San Diego Housing Market News and Analysis

Slightly OT but I'm quite happy with my DLP projector... I can make it 12" or 24 feet depending on the distance I project. Sometimes I lay in bed and project onto the ceiling by putting the DLP on my camera tripod. I find the projector to be very easy on the eyes.

About a year ago I would say plasma because of high contrast
ratio and vivid color. But since then LCD picture quality
have improved to a point that you can't tell the diff
between the two. Furthermore plasma burns more power for
same size TV and it cost more to purchase.
I am also planing to upgrade my TV after 12 years of using a tube. Hopefully sometimes early next year I will purchase
one.

I have a Sony SXRD that I bought about a yr ago, fantastic but not quite flat panel!

I spent way too much time researching this, so it would be great if is helped someone else out.

Plasma is less expensive, with better contrast. But, it runs very hot, and uses more power. Most people purchased plasmas early on because LCDs didn't come that large.

LCD is a little more expensive, but uses less power, won't burn-in (even though everyone says plasmas do not any more), and has a great picture.

I have one of each (LCD in bedroom, plasma in living room). I like the LCD way better, and would not buy another plasma.

I would highly recommend buying from costco, even if the other place offers a slightly better deal. The reason is that the panels can have bad pixels. When I checked at the time, costco would allow a return up to 1 year of the purchase date. Everyone else had an "acceptable failure" rate of a percentage of the total pixels, in which they would not allow a return/replacement.

Recommendation: LCD from Costco

I suggest checking FRY'S for great price and selection, and considering the extended warranty contract.
Selection at COSTCO is OK, but very limited.

LCD should be a better value and MUCH, MUCH cheaper on electricity use. (I read that plasma could easily run over $10 a month)

WALMART has had some nice deals lately, but last time I checked the largest set was 42". They were offering extended payments at 0% interest if purchased by 12-31, I don't know if that offer is still on.

www.techbargains.com

This website regularly shows good deals.

I bought one at Best Buy. 2 years zero percent financing. Why not? Counting the time value of money it's like a 15% discount.

I'm no expect on technology so I can't recommend anything. I just picked one because it looked good. :)

I'll add my 2 cents to this thread.

A few months ago we finally bought a big flat screen. By training I'm a LCD module engineer (Motorola, Nokia) so this was no point-and-click purchase. I do this for a living. I researched the hell out of it, compared countless models side-by-side, but very quickly it came down to one obvious choice.

We bought a 46" Samsung LN-T4661F, at Fry’s for $1810+tax, and we LOVE this flat screen. I concluded there is no other LCD for less than $2,000 that even comes close to the optics of this set. However, if you have $3,000 to spend there are LCD's with a finer specifications.

I’m very impressed with the rich saturated colors, deep blacks, even backlighting, build quality, styling, everything. With 1080p signal and these optics, every movie scene looks like high resolution color print film (in motion). Amazing! After I unboxed it I ran solid color test screens (black, red, blue, green) for several hours checking saturation, backlighting consistency, and dead pixels. Not a single dead pixel found, which is quite surprising for a typical 1920x1080 LCD. Also very happy with the anti-reflection film, and the thin frame border allowing this TV to fit places that wider sets cannot. I highly recommend this LCD. My wife complains, “You love that TV more than me!”

Things to know before shopping:

1) There is no LCD vs. Plasma debate, because a good LCD TV is vastly superior.

2) A good anti-reflection film is a must when buying a big screen LCD TV, unless you place it in a room without sunlight exposure, and you watch it in low-light conditions.

3) Dump your cable, go with Satellite. We actually had both cable and satellite feeds coming in, so we could compare them. There is no comparison, especially when it comes to HDTV. Satellite rules with a brighter, far crisper picture.

4) Yes, IF I could afford the bulbs I would buy a high-def digital projector, because they are incredible for showing movies 10 feet wide on your white living room walls. I sometimes borrow projectors from work to see movies at home. Digital projectors are the best, but are still quite expensive if you want a 1080p model.

5) Be sure to READ reviews online before buying. For example, we were considering buying a particular Sony big screen LCD model, because it was on sale previous version model. Online reviews quickly revealed that particular model has a major field return problem with ghosting and inconsitent backlighting.

I prefer LCD and here's the forum for LCD/Plasma:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisp...

I too have researched this extensively, and there is one other possible element to the equation. Do you play videogames? If you do, then there is no comparison between LCD and Plasma. I don't care how much anti-burn in technology they put in a set, a health bar or ammo counter can still burn into a pasma of CRT tube set. Also, if you play online, certain games have flashbangs and flares that players sometimes use against people in the hopes that they have a plasma TV to trigger the automatic dimming feature to prevent burn-in (you would not believe how seriously some people take video games). It is absolutely impossible to burn-in an LCD. Think about digital clocks. Do you see the number 1 burned into the screen after several hours being lit? No, because the way the technology works this is impossible.

