New TV Advice Needed

[Kaishen]

The TVs I have are both very old and crappy, and when I play video games that require any reading, I often find it is hard to read because the text is too small. So, I've decided to get with the times and buy a flat panel HDTV. I know almost nothing about TVs, so I'm looking for advice. I am looking to spend something like $500-800. I don't expect to get anything that's going to blow me away. I can't even tell the difference between HDTV and regular TV, so don't base your advice on miniscule differences in picture quality.

Basically what I am looking for is something big enough that I can read text easily from across the room, and that has a pretty decent looking picture (i.e. not lower quality than the analog tube TV I am replacing. I've seen plenty of flat panel TVs that look this bad...).

Any advice? Thanks!

[Caiyuo]

For actual TV advice, I can't give a solid answer just because there are so many small things to account for that I'd be looking at myself, but in general if you comb through some of the Black Friday ads, I'd you'd likely find something relatively nice.

This is something from the Black Friday thread which fits in your price range: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...L1B-_-89253164 - Given your post about text in video games I'm not sure this model LCD would be ideal, though, given the response time and the supposed ghosting and blurring people talk of with these for sports and games.

On a separate note, I find I have this problem once in awhile on 360 games on my SDTV and it's really just the fault of the developer considering many games do just fine. Tekken 6, for example, I can't read damn near anything on, while Borderlands is totally fine and clear.

[Mabubeezareel]

At that price range, you're probably looking at 32-37" 720p for an LCD, or 40-42" 1080p for a plasma. Though if you can't tell the difference between SD and HD broadcasts, then you'll definitely never notice the difference between 720p and 1080p, especially in this size range.

For an LCD, you can't get go wrong with Samsung, though they are on the high end of the quality spectrum and hence a bit pricey. I own a 40" Samsung LCD myself that I've had for the past two+ years, and have not a single complaint with it. There are some really decent Sony Bravias that you can find in this price range. I've also head pretty good things from friends who have Vizios, and they are on the low end of the price spectrum. Can't say much for their actual quality, but everyone who I know that has one has been quite satisfied.

Darus will sing the praises of the Panasonic plasmas, and there are some very good models available in the high end of your price range.

Btw, my girlfriend used to say the same thing about not being able to tell the difference between SD and HD programming. Whenever she'd be watching TV at my place, she'd be viewing the SD channels. Once I showed her the same program on the HD station, she was pretty amazed at the difference. She now no longer browses the SD channels anymore!

[Isiolia]

I would say to go to http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=9 or similar to ask, or at least ask there too. Just keep in mind that no product is 100% perfect.

...and yeah, you'll probably come to appreciate the difference.

Personally I have a 40" Samsung from a couple years back. They tend to be good - however, I know they had some latency issues in some models, so you probably want to do research. As I haven't been shopping for a TV recently, I'm somewhat out of the loop.