LCD TV deal-- should I bite?

[Black]

rgG wrote:
We have a 37" Toshiba LCD that is 720p and it looks great.

When we were looking for our TV a couple of years ago, I was told that until you get into the larger sets, 42" and up I think, you really won't notice the difference between 1080p and 720p if you are sitting at least 6' from the TV.

10. OK, so what's the bottom line: Should I go 1080p or 720p?
First and foremost, some people just want what's considered the best spec on a TV. If you're one of those people, spend the extra dough, you'll feel better in the long run. Secondly, if you're thinking of going big, really big (a 55-inch or larger screen), or you like to sit really close (closer than 1.5 times the diagonal measurement), the extra resolution may make it worth the difference--as long as you have a pristine, 1080i or 1080p HD source to feed into the set. And finally, it's a good idea to go with 1080p if you plan to use your TV a lot as a big computer monitor. That said, if you set your computer to output at 1,920x1,080, you may find that the icons and text on the screen are too small to view from far away (as a result, you may end up zooming the desktop or even changing to a lower resolution). But a 1080p set does give you some added flexibility (and sharpness) when it comes to computer connectivity.

If none of those factors jump out at you as true priorities--and you are working on a tight budget and want to save some dough--a 720p set is going to do you just fine. HD will still look great on your set, I swear. In fact, our current highest-scoring HDTV, the Pioneer Kuro PDP-5080HD, is a 720p, er--768p, model.

http://reviews.cnet.com/720p-vs-1080p-hdtv/

Thx. I would probably go 37" if the deal was irresistible but I have the TV on as "background" sometimes and would feel better knowing it's consuming the equivalent of two 100w incandescent bulbs instead of 3.
I think the 1080 might be good if I wanted to use it as a monitor. I do think it likely I'll be hooking my macbook up to it.

[Black]

I've been tearing the web apart and it's really increased my appreciation of this site . . .
Here's a great example of a for-profit advice site that just doesn't work:
http://www.justanswer.com/questions/179b...s-tv-model

(read the thread to the end-- I got the same "whack it on the side" advice for free here when I originally posted about the lazy picture)

[Panopticon]

Black, after making side-by-side comparisons, I purchased the Vizio VW32LHDTV10A; 32" 720p for $399 during the holidays. It's now $447 @ Walmart.

Compared it to the 1080p Vizio, several Panasonics. Sonys, & Toshibas. My {old} eyes could make no distinction in picture quality. And considering several of the 32" sets were >$600, my decision was easy.

fwiw, I initially wanted the Panasonic 42" (720p) VIERA PLASMA; Model TH-42PX80U, which was being sold for $665 @ Sears http://forums.macresource.com/read.php?1...msg-627261 . After taking may measurements, moving furniture, etc., I found it too large for the room.

Very happy with the Vizio 32 ()

EDIT: oops it's VIZIO not Visio

[Black]

Never heard of Visio. Any idea who makes the internals?
Won't do business with wal-mart, but thanks for the link.

[Panopticon]

Sorry, that's VIZIO

Sold @ Amazon, Dell, BB, Sears, and just about any major electronics retailer you can think of.

Vizio website

Google Search

[kj]

Black wrote:
Never heard of Visio. Any idea who makes the internals?
Won't do business with wal-mart, but thanks for the link.

Vizio is considered one of the better "value" sets. Our nursing home bought about 40 of them last spring, and has only had one they have had to return. They're sold at places other than walmart (I understand the aversion), but I don't know about the controls. I guess if you really like the set, my answer would be that given what's available for the money, it seems a little overpriced. But no biggie (it's only money). kj.

[AlphaDog]

Black wrote:
Never heard of Visio. Any idea who makes the internals?
Won't do business with wal-mart, but thanks for the link.

I was doing some research on Vizios, and apparently there are different sources for components, depending on who is offering the best deal to the company, and some of the components are pretty high end. The guy who started the company wants the best he can get for the least amount of money. Overall, there aren't too many companies who manufacture these components anyway, so the parts used in Vizios could conceivably be the same as those used Sonys and Sharps.

I bought a small Vizio last Tuesday at Costco after the little 13" set I'd been using in the kitchen died. I didn't buy any new cables; I just brought the new 19" home and plugged it in, using two very old cables that are strung together with an adapter. It's great! It has a QAM tuner, so it picks up a couple of HD broadcasts. Wow. I could get spoiled fast. I'm not a particularly discriminating viewer, but I'm very happy with this little set, especially for $199, and I wouldn't hesitate to buy another Vizio. Of course, I've only had it for a few days, so I can't speak to reliability.

[Black]

Thanks, everyone.

I have a Sears and several Targets within reasonable bike trailer distance (and we've had almost all the snow cover melt in the last 36 hours here.)

I've done some research into Vizio and it seems they have a 1080p 32" set for $599-$629 retail.
http://www.target.com/Vizio-1080p-LCD-HD...44?ie=UTF8&index=target&rh=k%3Avizio&page=1

I'm a bit unnerved by the first few reviews (i.e. the ones that don't give it 5 stars based on the housing color) in regard to the sound.
Being a bass freak, "tinny" just doesn't cut it for me.

A-dog and Pan-O, would you be kind enough to play with your menus and confirm whether there are =seperate= bass and treble controls?
The ability to crank the bass up is one of the things I like most about my current set.

As to their company, I guess it's an american business, which means these days that their main incorporation address in on US soil, and they employ 100 americans. I wonder how many americans Toshiba employs on US soil?

[Panopticon]

A-dog and Pan-O, would you be kind enough to play with your menus and confirm whether there are =seperate= bass and treble controls?

Confirmed! There are menus to 'fine tune' practically everything
except how strong I brew my coffee :coffee:

[Black]

OK, thanks. you've knocked me out of my fixation on this one brand and model. I will do my best to swing by a B/M and check out the Vizio firsthand today. Wouldn't be so urgent if Lost, Medium, and Heroes weren't all in-season . . .
The $475 dealio is an eBay "best offer" that's good until tomorrow.