Vizio Flat Panel HDTV !

[magnumpi]

I've been thinking of taking the HD plunge recently as it's my favorite sports time of the year and wonder if anyone has had any experience with Vizio (speak up on other brands if you have strong feelings either way please). I see it's a Silicon Valley company that hasn't been around long. Anything anyone cares to venture that will help further my education will be greatly appreciated - thanks in advance. Craig

[Bigdog]

Craig - don't know a lot about the company but the product line is basically a big box store line. They generally don't have the features available on the mid and upper quality lines. I have compared their picture quality to others side by side in the stores and they are not as good as many brands in my opinion.

[JimT]

Hi Magnumpi,

I bought a Sony Bravia 46" this year. I like it. If you are wanting the HD clarity you will have to have a HD receiver from you cable company or satellite company, otherwise you will not get the HD signal. My TV is HD ready but I do not have the receiver from the cable company to be able to watch shows in HD. When you shopping for a TV ask it the program that is on the TV is showing in HD. If it is ask them if they can show it to you without running it in HD to compare the video quality. Sears was able to do this and there is a difference.

JimT

[Into Tractors]

Craig, not sure if you have places you can go to "View" & "Compare" but I chose a Sony Bravia LCD HDTV unit. I found that going to the "Best Buy" & "Circuit City" was a waste of time, as they had them all setup in area's that were dark. The unit I have automatically compensates for the lighting in the romm and such, which was a plus as my family room is not "Dark" at all times. So glare comes into play, which my set automatically adjusts for.

I'm no expert, but I do have a background in Electronics, A/V and such, the Plasma units will burn in and are highly touchy to power spikes and such. I chose LCD as in the long run, it will last longer than the Plasma units, as Plasma is a gas and over time will decrease. Power spikes are bad for all electronic items, but Plasma suffers the worse. LCD also is better for the viewing angle as well.

Not sure if you have such a store, but I ended up going to a store here that sold furniture as well as electronics. They had area's setup as home theatre and such where they lighting was a much better comparison to my house. In the dark, everything looks good, but in the real enviroment at home, it is much different.

I'll have to check my links and such, but I found a website that helped me out in making my decision. If & when I find it I'll PM it to you?

[trac48]

I got wript off to I have HD and satellite, all I guet is 10% of movies and programs in HD ; so wy do we throw are money out in the air...I dont know!

maybe to keep up withe the brother in law

My .02

[Kodiak]

Craig,
We do Digital Sinage work and I mainly do satellite uplinks. Mike is correct on the LCD VS Plasma. The plasma wioll have burn in. The LCD is my choice as well. We use SONY's and LG . We used some Panasonic's but they did not hold up in the long haul. (Of course we are talking a commercial enviroment) I personally like the LG's. Just my 2 cents

Ron

[Donny M]

I would wait until the sunset of NTSC (analog TV broadcast) before buying a new TV. This is scheduled to take place in early 2009 at which time only ATSC (digital) will be broadcast terrestrially. If your current TV is working good and you can wait, the prices of all HDTV sets will fall dramatically in just over a year.

[Kodiak]

Donny,
Your right I totally forgot about that. Your suggestion to wait if possible is a very good one Thanks for the reminder!

Ron

[magnumpi]

I agree with the wait theory; however, if everyone waits until the 11th hour, demand goes up.......prices DON'T go down IMO. C

[Brandon Webb]

If you can't get HDTV cable or satelite, don't buy an HD TV

Dad bought a 52 inch plasma, we only get certain channels that are HD, the rest look like crap. The picture is better on our old tv. But if you watch a DVD or something, the picture is amazing. The cable company charged us for HDTV cable, that they didn't yet offer, Amazing. The only way to get more than 30 channels was to buy this. They get you there.

[magnumpi]

This from a stock market newsletter I get nightly. It was in reference to Best Buy pulling all their analog sets off the shelves as of today to provide only digital from today forward. Craig

Currently about 60 million households still rely on analog
TV sets. However, the Federal Communications
Commission has ruled that all broadcasters must stop
transmitting analog signals as of February 18, 2009, and
cable operators must continue providing analog signals
through February 2012. After those dates, people with
analog technology will be able to view programming only
with the aid of "set-top boxes" that convert digital signals
to analog format.