OT: tv advice | Syracusefan.com

OT: tv advice

and if you guys got any other man cave advice as far as pool tables, surround sound systems, etc im all ears!! definitely buying a pool table but know nothing about them other than playing on them in bars
 
Don't watch TV. It'll rot your brain.

However, if you don't care, I would stick to a Panasonic or Samsung as far as quality goes. As far as affordability, I think the price differences between Plasma and LED are pretty close now. My brother has 2 60" TV's in his house, one plasma and the other LED. He recommends either one for sports.
 
PeteCalvin said:
Don't watch TV. It'll rot your brain.

However, if you don't care, I would stick to a Panasonic or Samsung as far as quality goes. As far as affordability, I think the price differences between Plasma and LED are pretty close now. My brother has 2 60" TV's in his house, one plasma and the other LED. He recommends either one for sports.
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is this the new internet way of dropping our pants??

ive got 2 60"s, 2 46"s and 1 36"

all Samsung for what its worth.....
 
CorduroyG said:
just bought first house and will have my first man cave. looking to buy a 70 incher, havent bought a tv in 7 years so not sure what to be looking for. not looking to spend more than $1500-2k. been looking at this one, any good??????


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BG5M94S/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
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If picture quality is at the top of your "need" list with a new HDTV, look into Plasma sets by Panosonic. I own a ZT60. The quality is unlike anything I have seen. You can get it in 65" - it's going to be higher than the $$ numbers you listed though.
 
stuckinbig11 said:
What are the advantages/disadvantages of plasma vs LED?
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Plasma - Pros: Generally better for fast motion (sports, action movies, etc.), Deeper black levels
Cons: Screens are often too reflective, so bright rooms or rooms with lots of windows aren't so great

LED - Pros: More energy efficient, brighter and more 'true' white levels, wider color spectrum
Cons: Not as good with fast motion until you get to about 240Hz refresh rates which are pricey, black levels aren't as dark

Those are some of the general points about both tv types. Although, at the OP's price point, either tv type makes sense. Plasma's at that level will often have much less glare issues and LEDs will handle fast motion much better. The bright/dark levels will be better as well.
 
CorduroyG said:
just bought first house and will have my first man cave. looking to buy a 70 incher, havent bought a tv in 7 years so not sure what to be looking for. not looking to spend more than $1500-2k. been looking at this one, any good?????? http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BG5M94S/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
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I have a 60" Samsung LED Smartv 240htz refresh and have friends with comparable products made by Vizio, Sony, Panasonic. They all claim my tv still has a better picture FWIW. I won't buy anything other than Samsung going fwd.

I also have a 46" and 40" Sharp Aquos w/ 600htz refresh rate tvs. These are Plasma. They perform well, but the picture and color spectrum on my Samsung has had me angling to replace these with Samsung LEDs for the last year. They're just not the same.
 
KaiserUEO said:
is this the new internet way of dropping our pants??

ive got 2 60"s, 2 46"s and 1 36"

all Samsung for what its worth...
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I said they were my brother's, Kaiser. Not mine.

Heck, I'll admit I still have a tube television somewhere in my house. It works and saves me $$$ until it finally croaks. Then, watch out!! 4X!!!

I have a 50" Panasonic plasma that is tremendous. My friend who works for Best Buy recommended it. Same one he put in his house. The quality of the Panasonics and Samsungs are first rate. Can't go wrong with either one.
 
It's my understanding that Panasonic is no longer making Plasma TV's...last year was the last year.
 
I have two 60" TVs, one Panny Plasma and one Samsung LED. They were both in your price range, like $1500 each. The LED is less reflective for sure, so if you have windows behind your viewing position it may be a better option. I fretted like crazy about motion issues because my main purpose is to watch Syracuse games.

The deal is this: I have noticed the motion blur issues a few times on the LED (which I think is 120 Hz), but never during sports. Every now and then there will be some motion in a TV show or commercial or something where the fast moving object sort of fades away for a moment because the picture isn't keeping up, but for whatever reason I have never seen or noticed this during any sporting event. So my take is that at the 120 Hz and up level it is not as big of a deal as I thought it would be. THAT SAID: the TV's come with lots of software to counter this motion blur and the software can create a very unsettling "dreamy" type effect to everything you watch. This is called "soap opera effect." I find it really bothersome so I turn the software way down or off.

Some other tips: going to Sears or Best Buy or where ever and looking at the TVs to assess quality is not really effective. The sources they use for the TVs on their showroom are apparently terrible and just about all the TVs look much worse in the store than they do at home with your untrammeled HDMI signal. I trusted CNET and Amazon reviews for my two purchases and they were right on the money. You can trust the bulk of what you read in those places.

