What is the best HDTV brand nowadays? Sony Bravia, Panasonic Viera or something else?
What is considered the best brand or range nowadays?
If the answer is "It depends"... please explain what it depends on, and which is considered better for what kind of user.
You don't have to restrict yourself to the brands I mentioned, and feel free to share either personal experiences or answer from solid research.
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M$5 Answers
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113941108
Here is the beginning of the article:
"Americans will buy about 35 million televisions this year, and Japan's Sony and Korea's Samsung are two of the biggest brand names.
But there's a California company sharing the top of the list with those industry leaders: Vizio.
Like many other American brands, the Orange County-based upstart doesn't manufacture anything in the U.S. Vizio made its mark as the low-priced value brand. It was at the right place at the right time, with the right idea.
Back in 2001, Vizio's three founders had a company that was making computer monitors, but co-founder Ken Lowe says the trio was looking for the next big thing."
Along the way, they've managed to set high standards and build in energy efficiency and keep costs down. You can find these televisions at Sam's Club, Costco, Target, Walmart, the various lower overhead retail outlets.
PC World has a series of articles about how to buy flat-screen HDTVs. You'll have to decide what size is best and what features you want. These will explain about resolution, DVI, HDMI, aspect ratio, contrast, and many other aspects when choosing a television. In short, how bright, what do you want to play on it, how do you want programming or films to look, and what do you need for the television to look good in the place where you want to put it for viewing (a bright room, a dimly lit room, a large set, a compact one, etc?)
http://www.pcworld.com/article/125816-3/how_to_buy_a_flatscreen_hdtv.html
I haven't bought one yet, I'm biding my time, but when the time comes I'll probably head over to Sam's Club and buy a Vizio.
All Things Considered story: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113941108
http://www.pcworld.com/article/125816-3/how_to_buy_a_flatscreen_hdtv.html
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M$I have a friend who just installs tvs all day and he told me that this one is by far the best out right now.
He mainly told me that what he likes about it is the THX auto adjusting picture. With that you do not need professional calibration of your picture. Further research on it put it in the top 3 HDs available on consumersearch.com.
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M$
> Sorry I didn't explain further. I just started on here today...
In that case, welcome to Mahalo! :)
If you want to make a case for plasma, feel free to do that, either in this question or the other one I posted. That would be interesting. Or if you like, please do research LCD options.
On Mahalo for a question like this I'd expect several really good, thorough answers, so if you want to have a shot at getting the best answer, you'll probably want to expand on what you wrote.
As an example of the sort of answers I'd expect, see this question:
Should I buy an Ipod, or a different MP3 player?
I think they'll probably be going for a 40-42" LCD rather than a big plasma TV.
However, you might like to comment on this question I just asked...
Is there any reason for the average person to choose plasma over LCD for a 42" HDTV these days?
And can you explain what a "THX auto adjusting picture" is, and why a viewer would care? It just sounds like it saves the installer work?
For M$3 I don't expect to go hunting around myself to find out things like that! :)
THX auto adjusting picture "faithfully reproduces the image quality that the movie makers intended in order to provide the ultimate cinematic experience at home." Sorry I didn't explain further. I just started on here today so I'm still fairly new at this. I can research some LCDs if you'd like.
Here is the link to the www.smart-review.com this page have a variety of HDTVS to chose from you will find it very helpful
http://www.smart-review.com/hdtv.html
----quote----
Sony HDTVs Rated Most Reliable by PC World Readers
Sony gets far and away the highest reliability and service scores in our reader survey. LG, Panasonic, Samsung, Sharp, and Vizio all earn favorable marks as well.
Sony HDTVs Win Big; Mitsubishi Struggles
The big winner was Sony, which was better than average in seven of nine measures. The electronics giant, known for high-quality, high-end HDTVs, earned praise for hardware reliability and customer service. It received average marks in ease of use and phone hold time. Five companies--LG, Panasonic, Samsung, Sharp, and Vizio--had two high scores each. Overall, readers reported greater satisfaction with the reliability of Panasonic, Samsung, and Sony sets. They also gave credit to LG, Sharp, and Vizio for making TVs with fewer serious issues.
----quote----
Information quoted from http://www.pcworld.com/article/154129/sony_hdtvs_rated_most_reliable_by_pc_world_readers.html
www.amazon.com
www.pcworld.com
www.smart-review.com
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M$
Sorry for the article philipy i thought it was a more up to date one my badi will try to find another one to reinforce this one more up to date.
This looks like a good answer, but there's a reason why I included the word "nowadays" in my question. Tech moves on, and I'm not sure if reviews from 2008 are still going to be valid now. Any thoughts on that?
1. LG Infinia LE9500 3D-Ready LED TV - world's thinnest LED TV
-3D-Ready support
- Skype capabilities, streaming media
- superior sound quality.
2. Toshiba Cell TVs - use same processor used in Playstation 3 & 3D capability
- has TriVector Cell that enables converting @D content into 3D content.
