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The bigger the better. It really depends on distance from the TV to your viewing seat. For the best bang for your buck, I would suggest you take a look at the Vizio line offered at Costco.
Unless you have a very small space, the bigger the better. Costco does run some pretty good specials and I agree with sanmiguel that the Vizio brand is a really good buy for the money. When we went to buy our plasma, we alsmost bought at Costco, but went to Circuit City and got a slightly better deal. We also paid them about $55 bucks or so to deliver it and set it up, that was worth it! You should scour the Sunday ads for deals though - your best bet is to get one that's running on a promotion. Also, if you can wait, the best deals to be had are in January - right before the superbowl. They discount all of the last year's models. They should be having lots of deals coming up towards the holiday season as well.
Fry's is a great place to physically see all the TV's and to see competitive pricing for a retail store. They haven't had the best reputation in the past for customer service, but they're getting better.
I always go to Fry's at Parmer and Mopac to look at the products in person, then I normally end up buying from amazon.com as they often have free shipping and you don't have to pay tax. Always make sure that you're buying directly from Amazon and not a third party dealer. It will state "Ships from and sold by Amazon" in the listing.
Both Sony and Samsung make great LCD TVs. I prefer Samsung as they're a bit less expensive for similar specs than Sony. I don't think you can go wrong with either. If you can afford it, go with the 46". The Samsung LN46a550 is a great 1080P LCD if you don't think you need 120hz refresh rate (for motion). The Samsung LN46a650 adds 120hz refresh rate for just about $300 more. It's worth it if you're someone that likes to have the latest technology as all the good TVs within the next year or so will be 120hz.
Unless you just need to live on the bleeding edge of technology, I would wait and let the newest features become more common and cheaper before purchasing. Some of the best deals right now are the Samsung, Panasonic and LG 42" 720p plasmas that Fry's has been advertising for $699 over the past couple of weeks. Sure, they aren't 1080p but at 40 to 46" you would be hard pressed to tell the difference in real world viewing.
As far as places to purchase, you have plenty of options: Sams, Costco, Best Buy, Circuit City, Fry's, A&B TV, Modia Home Theater, etc.
With the exception of Sams and Costco, pretty much all the other places will price match each other in order to get your business. Pick the place with the cheapest warranty, best financing, whatever, get them to price match and take home your tv.
Also, I wouldn't limit yourself to just Samsung and Sony. Personally I think Sony is overpriced. Sure, they make very good tv's but they still want you to pay for the name. They aren't any better than Samsung, Panasonic, Pioneer, etc. Obviously, thats just my 2 cents.
Ditto on the 720p - If you've been watching TV on a regular tube, the 720p is so much more amazing, you won't think you're missing out on the 1080p technology. There are some great deals to be had on those TV's right now.
The above posts provide some very good advise and suggestions, but I have to ask ....
How much of the technical stuff did you understand? LCD, 1080p, 720p, etc.
If you understood the technical terms, what they mean and how they get interpreted into TV features, then I would go out and take a look at the places recommended and pick up the best TV for you at the best price.
If you DID NOT understand what they were talking about, then, right now, I would stay clear of places like Costco, Fry's or any other place that would not have educated sales people who can help you pick out the best TV for you.
You have to be able to answer certain questions.
1) Does the technology matter? LCD, Plasma, DLP? Some people cannot watch DLP sets and get headaches. How often will you be watching the TV per day. Is a plasma set going to "burn out" on you too soon? These are problems these types of sets had a few years ago. Not sure if they have been overcome. Another reason to talk to a very knowledgeable person.
2) What size room will the TV be in? How far away are you when watching TV? What type of viewing angle for you need? Will everyone be sitting in front of the TV or will some be off to the side?
3) What kind of programming will you be watching? Regular programming or HDTV? Will you be wanting to add a blu-ray DVD player in the future?
4) What is your budget? You can get a very nice TV for anywhere from about $600 to $3,000.
There are many, many, many choices for TV's these days. You cannot just select one based on how the picture looks in the store and the price. You have to answer some of the questions above, then find TV's that meet those criteria, and then do you price comparison shopping. Add or drop features as the price point changes.
First - Do some on line research so you understand the various features and what they mean. The TV manufacturers have lots of information on their sites. There are also independent review web sites that can provide reviews of the various TVs. They usually have tutorials about the technology and features. Some have forums such as this where you could ask questions and search for information.
Second - Go to some electronics stores such and Best Buy or Circuit City and talk to the sales people. Let them know that you are just researching and trying to pick the best TV for you. If they are good, they will ask you some of the same questions as above.
Third - When you decide on the type of TV, start shopping!
If all of this sounds very complicated, then you probably just want a plain old "normal" TV to watch cable or satellite. In that case, go to Costco and pick out the TV that has the best looking picture. These days it is hard to buy a "bad" TV.
Another thing to remember, since all the new sets are HD, if you are moving from a tube set / analog cable you will think the picture looks WORSE on your new TV. It actually does look worse, because the higher definition shows you how low quality regular definition signal is...
Also, when you are not watching HD programming, you will have to either watch the standard picture "stretched" (looks bad IMO) mode or in it's normal aspect ratio with black bars to the sides. That's another reason bigger is so important in the new TVs -- a 40" HDTV in 4:3 mode (a lot of programming is still going to be 4:3) is a picture approximately equivalent in size to a 27" tube set. So get the biggest you can afford and fit in your room. Do the research on the AV forums for which set might be best for you, then go to slickdeals.net or xpBargains.com: Dell Coupons, computer deals, Amazon, HP to find the best specials. Remember local places like Best Buy, Fry's, and Circuit City match prices.
Finally, don't EVER buy HDMI (or really any cables) from places like Best Buy or Circuit City. It's a huge scam. You'll pay $40 bucks for a cable that should cost $4. They'll tell you it's super shielded, gold plated, whatever... but remember that when you are talking about digital signal like HDMI, that stuff doesn't matter. It's just 1's and 0's, there is no such thing as a poor-quality 1 or 0. It either transfers the data or it doesn't; any Category 2 rated HDMI cable will easily carry the bandwidth you'll need for 1080P picture and sound. Get your cables from monoprice.com, or look on slickdeals/xpbargains.
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