best t.v for under 1000 bucks

So, looking to upgrade the television...right now I have none. I want to spend less than 1000 bucks. Any recommendations?

 

Panasonic ST30. You could get a 42inch for under 800$ at times. And nothing beats the PQ of a plasma. IR and burn-ins are a thing of the past. Is also well noted that Plasma are great for gaming as well. And plus, this Panny set doesn't suffer from the rising blacks that plague last year sets. Is 3D ready as well, and the crosstalk is not bad as well(Samsung is notorious for having some serious crosstalk on their sets)

Another set that's awesome, and very cheap are the new 42inch LCD(Not LED backlight)VIZIO ED3420VX. The PQ is pretty solid for a LCD, the 3D is optic shutter, so you could take the 3D glasses from the movie theater and use them at home, unlike Panasonic, Samsung, SONY, LG and others. The sets has a shit load of features, is insane. VIZIO is no joke. You could get this set for under 750$ at times. I know Someone who got it for 650$. And plus, the tv is Wifi, unlike most sets were you have to add a dongle.

I got to calibrate both sets this year. They're both solid sets, but the PQ on the Panny is too good. But is it night and day from the Vizio.....Not really to the average consumer. As a hardcore TV Tech guy, I would go with the Panny, that's me. but on the reals, get the VIZIO. You save more money, and the fact you could use the same glasses from the movies is a plus. No need to spend 150+ dollars for a pair. You get WAY more features with the VIZIO and is Wifi.

If you do go with the Vizio, turn that 120hz mode off. It will make your games lag bad. That feature is on by default on every setting. Oh, and it does 1080p/24 very well(Unlike Samsungs Plasmas this year were the black levels turned to shit in that mode)The ST30 does a amazing job as well. Hit me up with any questions.

 

Yo, thanks for the help Shinobi. The 3D thing is not a big sell for me. I sometimes don't get the effect at all. It needs to mature a lot more for me. It sounds like the Panny is just the shizznit to get right now.
Let me ask, why are you going with Plasma over the LED t.v? From what I understand, you will get a lot better color and lifetime out of a LED.

 

Not true at all. Plasma's have better colors and blacks. The thing with LCD LED is that it has blooming. The colors are too much at times. Some sets do it better than others, but Plasma have more of that lifelike look to them, than that loud color of LED's. And plasma have match the lifetime of LCD's years ago. You could go to any review site on the net, and you get to see that Panny's are always on top follow by Samsung and LG.

And all those sets are plasma. You could get some amazing LED's out there, but the prices are insane. Why pay 3grand+ for a 50inch LED, when you could get a 65inch PanasonicVT30(This best in the market right now)for under 2,500$. I Calibrate sets on the side for years now, nothing beats that accurate color of a plasma.

 

This is also great info for me! Thanks frankie!

 

Sweet. So plasma it is. Any links to sets y'all would look at? Gunna do some shopping today and tomorrow.

 

Shinobi pretty much got ir right on the TV brand recommendations. Panasonic followed by Samsung and LG. At the moment the best deal is the 50" LG PV450 at under $750 at Amazon.com with free shipping. For the untrained eye (ala you and most people), after some adjustments, the 50" LG will be very close to the Panasonic and Samsung, except you get a 50" TV instead of 42".

The 50" LG TV is 1.5" thick on the wall and the thinnest TV next to LEDs.

 

http://www.amazon.com/LG-50PV450-50-Inch...1949&sr=8-2

That what y'all talking about?
Any other recomendations? Internet connectivity would be cool in order to stream stuff and whatnot.

 

Vizio now offer the best price for 3DTV + 3DBDP, and get 65" model with 10bit.

 

Primarily for gaming, but also for watching UFC events and movies.

 

Then Plasma it is brother, go for the Panny ST30. For that price, you're getting the best PQ in the market for a mid-range TV.

 

42st30 is a good TV, but just too expensive for a 42"..almost $900. 42" from many good brands should be around $600-$700. Panasonic is great if you can score it at a good price. To compare apples to apples, a 50" Panasonic is gonna go $1200 I guess. LG and Samsung you're gonna get closer to $700-800ish. You gotta work at finding a Panasonic at a good price or it's not worth the cost.

Now that you want a TV for streaming, gaming and TV etc. the best/only choice in your budget is the 42" LG LV5500 LED TV. There's a deal on it now with a free LG BD640 Wifi Bluray player for $741.75 shipped. The LED TV has the built in web browser, netflix, facebook, youtube etc. Since LED colors pop, as Shinobi said, you have to like the strong colors. You can eBay the BD640 Bluray player for $120-$130. That makes the cost of the TV around $610-$620. Not bad for an internet enabled LED and there's no noticeable gaming lag.

To get the deal go here:

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.as...5f9fp0dd0c0s701

Add to Shopping Cart
Use Coupon Code: EMCKDHG67
Final Price: $989 - 25% Coupon = $741.75 + Free Shipping + No Tax (Except CA TN and NJ)

If the deal passes go here and refresh often. Deals come up daily.

http://slickdeals.net/newsearch.php?firstonly=1&forumchoice[]=9&q=lg+led+tv

The TV itself without any bundles can be found under $700 if you look around.

