>>> Official Black Friday 2009 HDTV Discussion Thread <<<

[len_mullen]

Thank you, theimage13, len_mullen, and theblackdragon!

 

You have all been INCREDIBLY helpful and I really appreciate it!!! Before reading your info, I know I would have paid too much for a tv that was too big and, for what we'll use it for, unnecessary.

You're welcome.

[theblackdragon]

Thank you, theimage13, len_mullen, and theblackdragon!

 

You have all been INCREDIBLY helpful and I really appreciate it!!! Before reading your info, I know I would have paid too much for a tv that was too big and, for what we'll use it for, unnecessary.

Your welcome

 

i used to work at ps3 tech support and commonly, when people used them solely for bd movies they would brick (become useless without repair) shortly. i always felt bad so i warn people as much as possible. sorry, slightly ot.

I have heard about this, I like to pay games, but in recent years, I just don't have that much time. But, in truth, I think that buying a system like this for a cheap Blue Ray player, you could go a lot cheaper. I have been seeing them for as little $129. I chose that model because it is a wireless system that has all the right features.

[len_mullen]

Thank you, theimage13, len_mullen, and theblackdragon!

 

You have all been INCREDIBLY helpful and I really appreciate it!!! Before reading your info, I know I would have paid too much for a tv that was too big and, for what we'll use it for, unnecessary.

Just curious...have you chosen a tv? Size/resolution? I'm looking at TVs for my kids' bedrooms and the Vizio VO320e tops my shopping list. It's a 720p 32" lcd with a good price (as low as $339) and great reviews.

 

Consumer Reports says...

 

This 32-inch 720p (1366x768) Vizio delivers excellent picture quality and a fairly wide viewing angle at an especially low price, making it a CR Best Buy. Its sound was good, unlike its 37-inch sibling's, fine for typical TV programming.

ConsumerSearch.com describes it as the bese Budget 32-inch LCD TV.

 

1greenproduct.com says it only consumes 87 watts of energy (my kids never turn anything off).

[The Mfn Man]

Is there anyone who has purchased a plasma in the past on BF? Are you happy with your choice?

Yeah I brought a "50" inch Samsung Plasma and Swivel Stand for about $850 last year after tax at Wal-Mart with my employee discount and I couldn't be happier with my purchase. It's only 720p but it will go up to 1080i and It looks great with all Hd content and not to bad with Sd content even though I don't watch that much of it unless I have to.

[3 boys]

Thank you, theimage13, len_mullen, and theblackdragon!

 

Great research and advice!!!!

 

I am "hoping" to buy a Samsung 46" LED and Home theatre(wireless) and Blu-Ray for Hubby for Christmas\Anniversary\Bday

 

Any advice on the speaker system?

[msivy]

I hope you're wrong or anecdotal. My PS3 has been playing movies (db, dvd, and burned) for a year. So far, so good. Of course, we play a lot of games too, but I don't understand how *not* playing games would make matters worse.

senior techs had described it as some kind of overuse of the bd-disc drive which never made sense to me because the ps3 games are blu ray discs. when that particular issue came up, the unit got repaired as opposed to replaced because they would just replace the laser in the disc drive. if you're playing burned discs with no problem they've more than likely fixed that. the units in circulation when i was working at sony didn't play burned discs. glad to hear they are better now, it was looking bad for sony for a long time.

[len_mullen]

Thanks for the insight. I've really been impressed at the verasatility of the console. We bought it to play games and the occasional movie. Now, we have quite a few games and a growing library of movies. My oldest streams music, tv, and video to it from his PC, too.

[msivy]

1greenproduct.com says it only consumes 87 watts of energy (my kids never turn anything off).

out of curiosity, would that do any damage to any flat panel tv? my friend has one (i don't know what type) that if it gets left on pause or is on for too long it leaves like an impression or something on the screen.

[len_mullen]

out of curiosity, would that do any damage to any flat panel tv? my friend has one (i don't know what type) that if it gets left on pause or is on for too long it leaves like an impression or something on the screen.

I'm not an expert, but this is what I think I know...

 

There are two issues: image burn in and image retention. Burn in is permanent. It occurs on all displays -- CRTs, LCDs, and Plasmas. It is much less common today than in the past. In fact, few modern displays have this problem under normal use.

 

Image retention is a temporary phenomenon. It is also more common. Most people have this problem because 1) they watch a program all day that has a static image on the screen (a ticker or logo), or 2) they play a game which has a static display (controls area, for instance). New displays have technologies designed to minimize impact including pixel shifting and screensavers. Generally, the retained image will fade over a short time once programming changes (ie., you change the channel) and modern displays have tools to facilitate the process.

