Waiting for OLED but looking for temporary display

[Grador]

The "soap opera effect" is caused by the "motion enhancement" which can be turned off on any TV. If you don't care about PQ there are far cheaper options that will do fine.

 

[wiyosaya]

Well, if I was not clear about it, I do care about PQ, however, not so much that I want to go beyond this price.

True, we've been hearing about OLED for years, but LG is putting money into bringing it to market, and someday, it will arrive. I'm guessing it may be sooner than we think, and perhaps CES will give a better clue as to when. So, I really am only thinking of this as a temporary solution, but I'm sure we will enjoy it in the interim. We've been watching all our HD material on a 480i TV, so this set, I'm sure will be a drastic improvement over what I have.

 

[j_garcia]

It seems like a good deal, but it is LG I would say it will do for now. LG is not known for the best panels. Samsung and Sony are the best on the market and will provide the best PQ, but they also cost more (Samsung makes the panels for Sony). That's just my $0.02

 

[wiyosaya]

They have stock on it at the local Walmart. Before I commit to it, I'm going to take a look at it there, unless they have it at the local AV store - who is likely to have calibrated their display model. A big concern of mine is a glossy finish. I'd much prefer a mat finish because of where it will be located and reflections of a window. I'm not entirely sure it will deter me from purchasing it, though, if it does have a glossy finish.

I do have a 24" LG LCD 16:10 monitor (not LED, but mat finish), and I love it. One of the reviewers said that they spent a lot of time looking at the set and others, and that they came to the conclusion that this set had the better picture - but who knows where the reviewer saw the sets. My bet is that the displays the reviewer was looking at were not calibrated.

 

[BMXTRIX]

SOAP OPERA EFFECT: Ignore this!

Why?

The so caled soap opera effect is caused by creative frame interpolation (CFI). Almost all manufacturers have a different name for it, but they have two things in common. First, the more CFI which is used, the more soap opera effect you end up with. Second, you can turn down, or off completely!

People tend to be stupid about this and not realize that you can just turn off CFI if you don't like it. I've gone into the Sony store and told them that I hate the look of their CFI. It is unnatural and makes their displays look lousy. The guy disagreed with me... But, he was stupid. Like I said. Some people like it, some don't, so it's a personal choice and IS a choice since you can control it.

I will restate: The Panasonic plasma I listed will provide a better image than the LG will provide, and Panasonic has a failure rate that is about 75% lower than LG displays. So, IMO, it is worth it to go that direction.

I personally would never recommend LG due to their serious reliability issues, but if your intent is to get one, then I strongly recommend that you get a warranty for as long as you intend to own the display because I personally know half a dozen people who have seen catastrophic failure of their LG displays.

Sony and Samsung have average reliability, but have some great looking LCD screens.

Panasonic has the highest reliability, and their plasmas are second to none, but Samsung plasmas look great.

Since you are most likely going to end up with a glossy screen whether it is LCD or plasma, I will ask again...

Is there a specific reason why you aren't looking at plasma?

In my experience, people don't buy plasmas because they don't realize that plasma produces the best image of all the display types. They think LED backlit LCD displays do (they don't). So, they pay more, and get a lower quality image.

 

[wiyosaya]

This has been somewhat of a spur of the moment thing for me. On checking, there seems to be some plasmas in the same price range as the LG LED LCD - I was thinking that they would be much more expensive than this as I am aware that plasma, being emissive in nature, is a better picture than LCD in general.

In particular, there is a new Panny on the market, a 60", that has a suggested price of $899.00. This particular model may be too big for me.

My local audio / video shop has this 50" LG Plasma at $650, however, it only has one rear HDMI input. My A/V receiver does not do HDMI switching (and I'm not upgrading that yet), and for aesthetic reasons, I would probably buy an HDMI switch if I buy that set. Anyone know of a good quality, inexpensive HDMI switch?

Sounds like all Panny's are considered to have the highest reliability, and the best plasmas?

If the display has a screen glare issue, its not that big of a deal for me; however, I do prefer a mat finish in my current setup because of reflections during the daytime from a window that is behind the viewing position. My wife has been telling me for several years that she intends to put light blocking curtains on those windows.

 

[j_garcia]

I've used the Monoprice HDMI switches and they worked well for me. I currently run an Oppo HDMI switch, but they don't offer them anymore.