Buying new Plasma 3d HDTV for gaming!

Thinking of buying a new Samsung Plasma 3d HDTV to hook up to my laptop, to be mostly used for gaming etc.

Right now I have two options. I can buy the 43 inch with 2 pairs of glasses for around $500.

Or I can buy the 53 inch used for a couple of weeks, no glasses, for the same price.

Besides the price, which one do you think will produce a better image?

When it comes down to it, which one do you think is the best option?

Please explain with detail why you think either way.

Here's the link:

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-PN43D490-43-Inch-600Hz-Plasma/dp/B004MKNQHI

I am now leaning towards the 51 inch... it sells almost everywhere for at least 200 more.

 

Do you have a link to the models of the TVs? Because that will help... immensely.

 

43 inch is big enough for me also it is brand new

EDIT: btw watch out they are both 720p, you wouldn't want to buy a 43" monitor non 1080p

 

Plasma? The year 2002 is calling and it wants its television back.

 

Buying an extremely large 720p display for PC gaming is a HUGE mistake.

Drop the 3D, buy a 47" 1080p LCD for around $600.

Here's a 42" for $500 Link

 

nice link, also 3D (120hz).. I would listen to him!

 

None of the TVs the poster and others recommended are good for PC gaming. The lack of 4:4:4 support will result in blurry texts, and LG LV4400 has large input lag.

 

What he said, you do not want to have a 1366*768 monitor for your computer.. It looks blurry on 15.6", do you really want to try it on a 43/51"?

120Hz is not 3D for the TVs, you need to have 240Hz for that.


To the OP, how far will you be from your monitor? I would buy a 24" to 27" computer monitor before a large TV, the resolution is always at least 1080p, and you get a better response time, which means less ghosting/blur while gaming.

 

Actually, 120Hz is the requirement for 3D on TVs. So it will work. However 240Hz is better because it is double the images and because of that, less blurr and more smooth images

But with plasma TVs the 120Hz is enough since the pixel speed is so darn fast. Atleast thats what I remember.

 

Plasmas are usually higher than LCD's in the Hz department. 600Hz is the norm for plasmas.(I think)

 

That is correct, and yes these TVs are both 600Hz. They have their own Stereo 3d built into the Television as well which doesn't tax the video card (which is great for me, since I don't want to halve the smooth fps that I have now in Skyrim and make it unplayable).

I decided to have the guy drive the 51 inch 3dtv over and I am pleased that it was in mint condition, without a scratch or blemish.

I tested it out by hooking it up to my Laptop and was immediately in awe of the great picture. Samsung did a really great job with this TV as you cannot see the pixels at all unless standing a foot away from the screen.

Fired up a 720p movie and as expected amazing picture, smooth playback and very nice deep blacks *main reason I LOVE plasma*.

There are some very nice LCDs and LED tv's out there, but the black levels just aren't on par with the older but in my opinion superior Plasma TVs...not to mention that they are in general less expensive, as they have been around much longer.

I had a 1080p Sony LCD last year, but the black levels were disappointing and the 1080p was good, but not very noticeably better than 720p, especially at a distance sitting in the living room at least 6-7 feet away.

So after checking it out I decided to go with this beautiful Plasma TV and paid the measly sum of $500. A Tv that goes for $699 plus tax on Bestbuy.com and $899 and up mostly elsewhere.

I just played Skyrim in 1360x768 and am very pleased with the picture quality. Can't wait to buy a pair of the Samsung 3d Glasses tomorrow!

Btw I sold my old Acer h5360 projector on Amazon.com but still have the Nvidia 3d shutter glasses + receiver. Will test those out with this TV later on the night.

 

Remember, you're going to be sitting a lot further back from your TV than you will be from your PC monitor. 720p would probably be "ok," as long as the image quality is decent (I've seen 720p with great color/contrast as well as 1080p with poor color/contrast). Sit 10+ feet away, turn on anti-aliasing, and I bet you won't be able to tell much of a difference.

The best way to see if a particular TV/monitor will suit your needs, though, is if you have access to it to test.

