New TV for the In-Laws

[obscbyclouds]

Hi All,

My inlaws have been urging me to find them a good HDTV bagain. I've already decided on getting them a LCD. Their room is quite bright, and they aren't very technologically inclined. I feel that is the easy choice for them. They will be sitting about 10-12 feet from the TV. Budget is ~$1600. They pretty much exclusively be watching HD Satellite from DirecTV and DVD's. Probably no plans for Blu-ray anytime soon.

I've always been a big fan of Sony, Sharp, and Samsung LCD's. I have noticed that the Toshiba - REGZA 47HL167 47" seems like a real bargain, compared with a Sony or Sharp 46". Does anyone have any experience with this TV? I've never even seen a Tosh. LCD.

Any other suggestions or ideas would be helpful. Oh and yes, I do actually like my inlaws, so no Insignia or BenQ suggestions

 

[larry7995]

That model doesn't have the 120 HZ refresh rate but the 46LX177 does. I think if I were buying an LCD I would get that feature.

 

[krzywica]

I would stay away from Sony for now. All their flat panels have been utter crap compared to the competition, not to mention being overpriced. I would check out Samsung like you said, as well as Pioneer and LG. And I've never been a Toshiba fan but their higher end sets are pretty nice.

 

[obscbyclouds]

I would stay away from Sony for now. All their flat panels have been utter crap compared to the competition, not to mention being overpriced. I would check out Samsung like you said, as well as Pioneer and LG. And I've never been a Toshiba fan but their higher end sets are pretty nice.

Does Pioneer even make LCD's? I don't want to get them a Plasma. I don't think I'd ever buy an LG product, just haven't had good luck with them. As for the 60 vs. 120hz, I couldn't tell a lick of difference watching the two a Best Buy. Has anyone been able to get a good 60 vs. 120 hz demo.

 

[Alex2507]

No Pioneer LCD's. That Regza has been reviewed by AH I believe and there has been talk of it recently in this forum so I'm suggesting a search. The thing is that I just googled it and came up with $2200 at Best Buy. Kind of outside your budget. They also reviewed an LG product. I guess I'm asking you if you've done the search thing and read the various reviews.

 

[obscbyclouds]

No Pioneer LCD's. That Regza has been reviewed by AH I believe and there has been talk of it recently in this forum so I'm suggesting a search. The thing is that I just googled it and came up with $2200 at Best Buy. Kind of outside your budget. They also reviewed an LG product. I guess I'm asking you if you've done the search thing and read the various reviews.

I actually think that's the 47HL177 that's $2200, the HL167 (I presume last year's model) is approx. $1400. That's a pretty enormous price difference. I did try the search and came up empty, but thanks to you I stumbled upon AH review of the HL177. Anyway I'll keep searching, thanks for the input.

 

[krzywica]

Does Pioneer even make LCD's? I don't want to get them a Plasma. I don't think I'd ever buy an LG product, just haven't had good luck with them. As for the 60 vs. 120hz, I couldn't tell a lick of difference watching the two a Best Buy. Has anyone been able to get a good 60 vs. 120 hz demo.

Doh! *slaps forhead* I forgot you were only looking for an LCD. Sorry.

 

[larry7995]

Well maybe the 120HZ deal isn't much more than marketing anyway? Here is a CNET review and they pretty much said they didn't see any difference either.

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6449_7-6792632-1.html

 

[krzywica]

Most people's eyes can't see a refresh rate higher than 60HZ. I know I can with a CRT, but not an LCD....

 

[Alex2507]

I actually think that's the 47HL177 that's $2200, the HL167 (I presume last year's model) is approx. $1400. That's a pretty enormous price difference.

Whoops! Right you are. Staying true to a budget is a real sign of character. I'm about due for a TV and this one does look good. I looked up the cnet reviews and with a quick glance I saw that most people loved it but a couple of people hated it giving it a 1/10 rating bringing the average down to a 7.1/10 which is still very good in my books. Anyways, if it helps, here is a link to the reviews.

http://shopper.cnet.com/flat-panel-tvs/toshiba-regza-47hl167/4014-6482_9-32306264.html#p4

 

[Thunder18]

If you end up getting an HL167 make sure you get a good deal because you're going to want to spring for an ISF calibration shortly thereafter. I had the 47HL167 at home for nearly 30 days before returning it because the setting in the service menu are so bad that there is no way to fix the noticeable green push through the user menu.

There is tons of discussion about Toshiba's green push issue over at Audioholics.com, but the crux of the matter appears to be that Toshiba left all the video setting in the service menu at zero and didn't attempt to use even a baseline setting so the grayscale is really off. Dark scenes will have a green hue to them because of this. Your results may vary though. Some sets seem to have it worse than others.

One guy decided to be the guinea pig and have his professionally calibrated and the calibrator was able to fix it but it took a lot of going back and forth between service menu and user menu.

Other than the image issue, I really liked the set and the features it had, but when I could get a better picture out of my parents Vizio, I had to return it.

 

[obscbyclouds]

Thanks thunder, I'll probably stay away from the 47TL167. I found many unsatisfied users over at AVS. I don't think my in-laws would like the idea of paying for a professional calibration. Anyway, my search continues in earnest. I'm currently considering the last gen. of Samsung LCD's. Most owners seem pretty happy. I noticed you have the 120hz one which is most definately outside their budget. That being said, have you been happy with yours? Again, thanks for the insight.