Need advice on a TV

[Raux]

You said 3'2" wide or 38", based on your measurements you will probably be able to fit a 37" LCD which are around 36" wide. anything bigger won't fit. smaller and you'll be seeing too much space around it.

i always like to shop www.tigerdirect.com because they have such a wide variety from lowend to highend manufacturers. even if you don't buy from them, they have tons of specs to included the actual width not just diagonal screen size.

as far as which to buy. this is how i rate factors for a new tv.

1. LCD vs Plasma - plasma doesn't handle moving well, tends to burn in with repeated viewing of one channel (ever seen a plasma with CNN scrolls burned in) but has better black and slightly better pictures. LCD is my choice, i move a lot, i don't watch too much tv but the kids play games and tend to stay on one screen alot. plus if you upgrade, it can be a killer computer moniter later  
2. Resolution - 1080p vs 1080i. go with 1080p because you will always kick yourself when you buy that blu-ray player and don't have the best resolution (even if you don't have plans for the player now, you will eventually get one when they come down to 100 bucks)
3. Contrast Ratio - important for what room you are placing the tv. more light in the room the higher ratio you want to ensure your screen colors don't wash out. this is where plasma has an advantage.
4. response time - really an issue with computer/game playing, but if too slow can produce a mild ghosting on fast action movies.
5. Connections - not so important anymore since most systems have at least one HMDI input which from what i think i know, is the only way to get true 1080p viewing
6. price - i know i know should be higher, but in reality you are on a ducati board, we all have expensive tastes.
7. design - do they have black components for audio/dvd or silver faces. you want something that doesn't clash with your stuff. if in a cabinet think about black since the black frame will tend to disappear that way.
8. name brand - yes an issue sometimes but there are only about 5 manufacturers of LCD screens, everyone else's are rebranded.
9. warranty - find out the manufacturers warranty on defective/stuck pixels. a cheaper manufacturer will want more bad pixels before they refund/replace. surprisingly HP screwed me over on this with my last computer display. a BRIGHT green pixel right in the middle of the screen   and they won't do crap til i have 5.

sorry so long. video is my field and i get to shop with your tax payer money, so i make informed decisions.
caveat: anyone that disagrees with my thoughts please be nice, and if i made a mistake realize i haven't ridden my bike in 3 weeks and i'm stressssssed  

[red baron]

I forgot to add that COSTCO has a really good return policy, so you might want to take a gander in there.

policy changed two years ago.

[Bun-bun]

I have a Vizio VX42L LCD 1080p HDMI blah blah blah that we really enjoy.
Unfortunately, it  measures 40 1/2 x 29 1/2, so 2 1/2" too big for their console. However, I believe that they also make a 40" model, which should fit fine.

[Raux]

most 40" won't work but this one may since it has the small frame
as it says though it's designed for 37" LCD spacing.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3478788&csid=ITD&body=MAIN#detailspecs

[Monsterlover]

^

That doesn't look half bad.  Link emailed, thanks!

[Raux]

glad i could help.

[River]

Okay, love my plasma and love Costco (God bless them!)  People warn you off about plasmas because they have a limited life span, but frankly your parents will get bored with it before they ever use it to the point that they have to get a new one.  The quality is freakin' amazing and the price points have come way down.

[Raux]

plasmas are great looking tv's but you have to be careful what else you use them for. and if they like to watch a static station like cnn with the news crawl on the bottom, plasmas are not so great. trust me i am not banging on plasma. as a professional, if i were to have an unlimited budget, i would go with the huge pioneer 60" plasmas that are like 6 grand. but i would baby them unless i could replace them often. i move a lot and lcd are more rugged and lcd dont get burnin like plasma.

[CairnsDuc]

Lets get the facts straight with Plasma, I have worked in the Television Industry for 6 years. (I have only just recently moved to run the photo lab in the same store, but I still get dragged down to sell TV's every now and then)
And I am a qualified Tech, I used to repair this stuff for a living.

* Burn in.
On new Generation panels now is very difficult to do (read: almost impossible for the average home user) to burn in a panel you would have to leave a static high, contrast image on a new generation panel for days before hurting them.
Older generation panels it was very easy because of the higher voltages, different gas and phosphor mix, and the panels higher operating Temps. Most people see burn in on old panels in displays, TV stations that have done thousands of hours of work and are old generation panels and assume they are all like that.
I use a playstation 3 for Movies/games and Cable TV on my older plasma (2 Generation old Panasonic), never seen a mark, I've dozed off for hours and left a still image on the screen for hours at a time, still no problems.
So what this means that for the home user, Burn in is really not worth worrying about, it is a non issue.

*Longevity
Plasma's for the last 4 to 5 years are rated for 60000 hours plus of life, The new Panasonics are rated for a staggering 100000 hours of life!!, the average LCD back light is rated for 60000 hours, A tube TV is rated for 30000 hours and a CRT rear Projection TV is rated for 15000 hours, but lets put that into perspective..
Use your TV for 8 hours a day every day of the TV's life
15000 hours = 5 years
30000 hours = 10 years
60000 hours = 20 years
100000 hours = 34 years
So what does this mean for the home user, Well, your TV might have to be buried with you when you check out!
I have panels I placed in a local hotel's Reception area 3 years ago, they run 24 hours a day (That means over 26000 hours non stop!!) and they still look very good, no burn in, and a nice clean bright picture.

*Contrast Ratio
It is a useless ratio, companies use different ways to measure it, and quite a few fudge the figures to get the figures they want, I advise customers to ignore it. Panasonic admitted this year they marked there new plasma's with the Million to one ratio just to piss off the Koreans (LG/Samsung) who always claim stupid ratio's on very average panels.

*Response time
Another useless figure, companies use all sorts of tricks to claim some amazing speed, if you avoid the no name brands they now are all pretty good.
Point of Interest, Plasma is much faster than the fastest LCD, so if you love your sport, you will get less motion blur on a Plasma.
LCD is measured in Milliseconds response time, Plasma is Tenths of a millisecond.

There is a lot of Misinformation on Plasma's and most of it comes from the early lives of plasma's, and yes I love plasma's but I do own a couple of LCD's, but for the main room, it's plasma all the way. LCD has it's place, but for Sport Movies and watching TV, Plasma is still the superior picture.

Sorry Raux, not trying to bash your information buddy, it's just your information is now a little outdated. 

[Raux]

no really thanks for the updates. and yes it's been about 3 years since i've researched purchases for those categories.

like i said if i had a choice, i'd get the pioneer plasmas. but i don't have 6 grand for the Elite 60" 

[DaniD]

Not that I'm an expert or even really know what I'm talking about, but I have a 42" Sony Bravia LCD and it's awesome.  Great picture and it's the perfect size.  Also, remember that it's easy to get frustrated when you are in the store and trying to compare the picture quality of 30 different TV's all next to each other.  Once you pick one and get it home you'll think it's amazing.

+1 on the HDMI cable, without it there's no use even watching anything in HD

[Bick]

I just got a Sony KDL32XBR:

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665378963

The cabinet that it is in is 33" x 24" (inside dimensons.)  Paid under $1k.

Very happy with it.

[CairnsDuc]

Nice TV!