I used a 40" 720p LCD attached to my HTPC for years, and it worked fine. I upgraded to a 1080p 55" about a year ago, and expected to be blown away by the "better quality." In all honesty, besides the larger viewing area (which is nice), I hardly noticed a difference. On a TV that you're going to be sitting several feet away from, image/color quality is going to be a lot more important than resolution. You're probably not going to be programming or using Photoshop on it, anyways.

 

also contrary to what anyone says, you CAN end up with burn in on a plasma. not the best idea for a computer monitor IMHO.

 

I think you are right. The shops here in Norway only have 600Hz listed from what I can see

 

Good choice choosing Plasma for gaming. As long as you can control your rooms lighting, Plasma's provide better blacks, better colors, higher response time, higher refresh rate and zero motion blur.

Plasma's do have their cons but in my opinion, their pro's outweigh them.

Many are confused as to what image burn vs. image retention is. I'm not going to explain them but that's what we have Google for.

In my household, I have two edge lit LCD's, a back lit LCD and a Plasma. The Plasma of course is in my home theater which is also my game room. I've gamed on many LCD's and many Plasma's. I can tell you from experience, gaming on Plasma's are much more enjoyable.

Lastly, image burn along with image retention is pretty rare in modern day Plasma's that employ a technology called "Pixel Shift" a long with using a Time Out. Pixel Shift does exactly what is sounds like it does. Every 5 minutes or so, the TV will shift the pixels around so no one pixel is constantly displaying the same thing such as the sports ticker on ESPN. You can also set your TV for a 10 minute time out just like your computer monitor. If your TV senses that you paused something, it will turn the display off.

Don't take my word for it though. Just type in Plasma vs. LCD and you will see that most videophiles along with vision/sound websites will recommend a Plasma for gaming 9 times out of 10.

Good luck in your TV purchase.

 

1972 called. They want their LCD back.

Just encase you didn't know, Plasma's are always leading the pack every year when it comes to picture quality. The only way your going to get Plasma picture equality on a LCD is by dropping 6 G's on a Sharp Elite. LCD's such as the Sharp elite need to employ a super expensive mix of local dimming and image processing in order to achieve this level of quality.

 

the sharp elite actually has the best picture quality now, even over the top of the line plasmas. top tiered, full back-lit LED LCD's are alot closer to plasmas in terms of black levels and picture quality. they are virtually neck and neck now. i have a LG 47LH90 (best picture quality LED LCD 2009) and a Samsung PN59D7000 (tied best picture quality 2011) and they are very close, with the Samsung's picture quality edging out the LG by a tiny margin. if all things go well, a 60" Sharp Elite will be replacing my LG 47LH90 soon.

personally, i would never use a plasma as my main computer monitor because of the burn in issues. computers have ALOT more possibility to stay on a still screen/image than other sources. plus, i prefer the more vivid "poppy" colors that LED LCD's provide when it comes to a computer source. also, if your tv has a "gaming" mode...USE IT! it really makes a huge difference when it comes to your gaming experience. it turns off alot of the tv's useless features and drastically reduces input lag.

 

I had a friend over who commented how nice the football game looked on my 52" 1080P LCD set. He was researching for a new set and the BB crew had him signing a check the next week.

"Looks really good right" as I punched input button to show that the game was in 720P. Most sports channels are due to bandwith, everything else broadcast is 1080i but all gets displayed at native..unless you set for bars. At least he did not mention the slight pixel breakup I get during fast pans, ergo the 120/240hz sets. This is OTA vs Charter cable.

I'm still a fan of neighbors older Pioneer Kuro something Plasma..still the best blacks and no motion blur detected compared to my 2009 -120hz set.

I guess people need to get off the couch and LOOK at these in the stores, if possible, and do your research for input lag if needed.

 

I have to chime in here. I design and build custom HT systems for a living and have done so for the last decade. A few things I want to point out here.

A. There is honestly nothing wrong with a 720p display. Unless your face is right up to the display in question, your going to have a hard time telling the difference between 720p and 1080p on a 50" screen. In terms of image quality, ANSI contrast and color accuracy are more important still than going from a 1 megapixel display to a 2 megapixel display.

