Your Samsungs are going to have that horribly glossy screen coating on them. We have a 46" Samsung in the living room that has the glossy screen and it's absolutely worthless to watch during the daytime, unless you enjoy watching yourself watch TV.

Toshiba Regza's are INCREDIBLE for the price, and they have the matte-finish screen. So no glare nonsense like the Samsung's.

But, the Sony's XBR's are by far the BEST televisions on the market, and they're right around the same price as the Samsung's are. Even if you can't go with an XBR, the V3000 series is bang-on perfect as well.

And to be honest, the whole 120hz is tremendous B.S.! All it does is smooth the framerate of the movies. So with 120hz, all your movies and television looks like it was produced with a camcorder instead of having that "movie" feel to it (which is 24 frames per second that makes a movie look and feel like a movie should.) I can't stand it when I walk into Best Buy and see those endcaps with the Blu-ray movies playing and they're showing off the 120hz. It looks horrible, and makes CG look even MORE fake than it already does. (Sorry, this is the end of my 120hz rant.)

So to be honest, this is how I stack up the choices (being a Home Theater Installation Professional, and an addict at that.)

- Sony (Either XBR or V3000 series)
- Toshiba (CinemaSeries or Regza models)
- Samsung (NON-glossy screen models if they haven't already shifted their entire product line to glossy panels.)

And not to bash on Samsung, they have an outstanding picture, but the glossy screen and reflections will **** you off to the point where you will be regret purchasing it (because I do). It's almost worse than having a plasma display.

Currently, I have a 40" Sony V2500 that I got on sale when I use to work for Best Buy. I'm looking to sell that to my parents and buy either a Toshiba Cinema Series or Sony V3000.

Let me know if you need anything else man, Home Theater Equipment is one of my many passions.

 

Remember that 1080p only matters when you're watching a blu-ray (or hddvd) movie on a player that has the capability and with the proper cables. If you do not watch blu-ray movies a lot, save the money and skip the 1080p feature. There are plenty of 1080i sets that cost less than half of their 1080p counterparts and provide a perfectly good picture. Especially for people that watch nothing but cable television, 1080p is a waste of at least 1000 dollars. If this is your cinema room TV and you will be watching blu-ray a lot, then 1080p is the way to go. I am a fan of the new Sony LCD's just because of the glass trim and the little blue "Sony" logo. It's showy but isn't that the point?

Happy TV hunting!

 

1080P = waste.

 

I did alot of research when I bought my Samsung 4665 last month, spent quite a bit of time on forums. You cannot go wrong with a Samsung. the glossy screen has not been a problem at all for me. I have it in my well lit living room, on a wall mount tilted just slightly, no glare at all, even in the daytime, except when you have a completely black screen.but then, all your watching is black anyway

As for all the details, 1080i/p 120/60hz, and such things, the debates go on for pages and pages, unless you are a very serious audio/video phile, its not
that big ofa deal. As a matter of fact, if I were a kid in your position(still living at home-tv in the bedroom) I would be a cheap *ss and go buy a mid -grade vizio, the picture quality is very good, they just dont have all the fancy bells and whistles of a top of the line samsung/toshiba/sony. then spend the rest of your money on saving to get your own place

 

+1 on the Vizio. You can get 3Vizio 1080i sets for the price of one high end 1080p set. The picture is better than you would expect.

 

Bluefox I understand what you mean by the 120hz looks weird. We thought so too when we first looked at it. It's like you're not even watching TV there is no blur at all. The picture is just so crisp it's amazing I don't know I like it. I am very concerned about the glare on the Samsung though, but Krash said he doesn't have a problem with it. As you can tell the whole moving out thing isn't really a big deal for me, I like to have the best things and when I move out all that will come to a stop so I mine as well get it while I can. =)
I'll take a look at the Sony XBR but Sony is always too expensive and I don't think you get what you pay for. /shrug

Mike

 

I got my Samsung 32" 1080i about a year and a half ago. Yeah its a little small but I like it. And Blu ray looks great on it. Mine does not have a shiny screen. When did they start making those?

 

Just out of curiosity Blue Fox, where would you rate the Mitsubishi diamond tv's? A brand you may consider yourself Snowboard82, i am very pleased with mine, way nicer than the Toshiba i had.

 

I'm looking to get the 52" Samsung. I like the picture of the 71 series over the 65. And since it's a flat screen glare shouldn't be a problem as long as the light isn't directly behind you. The problem exists when you are watching from exactly the opposite angle of the light source. That doesn't preclude washout.

 

First, 1080P is not an extra grand. Hell, you can get a nice 40+" 1080p at Walmart these days for $1,200.

If I was getting one today, it would be LCD (cheaper to operate than plasma) and it would have 1080P plus at least 2 HDMI inputs. With the way technology has been advancing lately, you can't go wrong by buying better.

Another tip, wherevere you look at the televisions, do so with a football game on. Cheaper televisions look grainy or fragmented when there is a lot of motion on the picture.