50" LG Plasma $650

[justin0469]

50" LG 50PQ10 for $650 at Kroger w/ Kroger card. Yeah, it's only 720p but that's cheaper than eBay. Saw it at Kroger on 256 in Pickerington, dunno where else it is.

[HomeSlice]

I heard they have a great customer service section- right behind the deli!

[jbot]

that's a killer deal for a 50

[CleaveTheGreat]

ehh....LG tv's suck. Lots of electrical problems.

[Lost]

Had good luck with mine.

[Moto-Brian]

50" with 720 is gonna suck, guys. Anything over 42" and not 1080 is going to look pretty lame...

Spend the money and get a 46" with 1080 and you'll be mucho happier...

[V4junkie]

Go 720p and pocket the difference. Beyond 4 feet most people can't tell the difference, not to mention most sources aren't true 1080p anyhow. Most home theater mags seem to agree on that. Anyway, that's a good deal.

[justin0469]

ehh....LG tv's suck. Lots of electrical problems.

Not all LGs have electrical problems. I'd much rather have an LG than a Vizio or Westinghouse or even Panasonic. LG competes with the best IMO.

50" with 720 is gonna suck, guys. Anything over 42" and not 1080 is going to look pretty lame...

Spend the money and get a 46" with 1080 and you'll be mucho happier...

The only time you'll notice a difference between 720p and 1080p is from BluRay. Most HD cable is 720p. Same with most games.

[jblosser]

55" or larger, or sitting closer than 1.5 x the diagonal measurement AND feeding it 1080p (Blu-Ray), go with 1080p.

Cable/Satellite HD is 720p. Not gonna be 1080p for a LONG time - bandwidth.

XBox 360 / PS3 games (most) are native 720p. There are some that are offered in 1080p.

[CleaveTheGreat]

I would agree that there isn't much difference between 720 and 1080 to most viewers. I've seen plenty of 50" plus 720 sets that look fine. As far as the quality is concerned, LG is better than Vizio or Westinghouse but I certainly put it in the same category as Panasonic or Samsung as far as quality is concerned.

[redkow97]

ehh....LG tv's suck. Lots of electrical problems.

The electronics might be the weak link, but LG makes the LCD's for pretty much every manufacturer other than Sony, Samsung, and Visio (they make their own).

I have a Polaroid LCD made by LG. The Magnavox I compared it to literally has an identical LCD made by LG.

as for 720p not being a high enough quality image for 50", consider what kind of signal you're putting into it.

YMMV, but unless I'm watching blu-ray, 720p is the best SIGNAL available in my area. Digital cable in HD is 720p. Why pay for a better processor that you can barely ever use?

I wish I was close enough to pick that up.

[CleaveTheGreat]

The electronics might be the weak link, but LG makes the LCD's for pretty much every manufacturer other than Sony, Samsung, and Visio (they make their own).

I have a Polaroid LCD made by LG. The Magnavox I compared it to literally has an identical LCD made by LG.

as for 720p not being a high enough quality image for 50", consider what kind of signal you're putting into it.

YMMV, but unless I'm watching blu-ray, 720p is the best SIGNAL available in my area. Digital cable in HD is 720p. Why pay for a better processor that you can barely ever use?

I wish I was close enough to pick that up.

The quality of the panel might be fine but if the electronics burn up you won't be able to watch anything. And then you'll have to deal with LG's stellar customer service since you won't be able to return the tv to where you bought it to have it serviced. At any rate that's just my $.02. Either way, $650 for a 50" is a pretty good deal.

[InyaAzz]

Garbage in, Garbage out. With today's Sat/Cable output, 50" @ 720p is fine. BluRay may point out any differences...but who is watching BR >50% of the time? If this was for a dedicated Home Theater, with high end components...I would think twice. But for daily viewing..vid games...etc??? Sounds like a good deal to me. Just make sure the model doesn't have an ass load of issues you will potentially have to deal with. Also make sure you're sitting at the right distance..if you sit too close you will soooo regret it.

LG better than Panny? Meh.

If I had the $$ and it was no object...I would grab a Pioneer Kuro. Done deal. Sammy would be near the top as well.

[Cheech]

55" or larger, or sitting closer than 1.5 x the diagonal measurement AND feeding it 1080p (Blu-Ray), go with 1080p.

Cable/Satellite HD is 720p. Not gonna be 1080p for a LONG time - bandwidth.

XBox 360 / PS3 games (most) are native 720p. There are some that are offered in 1080p.

my Dish Network can get a ton of movies in 1080p right now.

[RVTPilot]

+1 for Sammy. This is the only place I have really heard folks bash Visio. I think its probably like anything else, you get what you pay for. But have been in friends homes who have them ,a dn they appear to be solid TVs. No one regretting they picked one up.

[InyaAzz]

If you properly calibrate your TV (or can afford to have a professional do it for you), you can make any decent brand look good/great. Most folks can't even tell the difference between a good set and a bad one.

These sets are so cheap now.., you can buy a replacement Visio or LG if the dam thing dies. I bought a Panny 50" a little over a year ago, and the current prices are half what I paid for it. If someone is so worried about Vizio or LG...buy an extended warranty right before the manuf. warranty runs out. You don't have to buy them from Best Buy or whatever retail store you're at. You can grab em online much cheaper. Just read the fine print so you know what is/isn't covered. And save the box that the TV came in. You'll thank me later.

[redkow97]

my Dish Network can get a ton of movies in 1080p right now.

I hpoe you're right, but that would be news to me. I have DishNetwork as well. 1 hd receiver, and 1 'regular' for the old TV's up stairs.

[jblosser]

my Dish Network can get a ton of movies in 1080p right now.

