What's a good TV brand to buy?

[portponies]

We're looking at replacing our 18 year old Zenith with a new set. Thinking of either a 32" or a 36".

What brands are the best these days? I don't mind paying a few dollars more if it means that the thing will last a few years longer.

Also, I'm not stepping up to a plasma at this time. That will come when the rec room gets finished. This is just going to be a family room set.

[sacstoy02gt]

I just bought JVC's newest HD-ILA/LCOS 56" 1080p projection; bigger than what you are looking for, but the quality of the set, and picture quality are great. Cant hurt to look at JVCs as well - good prices too.

http://www.avsforum.com <--- tons of info on tvs and stuff. Once you start looking at a few particular models of TV, search here. There's usually owner's threads on every TV out there; so you can find real opinions/reviews/discussion/etc.

here's a sample on how big this forum is:
Members: 282,364
Threads: 570,175
Posts: 6,843,999

:D

[Greg@GLD]

I have an LG flat-screen here in the office, picture is awesome and it works great as a computer monitor also...

Sony TVs have very good picture quality.

[upngo50]

Sanyo has very nice picture quality. I went shopping for TV's and the Sanyo's had the absolute clearest picture of all the TV's. So that is what I got. 5 or so years later I go back to get another TV and again side by side the Sanyo's were the clearest TV. I have had my 36" Sanyo in my livingroom for 7-8 years with no issue. Still as clear as the day I bought it.

[93CalypsoLX50]

ive had my jvc 36" for about 3 years and its awesome. never had a single problem with it, and its on all the time. what you get should depend on what you want to do with it. there are only about 5 companies that make tvs anymore, the guts anyway, the outside just has someone elses name on it. for instance, tons of brand names are using texas instruments pantented DLP technology, no one else makes it, the technology is leased from texas instruments. JVC has their own, its called HD-ILA which seems to have an excellent picture quality in larger sizes, like 50+. When buying a tv there are so many other aspects to consider in the near future, such as all broadcast stations must be in HD soon, which is widescreen, so you may want to get a widescreen tv or you will have those stupid black bars. also if you are using it to watch movies, if you get a higher quality tv, you will need to upgrade your dvd player as well, something that at least matches the picture quality of the tv itself. upconverting dvd players are pretty popular, lg makes an excellent one that converts to as high as 1080p i believe. also the choice of where to buy is important as well. walmart for instance sells tons of so called "high" quality name brands, however most of these manufactures build and sell tvs specfically for walmart, which means they may not be of the "high" quality that you might expect from the big brand names. and DO NOT buy a service plan if you plan on buying from best buy, texas instruments and jvc claim an average of 18,000 hours of life out of the tv, the service plan lasts 5 years max. they will all give you the sales pitch that the bulbs will burn out within 4 years, it will not. best buy salespeople do not make commission on the actual tv sales, they make huge commission on every service plan they sell, thats why they give you the same line every time you go there about them. sorry for such a long post, im done lol.

[Neuwave]

Well in my experience you cant go wrong with Tosheba (I know I butchered that one), rca, phillips/magnavox, or sanyo. Sonys are good too, however, they are a bit more expensive because you are also paying for the Sony name....

[smokin'Red35th]

ive had good luck with JVC's. ive had two of them. i had to buy another becuase the movers broke my first one shipping it from korea to italy.

[playpool]

I am a fan of everything. I have a 57 in. Toshiba that is really nice. 1+ for Toshiba, but I have a 19" Sansui that will not let go. It is about 7-8 yrs old now. At the time it was the cheapest tv I could find. Still works like a champ.

[clayton bigsby]

my 53" sony works awesome. I like sony,toshiba,even sharp.

[Nvr_Evil]

First this is FIRST...if its a man made object it will give you problems sooner or later. Doesnt matter if is a car, tv, computer, anything so "the best" is unrealistic. However, working in a TV repair shop has given me a few personal opinions of what I prefer. Toshiba is on the top of my list and Sony is a close second. The main reason for Toshiba is their customer service. When things go bad and out of warranty, they sometimes grant "special" warranties to keep customers happy. Sony has a history of being "easy" fixes. For the most part they have been straight forward fail points to make for fast diagnosis and fixes. One company that has soured my opinion of them is Hitachi. Any rear projection TV made from late 90's to early 2000's has had many times where the projection guns have leaked their coolant and has destroyed the boards under the guns. I cannot give any opinions on the off brand names because most of them werent out when I was repairing, and most of them are cheap enough that they could be a throw away TV. Phillips-Magnavox has had weird mystery problems that have come and go and Ive just gotten lucky on fixing them. RCA, panasonic and few others are like the GM of the TV world, they have different names but all owned and built at the same place with a different name label. Good luck with any decision you make.

[Want Notch]

I have two Hitachi Ultra-Visions tv's. A 32 tube, and a 57 DLP. The tube is good by the dlp is the best picture i saw when we were comparing models.

[playpool]

Anything By Phillips

Normally I would agree but I have a phillips tv that is from 96' and it still works nice. Good pic too. I think at this point a tv is a tv unless you are an avid/extreme theatre guy.

[xxtremeteam]

Fritz you have time for tv?

[orange67stang]

Don't buy Rca 27" .its a big pos mines in the masterbed room and its nothing but problems, next time its being launched out the 2nd floor window,but we also have a 52" proscan thats made by rca and it broke once last year and its 14yrs old, so i don't know what else to tell you.

[portponies]

Fritz you have time for tv?


I scheduled a day for watching TV this coming January.

[BP Convt]

I have a 20" Sanyo LCD in my home office. It's been an awesome tv. I wan't to step up to a 42" LCD in my living room. I also have a Sony 25" flat panel and it's been a good tv. I just weighs as much as a 302 engine block. I'm sticking to LCD or Plasma from now on.

[dawaki]

I like philips.....that is all I have bought for a long time...my 36 in is about 10 years old now and still works like a charm...my 27 in I dont use that much but is still excellent...I had a 20 in before the 36 and it lasted many years...I loaned it out and never got it back...

[Overdrive]

I have a Samsung HDTV not a bad set. Didn't cost much and picture is great, and when the 1080i is on it looks even better.