Our 2005 Samsung DLP took a dump last night. Heard a loud pop, the colour went for crap, and it started buzzing. Today there's no picture, only sound, and it'll turn off after 10 seconds.

From what I read online last night, it's gotta be a bulb AND a colour wheel. This thing is a dinosaur, it was obsolete as soon as I bought it. Yeah, it was the cream of the crop back in 05, but they aren't building dlp's anymore, probably haven't since 06.

So now I'm in the market for a new tv again. We have a tv cabinet that fits our current tv perfectly, matches the wife's decor, etc, and we'd like to keep it. ie, trying to keep costs to a minimum by not having to buy a bigger tv cabinet, or a different one to hang a larger tv on the wall with all the stb, bluray/dvd, stereo receiver in a shorter cabinet.

The hole is 36" high, 48" wide. It fits our 50" perfect. Seems like a 52" will go, as long as there isn't too much frame around the edges of the screen. Maybe even a 53" if there is one.

We have a Samsung 32" 720p lcd in our bedroom. Love it.

Here's my questions.

Should I stick with 1080p for a 50+" main tv? Or should I cheap out and get a 720p? What kind of refresh rate should I be looking for?

I'd like a couple of usb inputs, 3 or 4 hdmi inputs...

Samsung? LG? Toshiba?

I've also posted on fb, in case some of you read it there first.

 

i currently have a 47" samsung has everything your looking for and cheap to boot 1k roughly

 

I can honestly say the difference between 1080p and 720p is negligible in my eyes. I can't tell a difference, even on the bigger screens. Our 58" Panasonic plasma is 720p and there has not been one complaint by anyone, ever, about the stunning picture quality.

I don't have any model specific recommendations, and I'm not up to speed on refresh rates, hz and the like, but for a 50", 720p will be fine. And as you said, they're cheaper. I'd but another for sure.

 

I have a 40" Samsung LED LCD. 1080p with 60hz refresh rate. I believe mine was around $900 plus $150 for shipping from TigerDirect. It's been a good tv and the picture quality is solid. Here is a similar Samsung- here.

I like Samsung but I have seen my buddies Vizio and it's actually pretty good. I wasn't expecting much but was impressed when I saw it.

This Sharp also looks like a very good choice.

 

Everything that I've read ans heard suggests that Vizio actually makes many of the components in TV's today.

I'm not convinced that you would go wrong with a Vizio or another well known brand.

If you subscribe to HD channels, the 1080p will be a must. If not, the 720 is perfect. I've had a 42" Panasonic Plasma 1080p since 2008 and I loooove it.

It hangs on the wall instead of in the old cabinet as the Plasma screens put out tons of heat. The LED TV's won't have that problem.

 

I have a 50" Samsung Plasma 1080, and a Philips LCD (size???) 720, they both work for us. I often wonder if I can tell the difference. Put a Dvd in both and the only difference that I can see is the 50" is larger .

My dad has a 50 some inch Samsung LED that is really nice, If I were in the market, I would look at that!!

 

We ended up getting a 50" 1080p LG plasma yesterday.

Would have liked to get an lcd, but there were no 50" tv's to be had anywhere. Either a 46 or 55.

But I'm pretty happy with it. Wife isn't convinced yet, because she still likes watching crap signals and expects it to be clear as a bell.

Everything we have going against a plasma, we got it. Bad backlight, in a cabinet, etc. But there isn't much of a glare, and the cabinet is so huge, heat won't be much of a factor.

And the price was less than 1/3 now, compared to what we paid for our last tv. Back then, plasmas were double the price of dlp's.

Overall, so far, we're satisfied with it.

 

Sounds nice...Put in a dvd, that should convince her that you made the correct decision!!

 

Go dig up up a good ol' late vintage CRT TV................These new LCD/plasma things do not last much longer than 5-6 years, are incredibly expensive to fix/buy. I have a good 36" JVC CRT tv that has outlasted all my LCD/plasma TVs and continues on without a hitch and was bought brand new in 97'.........I just do not care enough about TV anymore to spend $800-1,000 on a TV that will die in 5 yrs.

 

You'll enjoy that. I finally picked up a blue-ray player for my 42" LCD tv last year. I can't get over the picture quality in HD. Even with some of the kids HD animated movies. As you said though...if your wife only watches regular TV, she's never going to notice the difference between your tv and a 5+ year old non-HD one.

I had a 35" CRT (Toshiba). That thing was a complete piece of $h1t. I had it repaired once under warranty and once outside of the warranty. It was a blast to play Halo on though (this was back when regular Xbox was cool, lol. That thing was too damn heavy. Me and a buddy had all we could do to get that thing down my apartment stairs when I had to take it out for repair.

My 42" LCD TV (Dynex) was only $500. I got it two years ago. It's survived the kids throwing toys against it and seems to be doing ok. I won't consider buying a "high end" HD tv though...just the lower-end/"disposable" ones. To me...the new TV's are a lot like computers. When you can replace them for the cost of getting it repaired, you're better off just buying a new one.

 

Probably still wash your clothes on a washboard down by the creek!!!

 

Nah, brought the crick to the house, jist got indoor plumbin' last month!
The last Hitachi LCD we have died this spring,$550 to fix............It went out with a bang though, 30 rounds of 7.62x39mm fixed it real good!

 

I've got a 42" panasonic plasma 1080p I bought in 2008 which I love as well. However, when I looked at how much current it pulls I was shocked. It pulls almost 6 amps when it's on, that's as much if not more than my fridge does. It sure does have a good picture though.

I've also dealt with a smaller Vizio LED tv, I didn't care much for it. It may have been the 720p, or the cheaper version.

 

Here, here! We have gone through two LCD televisions in 5 years. The second one, a Magnavox, died after 3 years.

I did some research before I bought another LCD and purchased a Sony Bravia.
Hope it lasts longer than the others and to think we gave away a perfectly good 25" CRT Phillips television 5 years ago....