3. Samsung LED 9000 Series - slickest TV set
- has the width of a number two pencil
- 3D and capable of converting 2D into 3D
4. LG 15-inch OLED TV - biggest OLED TV
- produces super crisp picture and stunning picture quality
5. Sony 3D Bravia TV - includes an edge-lit LED backligh system
- 240Hz processing, integrated WiFi & two active shutter glasses
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M$Sony Bravia, Panasonic Viera, Sharp Aquos, LG etc are all very good models however they were intended for different purposes and function better in different environments. An example is that Plasma TV's have glass screens that are highly reflective and not good for placing in rooms with direct sunlight. LCD's have a matte finish which makes them ideal for bright sunny rooms. Plasma's however handle fast motion objects for sports and gaming better than most LCD's and are cheaper in larger sizes.
You can research for hours and hours but what is important is that you buy the right TV for each room in your home the first time around. I don't think most people looking to buy TV's want to sit on Wikipedia and TV research sites for days on end only to become even more confused. Consider using an HDTV finder like the The HDTV Genie so you can eliminate alot of the guess work and save both time and money.
http://www.thehdtvgenie.com
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M$
Critical thinking is an important part of making any choice. Deciding what HDTV is right for you means trusting the source of comparison or the reporting, so putting an answer together here means deciding who is truly a good source. For example, I will look at the information from the advertisers selling the products, but that is for a general price guide, and to learn what product features I need to research for making that choice. Amazon is listed as a source in here, and I'll read their reviews, but I'll also read at NewEgg and Fry's, though none of these will cast a deciding vote. I look more favorably at reviews in the tech trade, like PC Magazine, etc.
Another source of information cited in this answer is something called "ezinearticles.com." When you visit the site, it touts all of it's "expert authors." Do you know how you become an expert author there? It looks like it is simply a matter of self-reporting, not peer review. From the site:
^*^*^*To Be Recognized as an Expert Author:
When your articles are accepted in EzineArticles.com, you become recognized as an EzineArticles expert author. This adds prestige and _perceived value_ by others when they view your articles in our site. (_my emphasis_)
^*^*^*Editorial Integrity - Your Articles Share Expert Company:
Every single article submitted by the tens of thousands of expert authors who call our site home for their articles have been reviewed by our human editors who double check each article for quality (grammar, spelling, no dead links, etc). This ensures the company your articles keep has integrity. (_The "quality" seems to be grammar and links, not *facts*_)
Who chooses who is "expert?" A warm body managing adequate grammar? I don't consider this, on the surface, a reliable source of information any more than I look for "As Seen On TV" for a recommendation when I shop for products. It is, as the site information says "Perceived value." Not actual value.
I turned to Consumer Reports just now, there is a March 2010 issue with information about HDTV. I got it online via a subscription at my library.
In the 52" 1080p models, Toshiba and Vizio are ranked Consumer Reports best buys.
In the 32" 1080p sets, Vizio is the CR best buy.
Vizio isn't ranked top in all categories, and they don't make televisions in all of these sizes. But they're in the rankings for some important reasons, and for me, my pocketbook along with the kind of clarity and refresh rate I want will be deciding factors.
There are tables in the Consumer Reports article that don't display easily in text version I viewed (I wish they would make these all PDF of the printed page--so much easier to read, but for an all-text database, text takes a lot less space than the PDF image).
Depending on size the various brands are all across the board. In the 52" & 55" 1080p televisions, the LG 55LH90 is ranked first, followed by the Sony Bravia, then the Toshiba Regza, the Samsung LN52B750, Toshiba Regza cinema series, Mitsubishi Unisen Diamond, and down to Vizio in the number 10 spot. But these have each been ranked on numerous features, so the buyer can decide which are most important personally and go from there. For overall value of the product when the price is the deciding factor, the $1,400 Vizio and the $1,400 Toshiba Regza are much more affordable than the $2,500 LG or the $4,000 Sony.
The rankings from EzineArticles is just a list--no comparisons between them, no size, no price, frankly, no way to know why they are recommended.
The reliability questions are raised in the PC World article referenced by @argmatrixman9000. Admittedly it's from 2008, admittedly it's not exactly a scientific study. Nevertheless it's useful info, and to counter it the way to go would be to find more reliable or up to date info.
Which you've kind of done by citing Consumer Reports 2010. That doesn't address the specific issue about reliability though, which would have been nice to know.
I don't need lessons in critical thinking or evaluating sources btw.
Your own original NPR source was actually not directly addressing the quality of the product, more telling the story of the business, and that was mainly as told by the people within the business itself. You can bet I exercised my critical thinking muscles when I read that also. I neither dismissed it nor trusted it blindly
You can be sure I do that with everyone's answers.
From some of the other answers it looks like Vizio doesn't score so well on reliability, so I guess that's important to take into account.
I wasn't criticizing your answer, or lecturing you about critical thinking, but simply expanding on my answer, examining the types of answers that were in the entire feedback from the original question. Trouble with these forms is that you have to layer in the comments in places where they don't necessarily fit best.
Interesting choice! Looks like you've been looking into this carefully for your own buying decision. :)
Yes! One of these days. . .