware of is that a lot of modern TVs have rear-facing speakers rather than front-facing speakers, so if you aren't planning on adding a home theater system of some sort, be aware that you'll either have to crank it to hear what's going on (and expect much more dynamic range, especially with movies) or be frustrated that it's hard to hear.

Modern HDTV systems also have sophisticated video processing capabilities, so you can zoom in, turn on "motion smoothing" and so on. In my experience, the zoom is easily processed and can be nice with films in VistaVision or CinemaScope (based on personal tastes), but the motion effects can slow down the frame refresh, turning any show into a kind of disconcerting home-movie running at closer to 25fps than 30fps that we're used to. Hard to describe, but weird to see.

The latest generation of TVs also support 3D processing capabilities. I have to admit I'm not a big fan of 3DTV at this point and the idea of having to wear special 3D glasses to watch my show? Not so much, thanks. But if you're into it, you'll need a compatible 3D system on both the Blu-Ray player and the HDTV itself.

I have an LCD TV system both because it has less screen glare and because - very important in Colorado where we're at a 5200ft elevation - plasma screens are known to be adversely affected by altitude. I have read that it's over 8000ft that it becomes a problem, but definitely check out both technologies, especially their refresh and decay rates on really fast action: do the pixels tend to stay on a fraction too long, leading to 'ghosting', or is it crisp and legible even as the car races over the bridge / the fighter leaps off the building / the lion pounces on the zebra?

For a purchase like this, I am a big fan of Amazon's "Price Check" app in the App Store. Put it on your iPhone (it's free) and check the user reviews of different TVs before you buy them. Darn helpful.

For the record, I have a 43" Sony LCD HDTV, a Panasonic Blu-Ray player and a terrific Yamaha sound system. It's a great setup, but it also cost me quite a few dollars, all told.

Readers, what other advice would you offer this new HDTV and Blu-Ray fan?

Also check out:

Categorized: d) None of the Above (Article 9867, Written by Dave Taylor)
Tagged: 1080p, app store, apple iphone, blu-ray, hdtv, high-def television, home theater
Previous: How can I test my Internet connectivity bandwidth speed?
Next: Share a Windows Samsung ML-25x printer on my Mac?

Subscribe!

Never miss another Q&A article! Click to subscribe:

Comments (4) · Add Comment

Not much to add, really. But, if you have a Playstation 3 already, realize that it can play Blu-Ray movies without the need for a dedicated player. I also understand that it can play 3D movies as well, though I don't have a 3D TV to confirm this.

Also, when buying something like a Blu-Ray player, consider the possibility of spending a few bucks more and getting the extra features that you don't need / can't use just yet. And be wary of the difference between "internet ready" (can be connected to your home network) and "internet capable" (needs additional hardware in order to hook it up to your network).

We recently bought a Blu-Ray player for my mother, and after comparing prices, we found that we could get the 3D internet-ready player for only about $30 more than the non-3D internet "capable" player. And when you add in the additional hardware needed to connect the "capable" player to the network, the actual cost was less.

So, even though she doesn't have a 3D TV, nor high-speed internet (yet), her player is ready when she does upgrade.

Posted by: Ken B at April 1, 2011 10:06 AM

If you want to have the lowest possible power consumption, you should look at LED versus non-LED LCD or Plasma. LED should have the lowest power consumption when compared to similar size models.

Posted by: Rob Brewer at April 1, 2011 3:06 PM

I always do this for major purchases that would normally take a lot of research. I'm too lazy to do my own research.

I've done this for refrigerator, TV, vacuum cleaner, two child carseats, and probably a few other things I can't remember. I've never been disappointed.

Here are a few highlights I remember though:

-Plasmas are cheaper and have a slightly better picture than LCD but they suck a lot more power and are susceptible to burn-in. LED's are cool, but conventional LCD are cheaper and still work great.

-Nearly all plasmas and LCD's have crummy sound quality because good speakers are too bulky.

-Most cable/satellite providers charge $10/month extra for HDTV.

-Definitely figure out in advance how many inputs you need (as Dave said). Don't forget analog inputs; they are still frequently needed!

Posted by: Dan at April 7, 2011 9:06 PM

Don't forget the refresh rate. This becomes extremely important if you are thinking about a 3D set. I bought a Vizio 120mgh and it is fine for me but there is definitely a motion blurr issue on occasion. With 3D you really have to have 240 as the way they achieve 3d on most sets is to interlace alternative images and without the higher refresh rate they would look fuzzy. The bottom line is that it is subjective and you need to trade off cost verses what you expect to watch on the set. Keep in mind also that different manufactures seem to have different definitions of 240 refresh rate. Buy the set that looks the best to you while staying within your budget.

Posted by: Chris at April 15, 2011 4:00 PM

I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you for all your efforts on this Web site by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!