help finding gaming tv

My dad recently bought me a lg lm6200. and i would like to buy him a tv also as his is ten years old. i will have 500-600 to spend on a tv and was wondering whats the best tv in that range above 40inches and below 50 inches. im canadian so a canadian referance is fairly important. if you can help rep and respect.

thats all and thank you!

 

I have a 40'' Westinghouse led with 1080p that I picked up for $400. I love it because it is super slim and looks great. You can find Westinghouse t.v.s pretty much anywhere.

I have been told that they don't last long but I have had this one for about 6 months and no problems yet.

 

Panasonic 32DT30 (last years model) is THE BEST led/lcd high definition television on the market for console gaming.

It has the lowest input lag (less than 20ms) of ANY led/lcd panel, is FullHD 1080p and has FullHD Active 3D (unlike Samsung's falsely advertised Active 3D).

Either way, Panasonic make the best televisions, period. Build quality, customer service, picture quality, tweakable options. Most HD lcd televisions suck for gaming due to high input lag, Panasonic somehow made this not the case for their range.

Look at AVSForums (US) and AVForums (UK) for reviews of it. It just may be hard to find due to it being last years flagship LCD model. It was around £1,000 on release (for 32") so you know it is good. No fanboyism here either, Panasonic are just the best TV manufacturers. Oh, and Panasonic manufacture their own panels (Sony, Samsung, LG, Toshiba etc do not, and outsource them from cheap Chinese manufacturers, such as Chi Mei) therefore purchasing a Panasonic means you won't suffer from being a part of a panel lottery.

I hope this is helpful.

Edit: Above 40 inch, look for last years Panasonic Plasmas. The ST30, GT30 and G30 (I don't know their US/Canadian model numbers) should all be within your price range and are all amazing televisions. Just be sure to let them have their 200 hour settling in period before altering them to dynamic contrast etc.

 

I recently bought a Sony Bravia KDL40NX723 LED 3d tv and its brilliant games look awesome on it when i tried it with my laptop.

 

thanks for the tips. but he wants 42-47 in and he doesnt care about 3d. whats the best tv for the money under say 800 anyone know or already did the research?

 

I currently own a 51 inch Plasma 3dtv from Samsung, model PN51D490.

Great picture in 720p stock settings (really best resolution for my Laptop as newer games are eating up all the VRAM with HD textures etc.), but to get those really deep blacks and perfect color balance I went into the Service Menu and carefully tweaked the settings there.

Black levels are much better than on any TV or display that I have previously owned with very good, deep sound in Music mode. Plasmas are generally favored for lower input delay over LCD's, but you have to be careful not to leave still images on your screen for long as all Plasmas have the risk of Burn-in. I use the internet browser for many hours on this TV daily and have no burn-in issues as the TV slightly dims itself when you open a browser.

I picked this TV up from a private seller for $500 cash, back when it was selling for $799 plus tax at Best Buy a few months back. You can see some vids I made of this TV on my Youtube channel.

 

+1 on the plasma tv

I have a 46" Panasonic Viera Plasma PC46ST30. Played Diablo 3 on it and it looked amazing. I plan on getting an xbox in the near future or I might just take my brother's PS3 and double it as a bluray player as well.

Anyways, I dunno if you're keen on getting it brand-brand new and I dunno where you're located, but check your local stores like Target and Best Buy and ask about their TVs on display. I bought this tv for $450 only. Even though it's an older model, it was still selling for upwards of $800-1200 brand new. Target was gonna sell it to us for $500, but since it did not come with the pedestal, they shaved off some more and it totaled to $450.

 

Not that there is anything wrong with Plasma, but you will have to be more careful with a plasma than an LCD/LED TV when gaming.

Games often have repetitive images and Plasma is susceptible to having a repetitve image burned into it. Today's plasma TVs have defenses for this, but they are not as fool-proof as getting an LCD/LED.

Plasma DOES have higher contrast ratios and better blacks, but let's face it the LCDs and LEDs are very very good now.

I will also support Panasonic as a great unit (both plasma and LCD/LED), but having owned both Samsung and Sony, I can tell you they ship good stuff too.

One more thing, plasma units still tend to be bulkier and heavier than their LCD and especially the LED counterparts. They also produce more noticeable heat. None of these things really matter in the tradtional placement and usage of a gaming TV, but may be worth it for your implementation.

With all the above considered, I'd pick the best 1080p screen in your personal opinion. What the picture looks like and if its input lag is tolerable are the two biggest factors.

 

I've always been a huge fan of Sony Bravia. They rule, a bit on the expensive side but they rule

 

It comes down to this....

Plasma is THE best for gaming due to the low latency/input lag: which is the time it takes for the television to process the image input from the console and then appear on the screen, this affects how quickly or slowly your button presses appear on screen.

The MAJORITY of LCD/LED televisions SUCK in this regard - and the larger they are, the generally worse the input lag becomes (read up on it). For a 42 - 47 inch television go for the plasma Panasonic G30 (none 3D plasma).

Sony have TERRIBLE customer service, and Samsung have been caught lying about their advertising campaign and once they have your money their customer service sucks too. And BOTH companies outsource their panels from other companies: Chi Mei, Sharp etc. Read up on panel lotterys.

We're all PC gamers aren't we? Therefore we should expect LOW latency. At the size the OP is suggesting the only television they should be considering are Panasonic plasmas, as from testing Samsung and LG plasma's have higher input lag/latency (LG reported around 85 - 120ms sometimes) and the majority of LCD/LED's have poor input lag also (especially given the size).

Panasonic ST30 or G30 if you're not interested in 3D, have a low budget, want the best customer service and genuinely want a good, fluid gaming experience. Honestly.

Except on their 3D (which is notoriously terrible) and the fact that they don't produce their own panels. But I agree, the picture quality IS nice on some of their higher end model.