Help me buy a TV!

[Yellow Meanie]

Hi everyone. As most of you know, I've just moved into my new house.
The house is awesome, but it's empty. I need to buy EVERYTHING.
As of today, my furniture consists of a beer fridge (also has food in it), an outdoor table and chairs, and my camping mat and sleeping bag.
A bed is being delivered tomorrow arvo, and I'll head out and buy a lounge and dining table etc..

Also high on the list is a big-arse TV.

I don't really know too much about TV's these days. I have had my eye on an LG 42" LCD with HD and 200hZ. It seems like a real nice telley. Has anyone got one?

Can anyone tell me the "in's and out's" of LCD, HD, 1080p, 50/100/200hZ?

I'm after a TV that's "pretty bloody good", but it doesn't have to be "the best thing money can buy".

[Jukie]

wait for cairns duc to respond or Goldie

[goldFiSh]

Hi Dave,

I've just been through this....

I ended up with a Sony 46" LCD - not the best, but not the worst either.. I find the Sony's user interface good to drive - if you play with some in a shop, you'll find the ones that work and the ones that don't....

Be careful getting sucked into all the hype and marketing - differing features 100Hz, 200Hz, motion whatever.... - basically anything you buy today will be superseded shortly. And they'll all look pretty good to the average eye.

Regarding size, rule of thumb is measure what you think your viewing distance will be - couch to the screen - the viewing distance should be around 2-3 times the width of the screen.

[Yellow Meanie]

Thanks Goldy,
                   I didn't even look at the buttons or remotes, let alone "drive" any. I'll have a go tomorrow.
I don't reckon I need 200hz either. I'm sure I wouldn't notice the difference anyway.
Size wise - anything over 42 will be way too big in the lounge room. It is a "lounge" room for me, not a cinema. I reckon 40 would be fine too. Anything smaller is just, well, too small. 

[bazz20]

and dont foget a big ass bed for your guest 

[Jukie]

yes i would like a queen size thanks Dave

[CairnsDuc]

The Age old Question, What TV do I buy?

You will hear some varying and wildly different opinions on what is best, You go to one store and they say LCD, you go to another and they will push Plasma.

The Picture quality difference between LCD and Plasma are so damn close it almost impossible to see the difference.

The simplest way to decide:
 - if you have a bright room with lots of natural light during the day and lots of houselights on at night, LCD would be the best option. (Less reflective Screen)
 - If you have a darker room with with nice heavy Curtains and if your into lots of Sports and items with fast motion, A Plasma might be the better option. (I am eying off one of the new Panasonic NEO Plasma panels, very nice )

But ask the sales people to let you have a play with the Remote, try it out with normal TV as most TV stores will be playing HD material like a Bluray Movie which will make any TV look good (Ask me how I know )

And as much as people don't like them, ask about extended Warranty, I always put extended warranty on every large $$ electrical Item I purchase, my 4 and a half year old 51" Sony TV has just blown up, and with the extended warranty, if they can't repair it, they will replace it, if they can't replace it, they give me a credit to choose another, ask the salesman to work out a deal including warranty.

Also check what they cover with extended warranty, some warranties are better than others, Harvey Norman's for example is very limited, Good guys is much better (Please note I don't work for either of these companies, I'm just speaking from past experiences)

Some other advice when closing the deal.
* Push em hard on price! all these companies are desperate for sales, shop it around, ask for the best price, and don't be subtle that you are getting the best price, tell them straight.

* Don't get sucked in to buying expensive Cables and surge protectors, it's a rort! The basic surge protector and cables are fine (When I say basic, don't mistake that for cheap crap, middle of the road is just as good as the top off the line stuff) Expensive Cables like Monster Cable and Platinum Crest Cables are just there to make the retailer a fortune in profit (Some High end cables have markups as high as 300 to 400% (Again ask me how I know )
 I used to make more profit from the Cables than I would from the TV!

