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New member Username: SammyfryPost Number: 1 Registered: Oct-06 | I have about $2000 budgeted. I am kind of a sony brand kinda guy, but wondering if the best option is to stray to a different brand because of the price. I am leaning towards Sony KDL40S2000 or Sony KDL46S2000. I am wondering if you suggest others that are similar. Also, I am debating on buying from a chop shop internet site to save money. Since either of the two options I mentioned are hard to get under $2000 at a retail store. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. The tv will be in my living room, not really used for games, but for watching cable tv, dvds, etc. Also, what's your take on extended warranties. I am thinking that I should at least try to get a 3 yr if not 5. |
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New member Username: Cobra11Post Number: 10 Registered: Oct-06 | I think you should try to find a shop that can show you the new Samsung LN-S4095P LCD flat panel HDTV. This new model can do 1080P, 1080i, 720P & I. The blacks are BLACK the pixel size very fine. I have had mine for about 1 month now and from any viewing angle it is just super to watch. The energy saver modes adjust the brightness or color intensity. Mine is fed by the Cablevision IO Digital DVR so I get my signal via direct HDMI input to the TV. (there are 2 HDMI jacks in the back of the TV BTW,(nice)). The audio is played via a Denon 1906, soon to be upgraded to a Denon 2807. Please take a look at this monitor as a comparison point to the Sony. It comes with a 1 year warranty but I extended to 3 years. I was limited to 40" due to the enclosure my wife insisted upon, there are larger versions of this monitor. It is new so it is hard to actually find one in a store. Try Best Buy as a potential store to see it in. |
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New member Username: SammyfryPost Number: 2 Registered: Oct-06 | Are you referring to the Samsung LN-S4095D, i tried looking up "P" and didn't find any results. Where did you buy yours from? |
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Bronze Member Username: Cobra11Post Number: 11 Registered: Oct-06 | Yes, My Bad. it is the LN-S4095D... I purchased mine from Best Buy and had to travel about 60 Miles to see one at the store that had it in stock. Perhaps the inventory is better now but 6 weeks ago these were flying off the racks. |
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New member Username: SammyfryPost Number: 3 Registered: Oct-06 | Thanks for the feedback. Any other suggestions? |
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Silver Member Username: Frostyda9Calgary, AB Canada Post Number: 117 Registered: May-05 | I second Arty-G's suggestion. I bought the Samsung as well. They are flying off the rack for good reason. |
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Bronze Member Username: SeanpennPost Number: 16 Registered: Jan-06 | Just bought this the other day for my brother http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824022014 Simply the best LCD for your money. Picture Quality is great. |
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Bronze Member Username: Cleveland_plasmaCleveland, Ohio USA Post Number: 17 Registered: Aug-06 | Samsung LN-S4095D is a good choice. The Sharp 42D62U will be out shortlly also. Both 1080P models. These models also will be hard to find for under $2000. Another option is the Westinghouse LWV-42W2. This is a 1080P model and is under $2000. You will find people who love the unit and others who hate it. This unit has no tuners though. |
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Bronze Member Username: TommyvRowlett, Texas Post Number: 67 Registered: Aug-06 | d, i am actually planning on purchasing the Sony KDL40S2000 this weekend. from what i understand it is a great unit and it is now replaced by the 2010 series so you should be able to find a deal on it. i have found it at a local shop brand new for $1672. i really want to get the Samsung 1080P or the Sony V series 1080P but $2500 is just too much to spend for me. |
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Bronze Member Username: TommyvRowlett, Texas Post Number: 70 Registered: Aug-06 | d, this is the store where i bought mine for $1672, they actually offer it for free shipping through thier web site. just add it to your cart to see the price. http://www.hometheaterstore.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=KDL40S2000 i am very happy with this panel so far and feel like i got a great deal, especially since it sold for $3000 when it came out. Good Luck! |
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New member Username: SammyfryPost Number: 4 Registered: Oct-06 | Thanks for everyone's help. After much research, I finally pulled the trigger and bought a Samsung LN-S4095. Hopefully the fact that it is 1080p might prepare me for the future. Also I got a pretty good buy from J&R. Costed about 1899, added a 5 yr warranty for 299, shipping was 75. Plus they threw in a samsung xm player and a free 3 month subscription. All said and done I walked away with paying 2275.48. I hope I made the right choice. We'll see next week, its going to ship on Thursday. Thanks again for all the help. |
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New member Username: SammyfryPost Number: 5 Registered: Oct-06 | Arty-G, once I get this bad boy in my house, I will upgrade my digital cable to HD and maybe we could talk configuration, if you know of any good settings, etc. |
