Shopping for a TV ...

[DougW]

It's been a decade-ish since I bought a new TV and while looking online - I've gotten a bit overwhelmed.

Hoping someone has gone through this recently, or even someone is just helpful and smart :) haha.

There are so many letters and numbers in the descriptions that I don't have a clue what they mean. LED, LCD, Plasma, 1080 P this, and Hz that. I have no idea what is good, what is better, if the numbers should be high or low .... lol. The only thing I seem to understand is 70" = the screen is (approx) 70 inches from top corner to the bottom corner diagonally across. Well, that and the price - I get the price too.

[CU Tiger]

Hz is refresh rate, essentially. The higher the better. On plasmas Hz won't matter they will be super high.

1080p is the semi current standard but depending on screen size and viewing distance it may not make any difference.

I hate to phrase it this way, but tell us your budget and let's go from there.
Or at least tell is what you hope to get....

[dawgfan]

The other major factor is where will this TV live? Is it going to be in a room that is typical rather bright when viewing, or is it in a more controlled, darker environment?

[Peregrine]

I'd say it kind of depends what you're looking for. I bought a 55 inch plasma recently (Panasonic) from Sears and thought it was a great price (on sale.) I deliberately didn't want a lot of the smart TV features as my apple tv already duplicates most of them, so I was able to get a slightly older model for good money.

I'd say decide what size you want, if you want smart features, how much do you demand in the latest features, and go from there to try to clarify the list - CNET reviews were quite helpful to me.

[Logan]

Plasmas take up a lot more power and produce a lot of heat, if that matters to you.

[gstelmack]

Yup, let's start with what your requirements / desires are: budget? placement (living room vs bedroom)? sources (cable, video game, Blu-ray)?

I personally have a 55" Panasonic plasma that I absolutely love. Bought it on a Super Bowl sale so got a great price. As mentioned you might be able to go back a model year and get a good deal.

But tell us your requirements and we can recommend something.

[Logan]

FTR I have a Panasonic plasma bought in 2007 that is still working beautifully. The picture quality is definitely a couple notches below my Samsung LED bought in 2011 (as expected) but plasmas can be awesome TVs if it's what you're looking for.

Definitely stick to Panasonic if you go that route.

[CU Tiger]

Plasmas take up a lot more power and produce a lot of heat, if that matters to you.

Old information no longer true.
They do produce some heat certainly not a lot. And power consumption...well it really a non issue.

If you ran a 60" plasma non stop for a month it would probably cost around $1.25...how much less expensive could an LCD be?

[CU Tiger]

Definitely stick to Panasonic if you go that route.

Panny or Pioneer for Plasma...

Actually Pioneer made the highest end Plasmas on the market. AFAIK they havent updated a model in a few year though.

[Logan]

Pioneer doesn't make plasmas anymore, been quite a while.

[dawgfan]

Panny or Pioneer for Plasma...

Actually Pioneer made the highest end Plasmas on the market. AFAIK they havent updated a model in a few year though.
It's been a long time since Pioneer was in the TV game. But they were damn good at it - it took several years before a Panasonic finally beat them out for highest quality picture: http://reviews.cnet.com/flat-panel-tvs/panasonic-tc-p60zt60/4505-6482_7-35567247.html

I will admit I'm strongly biased towards plasma tech for picture quality and price. The OLED technology is superior, but still vastly more expensive. I would only recommend an LCD over a plasma if the TV is going to be in a brightly lit environment, or if he really needs the TV to be very light/easy to move.

[sterlingice]

I love my 42" Panasonic plasma that I picked up a couple of years ago. It cost under $500 and the colors are rich and gorgeous. We'll be looking for another tv in a year or so and I'm considering LED but that depends on the price. When last we looked, the plasmas looked so much better than the LCDs and were cheaper, too.

SI

[gstelmack]

As an off-the-cuff here, $650 delivered for an excellent 50" plasma:

http://www.sears.com/panasonic-50inch-class-smart-viera-reg-s60-series-1080p/p-05771531000P?prdNo=2&blockNo=2&blockType=G2

[Subby]

SO MANY LETTERS AND NUMBERS OH MY GODDDDDD!!!!!

Old people and technology. ALWAYS FUNNY. :D

[DougW]

SO MANY LETTERS AND NUMBERS OH MY GODDDDDD!!!!!

Old people and technology. ALWAYS FUNNY. :D

lol .. true.

Thanks for some of the thoughts guys .. I used some of this information, and did a study session on the interwebs.

I decided to go with a Panasonic Plasma 65" 1080i HDMI HD Smart.
I went Plasma > LED because the room is a bit dark, and I liked the better viewing angles I saw. I was tentative, because we game in this room often and the "burning" scared me a bit. But I let the salesman talk me into "Plasmas don't burn as bad as they used to, so it isn't as big an issue .. and it can be fixed through the TV menu with some kind of wiping feature."

Paid 1300 & got a decent TV Stand for it (with 4 shelves and a cupboard).

[dawgfan]

I decided to go with a Panasonic Plasma 65" 1080i HDMI HD Smart.
I went Plasma > LED because the room is a bit dark, and I liked the better viewing angles I saw. I was tentative, because we game in this room often and the "burning" scared me a bit. But I let the salesman talk me into "Plasmas don't burn as bad as they used to, so it isn't as big an issue .. and it can be fixed through the TV menu with some kind of wiping feature."
Correction - you really have to abuse a plasma to get true burn-in. You may see some afterimage glow on it from time to time, and some folks mistake that for "burn-in" - it's not. When you power down your TV, or your screen goes black in between device inputs, you'll probably see a faint glow from the previous screen you were watching. Don't freak out, it's just image retention, not true burn-in:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20092238-1/is-plasma-hdtv-burn-in-a-problem/

It's really too bad this myth about plasma burn-in persists, because it's resulted in LCD TV's becoming far more popular despite inferior performance, to the extent that Panasonic will stop development on plasma displays, and will probably stop production of plasma TV's in the next few years.

I totally forgot to mention the viewing angle, but that's a big reason to pick a plasma over an LCD - you have a much, much wider angle on the set.

[CU Tiger]

Btw guys...I think I mentioned it before I am a huge plasma fan.

I've got 6 of them in my house, all pannys ;)

Burn in is a non issue unless you are stupid...I'm talking pausing a Nintendo and going to a football game like we did at 12 for 10 hours REGULARLY stupid.

To be really fair, plasma has improved the bright room issue as well especially pannys nd their screen coating. My living room has a 60 plasma in a room with a glass wall that's gets am sun (due east) and the tv is still bright and clear....

[sterlingice]

I ran a burn-in DVD for like 2 days when I got the tv just because, at the time, the jury was still out. And I've never burned a thing into the tv. But I also don't leave anything on for like 10 hours and go somewhere else. However, I have had marathon game playing sessions (like days where I put 8 hours into Xenoblade Chronicles) and it hasn't done a thing and that's supposed to be the "worst case scenario" where you do something where menus and whatnot are on the screen constantly for long periods of time.

SI

[dawgfan]

It's just really sad that people still think there's an issue with plasma burn-in. Once again, the superior tech lost out to the inferior tech (LCD) in the marketplace, largely due to unfounded fears about the superior tech.

Let's hope OLED prices come way down in the next 5 years...