I need a better HDTV for gaming

[DaytonaUSA]

Hey guys. I currently have a 2 year old Polaroid (whoo hoo!...-_- ) HDTV that's max resolution is 720p. It's not the best, but it's not bad at all, especially since I got it for only $350 2 years ago.. it was a no brainer with my then extremely limited budget.

 

It's great for Blu-Ray movies, but with gaming... I've found it to be a huge eye sore. Some games I've had to sell, like Darksiders, because the camera moved around so much, I literally couldn't see anything during a boss fight and some normal fighting. The first major boss fight on the bridge was nothing more than mashing combos and praying, because I couldn't see what I was really doing or where he was in relation to me. I also started to feel sick from the blur and my head can hurt on some games after long periods of playing.

 

1080 and a higher contrast ratio would be appreciated as well, but honestly, what I have is just fine outside of the refresh rate. I don't remember what it is.. I'll have to check.. but it's deplorable and I just can't take it anymore. Platformers and certain racing games literally hurt my eyes.

 

I'd like 3D, but it's too expensive for me. I'd still like to keep this at a good price, and I'd prefer a 40" screen. Best Buy had some Samsungs which I know are good for a steal of a price of $399, but they were only 32" and that small of a screen would be puny in our entertainment room.

 

 

 

So if anyone has any links to the better of the lower prices TVs, that would be appreciated. I know Samsung is good, but that's about all I know, and after buying the Polaroid, I'm too scared to buy a TV that's in a box and not displayed on a wall for me to see what it looks like... and even then, you can't tell a refresh rate's quality from the cable/movies they show in the stores.

 

Thanks for the help in advance.

[cimerians]

Stick with a name brand like Panasonic or Sony. The reason I say that is because its very important to have a good quality TV to play games on and keep your eyes and wallet healthy. Technically you can research contrast ratio's etc....or someone here can explain those things if it's important in purchasing but in general stick with a good well known brand where people have given reviews.

 

You can also check the settings on the TV to help with annoying effects that may happen during games or movies.

 

Example: Do not buy a Polaroid like what you did, or a Westinghouse like I did years ago whatever the deal may be. I had two of them go bad on me.

 

HD TV's:

I had two Westinghouse 780P's that sucked. Dont have them anymore cause like I said they broke.

Visio 27" 1080P dont recall the model since Im not home (Sucks as a monitor but very good for console gaming)

Sony 32" Bravia 1080P (or larger, not at home to check, best TV I've ever had I hook up anything to it, laptops, consoles and everything looks fantastic. Very pricey though)

 

Flatscreen tube tv's:

Hard to find these days but I currently have a flatscreen tube Toshiba 17" (if I recall) thats good and a Sony 24" thats fantastic for Dreamcast, Gamecube PS1\PS2 and Xbox generation games.

 

Stick with better know brands. Trust me. Samsung is ok, Panasonic and Sony like I mentioned. Not Polaroid, Westinghouse etc.

Amazon is pretty good for reviews of course.

[Reaperman]

I hate to pimp another forum, but try over at BigScreenForums. They're attached to two of the internet's best home theatre sites. (one for projectors, one for HDTV's)

 

When I was shopping for my newest projector, I stopped by the forum, gave them my needs and budget and they flat out told me which projector to buy with very little variance between advisors. I didn't believe them, so I did my own research and a couple weeks later, I just ended up buying the one that they all seemed to be pushing me toward. (this one) Never would have considered it otherwise.

 

one thing to keep in mind is that not all of them are retro gamers (almost none are), and the projector they recommended me had trouble with interlaced graphics from some genesis titles--so I wound up buying a better video scaler to solve my problem. Just something to keep in mind, though I'm not sure how you'd go about checking support for that. I don't think any manufacturer officially lists 240i video support as a feature.

Edited July 16, 2010 by Reaperman

[Video]

Weird, that your polaroid does a bad job. It probably is the refresh rate. I bought mine in 07 when they were clearanceing it out, and it has a rated refresh of 16ms (which is right at 60FPS) though I did see some sets with a 24ms refresh rate, and that will only hit 45(ish) frames a second. and I notice no problems at all. Mine is an older model that is a 3/4 set though, not the wide screen ones. Oddly, the wide screen ones didn't last to long, Polaroid may have skimped on something and ended up with a crap product.

 

Like the above poster said, stick with a known brand. I probably wouldn't recommend Sony though, they really are just over priced and usually cheap crap to boot. Not the high quality they were known for in the 80's and 90's.

 

The only way I'd really go with an offbrand though, would be if it just started up. I notice a lot of offbrand stuff is crap, but when it started up at first, oddly, a lot of it was much higher quality (trying to get the initial customer bass and then forgetting the quality/price ratio was what got those customers in the first place I guess ) Some examples might be Apex, when they first came out around 2000, they were AWESOME, but astime went on, they got cheaper and cheaper till they aren't worth the price of the shit their made of (some of which has serious flaws, I believe they recalled several years of DVD players due to fire hazard issues) Vizio, when they started out, it was indeed a good product (as good as any of the namebrand stuff) for a lot less, now though, you can see the quality difference, and there's really only a price difference of $50-$100, so it's not really worth it anymore.

 

Anyhow, yeah, when you buy a set, look at the millisecond refresh rate, also do research online, the proper refresh rate is fromfull on to full off and back again, but some makers are cheating by only counting full on to a midrange gray, so you have to watch for that.

 

Contrast ratio is also important, though not nearly as important as refresh. Without a true CRT, your not getting full black to full white either way. (LCD sets are helping with this though, but untill the tech is proven (IEaround a few years) I'll be a little leary of it's reliability)

 

And look at the resolution. Some sets are out and out marked wrong, and if you get a 1080P set that says it runs to 1040 or whatever, it won't do 1080 no matter what. Taht would be 1920x1080 for the full 1080P set, anything else won't make it.

[DaytonaUSA]

I found a 3000 Series 40PFL3705D/F7 40-inch LCD TV from Philips that seems like a good deal. It's only 729, free shipping (dell.com), 2ms refresh rate (virtually no blur according to them), 1080p with 40000:1 contrast.

 

Also found a VIERA U22 42-inch TC-L42U22 1080p Flat Panel LCD HDTV from Panasonic. It's about a hundred cheaper, only has 20000:1 contrast ratio and it's only 60hz refresh rate. Probably not worth saving the cash.. but it is a Panasonic like you guys suggested and it boasted on and on about it being compatible with multiple (and old) resolutions and what have you.

 

Which would you go for? Thanks so far for the help everyone.

[DaytonaUSA]

Ok.. lastly:

 

The VIERA® C2 Series 42-inch TC-P42U2 1080p Plasma HDTV is $799.. a bit more, but it has a freakin whopping 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio! I'm assuming at that point it's orgasmic haha. It says it's refresh rate is 600hz, which makes no sense to me. Is that a typo, or is it really that good?

[AtticGamer]

A plasma TV will offer the best response time and that is surely needed for games. Their contrast is also pretty high and have very natural colors, I see them as the true successor to CRTs.

 

I have played Xbox 360 on a 32" Samsung LCD, model C530/550 and I enjoyed it, sure the response time is slower but it's very, very pleasing to watch and play. And those models are available in 37" and, I think, 40".

 

Btw, a 600Hz sub-field drive is something that happens before the image hits the screen. I don't know exactly how it works but usually the actual refresh rate is 100Hz or 200Hz, but the subfield drive eliminates artifacts and jaggies plus makes a smoother image, one of the reasons some plasma tvs look so great.

Edited July 17, 2010 by AtticGamer