Hey A/V gurus, help me buy a cheap TV
 

We currently have a 15 year old 36" Toshiba tube TV that was given to me by my parents. We have it hooked up to basic cable with a Tivo on there playing at the lowest possible quality. We have waited for years to buy a plasma/LCD TV. Yes, I know your TV cost $4500 and is really nice but I am not really interested in the latest technology or perfect picture. I am mainly interested in price. I see that 50" plasmas are down under $800 now and I think it is time for me to jump on one. At the same time I am going to cancel my $15 cable and get HD Dish Network for this TV. I am not willing to mail order one, I want to pick it up locally.

I currently see this $700 50" Insignia Plasma @ Best Buy (order from the web and get it shipped to my local store):
Insignia® - 50" Class / 720p / 600Hz / Plasma HDTV - NS-P501Q-10A

This $800 50" Sanyo Plasma @ Walmart:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...ct_id=10929993


Any other TVs I should consider? The $100 price difference means a lot to me and I will probably go with the $700 one. I only need 1 RF connection, 1 HDMI connection, and 1 composite connection. I have no plans on watching Blue Ray movies. The plan is to buy a $800 or less TV now and then 4 years from now buy another TV (say a discontinued 64" $800 LED TV with all the bells and whistles) and move the plasma to another room for my XBox 720 or whatever is out at the time. $1600 total for two TVs instead of $10,000 for two TVs with bleeding edge technology. Patience is a virtue.


EDIT: I think I was wrong on getting that Insignia TV shipped to my Best Buy store. It doesn't look like they will do that so for now Walmart is getting my vote

My geeky brothers swears by sony and samsung when it comes to flat screen tv's. Also says not to get plasma due to the glare and images "burning" into the screen when having the same image up for too long. Just my very small .02

I've read some reviews where people say that there is a button on this TV that "wipes out" the burn in. I guess we will find out <G>.

i'm with you on this one, i've been waiting myself. i'm hoping to wait til lcd models to get into that range though

I couldn't be more happy with my Plasma 58" Samsung, I paid 3k though. I've never had any trouble with burn in (I think that's a thing of the past?) Anyway, look for a thread by Samnavy, about 6 months ago he did a bunch of research on tv's and there a lot of good info in it.
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The new hotness is in LED back lit LCD TVs. This is good for us because then the regular old LCD TVs drop in price. They say nobody is making plasma TVs anymore, so they will disappear, but if you only need one to last for 4 years, go for it.

Whichever one you decide on, I've heard that new TVs tend to ship set to "floor display" mode. It's where the contrast/color is cranked up really bright to catch your eye on the sales floor. After going through the calibration, users are disappointed because it seems dimmer and not as flashy as it was in the store. But they say you get used to it once it's been calibrated and it actually provides a better viewing experience.

Samsung TV's are pretty nice.

After reading around a few forums I went with Panasonic plasma's. Arguably the second best to the Pioneer. Sears has the 50" now for 899 but I have seen it lower if you look around.

seriously if price is the only factor, what do you need us for?

sort the internet by price in the size you want and filter out what doesn't have the features you want. click to buy.

edit: free tax and shipping are often worth more than the cheapest price. that's why I bought my mattress in florida even though it's made in virginia where I live.

My Panasonic has the food network burned in and the bars on the side where some tv is regular sized.

I have 2 Vizio LCD units and think they are top notch. As far as I can tell they are made in the USA too.

^^ I bought a Vizio too at WalMart, its got a decent picture, I can't complain.

AVS Forum has lots of info, if you care to read & learn. If I was getting a plasma now, I'd get a Panasonic. I'm not well-read on what the different series designations mean with Pannies, but Amazon has a few 42-50" models around your budget and most will have free shipping and no tax.

I have to leave early from work today so I can be home for the scheduled delivery of my new Samsung LN52B750. I was hoping to put off buying a pimp new TV until we finish renovating the main floor of the house, but when my 10-y.o. Toshiba CRT shit the bed it kind of forced my hand.

I ended up buying the Walmart $800 TV. It looks fantastic! I watched a DVD on it last night (The Matrix - in the back of my mind I remember something about this DVD being one of the earlier ones that had a lot of problems, maybe black levels or something?). Anyway, it looked great. I am really pleased with the purchase. I'm ordering Dish Network (250 Gold package, locals and a few movie channels in HD) with a HD DVR tonight. It is $63/month for the first year and $78/month for the 2nd year. This is quite a change for me (I pay $15 a month for basic cable now). Anyone want to buy one of my 5 Tivos?

some specs on said Television man?

FWIW I'll NEVER buy another fucking samsung again.

< 6000 hours on my 3500$ tv thats 44 months old and its going out. Piece of fucking shit.

There are some specs listed on the Walmart link at the top of the thread. For some reason they were a little stingy on giving out too much info <G>. I know the contrast ratio is not listed on the web but the tag on the display listed it at 30,000:1

You fatty! :giggle:

heh, that sucks. I bought a 3 year full replacement warranty for mine. You better believe it will blow before it's up.
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He's looking for a $700 tv. LED and high end plasma's aren't in the mix. For cheap? Buy the best name brand non 1080p TV you can find. Costco's got a 720p 50" Panasonic plasma for $839 currently. Panasonic is pretty much tops in plasma.