Cost: I found that going from 60" tp 70" was a fairly dramatic cost jump if you wanted to maintain the same quality level. This was about 8 months ago so things could have changed, but if you don't absolutely need 70", my experience was that you could get a much better TV for the cost if you went 60" vs 70".

EDIT: I should add that both of these TVs have uber-outstanding picture quality. Especially if you throw a blue-ray in the player, it is a knock-your-socks-off level picture quality and color saturation on both of them.
 
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bevosu said:
It's my understanding that Panasonic is no longer making Plasma TV's...last year was the last year.
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True, but you may still be able to get them from left over stocks. Not sure about that though.
 
CorduroyG said:
and if you guys got any other man cave advice as far as pool tables, surround sound systems, etc im all ears!! definitely buying a pool table but know nothing about them other than playing on them in bars
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Craigslist seems to be a fairly good source for used pool tables. Pool tables cost an arm and a leg so to get a nice one for a bit of a discount is worth checking into. I wouldn't mind having a shuffleboard table but those are also crazy expensive.

As to surround sound. I'm over it. I always had fairly high end complicated setups and was never overly impressed. Sony makes a nice soundbar speaker with a wireless subwoofer and it is really good. I think I paid around $300 for this thing and it is a really full sound. All I am missing is the 20 milliseconds in each movie where you can hear a glass clink behind the couch. I'm really happy to go with the cheaper sound bar and it being so simple without having to run wires, mount speakers, etc etc was a great move for me.
 
This should be your first man cave purchase:

SUPERchexx.jpg
 
Bayside44 said:
I did this about a year ago, got a 60 inch Samsung Smart TV and an LG soundbar / bass thingie. Works great.
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hows your soundbar base thingy work??

do you still need surround??

do you want surround??
 
Bayside44 said:
Um, it's good?
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ok. let me try this again. :(

do you feel like you shouldve just gone all out for the old school surround sound, or does the base thing give you enough of a sound that you feel you are still maximizing the experience.
 
KaiserUEO said:
ok. let me try this again. :(

do you feel like you shouldve just gone all out for the old school surround sound, or does the base thing give you enough of a sound that you feel you are still maximizing the experience.
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For your booze addled senses it will be totally fine. ;)
 
i may go the soundbar route too but know nothing about them, setting up surround sound with all these wires is such a pain in the ass. do you connect soundbar to receiver?
 
CorduroyG said:
i may go the soundbar route too but know nothing about them, setting up surround sound with all these wires is such a pain in the ass. do you connect soundbar to receiver?
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I paid someone to do it, mount and do the wires behind the wall.
 
KaiserUEO said:
ok. let me try this again. :(
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sound bar definitely helps. But it's not close to the experience surround sound provides with good system and good subwoofer. FWIW
 
CorduroyG said:
i may go the soundbar route too but know nothing about them, setting up surround sound with all these wires is such a pain in the ass. do you connect soundbar to receiver?
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I connected it directly to the TV. I used to be big on the whole receiver thing. Now adays it is totally superfluous at least to my thinking. I found that hooking all my sources to a receiver and then the TV to the output of the reciever (to switch video and audio, etc) caused all kinds of problems. Mind you, I promise there are people out there, probably who will respond to this post, who are willing and able to figure all this out, but I was dumbfounded by it. (Yes, critics, I will keep my day job at NASA, thanks). These two TVs that I bought were my first foray into a fully HDMI system. Previously I had done the A/V Receiver thing and component video cables.

My experience with the full HDMI setup was that it was fully outsmarting itself (or at least it was outsmarting me). When you hook all this stuff up to each other with HDMI cables, all your remotes start cross mojinating and hitting play on your TV remote could start the blu-ray player, or turning on the blue ray player with its remote will automatically turn on (or off) the TV, the DVR, and or the receiver itself, . It was far too confusing for me. I even ended up trying to program my reciever with menus I never knew existed that you get to via obscure remote button sequences along the lines of the venerable A-B-A-B-UP-DOWN-SELECT... Still couldn't get the entire system working such that you weren't concerned about the very real possibility that paranormal intervention was occurring at least twice a week.

So... I would up finally saying - what the heck are you doing - just plug your crap into the TV and let it sort it all out. There are enough HDMI inputs on these TVs and audio outputs that, to me at least, they have rendered the AV Receiver obsolete. Plug the sound bar into the optical audio out on the TV and be done!
 
007 said:
sound bar definitely helps. But it's not close to the experience surround sound provides with good system and good subwoofer. FWIW
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The Sonos sound bar is a very close second. Sonos sound is excellent, and the technology is great. KUEO and others: get a Sonos sound bar, and some Sonos wireless speakers for other spots in the same room and elsewhere in your home, then come back and thank me afterward. Guaranteed.

Sonos = Best. Thing. Ever.
 
Vizios ive alwAys felt is best bang for your buck. I dont see any difference in picture quality or overAll quality and the tvs are like half the price
 
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