 

My PN50A450 is a plasma that has preventitive technologies and corrective tools. We rarely see any hint of image retention. Two exceptions are 1) I left a DVD in the machine that had a moving picture in an otherwise static frame. The screensaver did not kick in and when I returned in six hours, there was an image on the screen. A few minutes of the all white screen, and all was back to normal. 2) Sometimes when we play something that does not fill the screen, you can see the border if you look very carefully when the full screen is very bright. This retention is subtle and short lived.

 

My kids play games on this tv for hours on end.

[theblackdragon]

Thank you, theimage13, len_mullen, and theblackdragon!

 

Great research and advice!!!!

 

I am "hoping" to buy a Samsung 46" LED and Home theatre(wireless) and Blu-Ray for Hubby for Christmas\Anniversary\Bday

 

Any advice on the speaker system?

 

Maybe this will be helpful:

Home theater in a box

 

A home theater in a box is where the audio receiver is built into the player. It could be a DVD player or a Blue Ray Player but everything is in one box, the speakers the player/receiver and the wires. We have a Panasonic 5 disk DVD changer with wireless rear speakers and so far the sound is concerned it is just decent. On a scale of 1-10 ours is about a 6. There are some sets that have wired rear speakers and some that are "wireless". The "wireless rear speakers" is really deceptive in the wording. There is a box that both rear speakers connect to that is wireless, but you still will have wires running between them. The box is about 6" wide by 6" long by 4" tall. It took me a while to figure out where to put it so that the receiver/DVD could find it, and so it wasn't just in front of the couch. Be careful about buying a wireless speaker system. The sound can get kinda jumpy at times. The sound isn't bad, but every now and then just stops for about a 1/2 second. Just long enough to distract you. There are also some connection issues in this method. I have a PS2, a Wii, a cable box, and another DVD player that I can not connect to this system. There is no input to the system in most HTiaB! If you want surround sound on anything other than DVD/Blue Ray player your out of luck with this system.

 

Receiver and speakers with separate player

 

This is the old fashioned way that people have done for years. The receiver is a stand alone box that does nothing but control sound. The device (Game system, DVD/Blue Ray, cable box, etc) is connected to the receiver, as well as the speakers and the receiver is then connected to the TV. There is a lot more money involved in this one, and there are even some compatibility issues that can come up. Does this receiver work with that type of TV? Most of these question can be answered buy looking at the connection types you have or want, HDMI, Coaxial, RCA, etc are the normal connection types. Make sure that you know what types of connections that you have, what the devices you want have, and make sure that the receiver has enough open connection ports to connect to everything you need it to. Almost everything is switching over to the HDMI connection. This is already the preferred connection for Blue Ray and PS3. There are wireless speakers with this option as with the other, but they have the same problems. Sorry.

 

I recommend a stand alone receiver system. I really don't have anything against a theater in a box (I actually do own a home theater in a box), but for the best sound, a stand alone system is just better. It is a lot more stuff to buy, and it is a lot more work, and it does cost a lot more, but that is about the best sound you can get.

[len_mullen]

My tv came with a 1200w 5.1 speaker system with a five disc upconverting player. It is paired with the tv, so the back speakers power on when a program is encoded to use them. The rear satellites are small and wireless. It sounds good. I'm happy.

 

But I'm not an expert and recommend you read through buyers guides...

 

http://www.hometheatermag.com/buyersguides/

[theblackdragon]

My tv came with a 1200w 5.1 speaker system with a five disc upconverting player. It is paired with the tv, so the back speakers power on when a program is encoded to use them. The rear satellites are small and wireless. It sounds good. I'm happy.

 

But I'm not an expert and recommend you read through buyers guides...

 

http://www.hometheatermag.com/buyersguides/

Always a sound idea. LOL:yup:

[3 boys]

Thanks Guys!!

 

Always nice to know that I can get sound advice from a neutral party..:)

[Tarmax4]

I think they will drop in price, BUT not this year. A HD website I frequent has an article stating that new production standards will cause OLED's to be as cheap to produce as a newspaper. Here's a link to the article.

 

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/OLEDs/Industry_Trends/New_Production_Method_Could_Make_OLEDs_Cheaper_Than_Newspapers/3361

 

I give it another year or so till we see a real drastic price cutting.

This is nice info to know. Thank you for sharing!!!

[theimage13]

This is nice info to know. Thank you for sharing!!!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. If you're waiting for OLED sets to reach anywhere near the cost of LCD/plasma, you're going to be waiting a lot longer than a year. Don't hold your breath, folks.

