Need help choosing 42" flat screen TV

[JKL2000]

SORRY FOR THE WOT POST! (I do try to avoid them now, and tried a specialty forum but didn't get much help. Most of you are techies, so I need some advice!)

I bought a Panasonic Viera 50" plasma screen, but it's way too big for our house - the house has small rooms, and we really have to go down to a 42" screen or <.
On another forum I was told there's nothing meeting my requirements available in North America now - I guess a TV smaller than 50" is getting harder to find.

Here are my requirements - they're not so extensive

- 42" or < screen, but as close to 40" as possible
- Good quality picture with good blacks (I know plasma is best for this, but I'm open to other display types if they're highly recommended. Panasonic is known for plasma displays with good blacks).
- Built in wi-fi with at least Netflix app (I also need to get a Blu-Ray player, so I could get the Oppo with built in Wi-fi -- maybe that's the way to go?)

Thanks!

[UnephenStephen]

i still see a lot of 22-40" TV's at Best Buy. in fact i bought a 22" Samsung LCD HD just as recently as last Oct.

[JKL2000]

Really, to make it easier, if I buy the Oppo Blu-Ray player with built in wi-fi, and I want a flat-screen display no larger than 42", what display would you recommend (that's currently available NEW in North America)?

I have a feeling phrasing it this way will make it easy for someone like Ken Golden to give me an answer, maybe.

However, I now have a question about the Oppo players: I thought you could get the Oppo to wirelessly connect to your wi-fi router. Is that not the case? Looking at the user manual it seems like you have to connect the Oppo to your router with a cable, then you'd need a wi-fi-ready tv to connect to the oppo wirelessly. Not sure that would work for me, as if I bought a wi-fi ready tv I wouldn't really need a blu-ray player with wi-fi capability.

EDIT: I see, looks like the Oppo comes with a wireless adapter dongle. I thought the wi-fi adapter was built in. Kind of weird...

[Yodelgoat]

All I have to say is that the LED TV's are supposed to last longer and be more reliable than the other technologies. I have no idea of the science behind it, but that's all I will buy. LED's are also very energy efficient.

IMO You're going about this all wrong... You need a bigger room, not a smaller TV.

[JKL2000]

All I have to say is that the LED TV's are supposed to last longer and be more reliable than the other technologies. I have no idea of the science behind it, but that's all I will buy. LED's are also very energy efficient.

IMO You're going about this all wrong... You need a bigger room, not a smaller TV.

Yeah, we do need a bigger room!

We had a Panasonic plasma screen that we used for about 6 years, and it always looked great. But it was some kind of Pro model that was intended for trade shows, etc. and had no built in speakers, plus had no HDMI inputs, so was a bit old and difficult to use.

I think picture-wise the plasmas are supposed to be the best, but it does look like things are going more toward LED displays.

[Ken]

Yeah, we do need a bigger room!

We had a Panasonic plasma screen that we used for about 6 years, and it always looked great. But it was some kind of Pro model that was intended for trade shows, etc. and had no built in speakers, plus had no HDMI inputs, so was a bit old and difficult to use.

I think picture-wise the plasmas are supposed to be the best, but it does look like things are going more toward LED displays.

In 2010, I bought a Toshiba 42" LED 1080p with 120hz refresh. The picture is excellent. I bought it from TigerDirect, as they have a retail store near my home. Perhaps you can get some ideas from their website.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/

LCD, LED, 3D, Plasma, DLP, what are the differences?
LCD TV, Plasma TV, and DLP TV what’s the difference? Because many folks are confused about these new technologies, we’ve provided some brief definitions of each technology so you’ll have a clearer understanding as you make your TV buying decision. All these technologies create magnificent pictures.

•LED TV - LED TVs use LED backlighting instead of fluorescent lighting, and thus they can produce images and picture quality with a greater dynamic contrast. LED Televisions are also very slim and take up minimum space.