B. 720p actually will have an advantage in terms of framerate for your video card. If your playing games(and gpu intense games)you will actually get a much higher framerate and MUCH BETTER MOTION RESOLUTION using the lower res. 720p display. Especially on games where your video card is not capable of doing anywhere near 60 fps. If you have a video card that struggles to do 25-30fps at 1080p with all settings maxed, it will easily do north of 60fps at 720p. I would in a HEARTBEAT take the lower resolution native display that allows my video card to play at or north of 60fps with all the eye candy turned on,with vertical sync on etc. than to run at a higher resolution with the quality settings turned down just to play at an acceptable framerate.

C. 600hz is marking bullsh!t. No plasma tv refreshes at 600hz. 600hz is sub field refresh. That means each pixel refreshes 10 times per cycle(on a 60hz plasma screen). It does not gain you any better motion performance. Plasma tv's have had subfield refresh rates between 480hz and north of 720hz for over a decade. But with LCD's touting "120hz" and 240hz refresh rates, Plasam mfg's have decided to up the marketing gimmick. Plasma cells can only remain on for a millisecond or 2, so they need to be refreshed multiple times per hz cycle to remain BRIGHT.

D. Regardless of actual refresh ability a 60hz plasma TV still has significantly better motion resolution than an LCD does at 120hz or 240hz even. LCD is a flawed technology compared to plasma in many aspects.

 

Thank you all for your input guys and gals!

I have a question directed at anyone with experience with Samsung's HDTVs as I am having trouble with the Picture settings.

Most advanced Settings like Dynamic Contrast, Color Space etc. are grayed out while in HDMI mode.

Even regular settings like Tint and Color are grayed out. Picture options only allow me to change Color Tone.

I tried switching from "Entertain" mode to "Standard" mode but all those option remain unchangeable.

Game mode is grayed out as well in HDMI, TV and PC mode as well.

Advanced options are only enabled in TV mode as well as the Tint, Color etc.

Please let me know how I can get around this issue.

 

Normally you dont get around these "issues". THings like "dynamic contrast", or "Super bright",NR,sharpness etc should be turned OFF anyway. But when your connected to your plasma via HDMI on your computer the color settings are now normally controlled through your grpahics card.

If you want to properly calibrate your plasma display, get yourself a copy of DVE(Digital Video Essentials). THey have this disc on both DVD and Blu Ray and can be had for about 20 bucks.

 

Amazon.com: dve calibration

 

Thanks for the two items above but I still would like to know if there is a way to get the Tv's own settings to work under HDMI. I don't see why these options are alterable from the TV, they were with my old plasma while using HDMI.

 

Alot of it depends on the signal detected by the HDMI input on the tv itself. Honestly it really doesnt matter which device controls it(TV or PC), the end results will be the same once calibrated. Though Id be really shocked and surprised if the TV doesnt at least allow you to adjust the 2 most important controls being contrast(white levels) and brightness(black levels). The rest of those controls like Dynamic contrast etc are 100% useless and should be turned off to begin with anyway, they do nothing but hurt the picture quality and kill the color decoding and overall accuracy of the picture.

 

your arguments about the 720p TV might be ok if this setup was strictly for a cable/sat setup, but it's not. u would have to be on something to honestly recommend someone a 720p tv over a 1080p tv when it will be used as a computer monitor. especially at sizes bigger than 40" - 50".

of course 720p would be easier on your GPU because it's pushing alot less resolution. less resolution = less detail. a smooth 30FPS 1080p @ med settings would be much more visually pleasing than 60FPS 720p @ high settings.

from what i understand, the 600hz that plasmas tout is really (10) 60hz sub fields combined to equal the 600hz marketing scheme. i have alot less experience with plasmas, compared to LCD's, so i'll take your word for the rest of it. i feel like the biggest difference between a plasma and an LCD is how the motion is reproduced due to the 2 different methods of how the tv's produce their colors. LCD's picture quality relies greatly on which engine is running the TV. some of the mid and top tiered engines have really come a long way as far as motion blur and local dimming technology.

u usually need to be in "movie" or "THX" mode to fully unlock your picture settings. in some cases, u might even need to get into the "special" operating menu to unlock certain features. be VERY careful before u mess in the "special" menu though because u will brick your TV if u change something wrong.

u want to stay away from anything that says "vivid mode" or "dynamic mode" when u want a picture that actually focuses on picture quality and color reproduction/accuracy. u can often times google your TV's model and find calibration settings that others have gotten. if u feel your TV is worth it, u can also go the extra mile and hire a professional calibrator.

