HDTV Help

[80mins]

I am actually still trying to decide.  I hate to go against advice here, but I am still thinking about the Vizio.  This will not be my main TV, it is only $389, and we have always had an easy time returning things to Costco if they don't work properly.

All of these suggestions have been great, and I really appreciate the help!

I own a Vizio. I too bought it because it was the cheapest out there. I had a freak issue less than two weeks into its life of a spontaneously cracked screen, but I was able to return it through their customer service at no cost to me. The new one hasn't given me a bit of trouble.

To answer your earlier question about watching a non-HD source on it, it looks fine, and in fact when I first got it (full disclosure, I was upgrading from the 19 or so inch TV I'd had forever to a 42" so of course there's some improvement) I was extremely impressed with how good it looked before I got the HD hooked up. But now that I've got HD, it's beautiful.

[DENVERBULL]

P.S. - What kind of TV did you end up buying?

In the living room I have a 52" Mitsubishi DLP 1080p/ Directv HD DVR/ PS3.

In the bedroom I have a 50" Panasonic plasma 720p/ Directv HD DVR/ Panasonic Blu-ray.

The Panasonic just blows me away. Way better than the Mitsubishi that I paid almost 3x more for three years ago. I've talked with people that have played hours of video games on LCD's that have resulted in halos or burn in. Maybe that has changed. I don't know. The burn in DVD is basically a disc that runs through a ton of different whole screen colors and gets all the gases working properly(plasmas). I'm not 100% sure if this is necessary on a LCD. I would think it would at least let you know if all the pixels are working properly. When you decide on a tv, search the web for a good picture setting. I found a good one on cnet for my plasma. Brightness level set at -21. Not sure I would have had it there if I hadn't read the recomendation. A high brightness level on a plasma will shorten it's life. Granted most plasmas are rate for 10,000+ hours before they lose 50% of their light. Way longer than the old tube tv's.

Vizio under $400 does seem like a pretty good deal.

[Paisa el Toro]

Do NOT buy a Monster Cable.  They are overpriced and do the same thing as cables that cost a tenth of what Monster Cables do.

Yeah I have read that somewhere as well.  I think there is some online place that is really good for inexpensice cables.  Can't remember the site though.

The website is www.monoprice.com, I've bought all my HD hookups from there and can attest to the high quality products.

[Pasco Joe]

I own a Vizio as well.  I had a major problem with it at first--the color was really screwed up to the point of everything looking like a cartoon.  Their repair guy came out and fixed it (pretty quickly, too) and it's worked great ever since.

Vizio has some problems, but once they're fixed, their TVs work just as well as the pricier ones.

[mikebeau]

Go to sams club and check the back aisle for display models.  They are getting rid of all the extra displays set up over the holidays.

[bulldad10]

Do NOT buy a Monster Cable.  They are overpriced and do the same thing as cables that cost a tenth of what Monster Cables do.

Yeah I have read that somewhere as well.  I think there is some online place that is really good for inexpensice cables.  Can't remember the site though.

The website is www.monoprice.com, I've bought all my HD hookups from there and can attest to the high quality products.

Yep.  That's the site.  I knew someone on here would come up with it!