•LCD TV - LCD TV uses Liquid Crystal Display technology (generally TFT), as opposed to cathode ray or plasma for its visual output. The result is breathtaking images. Larger screen LCD televisions are hugely popular as more and more are produced.

•3D TV - 3D TVs employ the latest technology today, allowing you to view three-dimensional TV shows, movies and video games. 3D Televisions have very high refresh rates so that two images can be displayed at the same time, one to each eye, allowing you to perceive depth. Most 3D TVs require the use of special 3D glasses.

•DLP TV - DLP (Digital Lighting Processing) technology uses an optical semiconductor to manipulate light digitally. Picture quality is masterful. You’ll find DLP technology in many televisions, home theater systems and business and entertainment projectors.

•Plasma TV - Plasma TV employs a matrix of tiny gas plasma bubbles coated by phosphor and charged by precise electrical voltages to create a picture.

[Romerovm]

Panasonic VT50 Plasma all the way! I am not sure if they make a 42", but I have the 55" model and I am blown away.

[Jay G]

I have a Panasonic TC-L42E50 LED LCD set. I got it for about $549 a few months back and while I am a huge fan of Plasma this is the perfect set for my bedroom. 1080P with 120 refresh rate. Not WiFi out of the box but for $50 you can add the Panasonic Dongle and have access to Netflix, etc. Of course if you get the Oppo you are covered.

[ronmac]

Too bad you have to go down from a plasma to LCD, because it will not be as good. I bought a 50" Panasonic last Christmas and it's amazing. There was a smaller one (42" Samsung?), but it was lower resolution. Apparently, the technology is too pricey for them to make smaller TVs, or something like that.

The energy efficiency of the LEDs is better, but we're not talking megabucks here.

[nycsteve]

Im about to pull the trigger on an Samsung LD at Costco. Increadably cheap with 60 dollars extra extending the in home service to 5 years. The prices are low to the point its worth a membership fee just for the TV purchase.

[ronmac]

Just make sure you know the refresh rate. Those Visio TVs that they sell are total crap.

That being said, you cannot beat Costco's return policy.

[UnephenStephen]

as i mentioned, that 22" i bought was a Samsung and from what i've heard Samsung is leading the field when it comes to HD technology. the picture on mine is certainly very nice.

[JKL2000]

Panasonic VT50 Plasma all the way! I am not sure if they make a 42", but I have the 55" model and I am blown away.

It seems Panasonic has stopped making plasma displays smaller than 50", and the 42" ones are all gone (even though they made 2013 models!).

Too bad you have to go down from a plasma to LCD, because it will not be as good.

The Panasonic 42" LED LCD I'm looking at (Panasonic TC-L42E60) is supposed to have a great picture:

http://reviews.cnet.com/flat-panel-t...-35781826.html

Im about to pull the trigger on an Samsung LD at Costco. Increadably cheap with 60 dollars extra extending the in home service to 5 years. The prices are low to the point its worth a membership fee just for the TV purchase.

Which model is it?

I have a Panasonic TC-L42E50 LED LCD set. I got it for about $549 a few months back and while I am a huge fan of Plasma this is the perfect set for my bedroom. 1080P with 120 refresh rate. Not WiFi out of the box but for $50 you can add the Panasonic Dongle and have access to Netflix, etc. Of course if you get the Oppo you are covered.

The TC-L42E60 seems to be a newer version of yours - this one does have wi-fi built in though. for some reason the TC-L42E50 seems to now be about twice the price of the E60 - not sure why it would have gone up.

[Klonk]

Just make sure you know the refresh rate. Those Visio TVs that they sell are total crap.

This is good advice. Especially if you watch stuff with lots of fast action. Personally, I went with plasma because I watch a lot of sports and action. The 600hz handles motion better than any LCD/LED I've owned. Not a streak, trail or blur to be seen.

[ronmac]

This is good advice. Especially if you watch stuff with lots of fast action. Personally, I went with plasma because I watch a lot of sports and action. The 600hz handles motion better than any LCD/LED I've owned. Not a streak, trail or blur to be seen.

