Quote:
Originally Posted by Lucifer
including an LG 47" LCD TV for under $1000.
|
For a nice 47" LCD you should pay around $800 to $900. That's a decent deal but only if it's a higher end model.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lucifer
Things you wish you knew now that you didn't know when you bought your first TV?
|
That you should put your money into the size of the TV more than anything, and that the difference between 720p and 1080p isn't noticeable to most people.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lucifer
Which is better: LCD or Plasma, and why?
|
Neither one is really better. I own a 50" Plasma, a 40" LCD, and a 32" LCD. The Plasma reflects light pretty bad, so if the TV is going into a room with lots of windows you may want to consider a matte screen LCD instead. There are glossy screen LCDs and matte screens. The matte screens are flat black instead of shiny. The picture quality is no different between the two. Example:
Plasmas will be slightly cheaper than LCDs and noticeably heavier since they have glass in them unlike LCDs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lucifer
What is HDMI and why do I need it? I've noticed that most TV's specify how many HDMI inputs they have.
|
This is a video cable standard. HDMI cables plug into your TV and then go to other devices like a 5.1 audio receiver, cable box, video game console, DVD player, etc. It takes sound AND video through 1 cable to your TV. It supports 1080p resolution (the highest resolution available in TVs). A good TV has 3 or 4 HDMI ports.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lucifer
Do I really need a new DVD player (with up converting)?
|
Need? No. But DVDs aren't in high definition, so without upscaling, regular DVDs may not look very impressive on an HDTV.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lucifer
Will a Blu-ray DVD player play regular DVD's as well as Blu-Ray?
|
Yes.
The big question is how big of a TV do you want, what's your price range, and the most important question of all: how far away are you sitting from the TV (measure in feet from your eyes to the TV screen)?