"game mode" is highly recommend for any kind of gaming, PC or console. i actually prefer using the "game mode" anytime my PC is connected.

 

Anyone here know if I can use the Rollermod with this TV? I still have my Nvidia 3d shutter glasses and I hear that it's way superior to 3DTV play.

 

Right now, Samsung's 8000 series Plasma arguably has the best picture in TV. The Sharp Elite's color accuracy and black level is just as good, if not a tad bit better however, no amount of image processing and local dimming can hide the cons of LCD's in general. The Sharp Elites image processor still needs to place artificial frames within the picture in order to achieve the motion performance a Plasma inherently has. The artificial frames create SOE which in my opinion looks hideous. Lastly, it just goes to show you what a manufacturer needs to do in order to achieve Plasma like picture quality on a LCD. I can purchase two PN59D8000's with the amount of money an Elite costs.

 

See this is where your actually wrong. There have been so many arguments in the 720p vs. 1080p debate for years. A close from of mine who works for the government has a small collection of flat panel displays in his LAN room which is used for gaming once or twice a month. He has 4 flat panels including an old 7 year old Samsung 720p plasma, 4 year old 40" Sony 1080p XBR LCD, 60" 1080p LG plasma and another generic 37 or 40" 1080p LCD. When we have a session, we all flip a coin to see who gets to pick which monitor we will plug our laptops into. Know which flat panel display everyone wants to use? Its the 7 year old Samsung 720p display. It has absolutely the best picture of the bunch, and it allows whoevers laptop is being hooked up to it, to run its best due to the single megapixel display.

Another thing you dont take into consideration here. You say that less resolution ='s less detail. Yes and no. Let me ask you this: Which display setup gives you more detail?

A. 720p(1 megapixel) display running at 60fps with all graphic settings and visual effects maxed out. Or...............

B. 1080p(2 megapixel) display running at around 30fps with some of the visual effects reduced potentially?


The correct answer is A. And its due to the way our eyes perceive motion.

You talk about lower resolution equals less detail. But yet there are 2 types of resolution. Static resolution(still frame), and MOTION resolution. Higher frames per second give the picture in question more depth of field, a more 3d effect because motion resolution is actually greater due to less pixel jumping from frame to frame.

And to go on, above in A. if you have a 1 megapixel display that is running at 60fps, then you get 60 megapixels being displayed per second, and is doing so with graphic settings maxed out, so you get all the nice visual effects that increase the quality of whats being displayed.

In B. You have a 2 megapixel display that is running at half the frames per second or less. But we will call it 30fps. 2 megapixel display refreshed 30 times per second equals...........you guessed it. 60 megapixels per second that your eye perceives......but you get this with graphic settings reduced and with pixel jumping due to the lower frames per second.

30 frames per second is not smooth btw. Our eyes are able to perceive the difference between 30 frames and 60 frames. In fact this number for many people can run up to 240fps before differences in visual perception become impossible for our brain to discern a difference.

Right now the next step in "3D" technology is to get a 3D display that does not require glasses to wear. And this lies partly in raising display refresh rates in the 240hz range with software content to match, along with total contrast and light output from the display in question. This is a long winded subject, but Im sure you get the jist...........

 

Yep, the Kuro's still are the best without question. CRT black levels, but the motion resolution is still what sets them apart. I have 2 60" KRP-600M Kuro Plasma displays(One still in the box brand new as a spare)that I picked up at wholesale through my company when they discontinued them and for a small flat panel display picture, they are still the best. Though IMO a good single chip DLP projector and proper screen material will kill it for overall picture quality and image depth.

 

LCD image processing has came a long way but modern LCD sets have also introduced other issues by improving past issues. Edge lit LCD's have improved black reproduction but in turn introduced uniformity issues. Modern day image processing has improved motion Blur but LCD images have never looked so artificial. Prior to returning my Samsung 8000 series LCD, I had to keep it in game mode because I couldn't stand the picture produced after the image processor had it's way with it. Even disabling Auto Motion plus and every other setting wouldn't keep the processor from making the image look unnatural.

 

I have to admit I was a little upset at not having all the options enabled when using HDMI mode, but then I realized that the picture is amazing as it is, and has more fidelity to the original signal this way.