So, true. And I must add that I found it hilarious that Costco had football games on their display TVs, perfectly demonstrating how crappy some of them are.

[nycsteve]

Originally Posted by nycsteve
Im about to pull the trigger on an Samsung LD at Costco. Increadably cheap with 60 dollars extra extending the in home service to 5 years. The prices are low to the point its worth a membership fee just for the TV purchase.


Which model is it?


Its in the 6600 series, a 55 inch , dont think it has any "smart " features, a 240 refresh rate(is that good?) ,its 780 + 60 to add another 3 years on top of the auto 2 year warrenty. Oh its Samsung. The display has a great picture. I have a 42" Samsung 3-4 years old that I paid more than 3x for and I like it. It seems to be another 150 to start making it smart, which I dont care about. Im not streaming ,flixing, or emailing with it,just DVDs and cable.

[Banquo]

Originally Posted by nycsteve
Im about to pull the trigger on an Samsung LD at Costco. Increadably cheap with 60 dollars extra extending the in home service to 5 years.

"In home service"? Really? If there's even the possibility that the thing would crap out within five years, then it ain't worth the time it takes to wheel it out to your car. But knock yourself out if it makes you feel better.

[nycsteve]

Originally Posted by nycsteve
Originally Posted by nycsteve
Im about to pull the trigger on an Samsung LD at Costco. Increadably cheap with 60 dollars extra extending the in home service to 5 years.


"In home service"? Really? If there's even the possibility that the thing would crap out within five years, then it ain't worth the time it takes to wheel it out to your car. But knock yourself out if it makes you feel better.


Yea it does make me feel better. Thank you for the permission to do so.

[ronmac]

Just make sure that, if you transport your flatscreen, you don't lay it flat. They should be upright at all times.

[Birdy]

Just bought the same and it's great! There are plenty of flatscreens out there under 50" though

[Jerjo]

I got a Panasonic 55" plasma last August after a long thread debating TVs. I did notice that when it was on the top of the entertainment center it did seem too big for the room. And we have a really big living room. But once it went up on the wall it seemed perfect. I love the picture on this thing. My wife will even watch sports because the high def on baseball and football games is stunning.

[ronmac]

Just bought the same and it's great! There are plenty of flatscreens out there under 50" though

It's the plasmas that aren't available in the smaller sizes.

I got a Panasonic 55" plasma last August after a long thread debating TVs. I did notice that when it was on the top of the entertainment center it did seem too big for the room. And we have a really big living room. But once it went up on the wall it seemed perfect. I love the picture on this thing. My wife will even watch sports because the high def on baseball and football games is stunning.

In deed. Actually, what I find more stunning is watching restored black-and-white movies on TCM. Seeing those black blacks and natural tones makes them look almost 3D, especially when the camera pans.

[nycsteve]

I watch alot of BW movies. Wonder if I'de be better off with a plasma. Costco has a 50"or 55" Panasonic, the demo didnt look to have as vivid colors as its LED neighbors but that could be the setting. The plasmas have a limited lifespan IIRC from prior research.

[ronmac]

Don't be fooled. Plasmas have far more realistic image quality than the LED/LCDs. People tend to get fooled by the harshness of the LCDs. Plasmas are widely considered superior.

[JKL2000]

If you read the picture quality section of the cnet review I posted in post #13, it goes into a fair amount of detail, and while there are some trade-offs (the sound quality is bad, but I'm not going to reply on the built in speakers anyway), since I had to go with a 42" screen, this seems like a good choice for the price ($600).

Here are the most important paragraphs:

Picture quality
The E60 is among the best-performing LED LCDs we've tested this year for the price. It delivers deep black levels for an LED LCD without the issues associated with imprecise local dimming. Color and video processing are also solid, if not spectacular, while bright room performance and uniformity were very good. Its worst performance aspect is actually its sound quality.

