LED HDTV's anyone have one?

[caryrae]

I am very interested in one of these new LED HDTV's and was wondering if anyone hear has one or has looked into getting one. I have read very good reviews from websites about them about how the picture is just awesome. Right now I have an old Pioneer Elite HDTV but is just so big and heavy (like 200lbs) I hate having to move plus it takes a bunch of room.

A Samsung - 46" Class / 1080p / 120Hz / LCD HDTV at Best Buy costs $1499 and a Samsung - 46" Class / 1080p / 120Hz / LCD-LED HDTV only costs $200 more at $1699.

[Scott C]

I have a 42" Sharp LCD -- Love it

GO VIKINGS

Thanks
Scott C

[Ed]

I recently scoped out the Samsung LED flat panels - and they DO mean FLAT! They're like 1" thick, front to back.

I was amazed at the clarity of the images, the smoothness of the action on the screen (especially on the 240 mHz models) and even the audio was particularly crisp and wide-ranging. They made my existing LCD HDTVs look anemic. :ill:

They are on the pricy side now, but give them a few months to a year and I suspect prices will be coming down.

After I cash my winning $250M Powerball ticket tomorrow, I'm going to run out and buy a few of them, anyway. ;)

[BigRedDad]

OK. I just went through the whole purchase thing as well. My Sony RPTV had the blue screen issue and it is basically dead.

Here are my opinions and my opinions only:
1. LED TVs are nothing new. Sony put them out several years ago.
2. LED TVs are being over hyped and are extremely expensive currently for 0 benefit.
3. Plasma is still king of flat panel monitors, period.
4. Read reviews on Samsung. They have a very loud buzz coming from them. After an initial ~60% return rate, Samsung has refused returns on them due to the buzz issue. A Samsung rep must come to your home, measure the buzz under "normal" viewing conditions, and the buzz must reach specific decibel levels. In other words, they know they have a defect, there is no fix, and the people are stuck with a very noisy tv.

Here are some facts found on other sites. Take a look at High Def Junkies, it is a no BS site like AVS.

1. Plasma is king for blacks. LCD/LED cannot touch it.
2. Plasma is best for darker rooms, but manageable in rooms with lots of light. If the room is overly bright, then LCD is going to be the best choice.
3. If viewing a TV in a store, insist that all TVs around the one you are looking are turned off. Only in the store will you compare two tvs next to each other.
4. At most B&M stores, Samsung is being pushed and their default settings are extremely bright to draw your attention. All HDTVs will look almost as good. You can tweak the settings on your own with a calibration DVD to bring it to what looks best to YOU. Everyone views TVs differently because our brains process the visual signals differently.

Tips:
1. Determine your budget
2. Look for reputable dealers online for the best price (the company named after a big river in South America is one of the best options).
3. No TV will have every option you want or need. Determine which are most important first.
4. Use online discount information sites to find the latest deals around. At certain times you can get insane deals.
5. Avoid the 3rd party companies: Vizio, Insignia, etc. Two identical tv models will have completely different components and there is little to no quality control. Stick to Panasonic, LG, Samsung, Sony, Sharp.
6. Pioneer, although out of the business now, is still king of plasma. Their 500m and 600m reference series plasmas have no competition. There are several dealers that have them online. However, you will need to get an extended warranty since Pioneer has pulled out of the TV business.

I just purchased the Panasonic TC-P54V10. The quality is insane out of the box.

Hope that helps or at least points you in a few directions to go. There is a vast amount of information out there. My recommendation is plasma and do not believe the myths of burn in. LCDs just cannot compete with the black levels and contrast.

[Emme&TeddysMommy]

We have a Vizio we bought at bj's it's has a great picture quality, it's quite and the price was great. Under 1000.00 for 42 inches. We even mounted it to the wall. I will admit at first I was hesitant because I had never heard of Vizio but it has not let us down. Everyone in our family (differnt houses) now owns one. That 6 total in our family. Happy shopping.

[Ed]

My recommendation is plasma and do not believe the myths of burn in.

I'll agree the plasma images are superior, but I wish somebody would explain that "myth" to the 18 plasma monitors used at my place of work. When they are turned off, you can still clearly and easily read the info that is continually displayed when they are in use. :badpc:

We're gradually replacing them with LCD as the plasmas die.

[thrillme]

We compared a bunch of them and I fell in love with our Samsung. We're coming up on a year now with it and it's BEAUTIFUL and VERY thin. None of them will look nearly as good unless you get and HD Tuner from your Satillite or Cable company.

[DizneyRox]

We compared a bunch of them and I fell in love with our Samsung. We're coming up on a year now with it and it's BEAUTIFUL and VERY thin. None of them will look nearly as good unless you get and HD Tuner from your Satillite or Cable company.
Samsung is a very good brand generally in the HDTV market.

Also, please don't confuse HD with Digital.

As everyone is aware, everyone should have made the transition to digital by now. Just because something is digital DOES NOT mean it's high definition.

Also, many of your "local" channels are probably transmitting OTA (Over The Air) in DIGITAL and HD. You DO NOT NEED cable or satellite in order to receive High Definition broadcasts. Your TV must have a digital decoder however of some sort in order to pick those up and I do believe some can and some cannot decode (or output) a high definition signal.

If you have a seperate decoder, if you are not using component (or better) outputs to your TV you are not seeing HD. If your decoder is built into a HD capable TV then it's possible.

[magicofdisney]

We own a Samsung 1080P LCD (is there a difference with LED?) that we purchased last October and my love for this TV has not diminished.

We do not experience the "buzz" problem a PP mentioned, but I will admit the sound is much better coming through our surround sound speakers than through the TV speakers.

We've placed the TV both on the wall and on its included stand. I like it best on the stand because we can rotate it. It looks fabulous on the wall.

I agree with connecting your components correctly. Both our DVD player and satellite are connected via HDMI cables. My husband's XBox 360 is connected via a component (not composite) cable.

The screen has a 178-degree viewing angle up, down, left or right.

Once recommendation I have is to get the highest contrast ration you can afford. This has to do with color clarity such as whiter whites and blacker blacks.

[caryrae]

We own a Samsung 1080P LCD (is there a difference with LED?)

I think the difference is that the LED ones use LED light to light the screen which is why they are so thin and it is also suppose to alot less energy too, something like 40% less.

[caryrae]

Well I decided this is the one I will get Samsung - 50" Class / 1080p / 600Hz / Plasma HDTV Model: PN50B860. It is just as thin as the new Samsung LED LCD TV's.
I did hear on the News yesterday that these slim tv's are a very popular target for theives these days because of how thin and light they are.