I still would like to know what this "special" menu is that was mentioned above, just out of curiosity.

And I can't wait to get the Rollermod working on this TV!

 

it really looks like we're arguing about 2 different things here. from your responses, it sounds like u're more concerned about a higher FPS number and overall gaming performance. my priority is picture quality, clarity, and 24p blu ray performance.

i won't comment on the "7 year old Samsung 720p monitor" vs the others because there are just way too many different factors to make that a reliable debate. plus, LCD technology has made such huge strides in the last 2-3 years that anything older than that is pretty obsolete from this argument. local dimming technology is really making a big difference in terms of color uniformity and inky black levels.

which Samsung LCD did u have? honestly, if u bought a top tiered LED Sony or Samsung tv in 2010 then u basically just wasted your money. they had to settle with pumping out edge-lit LED tv's because of the local dimming lawsuit or whatever. in 2010, i believe LG was one of the few, if not the only company that was able to utilize full back-lit LED local dimming technology. hence why i went with my LG 47LH90 when i did.

none of my top tier TV's (LED, LCD, or plasma) have any of that motion blur crap on because a proper engine/processor can produce a perfectly good, pixelation free image. usually lower tiered TV's will require at least a "low" motion blur setting to help smooth out those fast motion scenes. trust me...i cannot stand when i go over to a friend's house and their TV is set on "vivid mode" with all the motion crap on.

i've found that Samsung TV's can get a bit more complicated to "get right". sometimes the most important picture settings are greyed out and u have to learn how to properly calibrate your tv to unlock certain settings. i had a similar problem when it came to calibrating my Samsung PN59D7000 (same picture quality as the PNxxD8000) so i had to do a bit of researching to get my set how i wanted it.

P.S. - i only picked the 30FPS @ 1080p on lower settings option for the sake of argument. in reality, i would've went with option C: 40-50+FPS @ 1080p on high/max settings.

 

I just managed to properly calibrate the TV and the blacks are 10x better!!!

I am not usually this exited, but WOW!!! Amazing!!! So much better than all my other displays (native laptop display, old Projector, other 1080p LCD HDTV I had).

Just played Skyrim @ 720p and it looks incredible! For those that think that 720p is going to cause the game to look jaggy and undetailed, think again! It looks just as sharp as it did on my native Laptop display @1200p and the deep blacks are to die for. The frame rate is now closer to a constant super smooth 60 fps too, paired which is incredible paired with the HD Texture DLC patch to this game.

I am going to post a new video on Youtube later tonight when it gets dark. It is a bright day here right now, and the PQ looks amazing. I can only imagine how good it's going to look when the room is pitch black.

Incredible, I am so happy I took the leap and bought this the other day

 

congrats! i definitely know how u're feeling at the moment! which route did u go? DIY with the bluray/DVD or a professional calibrator? a laptop screen will never compare to the contrast and clarity of a properly calibrated TV.

 

I dont think your getting the point. Higher frames per second ='s HIGHER PICTURE QUALITY, CLARITY, HIGHER MOTION RESOLUTION etc.

Any decent flat panel tv will have native 24p playback(or some multiple without pulldown) for blu ray movies.

LCD's have improved black levels(although the way they achieve it normally is at the expense of other PQ aspects), but it still is a flawed technology. Little swinging doors to block out light and emulate colors based on angles is just not a great technology to begin with. And the larger the LCD swinging doors need to be, the slower the response and less accurate they tend to be.

 

this is really starting to sound like an "apple vs pc" argument now...

more FPS only equals better, and smoother motion resolution. i'm not sure what u're arguing about now because u're not gonna convince me that a 720p image @ max settings will look better than a 1080p image @ high/max settings. are u saying that if we broke them down, and compared them frame by frame, that the 720p image would look better just because it had more FPS???

if u do alot of home theater work then u should know that even some high end models can't do proper 24p playback and produce fast moving images with quite some pixelation.

i'm not bias against plasmas or LCD's as i have both in my house. i just like things that work well. from the sound of it, i take it that u prefer plasmas for personal use? yes, LCD technology is flawed, but so are plasmas, tubes, and DLP's. each of them have just come up with different parameters to keep the technical "draw backs" in check. for example: just a small innovation like "gaming mode" alone has made me love my TV's that much more.