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Bronze Member Username: Cobra11Post Number: 39 Registered: Oct-06 | Hi d: Congrats on your TV choice. I love my 4095D. But as the old saying goes.... somethin' better will be coming around. Once you get yours in I will be glad to help with your cable setup. I have my cable box Cablevision Explorer 8300HD connected to the TV via an HDMI cable (monster brand). I have the audio turned OFF on the TV and have the Toslink (optical out) of the cable box plugged into my Denon 2807. I have the Cablevision audio output set to WIDE and also the audio mode set to Dolby Digital. The cablevision box has an HD wizard that allows you to walk thru the setup rather easily. The setting seem to be persistant. Likewise I have my DVD player connected via HDMI to the input 2 on the back of the 4095D and likewise the audio via Toslink optical to the back of the Denon 2807. I chose NOT to have my Denon involved in the video (It has HDMI inputs and out on the back) as I wanted to keep things simple. I have the Samsung HD850 DVD player that does upconvert. I have the audo setting on the DVD set to bitstream and have enabled the DTS output as well (for DTS DVDs). Hope this helps and I hope the shipper is kind to your TV. Enjoy.... |
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Silver Member Username: BoycePost Number: 315 Registered: Apr-06 | I am not anti-Samsung, but I found out most samsung TV can't work with the remote macro, if you have a universal remote which can program marco, don't buy Samsung. |
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New member Username: SammyfryPost Number: 6 Registered: Oct-06 | Arty-G YOU SAID: "The cablevision box has an HD wizard that allows you to walk thru the setup rather easily. The setting seem to be persistant." JUST A COUPLE OF QUESTIONS IF YOU HAVE TIME: I went throught the advanced wizard on the cable box, everything was detected fine. Looks like my cable box is an older version 4300. I have it connected via component to the tv. 1) Do you have the picture format on your cable box set to "pass through?" 2) Since the tv is a widescreen, when watching standard definition, there seems to be no way to stretch the image to the fill the screen without either "stretching" the image which makes it distorted or zoming and losing some of the image. Since I don't like the stretch, I prefer to watch sd in 4:3. Is that what you do? If this is the case, should I remove the "pass through" setting and set it to fixed, and then watch sd in 4:3 at 1080i? Basically I want to figure out the best possible quality and true proportion for sd. If it detects 480i when I am in passthrough for sd, when I view in 4:3, I seem to get even larger bars on the right and left than I do with 1080i. Is there ever a case when a non hd signal is widescreen? Not all hd is widescreen right? When I went trough the auto wizard for the cable box, I saw a setting for 480 widescreen, is there such a beast? Does this mean i can watch sd in 480 widescreen and it will proportionally fill the screen? I wish I could manually select the signal that the cable box sends to the tv, any idea on how to do this. Thanks, I know its a mouthful, but any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! |
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Bronze Member Username: Cobra11Post Number: 61 Registered: Oct-06 | Hi D: Yes I am in passthru mode. You got that right... I have used the Psize key on my TV to stretch the image but as you said it does distort things a bit. I do not like the zoom at all. So mostly I watch Std Def in 4:3 and set the side bar color to BLACK (a setting on the cable box). I have found NO CASE where a standard def signal is wide screen other than from a DVD. You are corrent, Not all HD is wide screen at this time. Especially advertisements. So there are some HD stations that broadcast 4:3 signal in a HD 720i/1080p format. If you hit INFO you will see that. If you want your cable box to do the expansion of 480 to widescreen then allow you to do that. I think the TV itself does that BETTER. My cable box the 8300, shows on the display the definition of the incoming signal. ie: 480 720 or 1080. Hope this answers some of your questions. Sorry if they are not the ones you really wanted. |
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New member Username: SammyfryPost Number: 7 Registered: Oct-06 | Thanks for the help. I hope widescreen starts to catch on a little more. Practically all the recent tv models are widescreen, whats the friggin hold-up?? LOL!!! What are you kicking in the way of color settings. Do you go with one of the stock modes, movie, dynamic, etc, or are you rolling with a custom? Do you go medium for the energy saver thing? Sorry if it seems like alot of questions. Next step is I have to get a new dvd and some audio...lol!!! This is especially funny since I unloaded my wallet already on the tv.... |
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Bronze Member Username: Cobra11Post Number: 76 Registered: Oct-06 | d: I usually am at MEDIUM for energy saver. Off hurts the eyes in a darkened room. But that could just be me. I like the dynamic setting and the custom setting. The MOVIE setting appears too dark for me but then again thats just me. How do you like it so far? I am still amazed with it on Hi Def widescreen programs. Art |
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New member Username: SammyfryPost Number: 8 Registered: Oct-06 | I love watching programs in widescreen hdtv, it looks great. Hate the fact that widescreen and hd are not catching on fast enough. I think the picture is great. SD is a little tough quality wise and its annoying to go 4x3, but I can deal. I would recommend the tv to anyone. The glossy black finish is a little annoying though. Looks great, but when I am watching, the border can produce a glare because it is so shiny. I guess I have to at least get an upconvert dvd player. My old dvd aint doing me much justice. Also I have to get a few speakers to add to my audio. Right now I have an old receiver, a decent center channel and a good subwoofer. I want to try to replace my four old speakers that are big and old. I am looking to just get four of these: http://www.audioreview.com/cat/speakers/bookshelf-speakers/yamaha/PRD_173470_429 0crx.aspx |