It's also worth noting that even though I didn't include it in the comparison below, nor have I subjected it to a full review yet, I've tested our in-house TC-L55WT60 -- Panasonic's most expensive LED LCD for 2013 -- enough to report that it doesn't have better picture quality than the E60. We plan to publish the full WT60 review soon.

Black level: The E60's biggest strength is the ability to show a relatively deep shade of black. The nighttime scenes from "Skyfall," such as the Shanghai cityscape or Bond's arrival at the bar in Macau, looked more realistic and powerful thanks to the E60's black level. In our lineup the only sets that eclipsed in this area, aside from the S60 plasma, were the two Vizios -- and both of those have local dimming circuits that introduce certain amount of blooming and crushing (see their reviews for details).

The skyline at 41:32 is a mix of dark sky and shadows among otherwise brightly illuminated towers, and the E60 handled it very well, showing darker letterbox bars than any other sets aside from the S60 and the Vizio E series. The highlights also looked brighter than on the M series with its aggressive dimming. Details in the shadows, like the faces of Bond and his silhouetted target in the high-rise stalking scene (Chapter 12), were well-detailed without being too bright.

Color accuracy: The E60's accurate measurements translated onto the screen very well. Skin tones, like the face of Bond and his antagonist as they meet in Chapter 17, looked natural and realistic, without the slightly ruddy tinge of the Vizio E or the greenish/yellowish cast of the Sharp and especially the Panasonic S60.

On the other hand, subjectively speaking the E60's saturation appeared somewhat less rich than most of the others, particularly the S60, the Samsung and the Vizio M, in brightly colored areas like the fruit stands in the opening chapter. It's not a huge issue, however, and would be tough to notice outside a side-by-side comparison

Another weakness was the E60's tendency to go bluish in dark areas, a problem shared by many LED LCDs but worse than usual in the E60's case. It even extended into somewhat brighter areas, like the background of the wall behind the villain at 1:16:02.

Video processing: The E60 delivered the performance I expect from a 120Hz television. Compared with many other so-called 120Hz TVs that more or less cheat at the refresh rate game, like the Vizio E series and the LG LA6200, that's a refreshing change.

Panasonic's Motion Picture setting controls the smoothing Soap Opera Effect. Leaving it off is the only way to preserve the correct cadence of 1080p/24 film sources, so we expect most video and film buffs will do just that.

The other three settings, Weak, Mid, and Strong, introduce progressively more smoothing. Weak is more aggressive than I've seen in some Panasonics, so the smoothing it introduces is still quite noticeable. The other two also showed haloing and breakup artifacts, although these issues aren't as visible as on the LG, for example.

There's little reason to use Weak anyway because unlike the other two, it fails to improve the E60's motion resolution numbers. Mid and Strong scored the 600-off lines expected of a 120Hz TV, while Off and Weak cut those roughly in half--although between the two, Weak fared a bit better. As usual I found it tough to discern blurring in actual program material, even when I left the setting off. Unlike Samsung, Panasonic offers no setting that preserves motion resolution without introducing smoothing.

Uniformity: The E60 performed extremely well in this area for a edge-lit LED LCD. Yes, on test patterns the edges and corners appeared just oh-so-slightly brighter than the middle, but on program material the backlight irregularities were next-to-impossible to discern.

From off-angle the E60 was about average among its LCD peers, washing out dark areas worse than the Sharp or the E series and about as much as the Samsung, but outdoing the M series and the LG. In brighter scenes the latter two maintained color fidelity better, however; the E60 tended to more quickly become bluish/reddish from off-angle.

Bright lighting: The E60 excels under the lights. Its matte screen attenuates reflections better than any of the other sets aside from the Sharp (the best by a nose) and the Vizio E series, both of which also have a matte finish. Bright objects reflected therein, like my checked shirt under overhead lights, looked duller and less distracting.

The E60 also delivered on a second bright-room characteristic, the ability to preserve black levels from washing out. As a result the image maintained good "pop" and contrast, outdoing laggards like the LG and the S60 in this area while keeping pace with the others aside from the group-leading Samsung.