nothing like a plasma! my LCD gets pretty warm, but my buddy's Plasma could heat a small Russian family in Siberia.

 

when you're deciding on technical capability of a tv, like 240Hz sampling rate, consider what device you will be using to actually transmit at 240Hz signal. No consumer devices even transmit at 120Hz as far as I know ( does ps3?) , except for maybe high end video cards; thats really not much of a selling point imo.

the better contrast is a selling point, and since these tv's still locate their lightsouce at the edge of the screen like todays LCDs rather than right behind the screen, you can see where there may be some improvement to come with the next generation LED tvs. I would wait personally.

 

yeah those are winter only TVs

 

QFT ^^^^^

Get a 9g Pioneer Elite, not the Kuro cuz they lock out all the good tuning features, and it's a ***** to have an ISF calibrator tune your Kuro just right. The elite will provide the best picture imaginable provided it's calibrated by a pro.

 

Elites are actually one of the only flat screens out there that are pretty damn close to being perfectly calibrated fresh out of the box.

aghhh, I should of bought an Elite instead of the Samsung LN46a850

 

I should have bought one as well, but due to a silly, and long story that isn't worth relating, I ended up with a simpler tv instead. Sony 37" XBR6 LCD for only $1000 back in August.

 

my samsung is the ****... I cant even look at old school t.v.'s anymore. They look to blurry.

 

.....

 

laser hasnt arrived yet, we'll c

 

led tv = lcd tv with edge backlighting. nothing too new here. there are lcd tvs that have local backlighting like the samsung series 9 or sony xbr8.

laser tv = rear projection with lasers as the light source. still gotta deal with the issues of rear projection like convergence.

imho, after you decide on a set, you should get it professionally calibrated. it makes a world of difference. but don't just get anyone. geek squad techs are isf certified calibrators but they may not have that much experience tweaking sets. some really good calibrators will do tours and you can make an appointment with them. downside is that calibration is expensive.

if you really want to research this more, check out http://www.keohi.com/keohihdtv lots of good information there. also, there's a lot of knowledgable people on http://www.avsforum.com

 

ack. should have checked some of my facts. samsung doesn't have a series 9 anymore. they did awhile ago. travesty. the ln46a950 and ln55a950 were great sets.

 

my friend has a 120hz...it's so annoying! the actors look like theyre floating around, and action scenes look sooo weird i cant explain it.

 

QFT ^^^^ avsforum = av geek's bible. That forum is priceless even for a 100% complete n00b. Just look for a forum section for the tv you're interested in, or the brand, and read up on it. They know more than you EVER will. Also like alwu said, there are really experienced pro calibrators on that forum who do tours, and you can book them to do your tv/surround sound setup when they're in your neck of the woods.

Also, LED is still mostly marketing for the moment with all the LCD tv's out using LED backlighting. OLED is the true LED tech and it's beautiful, but it's going to be very expensive for a while, and they're figuring out how to make it large enough for the consumers who have the money for a 60" OLED tv.