About a year ago you could make the argument that Plasma gave a better picture than LCD, but this is definitely no longer the case. There have been great strides in LCD contrast recently, and the newer LCD's are much brighter than plasma, a consideration if you're going to view the set in a room with ambient light.

I currently use a 32 in LCD as my gaming rig, I'm going to replace my big rear-rojection set with either a 52 inch Sharp Aquos or the Sony XBRII. Havn't quite decided yet. One final point, the life expectancy of an LCD set is 60,000 hours, long enough to last 20 years of daily use, when the bulb could be replaced and you could run it another 20years. The Sharps have replaceable bulbs. As others have said, the LCD's are also much cheaper to run as well, which offsets the LCD's somewhat higher cost at initial purchase. I think the days of Plasma may be numbered.

I have a 37" Panasonic plasma, and channels without Hi-Def are worse than tube. Also, I don't know if they worked around the problem of greys yet, but if a movie is shot in a dark location, plasmas don't pick out the full spectrum of black to greys, and the result is you can't see much. I also have a small LCD which is pretty good for what it is.

Slightly OT but I'm quite happy with my DLP projector... I can make it 12" or 24 feet depending on the distance I project. Sometimes I lay in bed and project onto the ceiling by putting the DLP on my camera tripod. I find the projector to be very easy on the eyes.

You won't be the first time you have to replace the bulb :)

I like plasma if the location where the tv will be is not subject to glare.
I like LCD for rooms that have a lot of glare. As such, I'm spoiled and have both :)...

Both tube tv's died a two years ago, so an upgrade was needed. I'm sort of crying now, because plasmas and lcd's are soo much cheaper these days.

If you plan on using your tv as a monitor for a computer, I'd say LCD is better. There was some initial concerns about image burn-in for plasmas. personally, I don't think it's really an issue these days.

Whatever you buy, just don't be one of those annoying people that invite your friends over and make them go through millions of pictures on the new display :)

everything you EVER wanted to know about TVs, audio, etc...
www.avsforum.com

I prefer LCD.

.. Lcd is brighter, usually higher resolution(1080p), IMHO better contrast, runs cooler, uses less power, is less prone to burn in(yes its still possible, just less likely), and weighs less (slightly) .. also has less glare
stick with vizio(great low end), sharp, samsung, or sony

.. Plasma is cheaper, bigger for the money, has better viewing angles, usually not as high of resolution(most people don't need 1080p), not as bright, less contrast, some say more accurate(possibly less vivid) colors. Looks great in a darker room, but may be weak for brighter room. Plasma may develop burn in monitor displays same graphic for extended time(most tv watching won't be a problem). Usually the glass screen is more prone to glare.
stick with Panasonic, Pioneer.

Both will look great with todays HD signals. Good luck.

3) Dump your cable, go with Satellite. We actually had both cable and satellite feeds coming in, so we could compare them. There is no comparison, especially when it comes to HDTV. Satellite rules with a brighter, far crisper picture.

Absolutely FALSE! Satellite bandwidth is weaker than both cable, or fiber optic. When used with an HD signal, cable and fiber are clearly better pictures. I have experience with fios, timewarner, dish, directv, and can tell you that the best HD pictures will be from fios or cable. Sat HDTV must compress the video quality to allow it to be sent from the SAT in orbit to your home, the cable and fios bandwidth is much higher. This allows for uncompressed, or minimally compressed HD.

This being said, HD signals from satellite have motion blur, trailing effects, and visible compression artifacts. Still images in HD can look just as good though, the problem happens when the video is constantly changing. NOW - regular TV is superior on Sat systems, they are all digital, and the bandwidth is high enough to accommodate the lower es programming. Regular cable in low def may still be analog.

most people may not notice the difference, but Direct TV has BY FAR the MOST HD channels of any TV provider I've ever seen.

"is less prone to burn in(yes its still possible, just less likely),"

I suppose that depends on how you define LCD. If you include rear projection LCD's that is true, but I was referring to a true flat panel LCD, as a competitor for plasma. You can leave a static image on an LCD display for weeks and there will be no memory of the image. That is because the crystals twist in response to an electrical current, and will completely twist back to their native state when that current is removed. If you also include rear projection in the contrast argument you are also correct, but the plasmas had the flat-panel LCD's completely pounded on contrast until this year. They are still slightly better, but now you can really only tell the difference in the lab.

