HDTV Comparison Criteria
 

my question is what do ya look for?

obviously, you have size and price....

then there's the value (if any) of a brand name, the warranty and the price.

suppose we restrict it to just LCDs - 46" or a thew next step up (52")... what's left?

1080p is one thing to look for

another is the contrast ratio
- looked at some yesterday while trying to find a USB to SCSI converter, and the 7,500:1 set didn't look nearly as good as the 20,000:1 set - same size screens (the lower contrast one was only $900 for a 46" tho).

what else do you look for?

I just went through this process. I did very little research except I did go to the website below for advice. I ended up with a 52" Samsung LCD HDTV with 1080 pixels, 120 hz refresh rate and contrast ratio of 50000:1. The picture is outstanding. I can't wait until it arrives. Now I just have to pay extra to get HD through Dish Network.

This place is like the Pelican of audio/visual stuff.

http://www.avsforum.com/

One last thing, I bought the TV and home theater set up from Best Buy. They were throwing deals at me that I couldn't resist. They discounted everything beyond their advertised sale prices plus gave me 3 years interest free! They advertise 18 months same as cash but with great credit, they'll give you up to 3 years.

Contrast ratio is important, but there's no real standardized method for TESTING it, so manufacturer's claims don't carry a lot of weight, except when comparing televisions within the same manufacturer. There's also STATIC contrast ratio, and DYNAMIC contrast ratio.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contrast_ratio

I did the same thing, 1080p, 120Hz, Samsung LCD.

I checked several places and right now, Samsung always seemed to come out on top of the picture quality heap. I think the Samsung 650 and 750 series (for the 120Hz) are usually listed near the top.

Is the 60Hz/120Hz thing just a refresh ratio?

I don't see how it can be visually different, since our feeble poorly designed human eyes are closer to 15-20Hz refresh ratio, especially at the average age of this group ;)

You notice it watching sports or other fast moving content. Next to each other a ball seems to have a trail on the slower display.

You can tell during fast action, which is not unusual in action movies and sports. You can also pick it up during normal viewing occasionally.

Another thing is that if/when you watch various types of stuff, there can be a problem with the original frame rate. I guess film is usually shot at 24 frames per second and other stuff (not film?) is show at 30fps. Trying to get 24fps to play over a 60fps TV creates issues, but 120 is an even multiple of both 24 and 30, so it solves the "problem".

I've also seen issues playing computer games on LCD monitors with fast action. That's, I believe, the same sort of issues that you can see on a 60Hz LCD TV.