[Brad]

From this story: http://www.twice.com/article/366221-HES_Outlines_Q4_Battle_Plans.php

 

Anaheim, Calif. -- Home Entertainment Source (HES) is bracing for a bitterly competitive holiday season by planning aggressive dealer promotions before, during and after Black Friday.

 

The spot promotions are designed to drive traffic into member stores, where the half-billion-dollar buying group's A/V specialty dealers are adept at up-selling customers and attaching high-margin accessories.

 

"I'm cautiously hopeful for Q4, although it will be promotional, and we need to be promotional," HES executive VP Jim Ristow told members during strategic Webinar sessions on Friday.

 

Indeed, competition for share between Walmart, Best Buy and Amazon.com could send Black Friday pricing as low as $50 for Blu-ray players, $250 for 32-inch LCD, $400 for 42-inch plasma, and $600 for 50-inch plasma, he said.

 

Nevertheless, Ristow advised dealers to "Embrace Black Friday," noting that "these are not everyday prices, and the quantities and sales are limited, sometimes to just a few hours."

 

HES' own door-buster specials can still make dealers money, he said, while creating opportunities to sell other, more profitable products, such as LED TVs and step-up 1080p plasma; jumbo DLP TVs and margin-rich flat panels from Mitsubishi; and audio, accessory and warranty attachments and labor.

HES represents many of the smaller electronics retailers, but the article holds true for big-box stores as well. It's pretty much what we already knew - while doorbuster deals might end up being losses for stores, they'll try to get you with the stuff I bolded above, which are usually not great deals. There is a 99% chance you can buy any "accessory" the kid at Best Buy tries to get you to buy with your new HDTV for less online or at a discount store.

[theblackdragon]

Just a little thought, every new tech item becomes an old tech item at some point. After reading the news about the OLCD, I may look into buying a flat panel for the bedroom.

[civiclover88]

Just got a 40 inch LCD for the bedroom and I absolutely LOVE it. It is actually a better TV than the living rooms.

[jeff7602]

That's what I want for my bedroom, something 40" or bigger. I'm hoping to find one for under $400, we shall see!

[len_mullen]

PS3 is a fine system, but, I would prefer something that has all the features I want, and none of the extras I don't. There is also a pretty big price difference in the two.

Samsung BD-P3600= $279 off sale

PS3 = $299 off sale

 

Plus the PS3 isn't likely to go down much more than it is, it is too popular. The Samsung I am hoping will drop to maybe $199 or if I am really lucky $150.

 

Thanks for the advise though.:)

Just an update for you, Dragon. The PS3 is now selling for $250 and Netflix support is rolling out in November. Right now, I am using a trial of Playon to watch Netflix (also a trial) on my PS3 -- thanks for stirring my interest. I see why you put ondemand movies on your list of features. For $9/month you get as many DVDs as you can ship back and forth and while you're waiting for the next DVD to arrive, you can stream 12,000 'instant' movies from their library. Not sure I'll buy Playon, but Netflix looks like a keeper.

[len_mullen]

Also, Best Buy has a 'connected' BD player for $170 is you don't mind refurbs.

[Carazariah]

Okay,

So I'm ready to make the plunge to HDTV -

 

I'm thinking 50" or better 720P probably - What are your thoughts on where that will price out at? Should I shell out the extra bucks for 1080P? . . .

 

Have already seen a Panasonic and LG for $799 and $809 720P at Sears . . . how low will they go on BF?

 

Thoughts help suggestions on brand and model! Your experiences?

C

[Jeanne515]

I am looking for a 19" tv with built in dvd player. It is for my MIL in the nursing home and it has to be a flat screen and can be no bigger than 19". I don't think the tv she has now will make it until BF. I have been looking but don't know which brand is best. Walmart.com has 4 or 5 for less than $300 but I have never heard of several of the brands. Thoughts?

[len_mullen]

I am looking for a 19" tv with built in dvd player. It is for my MIL in the nursing home and it has to be a flat screen and can be no bigger than 19". I don't think the tv she has now will make it until BF. I have been looking but don't know which brand is best. Walmart.com has 4 or 5 for less than $300 but I have never heard of several of the brands. Thoughts?

Vizio is highly regarded among the value brands and you can grab this one for $208.

[len_mullen]

Okay,

I'm thinking 50" or better 720P probably - What are your thoughts on where that will price out at? Should I shell out the extra bucks for 1080P? . . .

 

Have already seen a Panasonic and LG for $799 and $809 720P at Sears . . . how low will they go on BF?

 

Thoughts help suggestions on brand and model! Your experiences?

