Sony vs Samsung vs Toshiba 40inch range LCDs (1 Viewer)

[Bradley_Z]

I'm trying to decide among these 3 choices: Sony KDL-40XBR2, Samsung LNS4096D, and Toshiba 42LZ196.

I can't really find any info on the Toshiba, and don't know how to decide which of these tvs to buy. All have 1080p resolution and claim to have deep black levels, accurate colors, and fast response times. Is there any objective way to measure the performance of these tvs?

I went to an electronics store, but I can't tell anything because they put different signals in all of them.

I'm going to connect a ps3, blu-ray player, high def satellite, and my pc for watching tv and gaming. I also wanted to mention that I read the samsung automatically upconverts video to 1080p, but I don't know if the other sets can do that.

Since I'll be using it primarily for games, action movies, and tennis its important that I have something that has a good refresh rate.

 

[AlanZ]

I had pretty much decided to pick up a plasma to go with my projector (pj for movies, plasma for casual viewing), but I've since fallen in love with the samsung LCDs. I spent another half hour at BB today and I'm planning to buy a LNS-4051 in a couple weeks. I saw the 4096 there too, and it's beautiful. It was clear to me that the true stand out sets belonged to both sony and samsung. I felt they offered the best picture quality of all. I could be very happy with a sony, but I'm just smitten with the sammys....beautiful pic, great looking set....hard to beat.

I had heard that the westinghouse 1080p models were very good value, but I was disappointed in the picture quality. I played around with the settings, but nothing helped. The samsungs just killed it.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

I have a Panasonic plasma right now. I like the blacks on plasmas better than almost all LCD displays. But if I was to get an LCD, I'd go for the Sony. Might cost a little more than the others, but this set does a pretty good job with blacks. Other than that, I'd go for Sharp or JVC.

 

[Bradley_Z]

I saw these 3 reviews, but I'm still confused about what is the best one for my needs. The reviewer seems to prefer the Sony to the Samsung, but he doesn't mention response times. I also haven't seen any information on the Toshiba. I don't want to buy a tv based on the name alone. I'd really like to know your reasons behind liking one tv over another. Is it something concrete or just based on brand history?

http://reviews.cnet.com/Sony_KDL_40X...5.html?tag=def

http://reviews.cnet.com/Samsung_LN_S...-31954846.html

http://reviews.cnet.com/Toshiba_42LZ...-32149015.html

 

[SethH]

You might visit Arthur's thread regarding the recent Consumer Reports write-ups on tvs this size.

 

[jspace22]

I have narrowed my choice to a 40" Samsung 1080p or a 42" Toshiba 1080p.
The reason I've quoted you is because only these two brands offer 'PIP' or even better 'HD POP'. I also plan to use the same connections - 360, PS3, cable, PC. So, yes, I'll have the football game running in another window as I'm playing with any of my consoles. That's the only bad thing about Sony, they don't offer PIP with their XBR models. They do offer freeze memo which is crap. I've been doing my research for about a month only. But my goals were to have a set capable of 1080p & PIP. Westinghouse has PIP but I've read some slightly bad news about the quality of the LCD panel, and also it's lack of one over the air tuners. And about the samsung upconverting video to 1080p, is probably just wordy. I mean either it's output is 1080p (1920x1080), or it isn't. Just to mention I think I'm already set for the
42" Regza 42HL196, I think Regza actually offers 3 HDMI ports, as opposed to the duals on every other brand. But best price for a 1080p set w/o PIP would officially be Sharp Aquos.