Calling all TV nerds

So I am hoping to possibly get a new tv during the black friday mayhem this year. Right now I have a 27" lcd and it just isn't cutting it anymore. Our living room is too big so we sit too far away for that size. I am thinking something between 40-46 maybe? What do you all recommend to look at and do any of you know of leaked black friday stuff yet?

I asked for the model # but I haven't got a response yet but my friend has a Samsung and the picture is INSANE. Even watching an old dvd on through his xbox the picture quality was amazing.

I'm sure HR can give you a better break down as far as what's good and what's sh*t. He certainly helped me a lot.
But from a good fk'ing enough stand point. I have a Sony Bravia and a Samsung. Both have excellent picture and color depth. The sony is a 52 inch and the samsung is 46. I can hardly tell the difference. Get at least 4 hdmi ports, 120 hz refresh rate (for games) and 1080i. Built in GoogleTV and a wireless network card would be big plusses.

I would highly suggest going with minimum of 46" tv. After about 3 month the ideal tv starts to look small in the room.

Yeah 120hz for gaming and I am looking for 1080p to stay relevant for at least a little while as I am not a person to buy a new tv yearly.

Also I use the xbox for hulu and netflix but it might be nice to have a tv with those 2 built right in.

get the LG LW6510 AMAZING clarity with 400Hz and 4 HDMI ports it's got two usb ports one of which connects to a wireless USB card -sold separately Hmmmph- and it's passive glasses so no flicker, no chargeable or costly and heavy glasses, in fact I'm using the ones from the Movie theaters, they are the same quality and I have about 20 pairs of them or so

I also forgot to mention I don't give a **** about 3d. yawn.

thanks for the help though. I have always liked LG as a brand.

I could be wrong. But, I didn't think that the LG's looked as good next to Samsung, Panasonic, etc. in the store.

IMO, the biggest decision to make is between LED and Plasma. LEDs use different ways of organizing the pixels (honeycomb, other arrangements and shading methods) to accomplish more organic angles and compress the space between pixels. This makes a huge, observable difference to my eyes for watching blu-ray movies.

The drawback is that the honeycombing, etc. technique can make straight lines (like in video games or sports score panels) less sharp than a square arrangement of pixels used on Plasmas.

You can see the difference in pixel arrangements at the store just by looking very close to the screen. Or, if you have bad eyes, hold a pair of someones reading glasses up close to the screen to magnify them.

LEDs seem to cost less than Plasma until you get to the large sizes. Then the LEDs are way more expensive.

My conclusion was that the lower cost at large size, faster refresh rate and square pixel arrangement meant that a Plasma was better for a lot of video game playing. Though, I do envy the clarity I see for shows/movies on LEDs. Kind of a tough choice.

As far as brand goes. When I looked, Samsung seemed to have the best reviews and most competitive prices for large plasmas. I'm not a big Sony fan. I think they cut corners these days. Had a Sony rear projection that was kind of wonky. We also have a smaller Panasonic that has been reliable and sharp.

On 3D, I don't care about that either. However, it's sort of a throw in. The better quality models that have 3D also tend to have better color-handling hardware that makes a visible difference in picture. I went with the upgraded model that had 3D because I could see a significant improvement playing the same blu-ray in the store. Just make sure that they aren't throwing in a "3D Package" as part of the TV cost. Once I talked it all through, I realized that the TV price they showed on the floor included $300 for two pairs of 3D glasses and a Shrek DVD. Remove that!

Size is mainly a product of budget in my view. But, I would rather have the upgraded quality on a slightly smaller screen if I had to choose. Upgraded quality on a larger screen is my preference. :D

Make sure you install or place the tv at the right level. A lot of people put their tvs way too high on a wall, making it uncomfortable to look up at. I think that the way rear-projection tvs are built is a good guide. Notice how the bottom of the screen on those is only around 24" off the ground. This allows a natural viewing angle from where you sit.

This is all focused on the TV. If you're getting a receiver, speakers, etc. I can give a lot more information on that as I put it all together at once.

Hope that helps!

Hulu is actually pretty annoying as built in software. You can't skip ahead to where you left off without fast-forwarding and the interface for choosing what you want is clumsy. Google TV's netflix and support for amazon is quite nice.

