Need help picking a ~$1500 TV for my HTPC...

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Dew itt right

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Well, my ancient 32" tube TV will finally be out the door soon and I'm looking for some information/recommendations for a new TV for my HTPC setup. My HTPC is in the sig plus I will be moving one of the GTX460's to the HTPC when the new TV comes so I can game on both PC's. My budget will be up to ~$1500 for the TV and I'm hoping to be around 50-55". My highest priority is picture quality for Blu-Ray's and PC gaming. All the sound is going through my Onkyo receiver so speakers aren't an issue. My HTPC and BD player both have internet capabilities so I don't need a TV with a bunch of internet apps either. Also, My receiver passes thru HDMI video from 4 sources so all I need is a single HDMI input on the TV and I'm good. I'm just looking for a beautiful picture without paying for all the extra crap I don't need.

Any suggestions or other (up-to-date) sites that would help? I'm more than willing to wait for Black Friday for a deal so that's an option as well...
 
Plasma. Should be able to get a Samsung 5 series 58" for under $1500 easily.
 
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Am I going to have to spend a fortune to get away from ghosting? That seems to be the biggest complaint I'm concerned about in the sub-$1500 plasmas...
 
I was looking at the PN50C700 and there seemed to be alot of complaints about dot crawl/ghosting/motion blur. There was a fix mentioned by resetting the Gaming Mode to ON then OFF again but it seems to good to be true.

Then I was looking at the PN50C800 and the reoccurring complaint is a buzzing noise.

Have you experienced any of these with your B550?
 
I don't get any ghosting/motion blur that I know of. Did used to hear the buzzing, but I have so much ambient noise now that I can't tell anymore plus I definitely can't hear it after a while.
 
Don't forget that we are nearly 2/3rds of the way through the year and Christmas is fast approaching.
 
aznx said:
I don't get any ghosting/motion blur that I know of. Did used to hear the buzzing, but I have so much ambient noise now that I can't tell anymore plus I definitely can't hear it after a while.
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Personally all the plasmas I have looked seen like they have ghosting, maybe it isn't actually ghosting but to me plasmas screens don't seem to have as clear motion as you hear about (motion blur?), maybe that's what he is talking about?
 
munkle said:
Personally all the plasmas I have looked seen like they have ghosting, maybe it isn't actually ghosting but to me plasmas screens don't seem to have as clear motion as you hear about (motion blur?), maybe that's what he is talking about?
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you think LCD's do... lol
 
munkle said:
Personally all the plasmas I have looked seen like they have ghosting, maybe it isn't actually ghosting but to me plasmas screens don't seem to have as clear motion as you hear about (motion blur?), maybe that's what he is talking about?
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Mine doesn't seem to show this.
 
Verge said:
you think LCD's do... lol
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Lcd's have mothion blur also but plasmas are far from perfect when I look at them, maybe it's a presonal thing but I see something wrong with the picture when I look at them, I don't know what it is, motion blur or ghosting but it doesn't look smooth or well detailed to me.
criccio said:
http://www.lcdtvbuyingguide.com/lcdtv-plasmavslcd.shtml
http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/plasmatv/plasmatv-misconceptions.html
http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/plasmatv/plasmatv-burnin.html

Plasma FTW. Nothing even comes close. Do your research.
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Research is great and so are stats but sight is also great and subjective. I personally do not like how plasmas look for said reasons above and also I can see the pixel grid, or the spacing between the pixels that that bothers me, maybe that's why I notice unsmoothness because the grid breaks up the picture and makes me see something not smooth I don't know but plasmas pictures aren't all the great to me when I see them.

aznx said:
Mine doesn't seem to show this.
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It's something that not many others notice, maybe its just the way I see them, I don't know but with my own eyes plasmas don't look smooth to me.
 
So it sounds like a bit of a personal taste issue too? I'll have to do some window shopping soon to see if anything stands out to me. I just hate TV shopping in the stores because it seems like half of them aren't calibrated correctly so it's hard to tell if the pictures are different because of the TV quality or because of the default settings.

As far as plasma go, my research is teling me they pretty much all "buzz" (some more noticeably than others). Also I'm reading that the lifespan if much shorter with plasma, they're more expensive to service, and the blacks fade fairly quickly? Am I just catching all the bad reviews?
 
Maybe outdated reviews? The best current Plasmas are the Panasonics with NeoPDP panels and haven't heard anything bad about them.
 
