Advice On Hdtv's

[Vexona]

So my fiance's birthday is in a month, and I'm looking to buy him an HDTV. He currently has a tube tele so this will be quite an upgrade for him.

I have some brand loyalty with Samsung (from my previous purchases), so I have been looking at 2 sizes of their LCD televisions for him. The price difference between the 2 sizes isn't really a concern. Mostly, I just don't know how much screen is enough.

Here are the 2 tv's in question. One is a 46" and the other is a 52". He will be viewing the TV from about 8-10ft. away and it will be hooked up to HD channels, a DVD player, XBOX, the computer, and surround sound.

Samsung LN46A550 46-inch 1080p LCD HDTV
Amazon.com - Specs

Samsung LN52A550 52-inch 1080p LCD HDTV
Amazon.com - Specs

What do you all think? Is bigger truly better or will a 52" overwhelm a normal sized living room?

(Ya'll always have good tech and 'dude' advice )

Thanks in advance

 

[BlacRoseImmortal]

Bigger is better lol

 

[23Magnum]

For the distance of view you have it at, I can say right now without looking at either of the specs besides size that the 46" is plenty big. I have a 37" about that far away maybe a bit farther, but it's good enough for me. It's HD and HD programming, sports or otherwise, looks great on it.

Unless you're going to have a lot of friends over all the time, I'd say go with the 46".

 

[SPARTAN II]

Bigger is better lol

What BRI said, lol. Being a guy myself, if I had the option between the two, I'd definately go for the 52" version heh

 

[BlacRoseImmortal]

the way I see it is, If you have alot of people over you want a bigger tv, also as you get older and your eyesight "aint what it used to be" from 10 feet away the smaller TV will just seem to shrink. So for the long run bigger is the way to go, IMO.

I still only have a 20" screen and Im nearly blind so I have to sit about 2-3 feet away from the screen to see anything (yes, even with contact lenses in). In my house in NJ I have a 70somthing" screen and I can sit on the otherside of the room and see it ok. Alls Im saying is If your gonna have the screen 10 feet away from you go for the bigger one.

 

[luketrocity]

Honestly, at first either size you'll think "wow this is way to big". But in a week you'll be saying "How did I ever play games/watch tv without a tv this big". I have 50", and I love it. I could never play a game in non HD ever again. I'm a tv snob..lol

 

[Vexona]

Hehe yeah that is true. The older TV he has is like a 36" CRT so no matter what, it will be a big difference!

My fiance' loves to invite his friends over to watch PPV's so I think there will be quite a bit of testosterone and emotional bonding with the new TV

All the feedback really helps guys n' gals. Thank you

I don't often make purchases like this...it's far too fun to look a big toys XD

 

[rvb4life]

I actually have a 48 (or 52, i cant tell) inch tv, its the model of the bottom picture. Yeah, exactly it.


Beautiful quality, good sound, and AWESOME FOR SPORTS! seriously, its better than going to the game

 

[leegrisham]

Let me tell you from experience there is such a thing as "too big". I bought a 50" Samsung TV to go in a small/medium living room - it is way to big, way to bright you will not enjoy it - especially for games.
Now for watching movies it is good, it's still bright and big but you can watch a movie on it fine. If I try to play halo though I have to move as far back as I can because I can't handle all the visual information being bombarded on me! It makes it really hard to play.
Go with the smaller of the versions if you want to enjoy gaming more and the larger if you're big movie buffs.

 

[Adam]

honestly, go for what will look best in the particular room. 42 is plenty big, and I'd bet he'd rather you spend the additional money on something cooler that just a few inches larger in the tv.

 

[Vexona]

All good points. I'll probably end up measuring the living room tonight hehe.

I will sleep on it and make my purchase tomorrow. I'll let you know which I end up choosing.

Again, thanks everyone I'll be sure to mention to him on his b-day that the 405th helped pick it out hehe.

 

[wolf]

if money is not an issue no matter what the size is...you should maybe also consider getting a licensed HD professional to set your tv... Not trying to pick on lee, but besides his tv being too big, it seems like his settings are set wrong for his lighting in his room, most tv sets come pre set to be a floor model, basically be really bright to combat store lights. to professionaly set it you need light meters and other stuff.

 

[Dani Girl]

I would go with Olevia or a Vizio. Name brands are overpriced.

check out Techbargains.com


Here's an Olevia 47" 1080p on sale at Compusa.com
http://www.compusa.com/applications/search...6DEXFjxhi9s6tLg

One of the highest rated 47" on the market.