WannaBe - Here's some tips:

* Read all tips above ^^ All good tiips.
* Figure out how far you'll sit from the TV (10 feet, whatever)
* Go to Best Buy and find tvs...sit/stand that far away from them and do your best to block out the 40 other tvs right next to them. This will help you with size. Your eyes should not have to move left to right to 'see' the whole picture. Keep moving up in size until you find one that's "too big." The one right before that is the right size.
* Figure out how much you want to spend ahead of time - this will help keep you in your price range.
* 120 hz is minimum...anything less and gaming/sports/fast motion movies, etc. will poop out.
* HDMI ports. Figure out how many you need...then get a tv with at least that many...preferably one with one or two extras for you.
* Cables, HDMI, optical audio, whatever. Don't buy them where you buy the TV. I use monoprice.com Always killer prices. Also, buy your wall mount there, if you need one. Again...price.
* LED backlit is highly recommended for LCD. Runs cooler, less dead spots, slimmer profile, cool factor, etc.
* Plasma is not recommended unless you can control ambient light 100% in your room, like a basement. If you can, plasma is great - still not my personal preference though.
* Brand choices...I have a Sharp...they seem to have gone down a little in quality in last few years, but I'm still happy with my 46 incher after 4 or 5 years... Sony - always well recommended, Samsung - same. Brands are only as good as whats in them though. I'm sure WalMart sells a very low end (see: several years ago model) Samsung TV that you may not even find on the Best Buy sales floor.
* No 3-D. Don't bother. If you need to ask why...sorry.
* Network connection - whatever. Most people will have an Apple TV/Roku/Playstation/Wii/whatever connected that will allow for netflix streaming/hulu/etc. If it's already on the tv you want...fine. If not, don't worry.
* Last point...shop around. Black Friday deals may not yield you the TV you want, as the doorbuster items are rarely the 'techie' choice.

@jAQUAN - Do you have the link to that thread of yours a while back? That might help too...

Added note about cables.

If you are going to use the tv with a newish receiver, you don't need a bunch of HDMI ports on the tv. Just one to go to the receiver. Then you plug everything in there. If you're going to mount it on a wall, that's the way to go anyway to make it easier to hide fewer cables (power and video out). I used a $20 hollow molding from Home Depot that was made for hiding cables.

Monoprice does have very good prices as hanratty points out. For the mount, I would go with them if you're getting the kind of simple mount that connects right to the wall without an arm. I got an arm mount from them that is just too flimsy to handle the tv I have. I wish I would have ordered a more industrial strength mount or just went with the simple one for less. I'm a little suspect of their HDMI cables. The screen randomly goes blank for a few seconds and sometimes the initial handshake with the xbox causes it to freeze. It's possible that it has something to do with the receiver. But, from what I've read, its more likely some issue with the data being passed back and forth through the HDMI cables. I wonder if higher quality cables would solve the issue. Just not annoying enough to spend the time figuring it out.

Thanks for all the input guys. The distance from our tv to the couch is about 14'. Last week I did actually do a walk through at bestbuy. The one near me has an insane amount of tv models to drool over.

My current setup is a 27" Olevi tv I picked up from a friend during college. The receiver is a Pioneer VSX-508 and the front speakers are a pair of Cerwin Vega E715's and a vintage pair of Sansui for the rear. As you can probably tell it is a collection of some random parts...

For 14 feet distance, don't go below 46 inches. 52-55 is probably more appropriate, though. You can find deals in those size ranges. Biggest thing is to figure out your budget first. If you're simply waiting for the latest and greatest 60 inch LED-LCD from the hottest manufacturer to be available on Black Friday for $299, you'll be waiting quite a long time. Either that, or you'll have to prepare to be trampled by a twinkie eating 300 lb stay at home mother of 16 at 4:45 am in front of your local Wal-Mart.

Not sure if it's still relavent but here's the thread.
http://board.flashkit.com/board/showthread.php?t=781924

I third and fourth the monoprice.com suggestion. I haven't bought a cable anywhere else since.

http://www.blackfriday2011.com/

Not sure if that receiver will work. It doesn't have HDMI.

I just have red/white audio cables going from my tv at the moment. I am not an audiophile so I don't care about digital audio.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys.

What type of connection do you use for digital video?

HDMI from the xbox to the tv.

Listen to HR. He helped me with my TV purchases too.