 

I would bet that whatever tech people go with will end up best picture for least power used. My ancient 36" JVC used 97 Watts. Some of the older plasmas were flat ovens as one of my 52" LCD cold cathode back lit at 260W!

Watts the sticker say on the back of yours?

I'm also hearing Samsung and Sony may be wanting to dump the LCD to other manufactures due to quality problems. Lots of class action suits out their if you google due to bad expensive sets.

 

I went with the DVD and yes it's really great... now I am wondering wether to get 3DTV play from Nvidia and use my Shutter Glasses or the Samsung 3d glasses for this TV.

Would 3DTV play cut my fps in half like it did on my Projector?

 

How do you calibrate the tv? Sorry I didn't read any other post except this one and the calibrating tv caught my attention. Is there a program I can use to calibrate my tv to make my output from pc to tv look nicer?

 

there are a few common methods for TV's, but i'm not sure if the same methods could apply to computer/laptop monitors because they usually don't come with as many advanced picture settings like a TV would.

- u can do a "quick calibrate" and google "*insert TV/monitor model* calibration settings" and use another person's settings. this is the cheapest and quickest method, but the more inaccurate method because no 2 TV's will be the same. at least u will get a much more accurate picture than compared to any of the TV's OEM presets.

- download a calibrating DVD/blu ray and basically learn how to do it yourself. sites like AVSforum.com will be very helpful if u decide to go with this method. the pros over there can provide u with in depth knowledge about how everything works, and how to use it.

- hire a professional calibrator. i would stay away from something like best buy's geek squad because they are hit or miss; more or less. look up a recommended calibrator, in your area, and schedule an appointment with him/her/them. they will come out and spend as long as it takes to get u the most accurate picture your set can provide. alot of them will have fancy equipment that helps them measure the set's color spectrum and fine tune everything.

 

ugh wish I wasn't lazy... I thought it was going to be like install a disk or a quick google search like 10 minutes. but thank you much.

 

Just got done tinkering with the TV's hidden Service Menu. It's supposed to be used only by professionals but you know me... I can't stay away from the "Advanced" settings for long

There was one thing that was SERIOUSLY bothering me with this otherwise perfect picture.

The Colors were very bright but too saturated for my tastes. Fine for movie watching but while Gaming, let's say Skyrim, it would give an unrealistic saturation to leaves and other items that made the game look a tad bit cartoonish and the overall scenery would lose detail.

What was upsetting me these last two days is that there is NO color control setting for HDMI other than Nvidia's Control panel settings, and the only things that you can change there are Brightness, Contrast, Hue and Digital Vibrance.

The result from changing the Digital Vibrance DID NOT resolve the problem with the oversaturation, which was caused by a Color Gain produced by the TV and there is no way to disable it (at least in HDMI mode, might be possible in TV mode).

I found out how to enter the TV's Service Menu and plunged into the risky territory. Had to look through many menus before I could find the White balance, Contrast and most importantly Color Gain and Offset controls that are otherwise unalterable in HDMI mode.

I lowered my Color Gain from 120ish values to 100, disabling the ugly and unrealistic oversaturated color effect that was hurting the picture quality.

I modified some other Contrast Values and Brightness values making the picture even more astonishing than otherwise achievable through the regular Picture settings.

Now I finally got the professional looking image quality I was striving for these last few days since buying this amazing TV. I knew the image quality was great when I first played Skyrim on this, but I knew it could be better and I didn't give up. Just had to go through several headaches before I could find the way to get around Samsung's "graying out" of options.

If anyone is looking for a professional Samsung Plasma TV calibrator, hit me up hah I swear it's worth it

 

LOL! So your agreeing that higher FPS ='s better MOTION RESOLUTION, which means better PQ. How often are you playing a game with a static picture?

And yes, absolutely I am saying that a 720p native display can look much better playing at a higher framerate with max settings than a native 1080p display playing at a lower framerate with less than max settings without question.

In my field, the equipment we sell, all of it does 24p just fine. We really don't do any flat panel displays(cept the 103" Panny and a few other select plasma screens), the majority of the displays we install are pj's.