 

I have seen these for $600-$700 on a regular basis on bargain sites. I got one with a 1200w 5.1 htib for $930 *last* September. Panasonic and Samsung look great, Sonys look great too, but are more expensive, and Pioneer Kuros look best but are *much* more expensive. You don't need 1080p on a 50" tv unless you are going to use it as a computer screen.

 

My experience, lots of links, and lots of reviews (mostly from last year but still valid especially for 720p) here.

[theblackdragon]

I have seen these for $600-$700 on a regular basis on bargain sites. I got one with a 1200w 5.1 htib for $930 *last* September. Panasonic and Samsung look great, Sonys look great too, but are more expensive, and Pioneer Kuros look best but are *much* more expensive. You don't need 1080p on a 50" tv unless you are going to use it as a computer screen.

 

My experience, lots of links, and lots of reviews (mostly from last year but still valid especially for 720p) here.

I would agree about 720p TV's unless you are going to Blue Ray. Then needing a 1080i TV is a must. But that is just my opinion.

[theblackdragon]

Just an update for you, Dragon. The PS3 is now selling for $250 and Netflix support is rolling out in November. Right now, I am using a trial of Playon to watch Netflix (also a trial) on my PS3 -- thanks for stirring my interest. I see why you put ondemand movies on your list of features. For $9/month you get as many DVDs as you can ship back and forth and while you're waiting for the next DVD to arrive, you can stream 12,000 'instant' movies from their library. Not sure I'll buy Playon, but Netflix looks like a keeper.

Mostly I am start to look more for a home theater in a box. The Playstation 3 is cool, but I really don't play games anymore. I still think that a separate receiver is the best sound, but I also needed to think that I am only there on the weekends and a HTB is a better price saver.

 

Here are the 2 that I am looking for,

 

Samsung HT-BD1250

 

 

LG LHB953

 

I am leaning towards the LG just because of price and the built in I-Pod cradle.

 

Sears BF add has the Samsung for $397 which is about $50 off. But I expect that the LG will just drop even more because the reviews put it just below the Samsung. I saw it last weekend for $331 and am now kicking myself for not just buying it. I also checked to see when the new models come out. Looks like Feb is going to be the time to shop if I miss it on BF.

[Jeanne515]

Vizio is highly regarded among the value brands and you can grab this one for $208.

Thank so much.

[len_mullen]

Mostly I am start to look more for a home theater in a box.

I'd look hard at the Samsung HT-BD1250. Lots of nice reviews including this recent one.

 

I don't know much about HTIB. I wasn't *really* looking for one. The HT-TZ512 came as part of a promotional package. I thought as part of a $910 bundle (I recalled $930 above, but after best buy rewards and discover cash back it was actually $909.98) that included this TV, I would take a chance.

 

It sounds great. I think you can expect that from just about any HTIB. If you're not sure, buy both and return the cheaper one if it disappoints. Some thoughts...

 

1) Wireless rear satellites make setup a LOT easier. It's not easy positioning speakers for best sound in a room that is not designed for a home theater. Tall, light, free standing speakers work best with wood/smooth floors. I mounted my satellites to the walls (keep the wires off the floor if you have a dog...don't know why wires taste so good).

 

2) Our HTIB includes a five disk upconverting DVD player. We also (in case you're not paying attention) have a PS3. We have ~20 blu-ray movies (which I have selected for their amazing video content) and hundreds of DVDs. The upconverted DVDs look very good and get more play to date than the blu-ray disks. If you have a lot of DVDs, make sure your BD player upconverts nicely.

 

3) Increasingly, I am watching streamed video and have recently subscribed to netflix ($9/month plus $2 extra per month for BD). If you think streaming movies might be in your future, investigate units with netflix capability (both units you are looking at include this feature). You can get a standalone BD player with this for $100 right now (it happens to claim to upconvert nicely).

 

4) Integration with your tv/cable. Just because it's a pain to deal with three (or more) remotes. Samsung tv plus Samsung HTIB is decently integrated. Just something to think about.

 

Happy shopping.

Edited October 29, 2009 by len_mullen

[theblackdragon]

I'd look hard at the Samsung HT-BD1250. Lots of nice reviews including this recent one.

 

I have been studying them both for months. I do understand that rear wireless speaker are easier, but they lose a bit in the sound transfer, plus any time I put my cell phone or laptop near them that make an annoying "humming" noise. I already have a 5 disk changer HTiB, I am looking for a Blue Ray player and I don't want a PS3. The reason I considered a separate receiver was to be able to integrate everything into one, but my wife said that she doesn't want the cable on the home theater system. It is too noisy for watching the news.

 

Thanks for the advise, but I know what I am going after.