This is the set Im getting to go with my MGS 4 LE Bundle (time to upgrade)

 

[tlither]

I've got a Vizio 32" WS that gets viewed from about 6 feet away. Great pic, plenty of connections, could use surround sound, and a fantastic viewing angle. I should have gone for the 37 but felt it was a little too big. 46 should be plenty.

 

[leegrisham]

if money is not an issue no matter what the size is...you should maybe also consider getting a licensed HD professional to set your tv... Not trying to pick on lee, but besides his tv being too big, it seems like his settings are set wrong for his lighting in his room, most tv sets come pre set to be a floor model, basically be really bright to combat store lights. to professionaly set it you need light meters and other stuff.

(I'm not saying the tech guys from circuit city knew exactly what they were doing...) I had the tech guys from circuit city come set it up and they did some adjustments but the tv is just so huge for my room it didn't help. I made a poor purchasing decision because I thought "bigger is better". It is a bad gaming tv for shooters and halo, for other games it's fine (IE AoE, Viva Pinata, Assassins Creed because the way you watch your screen is just different in all those games and it actually works good for them, but fails on FPS I wish I had about a 24 inch HD screen for halo only.)

I would go with Olevia or a Vizio. Name brands are overpriced.

check out Techbargains.com
Here's an Olevia 47" 1080p on sale at Compusa.com
http://www.compusa.com/applications/search...6DEXFjxhi9s6tLg

One of the highest rated 47" on the market.

This is the set Im getting to go with my MGS 4 LE Bundle (time to upgrade)

I agree with that to some degree, Olevia is actually a good name brand though... But I also have to disagree cause I love samsung products so much, if I had the choice and money allowed I would alway purchase a samsung tv. That is just my opinion and experience with the company and products though.

 

[DogWizard]

if money is not an issue no matter what the size is...you should maybe also consider getting a licensed HD professional to set your tv... Not trying to pick on lee, but besides his tv being too big, it seems like his settings are set wrong for his lighting in his room, most tv sets come pre set to be a floor model, basically be really bright to combat store lights. to professionaly set it you need light meters and other stuff.

Amen - thank you for pointing that out. You literally would not believe the difference between an out-of-the-box display (usually defaulted to "showroom" settings) and a properly ISF calibrated one. I can take the best, most expensive, top-tier manufacturer TV on the planet and make it virtually unwatchable just by making a few VERY minor adjustments.

By the same token, I can take a good middle-of-the-road display and really make it shine. Even if getting a full calibration (expect to pay $300-$500 based on unit type and inputs included) is more than you want to spend, spring for one of the quality calibration DVD's (AVIA, Digital Video Essentials) and give it a shot yourself. The DVD's are meant for consumer use and are very easy to use.

90% of all the video displays out there are horribly miscalibrated and they don't need to be. Generally a "showroom settings" TV will have:

Poor Greyscale - Contrast and brightness determine the "quality" of the image more than anything else. As counetr-intuitive as it seems, "Brightness" is actually used to control Black level" - not white level (brightness)

Color - too much "red push" or oversaturation of any color will make everything look unnatural and most showroom TV's are set up to grab your attention - not to be color accurate

Sharpness - for goodness sakes TURN IT OFF or set it as low as it can go. The vast majority of sharpness controls cause more harm than good. Setting your sharpness too high creates "false detail" or artifacts at the edge of objects in the image. Especially with LCD flat panels this will tank your image faster than almost anything else. It may look less sharp for the first day or so but once you realize that you have removed the garbage, you will never go back...

If you are investing in a good video display, go the extra mile and make sure that you are getting all of the performance that you paid for. Factory default settings are designed to sell TV's, not to look good.

Good luck and I'm sure that he will be thrilled with either set (go bigger unless there is a real concern) If you want to measure your viewing wall size and your viewing distance, I can help out with that but the size difference between the two units you listed in really pretty minimal...

 

[Dani Girl]

I agree with that to some degree, Olevia is actually a good name brand though... But I also have to disagree cause I love samsung products so much, if I had the choice and money allowed I would alway purchase a samsung tv. That is just my opinion and experience with the company and products though.

for me its the price. You can get an Olevia that is bigger than the Samsung for less than what Samsung wants, and to me they are equal in quality.

 

[FinnishSpartan]

Bigger is better lol

I disagree.. lololololololololololololololol...