I stand corrected, you can get On-Demand (a.k.a pay-per-spank) in 1080p on Dish, but not "regular" channels. I've got cable so I don't keep up on the satellite stuff.

At the prices charged, at least on cable, I might as well rent the Blu-Ray and be done with it. Plus, I can make a backup of it, just in case the video store loses their copy...

Are you able, on Dish, to DVR your On-Demand viewings? I can't on cable.

I've got 2 Vizio panels, no complaints in 2-ish years of ownership, FWIW. Both look great; start by putting them in "cinema" mode and adjust from there. All panels/TV's are way too bright from the factory. My 10 year old Toshiba 61" projection still looks great when fed an HD signal.

[InyaAzz]

I had a 55" Toshiba projection too...looked great with HD. Only sold it because I knew the panels were taking over and I wanted to get the most out of the sale.

You can DVR VOD on DTV...I don't know about Dish. I THINK..I'm not sure..you have a time period to watch it before it's unavailable.

I got rid of Comcast cable. At the time they had very few HD channels and I got tired of them raising the prices all the time. Plus they nickel and dimed me for everything.

[RVTPilot]

I have a Toshiba 57" HD with 720p projection and have a very nice HD picture with DirecTV. Would love a flat panel to hang on the wall, but a single dad's budget doesn't have that figured in right now. Will be mondo bargain hunting when the time comes, hence my interest in the Vizio panels.

[that dude]

50" with 720 is gonna suck, guys. Anything over 42" and not 1080 is going to look pretty lame...

Spend the money and get a 46" with 1080 and you'll be mucho happier...

wrong

[Moto-Brian]

wrong

The way i thought it worked was that the pixels will spread out more (layman terms...) where 1080 will be tighter per square inch... In other words, take an image off a website at 72 dpi. Enlarge it bigger and it becomes more pixelated... I'm probably wrong, but a TV guy told me that... I know bikes... Basically, it's all about pixels.

i also know if you sit in a distance relative to the screen size, you will notice. If you have it on a far wall and are 15 feet away, sure - not easy to notice.

But, my cable channels jump around in quality, but I get a lot of 1080 channels with TW. I also have a Blue Ray and you can tell...

Here's a chart that explains my thought process...

• <LI itxtvisited="1">480p = 338,000 pixels / frame <LI itxtvisited="1">720p = 922,000 pixels / frame <LI itxtvisited="1">1080i = 1,037,000 pixels / frame
  
• 1080p = 2,074,000 pixels / frame
  

If 720 and 1080 have no difference, why not just stick with 480? HD TV channels vs. the non HD channels is a world of difference on the same TV. When i watch a channel in 720 (according to the cablee box) and one in 1080, the detail is way different...

Here's some more info:

As shown above, both the 42" screen and 60" screen have the same number of pixels within their respective areas. In the case of the 60" screen, because its pixels occupy a larger area, naturally, the pixels themselves become larger, and as explained above, pixel perception can distract one away from the viewing content.

Thus we can finally address the two primary needs for 1080p beyond our current HD resolution formats of 720p and 1080i. TV manufacturers who currently specialize in very large screen sizes -- 50", 60" on up -- feel that a higher resolution above current HD is necessary to ensure a quality viewing experience as their screen sizes become larger and larger. Figure 4 illustrates what would happen if they kept to the same resolution while making bigger TVs -- each individual pixel would get bigger as well, and more perceptible on screen.

Higher 1080p resolutions also address a second, yet equally valid need, which is to present a quality picture while the person sits fairly close to the TV screen. Think of this scenario: if you own a 42" TV with 720p resolution, and sit 7 feet away from the TV, you'll see a detailed yet smooth picture because the pixels are small enough where you can't perceive them, thus allowing you to focus on your movie instead of your TV.

In the case of Figure 4, however, now imagine looking at a 60" TV from 7 feet. Along with it being overwhelmingly large, you'll be able to pick out each and every pixel on screen. But, even at that same viewing distance, if you increased the resolution to 1080p, and thus made each pixel smaller, then the picture would look smoother and less blocky to your eyes.

[InyaAzz]

I have a Toshiba 57" HD with 720p projection and have a very nice HD picture with DirecTV. Would love a flat panel to hang on the wall, but a single dad's budget doesn't have that figured in right now. Will be mondo bargain hunting when the time comes, hence my interest in the Vizio panels.

You'll be fine. I have DVE and Avia if you want to do basic calibration...hell, you can use it on your Toshiba if you want.

[InyaAzz]

55" or larger, or sitting closer than 1.5 x the diagonal measurement AND feeding it 1080p (Blu-Ray), go with 1080p.

Cable/Satellite HD is 720p. Not gonna be 1080p for a LONG time - bandwidth.

XBox 360 / PS3 games (most) are native 720p. There are some that are offered in 1080p.

^ What he said.

Anything over 50", go with 1080p. Don't believe me...use your own eyes. I dare anyone to look at two 42" or 50" sets at 720 and 1080, getting fed with identical sources (not split 10 million times like at Best Buy) to detect more than a minor difference between the two. If you're an audio/videophile, then this is not even up for debate. If you're an average consumer...you're not going to see much of a difference.

If your diet is strictly BluRay or you've got a Godzilla cock size screen...why are you even worrying about it? You've got the $$....get 1080p!

If your screen size is 50 or less, and you're an average consumer who wants best bang for the buck, and you don't want to spend the $$ on 1080p, you will be more than happy with 720p.

[RVTPilot]

You'll be fine. I have DVE and Avia if you want to do basic calibration...hell, you can use it on your Toshiba if you want.

That's why I like you! Not because Kevin does, but because you'll step up to help a man out. I'd like to find a better cal tool than the standard crosshairs function that came with the TV. I do that about every 6 weeks.