Hello all you tech nerds and gadget fiends. I'm uh get all HD for football season! Unfortunately I'm all money and no brains, so I can't tell what I need. 

Are there brands to avoid? 
What's the difference between plasma and LCD?
If I get a widescreen TV, is all the normal sized stuff going to stretch out and look retarded, or has someone finally invented vertical title bars?

After poking about, I gather that minimum specs for non-shitiness are contrast ratio 1000:1 or more, an HDMI input, and 1080i resolution. Is this about right? 

I personally like Sony as a brand. I have a 42" plasma that is very nice. Plus it looks teh sexay

and as to your concern on plasma vs LCD 

http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/plasmatvreviews/plasma-vs-lcd.html 

Answers to your questions.

1.) Probably, but I'm not sure which ones.

2.)  Generally, the biggest factor on whether to go plasma or LCDis usually the lighting in the room you're setting up the TV in.  Plasmastend to have better and truer colors, but are not as bright as an LCD.  If you're going to have to deal with the sun shining through the window, I'd go with LCD.  If you're going to put it in the room where your current TV is, which has no windows, you may want to lean towards plasma.

3.) Finally?  I've had vertical bars on my widescreen TV for years now.

4.) HDMI is good, and pretty standard nowadays.  If you want to take full advantage of HDMI, you'll want 1080p, not 1080i.  In HDTVs, p > i.  Contrast ratio sounds about right, but it's less important on an LCD TV.  Since the contrast ratio is a measure of the difference between the darkest black and the brightest white a TV can display, and LCDs aren't that great at dark colors, LCD manufacturers get greater contrast ratios by making the whites brighter, and not doing anything with the darker colors.  Too high of a contrast ratio can actually be a bad thing.  Also, a 120 Hz refresh rate is something to keep an eye out for.  I don't know how expensive 120 Hz displays can run, but if it's not too much more, I'd go for it.

Oh, and HD football = teh sexy.

 Good brands for HDTV are going to be Samsung, Sony, Mitsubishi, Pioneer. The best selling HDTV in the US is Vizio, since those are sold at Walmart and pushed really hard. They make an okay display, but nothing high end.

The biggest difference between Plasma and LCD is going to be price when you start talking HDTV's. A good 1080p plasma will still run you 6k or so, while a good LCD will run a few k less, though still very expensive.

If you want something to hang on your wall, get LCD or Plasma. Otherwise, if you do not mind a TV that is around 2 or 3 feet deep, get a DLP or a SXRB (I think that is the name). Anyway, those two are bulb based and are pretty much equally good. You can get a goodly size one of those for around 1500 bucks. We are talking in the 50 to 60 inch size. Those would also be 1080p 24 tv's. The 24 at the end indicates that the TV can display at 24fps which is what movies are filmed at. All TV's can do 30fps since that is what television does, but most wont step down for movies... they always do 30fps, so that means the TV is leaving some frames on the TV for more then it should.

As for which resolution to get... 1080p is called "Full HD" since that is the max things go now. Blu Ray movies are 1080p for the most part, and some video games are 1080p. Anything on TV right now wont go higher then 1080i (direcTV's max resolution for example). Some OTA HD are going 1080p, but that is really rare. It costs a lot more for them to do that then 1080i. You can also get a 720p TV and be very happy and save a lot of coin. My parents got a 720p 56" TV a while back and when watching movies and TV it is hard for me to tell a difference between theirs at 720p, and mine at 1080i. And in some cases, theirs is nicer due to the p.

The main reason for wanting 1080p, is when you get the image larger. Say like a projector setup. Displaying @ 100+ inches and you'll want the extra resolution as each 'pixel' is physically larger. I do not think you could tell the difference between a 720p 40" display versus a 1080p 60" display.

My vote is save money and get 42" 720p if you want a LCD or Plasma. You should be able to swing a vizio or what ever for around a grand. If you want awesome high end shit, then get a DLP or the SXRB (it is a Sony thing) and go 1080p in the 50 to 60 inch range.

Pay no attention to contrast numbers in print... it is all horse shit. Go see the TV in person and know that the brightness has been f'd with. Ask someone there if you can tune the TV. Go through it's menu's till you find the auto color options and set it to movie. Then, find the brightness and turn it down a bit. Now, look for blacks and whites and the blacker the black the better. Higher the contrast between white and black better.

If you find something you like, gimmie a call or something and we can talk about it. Done this whole thing tons, and I have a friend who I can ping on this too if you want. He is a walking encyclopdia for this shit.

-Doc

Neat. I can go into Best Buy without being a slack jawed retard now. Thanks.

For the record, aweomse high end shit is out of the question. I don't have multiples of thousands of dollars. And anything over 42 inches is just ridonculous anyway, so that helps.

 If you want something south of 42 inches, and not stupid expensive I think your target should be the vizio 40 inch-ish 720p TV. Should be around 800 bucks give or take.