Anyways, i would say that you should go for the samsun t650 (T6) series, it's the best on the market right now
http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/detail/...=LN52A650A1FXZA

The surface of the tv has been made out of glass wich really makes it perfect. (unlike other plastic tv's *puke*)


This is also VERY IMPORTANT NEVER buy a 1080i monitor, it's not even clost to 1080p.
In fact the pixel ratio of 1080i is the same as 560p, 1080i is just to trick people to buy a worse television.

1080i is pretty much the same thing as Standard definition (480i) but with more pixels.

The difference with 1080p and i, is that 1080p has square pixels, as 1080i uses rectangles, making the quality worse...


This was very confusing, i hope you understood atleast something about it.


Also, i would buy a smallre monitor, Sound quality is also extremely important, i would buy him a 5.1 surround sound too..
When i got one, i didnt even know that thebullet shells made a sound when they hit the ground.. (halo 2 and 3)

-Finish


And when it comes to gaming, this is the best monitor you can buy... literally: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16824001096

The monitors speed is 2ms... the fastest you can get on the market.

(samsung increased the speed back to 5ms after this monitor, you simply dont need faster speed then that... so you could imagine how fast 2ms is... it keeps perfect pictures at even the highest speeds =D )

The 226BW features an advanced dual interface for processing both analog and digital signals. It works with all major operating systems (including Microsoft Vista Premium), and the 2ms response time virtually eliminates the "blur" found in 25, 16, and 12ms monitors. Whether you're working, enjoying your photos and videos, or gaming, you won't believe your eyes when you see the stunning color and clarity of the 226BW.

 

[DogWizard]

I disagree.. lololololololololololololololol...

Anyways, i would say that you should go for the samsun t650 (T6) series, it's the best on the market right now
http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/detail/...=LN52A650A1FXZA

The surface of the tv has been made out of glass wich really makes it perfect. (unlike other plastic tv's *puke*)
This is also VERY IMPORTANT NEVER buy a 1080i monitor, it's not even clost to 1080p.
In fact the pixel ratio of 1080i is the same as 560p, 1080i is just to trick people to buy a worse television.

1080i is pretty much the same thing as Standard definition (480i) but with more pixels.

The difference with 1080p and i, is that 1080p has square pixels, as 1080i uses rectangles, making the quality worse...
This was very confusing, i hope you understood atleast something about it.
Also, i would buy a smallre monitor, Sound quality is also extremely important, i would buy him a 5.1 surround sound too..
When i got one, i didnt even know that thebullet shells made a sound when they hit the ground.. (halo 2 and 3)

-Finish

I'm sorry but much of the above information is simply untrue and factually inaccurate:

There is no "best TV on the market right now" - period. There is only the best TV for your needs, viewing preference, intended use, size, and budget.

1080i vs. 1080P - this is a standard for labeling interlaced vs. progressive signal processing. Five minutes with Google will tell you all you need to know about that topic. It has nothing at all to do with the "shape of the pixels" - that is a function of the type of panel, native resolution, screen ratio, and manufacturing.

1080i is NOTHING like 480i standard definition. In fact the"i" part of the term "1080i" or "480i" has zero relevance to the pixel count of your display. It is a function of how image data is reproduced. Progressive - the whole image at once/Interlaced - alternating frames, each with half the image (that's the short version, it's actually more complex than that). In short "i" vs. "p" is processing, not pixel count.

I would agree on the surround sound recommendation though...

Don't worry too much about this stuff - flat panel LCD's and Plasma's are "fixed pixel" devices meaning that what you see is what you get. If you input 2,073,600 pixels of information on a 1920 X 1080 display (true 1080) then that is what you should get out. Anything less than that will involve scaling your image input to the native resolution of the display.

That's why standard 4:3 TV programs look so bad on 16:9 widescreen displays. It was recorded in a different format and there is less image data to display. The processing algorithms have top "create" data this it not there in the first place. Some do a better job than others but it will never be perfect. The perfect match is to ensure that you are feeding it it the best possible signal (mapped 1:1 per pixel)...

Yes - this is what I do for a living...

 

[LastSpartan]

I agree with DogWizard, I don,t see where you take your information FS.

I'll use Wikipedia's image so you understand better.

Progressive means that the picture will load completely for each frame.

Interlaced means that like it alterns. I know I'm not clear, but let's say it takes 2 pictures to make 1 frame.

Like : |0|0|0| is frame 1
0|0|0|0 is frame 2

Except that the lines are horizontal.

the o means the place where there's no image.

I know it's kinda of strange, but it's hard for me to explain it lol.