LCD Television

We are thinking about getting a 40 - 46 inch LCD tv. Can anyone recommend a good one?

 

that is kinda like a loaded question... but if you are mostly interested in people's opinions based upon their purchase, then ok. But if you want to do some of your own research, do a little searching on the Net and you will find some great resources.

For example, http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/ This is a site that is helpful as their reviews are somewhat scientific and easy to read and have been a good source for me for a few years. Also, try hometheaterspot.com for a ton of infomration if you want to take the time to look.

If you are a costco member and want a deal... go there. Right now they have a Philips 42" for $1700 that seems like almost a steal. Plus, the beauty of a Costco purchase is... say three years from now a pixel goes bad on the LCD TV, well just take it back and get a full refund. Just bring your original receipt, remote and manual. I could tell you more and more, but your question really should include such things as, how you intend to use it, will it be mounted on the wall, does it have to be HDTV capable, do you care about resolution capability (720p, 1080i, 1080p)???

Confused? sorry... not sure how to help so I thought I would use the shotgun approach

 

I am looking more for people's experiences with their purchases. What brand did they buy and how was it. I am considering the VIZIO lcd tv.. but now I am not sure.

 

The Westinghouse ones seem to be decent and cheap if you're not a videophile or super picky. There were some banding issues with the first ones but I think thats been cleared up.

 

My buddy has a Vizio and it looks great. I got the Westinghouse 42" because it was one of the very few with native 1080p resolution. It was ~$1500 at Best Buy. I wanted to be ready for HDDVD and Blu ray. But, now that I look back, my bad eyes can't see all 1080 lines anyways, especially from a recliner across the room It's really nice as a computer monitor though!

 

I bought the Philips 37" LCD HDTV from Costco. I'm not a big fan. The picture quality is nice, but the screen goes back and forth between wide and standard during some programs (news on some local HD channels) which is extremely annoying. FWIW I also have a rear-projection DLP that I think is much better...

 

They all do that depending on how the source material was shot. i.e. local news isn't shot in HD, so it switches to 4:3 because it has to.

 

But when it switches to standard (4:3) it stays that way for a few seconds then stretches to cover the area of the screen. Hard for me to explain, but imagine your actual picture going from wide (when in HD) to standard (4:3) for a few seconds then the same picture being stretched wide. It bothers me. I'm not sure if all LCDs do it. The DLP doesn't. The DLP keeps the black borders on the sides when in standard 4:3. As you can tell I'm not very technically savvy.

 

Ahhh...maybe I should read the manual. Thanks.

 

Yah...you probably have it set on 'Stretch'. Look for that and set it to 'Auto' or 16:9 and it shoudl take care of it.

 

It's hooked up to a cable box.

Thanks for the suggestions.