Should I get a name brand TV or a bigger budget brand one?

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I install TVs as a job. Buy a good brand name, and you will be happy.

I recommend:
Panasonic (The best TVs out there, period. Very few problems. Warranty service is amazing if you do have problems.)
Sharp (Just started carrying them. Good picture quality. Havent seen any problems with them yet, so I cant comment on reliability or warranty service)
Sony (Their picture quality if starting to fall behind, but still a quality product with few problems and good support)

Neutral:
Samsung (Mark some amazing stuff, Make some good stuff, make some crap stuff. Warranty work takes FOREVER)

I don't recommend:
LG (Cheap, crappy picture quality)
Vizio
Insignia
Dynex
Any other cheap off-brand

I am probably forgetting a few brands, but whatever. Buy a Panasonic and be done with it.
 
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^^ Talk about generalization. So you're telling me a 5 year old Panasonic will have a better picture than a top of the line Vizio or LG?

Price point is also huge here...If a panasonic costs 3x as much as the same sized same spec'd LG, i dont give a crap if the picture of LG doesnt stand up to the pro's elitist view, i'm still buying it, cuz for the most part, your TV WILL outperform the quality of the signal its being fed. I dont watch Blu-ray, so its kind of a moot point and i play MKV's and mpegs' i download from the internet, so believe me even a 720P tv will outpeform that signal.

Its like saying...."Stay away from the Civics, Golfs and Corrola's of the TV World. You should only buy the BMW's, Mercedes and Bentley's cuz the rest is crap."


N3WMAN said:
I install TVs as a job. Buy a good brand name, and you will be happy.

I recommend:
Panasonic (The best TVs out there, period. Very few problems. Warranty service is amazing if you do have problems.)
Sharp (Just started carrying them. Good picture quality. Havent seen any problems with them yet, so I cant comment on reliability or warranty service)
Sony (Their picture quality if starting to fall behind, but still a quality product with few problems and good support)

Neutral:
Samsung (Mark some amazing stuff, Make some good stuff, make some crap stuff. Warranty work takes FOREVER)

I don't recommend:
LG (Cheap, crappy picture quality)
Vizio
Insignia
Dynex
Any other cheap off-brand

I am probably forgetting a few brands, but whatever. Buy a Panasonic and be done with it.
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Did a fair amount of research lookin for best bang for the buck LCD tv quality reliability and price for my bedroom and came up with the 32inch Panasonic VIERA 1080p . Been a great buy...believe it's on sale still at 2001 audio video for $399
 
I got a Toshiba 42" for $450.
Its been good, nice TV too, with WiFi. Can't believe TV has apps now
 
Red_Liner740 said:
^^ Talk about generalization. So you're telling me a 5 year old Panasonic will have a better picture than a top of the line Vizio or LG?

Price point is also huge here...If a panasonic costs 3x as much as the same sized same spec'd LG, i dont give a crap if the picture of LG doesnt stand up to the pro's elitist view, i'm still buying it, cuz for the most part, your TV WILL outperform the quality of the signal its being fed. I dont watch Blu-ray, so its kind of a moot point and i play MKV's and mpegs' i download from the internet, so believe me even a 720P tv will outpeform that signal.

Its like saying...."Stay away from the Civics, Golfs and Corrola's of the TV World. You should only buy the BMW's, Mercedes and Bentley's cuz the rest is crap."
Click to expand...

Every person has a different set of requirements. If someone wants a cheap motorcycle and just wants it to roll for a couple of years, they buy Hyosung. If someone wants flashy top of the line performance and looks, they buy Ducati. Same with cars, and same with TVs. Unfortunately, most of the LG TVs cannot be compared to Civics and Corollas in terms of reliability. Yes, if you want cheapest possible TV and don't care about picture quality, basically if you just want to have a big TV, LG and Sharp are your best bets.

And regarding the point of brand new LG vs 5-yr-old Panasonic... I'll take a 5-yr-old Pioneer Kuro plasma over pretty much any current TV except for Panasonic VT/GT. Heck, I'll take my friend's 4-yr-old Panasonic Z800 series over any brand new LG. Why? Because to me personally it's important to have the best picture quality to get the most viewing experience out of my home theater.

Btw, having resolution is not as important for smaller TVs as the picture quality. With up to 40" TV, you won't see the difference between 720p and 1080p from normal viewing distance. So again I'd pick an older 32" Panasonic over newer LG/Vizio/Dynex/Akai/Prima,etc (all of those use LG parts inside).\

P.S. On the 'signal being fed' note. I have OTA antenna TV "feed" to my TV, and I can see a huge difference between new LG and older Panasonic (had both) with that feed. With that said, you really again proved the point that to each is his own. If you are playing super-compressed video files, you don't need a high-end TV, if you're playing MP3 music, you don't need a quality set of speakers. So don't blame people who buy quality TVs for their viewing pleasures, and enjoy your LG for the reasons and purpose you bought it.
 