There is so much misinformation on audio/video equipment out there. I read a statistic once in Sound and Vision magazine that 70% of US DVD payers are hooked up through composite video connectors (the red, white and yellow cable that came with it). If anyone reading this has their DVD connected this way to a TV that has component iputs (or better yet HDMI) I'll consider this post a public service. Go out and buy component cables now, you won't regret it.

By the way, if anyone hasn't yet appreciated the high definition video formats yet (HDDVD and Blu-ray) you wouldn't believe how much better it is that cable OR satellite. Kid of a pain that they're in a format war.

"Go out and buy component cables now, you won't regret it."

why? rca's have served well for like 20 years. (my) dvd player is not hd, snaggle tooth, hdmi, whathaveyou. if i use an adapter, rca to hdmi, what have i gained?

actually, i think i use s-vid + rca sound...

the loopback for sound from tv to dvd (home theater system) is limited to rca inputs anyway as well...

the only improvement i really want for my home entertainment is a good remote. all in one, smart/programmable, ergonomic, with forward and back buttons to change channels like the forward and back buttons on a web browser. or a "favorites" type button that lets you flip through your most watched channels.

edit:
the plan is to rip and convert dvd's and play them off a computer anyway. so the compression will kinda kill whatever bennies new cables or hdvd provide anyway...

I love how someone posts they think cable provides a better picture than satellite.

Hey, I'm the biggest cable TV fan. Had cable for YEARS. Three months ago we kept the cable AND got sat signal also. Our home is wired with two coaxial jacks everywhere, so we could compare cable vs. satellite picture with the push of a button.

And this fool posts here that cable has a better picture. It never fails on this Forum. A person could post "1+1=2" and some fool would flame post him and dispute it.

About fifty friends who visited our home in the last few months took the Cable vs. Satellite Viewing test. Veryone agreed:

The satellite picture absolutely blew away the cable picture...on both low def AND HDTV channels. It wasn't even close. We dumped cable.

Also, the fool posts how he loves Direct TV. What, is he baiting us?

Get a clue. Compare the price of Direct TV with DISH Network. Direct TV is MUCH higher cost for basically the same channels, but the real bargain with Direct TV are the sign-up specials. The sign-on special gave us about six months of Direct TV for about half price.

stockstradr
Thanx for all the great input. I hate to break your heart but the Samsung LN-T4661F is now $1399+tax+ $75 shipping at buy.com.

Still trying to make a final decision but that looks like a great option.

"why? rca's have served well for like 20 years"

I'll tell you why, because you get 3X the signal carrying capacity. Try this experiment: if your TV has component inputs unplug your RCA jacks and plug them into the component video outputs from your DVD player to your TV inputs. I use Red=Red, White=Blue and Yellow=green. The cables are the same, just colored differently. During this experiment you wont get any audio, but I want you to see the difference. If you don't notice a substantial improvement in the picture make an appointment at the eye doctor, because you are definitely visually impaired.

This works even with a standard DVD player, and a standard def TV, as long as it has component inputs. Why? If you use RCA your DVD cannot put out any higher resolution than what a VCR can do, perhaps 320i. The DVD can do 480i if it's standard, 480p if its a progressive scan. Couple that with the superior stability if the digital media storage format and you see why VCR's are going the way of the dinosaur.

The more modern formats can go as high as 1080i and 1080p, but your TV has to be able to accept 1080p over component cables. Not many do, but the Sharps and the Sony XBRII's do. HDMI is nice because it can also carry the lossless audio signal in addition to the video, requiring only one cable to the TV.

One last thing, you only need the really expensive component cables if you have a lot of electronic interference. I have achieved superb results with a $4 video cable. Expensive HDMI's are even sillier, as it is a digital signal, either it's there or it's not, quality will be exactly the same as long as the signal is carried.

"you are definitely visually impaired."

this is true... the big screen helps...

i didn't quite understand your experiment... and did i mention i use an s-vid cable?

btw, "component cables" are rca's to me... same plugs...

i didn't order the cheap dmi's via amazon when i bought the tv just... i dont know. didn't know if i needed them, if my system could use them, if it'd make a difference... honestly, my samsung dlp with 780 res and analog cable looks great. and nature shows on pbs in their hd signal is just amazing as is...

funny thing about the cable... i cancelled the tv service but retained internet. i still get a few analog channels 60-70 cox full time and since i got this tv with the hd tuner, i also get the "network" channels... as long as the neighbors are watching tv...

side note on the satellite debate... satellite + shenanigans = much much cheaper than cable...

stocktradr.. first, there is no debate over the quality of bandwidth that cable has over satellite.. you are the fool.. if sat could provide as much data.. then everyone would be using sat for internet you jackass... fact is that sat is slow for data transmissions... thats why they COMPRESS their signals..

go see the speeds that hughes net offers you trash talking sqirl.. its slower than hell, and the quality of xm and sirius is also compressed. Hughes net is sat and it is slower than verizon fios and any decent cable isp... digital TV IS NO different.. it is digital data that can only transmit as much as the bandwith allows..
you are the BLIND and dumbass fool if you think your sat HDTV pic is better and transmits more data than FIBER OPTIC or CABLE.