Plasma/LCD/LED input lag might be from from image processing. The game mode should work, but you have to set the Computer/PS3/Xbox to output 1080p or there will be scaling that creates lag. Also on the PS3, I've read there are image options you can uncheck that will solve some lag issues. This is discussed on a couple threads with the TV model numbers and gaming lag that you can just easily Google. Almost every single TV in 2011 with a game mode is going to get you sub 30ms over HDMI as TVs are built with gaming in mind.

 

Damn it - this is now getting more complicated...to go for the Panny or not... That to me sounds like the big question

 

Josh, you basically only have one choice of TV that fits your budget. The LG LED. No other TV is gonna do internet video streaming or have internet apps installed. You won't get a web browser, youtube etc. on the Panasonic or Samsung at your budget. None the things Colorful_Tengu mentioned will have any effect on you. You will never use ISF expert mode unless you study and read about 10 point calibration and buy or hire someone with light measuring equipment. The set has no lag since you won't use ISF expert mode. The Panasonic doesn't have an ISF mode, neither does the Samsung. Chroma 4: 4: 4 has absolutely zero effect on you. DTS decoding has zero effect on you.

If you don't care about internet or a thin size or the expensive price and you only care about the picture quality, you buy the 42" Panasonic Plasma. You want to buy something bigger and cheaper you get a 50" LG Plasma. You want something that has all the features you asked for that stays in your budget, you get the 42" LG LED. That's basically your summary without making it complex for you.

 

That price isn't correct. I should know

 

Ok now my thoughts.

3D
Most TVs are now coming with 3D; just consider it an extra feature. You never have to use it, but it is there if needed.

Gaming
Most TVs have some sort of post processing (ex. Game Mode), but from my experience this mode does not mean that it deals with input lag any better.

Case in point my VT30 measures 17ms in Game mode and 16ms in Custom Mode.

Search on Google for articles on Input Lag. Find the TVs you are interested in and find out what others are saying about it.

Manufacturers
Each manufacturer has their own specialty. Panasonic = Plasma, Samsung = LCD/LED, Sony = LCD/LED, Vizio = Lower End Model Less Money.

My recommendation

Panasonic ST30 if the lower than $1000 price point is solid
http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-VIERA-TC...9631&sr=8-9

If you can pay just a bit more, get the GT30 for better black levels and THX certification.
http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-VIERA-TC...9631&sr=8-1

 

Agree that Panasonic is solid. Many people (myself too) recommend/owned Panasonic Viera Plasma's at some point. I had a 50" that I think you also had once. I think though Panasonic is a victim of its own success. They did so well in sales from 2008-2010, that they just kept charging the same prices. The good models only start from the G series, so the cost is just too high I think. Panasonic G and V series are great. You know the funny thing, unlike Panasonic, about LG/Samsung is they use the exact same panels across at least 3 model numbers and the only difference is in the features. The picture is practically identical with the only difference being a glossy plastic cover/matte or features like internet video streaming and 3D.

Case in point, the lowest end LG plasma in 2010 can reproduce reference level picture quality.

In 2011 the PV450 has an identical panel also to the higher end LG models and has better blacks. That's a hardcore value.

http://www.avforums.com/review/LG-PK350-50PK350-Review.html
http://www.avforums.com/review/Panasonic...-TV-Review.html

These are some calibration charts for reference, a little over Josh's head but they give you an idea how good the entry level LGs really are:

Panasonic:



LG:


You are basically looking for all the delta numbers for each color to be as close as possible to each other and under 5. Look at that red number for the Panasonic hitting almost 10. Anything above 5 is basically visible to the eye. The LG produces very close to reference level quality colors. If its going up against a Panasonic G series that can also produce reference level quality with better blacks it's a different story, but still the Panasonic is overpriced then. If compared to the Panasonic S series, the LG PV 450 is a better TV in picture performance. This is an easy call if you have the budget to go for the big G or V series Panasonic. But for the price...the LG can get very close to the G series numbers for a little more than half the cost. $700ish for an LG PV450 50" vs $1300 for a Panasonic P50GT25 50".

By 2012 this will be a moot point. All TVs, instead of some, will be graded according to how close they get to reference colors in these charts as blacks will be pure black by not lighting up the individual pixel and putting a black filter on the TV. Learning to look for the color gamut chart will be pretty important.

 

Very cool. I figured actually that with my Working Designs box and a blue ray player, I don't need a ton of connectivity native to the t.v
For me, picture quality is tops. I probably want something 45 inches and larger.

 

Dude, just get a Panny. It has been decided by more than one member of the prestigious VFDC community.

 

Panasonic G and V are very good sets. S, like the chart posted, has too strong a red color. That chart I posted of the Panasonic S TV is after calibration. It's even worse with the red before calibration. The guy can't afford a large Panasonic G or V. Josh, the best thing to do is to go look at the TV in the shop, pay attention to the sets we talked about in the thread and get the one you can afford.