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OP - It's funny you mention PS3 and movies. Typically with video games, you don't want to get too large of a TV because your eyes and head move too much to look at different parts of the screen. The bigger the TV the more your eyes and head move. This translates to slower reaction time... which is terrible for FPS type games. On the flip side bigger is better for movies... generally speaking on size of TV and not factoring in the quality of picture.

You might be able to score a 42" brand name in your price range. You just needs to keep your eyes and ears open. Keep tabs on Red Flag Deals and other sites for TV sales. I bought the Panansonic 50" Viera Plasma S series a year and a half ago for $870 with taxes in and free shipping. The MSRP at the time was $1,399.
 
Red_Liner740 said:
^^ Talk about generalization. So you're telling me a 5 year old Panasonic will have a better picture than a top of the line Vizio or LG?
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Yes, it will. Plus, the Panasonic will still work, unlike the LG or Vizio in 5 years time.

Red_Liner740 said:
Price point is also huge here...If a panasonic costs 3x as much as the same sized same spec'd LG, i dont give a crap if the picture of LG doesnt stand up to the pro's elitist view, i'm still buying it, cuz for the most part, your TV WILL outperform the quality of the signal its being fed. I dont watch Blu-ray, so its kind of a moot point and i play MKV's and mpegs' i download from the internet, so believe me even a 720P tv will outpeform that signal.
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I don't care too much about price point. I'd rather spent the extra $$ and buy something that looks GOOD. Not sit there looking at an average or below average picture and tell myself it's good because it was a "deal". The OP was asking if it is worth the extra $$ for a Major name brand set, and in my experience(which is a lot more than anyone else here) it is. If you like your LG, good for you. However, I think they are junk and will never buy one or recommend anyone buy one.

Red_Liner740 said:
Its like saying...."Stay away from the Civics, Golfs and Corrola's of the TV World. You should only buy the BMW's, Mercedes and Bentley's cuz the rest is crap."
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Not really, because the civic, golf, and corrola are good cars. It's more like saying "Stay away from Daewoo, Asuna, and pre-2000 Kia/Hyundai. Instead, spend the extra money and buy a Civic, Golf, or Corrola." It's like any other industry, you get what you pay for.

By the way, The bit about the TV outperforming the input signal makes me lol.
 
joeyjoejoe said:
OP - It's funny you mention PS3 and movies. Typically with video games, you don't want to get too large of a TV because your eyes and head move too much to look at different parts of the screen. The bigger the TV the more your eyes and head move. This translates to slower reaction time... which is terrible for FPS type games. On the flip side bigger is better for movies... generally speaking on size of TV and not factoring in the quality of picture.

You might be able to score a 42" brand name in your price range. You just needs to keep your eyes and ears open. Keep tabs on Red Flag Deals and other sites for TV sales. I bought the Panansonic 50" Viera Plasma S series a year and a half ago for $870 with taxes in and free shipping. The MSRP at the time was $1,399.
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yea, you're right...I find I suck at Call of Duty on my 46" Bravia compared to the 22" monitor I had. I can never spot the campers quick enough...
Regarding a deal on a big tv I saw a Toshiba 40" for 399.99 at BestBuy which seems about as good as it'll get...
Newman gives LGs a lot of ****, but I gotta say they're the only ones to put a headphone jack on their tv's, I don't know why no one else does.
 
LoneRonin said:
yea, you're right...I find I suck at Call of Duty on my 46" Bravia compared to the 22" monitor I had. I can never spot the campers quick enough...
Regarding a deal on a big tv I saw a Toshiba 40" for 399.99 at BestBuy which seems about as good as it'll get...
Newman gives LGs a lot of ****, but I gotta say they're the only ones to put a headphone jack on their tv's, I don't know why no one else does.
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My Samsung T240HD has one, and my Dad's 40" Samsung has one too :)
 
Panosonic
Sony/Samsung

everything is welll... crap

as for LG... trying getting a service technician to come out, and having to call the cops to get him to leave when he demands 400$ for warranty work.... happened to someone I know.
 
LoneRonin said:
yea, you're right...I find I suck at Call of Duty on my 46" Bravia compared to the 22" monitor I had. I can never spot the campers quick enough...
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Amen to that.

I get smoked when I play on my 60" versus my 24" monitor...gah, never thought about the whole spatial relevance due to picture size. Thanks for the insightful point of view, joeyjoejoe, makes perfect sense.
 
LoneRonin said:
Newman gives LGs a lot of ****, but I gotta say they're the only ones to put a headphone jack on their tv's, I don't know why no one else does.
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Most samsungs have headphone jacks. Some of the smaller sonys do as well. I guess they figure anything above 32" isn't going to be close enough to your head for headphones. The thing that pisses me off more is almost nobody has analog audio out anymore.
 
N3WMAN said:
Most samsungs have headphone jacks. Some of the smaller sonys do as well. I guess they figure anything above 32" isn't going to be close enough to your head for headphones. The thing that pisses me off more is almost nobody has analog audio out anymore.
Click to expand...

I never realized that. That's not good. Looking at the Vizio line most (if not all) have headphones out that can be convered to analog out using this:
35m_rca2f.JPG
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