Now I did say that SD quality from sat is generally better. It doesn't use as much bandwidth.

HDTV or digital cable is no different than a broadband internet connection. It is digital data. The quality is limited to the bandwidth.. a concept you don't grasp. There is NO WAY sat can transmit as much data or quality as cable.. this is why sat has gone to mpeg4 compression which is more efficient and uses less bandwidth, but is still not uncompressed(best). Anytime you use heavy compression, quality suffers. Read up next time before you start spouting off over the internet.

Those 50 clowns you call friends are just trying to keep your ego in from melting down if you actually were psychotic enough to give them all a survey. I can see what you would have done to them if they said something you didn't want to hear.

As far as direct tv goes, I was just giving them credit for having the MOST HD channels, which also isn't debatable. They have far more than DISH network. I was pointing out an advantage for sat (directTV). Personally I would consider sat, even with the heavy compression.

Current HD Channels by DirecTV Channel Number

* 70 - HBO HD East
* 71 - Showtime HD East
* 72 - ESPN2 HD
* 73 - ESPN HD
* 74 - Universal HD
* 75 - TNT HD
* 76 - HD Theater
* 78 - HDNet Movies
* 79 - HDNet
* 80 - CBS East - WCBS New York, NY
* 81 - CBS West - KCBS Los Angeles, CA
* 82 - NBC East - WNBC New York, NY
* 83 - NBC West - KNBC Los Angeles, CA
* 86 - ABC East - WABC New York, NY
* 87 - ABC West - KABC Los Angeles, CA
* 88 - FOX East - WNYW New York, NY
* 89 - FOX West - KTTV Los Angeles, CA
* 95 - Miscellaneous HD Events Channel
* 98 - PPV Events
* 99 - PPV Movies
* 101 - CD USA
* 135 - PPV Movies
* 136 - PPV Movies
* 137 - PPV Movies
* 138 - PPV Movies
* 145 - PPV Movies
* 146 - PPV Movies
* 147 - PPV Movies
* 202 - CNN HD
* 206 - ESPN HD
* 209 - ESPN2 HD
* 212 - NFL Network HD
* 215 - NHL Network HD
* 218-1 - Big Ten Network HD (Alternate)
* 219-1 - Big Ten Network HD (Alternate)
* 220 - Big Ten Network HD
* 229-1 - HGTV HD
* 231-1 - FOOD HD
* 242 - USA Network HD
* 244 - Sci Fi HD
* 245 - TNT HD
* 247 - TBS HD
* 248 - FX HD
* 255 - MGM HD
* 265 - A&E HD
* 266 - Biography HD
* 267 - Smithsonian HD
* 269 - History Channel HD
* 273 - Bravo HD
* 276 - National Geographic HD
* 278 - Discovery HD
* 280 - TLC HD
* 282 - Animal Planet HD
* 284 - Science Channel HD
* 296 - The Cartoon Network HD
* 299 - Nickelodeon HD East
* 325 - Spike HD
* 327 - CMT HD
* 331 - MTV HD
* 332 - MHD
* 335 - VH1 HD
* 355 - CNBC HD+
* 359 - FOX Business HD
* 362 - Weather Channel HD
* 501 - HBO HD East
* 504 - HBO HD West
* 509 - HBO HD East
* 512 - Cinemax HD East
* 514 - Cinemax HD West
* 518 - Starz Kids and Family HD
* 519 - Starz Comedy HD
* 520 - Starz HD East
* 521 - Starz HD West
* 522 - Starz Edge HD
* 537 - Showtime HD East
* 538 - SHO TOO HD East
* 540 - Showtime HD West
* 543 - Showtime HD East
* 544 - The Movie Channel HD East
* 601 - NBA HD
* 604 - Versus HD / Golf Channel HD
* 607 - SPEED HD
* 612 - FUEL HD
* 620-1 - Comcast SportsNet New England
* 621 - MSG
* 622 - YES
* 623 - New England Sports Network
* 624 - FSN New York
* 625 - SportsNet New York
* 628-1 - FSN Pittsburgh
* 629 - Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic
* 630-1 - FSN South
* 631-1 - SportSouth
* 632-1 - Sunshine Sports
* 634-1 - FSN Florida
* 635-1 - FSN Florida/Sunshine Sports Alternate
* 636 - FSN Detroit
* 637-1 - FSN Ohio
* 638-1 - FSN Cincinnati
* 639-1 - FSN Houston Alternate
* 639-1 - FSN Southwest Alternate
* 640 - Comcast SportsNet Chicago
* 641-1 - FSN North
* 642-1 - FSN Wisconsin Alternate
* 643 - FSN Southwest
* 644-1 - Altitude
* 645-1 - FSN Rocky Mountain
* 646-1 - FSN Utah
* 647-1 - FSN Midwest
* 648-1 - FSN Midwest Alternate
* 649-1 - FSN Arizona
* 651-1 - FSN Northwest
* 652 - FSN West
* 653 - FSN Prime Ticket
* 654-1 - FSN Bay Area
* 669-1 - FSN Detroit Alternate