-Doc

Dr. Evil:

 If you want something south of 42 inches, and not stupid expensive I think your target should be the vizio 40 inch-ish 720p TV. Should be around 800 bucks give or take.

-Doc

yeah something like that. I have a 32 in vizio and it was about 600 bucks. I love my vizio.

 Here is a 42" 1080p vizio for 1100 retail:

http://www.vizio.com/products/detail.aspx?pid=62

Anyway, just a ton of options here: http://www.vizio.com/products/ The other thing to keep in mind is the native resolution of the panel. Looking through their offerings I see some plasmas that say 1024x768. You stay away from that one. You want something at least 1280x720 (this is 720) and 1920x1080 (this is 1080). Then get 'p' where you can. If you see a new display listed as a 1080i display, this usually means you have a 720p screen that can scale a 1080 signal, but you lose the p when it does this, so only get a 1080i picture. In that case, you would want to just stick with 720p anyway.

Also, one other thing to keep in mind when you are doing all of this. If you want to go 1080p, you're HD source will need to be connected to the TV via HDMI. Otherwise, if you go component cable all you get is 1080i. Upscaling DVD players, PS3, etc... if you want 1080p, you need HDMI. Also, if you feel crazy and want to do 7.1 audio, you need HDMI.

Oh, and if you have the option of different versions of HDMI, you want 1.3a as this added 'deep color support.' The largest complains between component cables and HDMI was that component cables separated colors better then HDMI. But, since HDMI is digital, they just update the software spec and things are better in theory. But, in order to benefit from 'deep color support' all HDMI devices would need to support 1.3a. Now, most bluray players will, and newer TV's. But, say your cable or dish provider might not.

More info to stick under your cap.

-Doc

meathorse:

Neat. I can go into Best Buy without being a slack jawed retard now. Thanks.

For the record, aweomse high end shit is out of the question. I don't have multiples of thousands of dollars. And anything over 42 inches is just ridonculous anyway, so that helps.

PROTIP: Did you know that if they see you near the TV's, they'll go retarded over you?  Mostly over the insurance plan crap.  I know, we do the same kinda stuff at Office Max. D:

Corbine:

PROTIP: Did you know that if they see you near the TV's, they'll go retarded over you?  Mostly over the insurance plan crap.  I know, we do the same kinda stuff at Office Max. D:

Fuck, you worked at office max? I did too lol before I just quit. It was sweet. I just got sick of the manager one day and then I wrote him a note that said I quit and I took off my uniform and nametag and hung it over his chair like the chair was wearing it with my nametag on. What one you work at? I worked at east springs in madtown.    I was pro at selling the plans. I have the record of selling 8 plans in one sale.

Corbine:

PROTIP: Did you know that if they see you near the TV's, they'll go retarded over you?  Mostly over the insurance plan crap.  I know, we do the same kinda stuff at Office Max. D:

They go retarded when you look at the TVs while walking by them. TVs are on the way to games. Yesterday I walked by fast, but checked out a screen while passing. Dude saw it, followed down a parallel aisle and met me in front of the Wii stuff.

I was all hard up for Vizio now, but Best Buy doesn't carry those. We got a 10% coupon, and apparently we get a free receiver and installation and all that crap too, so I'd like to go there.

How does their little in house Insignia brand compare to Vizio? 

 So, Insignia is just a rebrand of another model... which since got turned full into Insignia. Wish I could remember the name of them. Wikipedia helps none. Anyway, they are allright I suppose. I would not have them be my first choice. Like Vizio season 1. They are on their 5th or so itteration of displays at this point. Insignias never seem to try and get better. They are just displays that BB sells at just below the cost of others, and they actually have higher profit margins on them since BB has no middle man to pay.

I stick with my original assesment of displays. Samsung, Sony, Pioneer, Sharp Aguos (that one I did not mention before) and Mitsubishi. Though, not sure if Mitsu does LCD's or not.

Also, be wary of the warrenty things they add. A LCD is gonna die in its first year if it is gonna die at all. The shelf life of the LCD panel itself is like 10 years if you run it 8 hours a day usually. Only concern are buttons breaking, jacks breaking, and the PSU breaking. Have the thing hooked up to a power cleaner and the PSU should not be a concern. Battery backup the thing if you want... and that is way better. Just buy a 60 dollar APC UPS for it. If you buy a 800 dollar LCD, they could nail you with a 250 dollar protection plan and tell you shit like, in 2 years if the thing die you can bring the TV back and get the full paid dollar value towards a new TV. Shit aint gonna die in 2 years. Plus, you have to get the same part to fail 3 times in a row on the TV before it 'does not work.' If the protection plan is like 25 or 50 bucks, think about it then... but if it is expensive... moon them. Right in the store.

As I said before, if you guys are out shopping and you want to run a model by me... call me, and if I am near a PC I can look it up, price compare it, and give you an opinion on it.

-Doc

but if it is expensive... moon them.

Just noticed that the 32 inch 400 lb tube we have now is Insignia. Sure, that's a whole different ballpark, but I'm still unimpressed.