In market for 42" 1080p LCD (1 Viewer)

[Alex/d]

Sharp is supposed to be one of the best (if not best) LCD manufacturers... that and maybe LG...
Sony Bravias are fairly nice in the 42" range....

Also you might want to consider Olivia (cant remember correct spelling). I think that Olivia is a rebadged/repackaged Sony display. My bro-in-law has one and it looks similar to the Sony's that were on the market at the time.

 

[Hans M.]

Just to up-date: I went for it at 1:30 a.m. Friday and was able to order one at the BF $999.99 price, when I got to the Magnolia Theater counter at about 6 a.m. Saved $700. Way worth it, it seems. I can't wait for it to get to my home on Tues.!

 

[Josh Lowe]

One of my local BBs had a few of these left by 7AM, most of the BF madness was focused on the Panasonic 42" plasma, the Toshiba 50" plasma, and the Westinghouse 32" LCD. The Westy 42" LCD (W4207) went somewhat unnoticed. I took a gamble and bought one at the sale price and I am tremendously pleased. The out of the box settings are pretty bad, it's in burn mode. Once you turn down the backlight and adjust the levels the blacks are greatly improved and the overall image quality is outstanding. I'm watching HD content via my Xbox360 VGA cable at 1360x768. The TV -will- accept a 1920x1080 signal but it appears to automatically downres it its native resolution. To my eyes the picture looked a little sharper at 1360x768 so that's where I left it.

The blacks are not as deep as an equivalent plasma but the higher resolution (most 42" plasmas being 1024x768) was the clincher for me since I use this display for gaming as well as HTPC. For the price I don't think anything can touch it.

 

[Richard Gallagher]

I just ordered the Sharp today. I won't have it for a week to ten days, but when it arrives I may have some questions about tweaking it. I went back and forth between the Sharp and the Sony KDL-40V2500, but I ultimately decided to go with the larger screen.

 

[Neal_C]

Congrats on the purchase of the Sharp. You will love the set. If you have an Xbox 360 and get the HD-DVD add on drive, you will be happy to know the Sharp accepts 1080p via component. And it looks wonderful I might add.

 

[jspace22]

Costco online has the Westinghouse for $800. But I wouldn't recommend it. I was going to get it (b/c it's 1080p & has PIP) but I read reviews of the black levels being weak, PQ looks better at 720p, it lacks one of the over air tuners, and few input connections. This is listed as a monitor, that's why it costs less and that's why it lacks some basics as far as televisions go. And as for the Sharp Aquos', I heard they do a bad job at cramming their pixels on the display panel, so much that reds bleed into other pixels creating red skin tones that are, not life like, haha. I had to choose between a samsung and a toshiba because they offer PIP on most sets. Gotta have PIP, right? Right. Sony's do look great, but they don't offer PIP. 1080p Sharps are cheaper, also don't offer PIP. Plus if you put all the functionality of Regza next to another brand you'll see why Sharp is so cheap. The internal upconversion is something to be happy about. What's wrong with everyone?

 

[Phil A]

Costco has a $200 Coupon this week for the new Vizio 1080p 42 inch LCD. w/o the coupon it is $1,199.99. I picked it up last night. It is for my bedroom system and primarily watching late night TV at bed time and perhaps a few movies a yr. It replaced a 6 yr. old 1st generation 40 inch 480p LCD by Samsung so I'm happy with the purchase. It looked good in HD. Watched the Tonight Show last night. There are things I've seen that are better (some of the newer Samsung TVs look really nice) but being what I'm using it for, I'm quite happy and didn't want to pass on the bargain. costco.com also has a $200 off deal the week of July 9 on a 42 inch Magnavox 1080p LCD.

 

[Charles Smith]

Hi everyone. New to the forum and to HDTV. I'm ready to jump in and get my feet wet with the first of two flat panel TVs. This one will be the smaller and more casual purchase of the two (it's for the living room) and I've decided on LCD in the 37"-42" range. It will be only used for cable and upconverted DVD viewing (I've ordered the Oppo 981) -- no gaming or computer use -- and I'm not even concerned about an audio setup at this point. I'll be listening to the built-in speakers, at least for a while. I'm trying to keep this around $1000, but a little above is okay.

I'd probably be fine with 720p at 37", but I'm wondering if there's any compelling reason to not take advantage of the Costco/Vizio 42" 1080p deal ($999 this week with the coupon). I'm thinking the upscaling would be nicer, and I'd have 1080p for possible future use with Blu-Ray or whatever.

Thanks in advance for any comments.

 

[Phil A]

I may be ordering the Oppo 981 for the Vizio 42 inch TV in a few weeks. I would have been fine with 720p as well considering it is the bedroom system and I sit about 11 ft. away. My bedroom system backs to the main system and at the moment are somewhat interconnected. If I ever get a hi-def format, I'd like to be able to share a player and having TVs with the same resolution would make it a little easier. I'll like upgrade the main system projector next yr. I was going to hold off on the TV until I painted the bedroom and got new carpeting which may be a couple of mos. off but decided to go for it at the price I could get it for now. I'm not sure if in 60 days I was ready I'd be able to get it at that price so I took the step of making the purchase.

 

[James T]

I've had my Sharp for close to a month now (watching as much HD as I can ) and I have not noticed any bleeding. There is however a banding issue that has a big ass thread on AVS. I can see it, but it doesn't bother me b/c it only affects (I'd guess) 0.1% of my viewing. And to be honest, I never would have noticed it if I never opened that AVS thread.

 

[Ford]

Hi Scott I'm totally new to this type of thing and have been hankering for 1080p LCD screen. Now have got myself the Samsung 46" hi-def LCD screen but hooked up to a satellite decoder, I have an awful picture and playing back from an LG DVD/receiver/amp, the picture is not any better. I asked around and it seems that the picture from the satellite TV is compoiste while I need to feed component signal to the screen. Who do I ask and how do I go about checking what I need to get? Can you perhaps direct me to the right pigeon hole? Hope you can help

Sam

 

[Phil A]

Are there menu settings for the satellite rec'r and DVD (e.g. screen format) player? The TV likely has settings too.