"You can leave a static image on an LCD display for weeks and there will be no memory of the image."

That may be true, but we recently found out that if you leave a static image on for about 5 months, you actually can burn in the image. My co-worker did this with a Sony Bravia LCD TV (one that sits on his bench in the lab at work). The TV probably got turned on in May and didn't have any inputs connected. It sat there displaying the "VIDEO 2" message the whole time. Finally, my co-worker needed to use the TV for a project and noticed the burn-in. It was a suprise to all of us.

Obviously, this is an extreme scenario that probably won't happen at home. Unless you plan on torturing your TV in this way, I wouldn't worry about burning in a LCD (edited).

only fascist repugnicants watch cable!

Wow. Never knew people took their tv so seriously.

I thought just getting OTA HD signals was pretty cool. My understanding is OTA HD signals are better than both dish or cable because I thought the stuff going through both boxes were compressed. But of course you can only get NBC,CBS,ABC,FOX,KPBS ota. Then again, I'm not hardcore in this regards so I stand to be corrected.

Sorry, I can't enjoy the finer things of life, such as warm, non-canned meals, cable/dish tv, land line phones. Mortgage payments are eating me alive.

"i didn't quite understand your experiment... and did i mention i use an s-vid cable?

btw, "component cables" are rca's to me... same plugs..."

They are the same plugs, as I said, they're just a different color. That's why I said you can use a composite (red, white, yellow) cable to connect component video, you just have to be careful not to mix up the colors (red=red, white=blue, yellow=green). the difference is on the inputs/outputs on the TV/DVD player. If your TV doesn't have component inputs you can't connect component video.

S-video is superior to composite, but not as good as component. You really should try my experiment. I would be very surprised if you don't notice a difference.

"we recently found out that if you leave a static image on for about 5 months, you actually can burn in the image."

Did the burn-in stay permanent, or did it fade over time? Ususally when you start playing other images on the screen the burned-in image WILL fade. This will not occur with plasma or CRT sets. Just curious. That was a good experiment!

You should rent! It would be crazy to buy now IMHO. Rentacenter has much better deals. The TV bubble has just started to burst. I am going to buy in 2012.
Havn't you learned anything from piggs. sdrealtor, I am ashamed of you. Don't be a knifecatcher.
Why would anyone pay for TV signal when it comes free via rabbit ears.
I could keep going but my phone is ringing. I hope everyone has a great holiday season. Mery Christmas you all.

You should rent! It would be crazy to buy now IMHO. Rentacenter has much better deals. The TV bubble has just started to burst. I am going to buy in 2012.
...
Why would anyone pay for TV signal when it comes free via rabbit ears.

Haven't you heard that some people buy for reasons other than financial reasons. Perhaps their husband is pressuring them and they plan to keep it forever. In the long run it usually works out. I bought a 9-inch B&W TV from KMart in 1979 and it still works really great. It's probably even worth more than the $39 I paid for it. It even has some plaint splatters on it, so now it has some color. Maybe other people want to convert their B&W to color by painting it. You can't paint a rental.

P.S. - My opinions: LCD and DirecTV over Plasma and Cable. Also, MaryAnn over Ginger.

"Did the burn-in stay permanent, or did it fade over time? Ususally when you start playing other images on the screen the burned-in image WILL fade."

Your question got me curious so I just checked it again today. It looks like the burn-in image faded away. The TV has been mostly off for a while now (maybe a month or so) so I'm not sure how long it took to fade. Anyway, its good to know there's no obvious permanent damage. LCD's pass the burn-in test as far as I'm concerned.