And we still have some pj's that natively are only 720p that will absolutely CRUSH competing 1080p displays for detail and clarity, color accuracy etc.......resolution is not everything, and on the scale of PQ importance its about 4th or 5th on the list for what entails a great looking picture. Next time I have a LAN party at my friends, Ill post up a few videos on this thread of different calibrated displays...........see which one looks the best.

 

are u comparing your godly, magical (yet STILL unnamed) 720p display to some bottom of the bin $400 1080p monitor? to say a 720p display can outperform the top of the line 1080p displays is plain unfathomable. and i'm not comparing strictly pixel counts here. the best TV's on the market just happen to be 1080p...

plus, i'd rather bang my head against the wall than to have to hook my computer/laptop up to a big (40"-50"+) 720p display. to each his own i guess...

@andros_forever: glad it all worked out, brother! yes, 10-point white balance is one of the most important calibrating settings. u HAVE to unlock that to tune for color accuracy.

 

Samsung is not dumping their LCD's to another manufacturer. They are simply shutting down their LCD division (Samsung LCD) and combining it with Plasma/OLED under one moniker (Samsung Display). When it comes to Sony, they never manufactured their own LCD's. They purchased their panels from someone else.

A quick Google search reveals tons of class action lawsuits against all major brand TV manufacturers. No brand is free from problems and any TV can be hit or miss. It is always wise to purchase an extended warranty with any TV. Sticking with a one year manufacturers warranty is rolling the dice.

I just did a quick Google searches on 3 other popular manufacturers and took the first link of each search.

Sharp Electronics 32-inch LCD TV Television Sets Class Action Recalls - Lawsuit

LG Electronics LCD & Plasma TV Class Action Lawsuit

Vizio Refuses To Repair Defective Televisions | Class Action Blog

 

In regards to the 720 vs 1080 argument, I can see both sides of the story. If it's being used as a full time computer monitor which I don't advise due to various issues, I can see how 1080 would be better for web browsing/reading. However, if your just using the monitor for gaming purposes, I'd much rather look at high/max settings running at a higher frame rate at 720 than a 1080 display running at lower frame rates using low/med settings. Smooth motion is much more important than pixel density when it comes to gaming. Lastly, when sitting back at normal viewing distance, you are unlikely too even see a difference between 720 and 1080 while gaming or any type of content that is constantly moving. Static images on the other hand are a whole different story. In the end, I think most people here would rather have a smoother frame rate and with minimal image blur than a higher pixel density.

By the way, there have been double blind studies showing that most people cannot even see a difference between 720 and 1080 when viewing TV/Movie content at normal viewing distances.

 

True that. I think they say in order to even start seeing a difference for most people you usually have to be like 7 feet away looking at 55"+ TVs. I think regardless if you get high end 720p vs high end 1080p they are going to make you happy regardless. it's like lamborgini vs ferrari. also you will adjust to your tv of choice so you'll get use to it.

I think we should give ntrain and houstoned some "sock and bobbers" and let them go at it.

 

those studies are so old and irrelevant. they probably tested a bunch of "general consumers" that couldn't tell u the difference between a their head and their rear end. any person with at least some knowledge can easily spot the difference between 1080p and 720p content. and no duhhh cable/satellite would look similar on a 720p TV or a 1080p TV because all that stuff is broadcasted in 720p/1080i.......

new question: would u rather game @ 80FPS on a 720p display with max settings or 60FPS on a 1080p display at max settings? i'd choose the 1080p display everyday of the week, and twice on sundays.

@raymondjchin: your lambo vs ferrari argument doesn't work because then u'd be indicating that 720p is an equal. it's more like a lambo (1080p) vs a BMW/Mercedes (720p).

 

LOL, duh, I can tell the difference! I will tell you that my 720P screen looks exactly like my 1080P screen except for one difference. One is bigger The solution is just move a little closer! This is a 42" 720 vs 52" 1080 screen.

Myself, as long as framerate is up and lag is down, I'm happy. I could not care less how anyone else perfers framerate over sreeen rez cause it's whatever floats your boat, no?

But not confusing the issue of having a higher resolution source, ie, BR as I don't see any apparent difference other than more pixels when scaling a game.

 

I've watched the Lord of the Rings on both 720p and 1080p and couldn't not tell a difference (except in Bandwidth...)