|
Making this decision has been hard for a number of reasons: Size, price, resolution will it be superseded in a few months, what resolution, LCD vs Plasma... it was doing me head in. We finally took the plunge. Here's some of the reasoning behind the decision...
Firstly, our current TV is a Wide 26" Flat Screen. Unfortunately, it only has composite inputs and no component or HDMI, which is needed for newer DVD and audio visual devices like our Apple TV...mmm we were getting sick of viewing our Apple TV images in black and white. I also made a quasi-promise I would put it on eBay  Size does matter: our TV room is a 4m x 4m, with a couch/lounge very close to the TV. It's open plan so you also can see the TV from the dining area. It would have been nice to get a 40" screen, but anything between 26" to 40" would have probably worked well. Anything larger, I think, would have felt like we were sitting in the first row of the cinema. Also, we let price drive the size. It seemed that 26" costs were not significantly different to the 32", however there was a big jump up to 37" and 40". So 32" was our optimal size/price.
LCD vs Plasma: you can find many reviews that explain the difference between LCD and Plasma. We ended up going for LCD as we're told it lasts longer, uses less power and picture quality is better for screens less than 50". So, LCD it was.
Resolution: Most of the models out there support 1080 x 768 with 720p and 1080i. The newer models offer what they are calling True High Definition (HD) which is 1080p. Although I would have liked a 1080p model, I just could not justify the price. That said today there is a not a lot of video content that is 1080p, I am sure this will change in the next few years... that said, we were willing to compromise. I am told that you cannot really notice the difference with 1080i and 720p, with 720p being better for faster moving images... so we set the TV to 720p.. or atleast the Apple TV setting to 720p. Brand: So, we're looking for a 32", 720p/1080i LCD TV. Most folk will gravitate towards the brand names. I have got to say I viewed the new 1080p Samsung and it was brilliant. I could not justify spending more than twice the amount on a 40" model. Other brand names seemed OK. We ended up going for an Acer who have been making LCD Computer Monitor screens for a long time and they had a special deal on. The quality looked awesome and the folk in the store said that they had no returns on that model, which was very different to some of the same (or cheaper) priced not-so-well-known brands. eBay vs the Store: Being an avid eBay purchaser I decided to purchase it from the store down the road. I figured this was a high worth item and wanted some bricks and mortar in case something went wrong. I also noticed that on eBay the really good priced items were seconds and they did not really explain what was wrong... said something like "May have scratch or box damaged", I was not willing to risk it. The net result is a I got a LCD 32" Acer TV for $999. For an extra $120 I got a 5 year on-site warranty. Yes, they will send the technician out to our house... brilliant, based on the size of the TV or if you do a wall-mount. Good quality cables: One of the things that the guy in the store showed me was the difference between cheap Composite/HDMI cables vs high quality. You'll pay double the price for high quality cables but it's definitely worth it, especially as it's a small percentage of the overall cost.
All in all, we're stoked with our new TV. The quality is awesome, especially with a Apple TV and viewing our slide shows. |