FWIW, I'm not a gamer and don't even have a bluray player now, but I try to see through marketing hype. I bought a Panasonic 50" plasma for the TV room AND a 42" for the bedroom for a total of about $1200 after Xmas in 2008. It looks like you can get similar updated models now, and the 50" is still under $700.

The Panasonics are very nice sets for the distance we view from. My wife actually picked them out using only her eyes and seeing price w/o reading any literature. It only took her about 5 minutes to pick the 50" out. At first I kinda wanted a more expensive 1080p but when we got them home and set up (turned settings down to about 50% based on AVSforum) we both absolutely loved these sets and I suspect the new ones are even nicer. These were the best TV buys we've ever made.

We spent $3000 for a Pioneer 53" rear projection that started having problems after 5 years of use, now basically dead. I told the wife if the Panasonics only last 2 years we will have our money's worth. This is one model that came up in google. Check out ratings in AVSforum.

http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-TC-P50C2-50-Inch-720p-Plasma/dp/B003926CUS
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
Yeah, the reviews I'm reading for the Panasonic VIERA TC-P50G25 are all very good plus you can get it for less than $1100! I may be sold....
 
I just bought a Samsung PN58C590 for $1399 from Conn's. ($1515 with tax). I decided to buy local so I could deal face to face if I had any issues. And i'm really glad I did. I first bought a 55" LG LCD (vertical line in it), exchanged it for a 60" LG LCD (backlight died in 2hrs of use). Both from Fry's.

So I then saw this samsung plasma and was really impressed. So far i'm really happy, and have zero complaints. I cant hear any buzz at all (I used both ferrite filters on the power cord, and have a 2200 UPS). As far as the picture goes its far better than the LCDs. I havent tried any of the internet widgets, as I use my HTPC for that. Dont rule out the newer samsung plasmas (although the panasonics are nice)

After this past 2 weeks I would definatly suggest buying local. If I would have had to return 2 TV's via shipping I would be SO pissed off. The $200 premium for buying local was well worth it.
 
Thatnks everyone for your help here. I just wanted to post the end result to give everyone some closure! =)

After reading tons of reviews and ratings and forum threads, I settled on a 50" Panny Plasma (P50G25). I called the local HHGreg to see if they had one on display just to see it before purchasing online. (BTW: amazon's TV return policy states that they pay for return shipping on all defective TVs). The sales guy told me they're the largest electronics retailer on the East Coast and they'll match any online price! So I printed out the ad from Amazon and took it in yesterday. The Sales Manager said the associate should've never told me they could match Amazon because they just can't compete with an online retailer but they'd match it anyways just to honor their word! So I bagged a P50G25 for $945 and it's being delivered on Labor Day!!

Big props to HHGreg for being true to their word. They definitely earned our business down the road...
 
Dew itt right said:
Thatnks everyone for your help here. I just wanted to post the end result to give everyone some closure! =)

After reading tons of reviews and ratings and forum threads, I settled on a 50" Panny Plasma (P50G25). I called the local HHGreg to see if they had one on display just to see it before purchasing online. (BTW: amazon's TV return policy states that they pay for return shipping on all defective TVs). The sales guy told me they're the largest electronics retailer on the East Coast and they'll match any online price! So I printed out the ad from Amazon and took it in yesterday. The Sales Manager said the associate should've never told me they could match Amazon because they just can't compete with an online retailer but they'd match it anyways just to honor their word! So I bagged a P50G25 for $945 and it's being delivered on Labor Day!!

Big props to HHGreg for being true to their word. They definitely earned our business down the road...
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Did you read about the black fade on these? I'd go for a newer Panasonic..
 
Yeah, I checked that out...

CNET Reviews said:
Editors' note, August 19, 2010: After about 1,650 hours, which at the average rate of 5.2 hours of on-time per day works out to about 318 days of average life, the black level performance of our TC-P50G20 review sample has not changed. That's an improvement upon the 2009 models, which showed a change after about 1,000 hours. Our long-term test of Panasonic's 2010 plasma TVs will continue throughout the year, and any changes will be reported here.
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I would stay away from the samsung plasmas i bought two and both of them had a buzz, theres a huge thread on it on AVS....maybe they have fixed it now, but i ended up with a Panny G10 and an S1 and couldnt be happier.
 
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