* Get it delivered, I used to be amazed how many people would try to squeeze a huge TV into a tiny Car and then would damage or risk damaging there brand new toy.
If the shop drops it while there bringing it to your place, who cares! That's the shops problem, not yours!

If you want to find out how good your price is, send me a PM with the model number and brand, and give me a day of 2 and I'll do some checking to see if the price is the very best you can get.
Classic example, my brother in law thought he had the best price he could get for a 60" Sony TV, a couple of quick calls and I got him nearly a $1000 cheaper than his price.
The money is better off in your pocket, not there's!

Hope this helps!  

[Yellow Meanie]

Thanks CD, some great advice there

My lounge is very bright, so I'm on the right track there with an LCD.
I am planning on getting an extended warranty too. As you said, there's quite a few $ going into it, and it is cheap insurance.

Push them hard you say? The mattress I bought today retails for about $4K, I paid $1400

I'll shop around tomorrow, unfortunately Good Guys are only in Australia, not Tasmania. It looks like I'm limited to "Hardly Normal", Retravision, Clive Peters, Myer etc...

Cables??? I'm spending thousands of dollars on a TV and it doesn't come with a bloody cable?

And yes, delivery is a great idea. I saw a bloke today loading his brand new TV into the back of his Triton ute. It had a bit of bubble wrap around it to protect it. I don't think it would have helped in the torrential downpour we got 10 minutes later.

[mostro900]

hmmm, plasma or LCD ?  Yellow meanie - you're in tassie, therefore it's cooler than the mainland, I say go the plasma for the extra heat those things generate !   

[heatherp]

I don't watch much TV, just make sure my couch is comfy.  OK 

[Jukie]

thats ok Heather we can share beds

[CairnsDuc]

hmmm, plasma or LCD ?  Yellow meanie - you're in tassie, therefore it's cooler than the mainland, I say go the plasma for the extra heat those things generate !  

No longer the case, in fact some LCD's now generate more heat than the Plasmas!

And no Yellow Meanie, they almost never put any Cables in the box, because there are so many different setups and configurations, if they do put any basic cables in the box (Like an Antenna Cable for example) they are the cheapest nastiest piles of crap they can find. whenever I get a TV or any Audio product, I remove the cables from the box and throw them in the bin.

If you go to Hardly Normal, watch the Sales guys push Monster Cables! They love the stuff, They have a Monster demo cable board that "shows" you the difference between a normal cable and a Monster cable, People fall for it every time. Expensive Cables are the biggest pile of steaming crap in the Industry.

I have seen customers come over (when I worked for another electrical retailer) with Quotes for a basic TV with over $1000 worth of Cables on it!! I have then sent them out with the same TV with the same quality of Cables for under $100

[tim_golfer2]

I have found that

http://www.dtvforum.info/

is a good resource for both TV and sound systems.   Including some price threads.

[Six95]

Hmmmmm Cables............

I am a product designer for a company that also manufactures cables (but in a different industry).
I'm not going to elaborate but the extra price does not justify the extra performance (in the industry I'm in anyway). You are essentially paying for a group of designers, lab technicians, sales people and marketers revamping and reviving exisitng product lines, and this does cost alot of money.

[Yellow Meanie]

Well I've just paid for a 40" Samsung, full HD 100Hz blah blah...
Retravision and Hardly Normal both quoted around $2400 just for the TV. Then if I added extended warranty, cables and a little sound system, I was looking at about or just over $3K

I went into Myer Home, who are having a big sale, so their prices were immediately a few hundred cheaper.
The sales-bloke was really cool, and I don't think they work on commission, so he didn't mind giving me even more price cuts on everything. So I've ended up with the TV, 5yr warranty, 1000W sound system / DVD player, HDMI cable, and another audio cable to plug my laptop in, and delivery for $2600.

It gets delivered tomorrow can't wait 

The only thing is, I really wanted to watch "Flash Forward" tonight
Can someone who has a DVD recorder burn a copy for me?    I would be soooo grateful