Help me go on a shopping spree: TV, digital cam, Xbox 360

[Felon]

I've been holding off on making some purchases for a while, mainly because I have fallen shamefully behind in my research on electronics. I'm looking to buy a big-screen TV, a digital camera, and an Xbox 360 (witch which to play Mass Effect when it comes out).

Can you guys help me out? I need to know A) where's the best place online to buy this stuff (with the demise of Egghead and Cyberian Outpost, I'm at a loss), and B) what should I be looking for exactly? I don't know what makes a TV good these days, for instance. Plasma used to be awesome, now I hear it's substandard. I don't know which features are standard and which ones I'll have to pay extra for. I really don't even know what reasonable price ranges are, but I'm looking to pay $3,000 or less for the TV, $300 or less for the camera, and of course an Xbox is just a matter of getting the best bundle possible.

Thanks in advance!

 

[was]

This might help:
http://shopper.cnet.com/?tag=hd_ts

 

[Fiery James]

Plasma is awesome, and at most things, better than LCD.

However, if you're buying a TV smaller than 42", the advantages are really noticable, so everyone generally sticks with LCD under that size.

You don't really need 1080p resolution -- again, unless you get a giant size and want to sit close. 37" and under, sitting 7 feet away, 720p is all you need -- anything more is wasting dollars on stuff your eye can't see.

If you're buying in the LCD size, 120 Hz refresh speed is going to help out a lot, especially for gaming. Plasma has an amazing refresh rate and you won't get any streaking or trailing -- with LCD, the 120 Hz speed makes up a lot of ground. 42" and under will be fine with that.

A lot of the big guys haven't released their 2007 models yet -- I think Sharp is the only ones with their 1080p (overkill!) 120Hz models out. They're awesome. Everyone else will be out in the summer.

Going with Tier 2 and Tier 3 (noname) brands, I don't know if anyone's got the 120 Hz done yet. Panasonic's plasmas from last year are still strong, though nowhere near as awesome as this years... but that's the case with everyone.

Check out your room conditions. See how far away you'll be sitting, see how bright the room is. If you've got a great home theater room, nice and dark, I would definately suggest plasma. If you're in a living room with huge bay windows and lots of natural light, LCD is the way to go, since the screen won't reflect the ambient light as much.

- JB

 

[Felon]

Thanks for the info.

I've got fairly lousy eyesight these days, so I'm using to sitting pretty close. But lousy eyesight means I usually don't even notice resolution problems on a CRT.

Here's a couple that I'm looking at from Fry's (the guys who bought out Cyberian Outpost). They're both 50" plasma HDTV's, yet there's about $1000 price difference:

http://shop1.outpost.com/product/4899980

http://shop1.outpost.com/product/5172046

I don't get it. Can Anyone tell the difference?

 

[LightPhoenix]

I didn't notice any terribly big differences, except that the Philips is supposedly a little brighter. Then again, spec lists are generally written to make the product seem more impressive than it is. What you need to do is find a side-by-side comparison of the features... I'm not certain where you might find that online. Hopefully someone else is more up on things than I am.

A big thing is simply that one is by Samsung, and one is by Philips. The Samsung set is likely a lot more reliable than the Philips set. When it comes to televisions, Philips is definitely near the bottom end of the high tier for TV quality. Also, based on my anecdotal experience from selling electronics (a few years ago), customers had a lot more problems with Philips stuff breaking down. I had heard it was because of some poor quality capacitors, but that may have been fixed by now. I wouldn't know personally, because I haven't ever bought a Philips television.

If you can, I highly recommend visiting any stores in your area that sell plasmas and actually look at the two televisions in person. I also recommend looking in a number of different stores, because they will likely be shown in a number of different environments. It'll give you a good idea of what to expect and how to set it up. This is especially true since your eyesight is poor, and you'll be sitting closer to the TV.

You may want to give Newegg a look. I've never bought cameras from them, but they have a rock solid reputation for computer components and every time I've had to deal with customer service they've been extremely helpful and prompt. If I were to buy expensive electronics online, they're the ones I would trust.

 

[hong]

Plasma is also susceptible to burn-in, which is something to consider if you'll be playing games (all those immobile interface elements). I don't think they've fully fixed this yet, although recent plasma TVs may be less susceptible.

 

[Lockridge]

Just to throw in my two cents:
I have a combination projection LCD TV that is 50". Because it is a combo it removes the 42" limit on LCD TVs.
The combo unit is far thinner than a regular projection TV but still thicker than a real LCD or Plasma.
Advantage: Very low in price and with a great picture. Dollar for dollar picture quality is probably the best deal.
Disadvantages: While the viewing angle is wide enough for us, there is a more limited viewing angle than real LCD or Plasma. Also, if you sit too close you can just barely see a grill effect on a white screen. You may notice this while watching hockey but not much else. As a matter of fact, I might never have noticed it if I hadn't read an article on it that pointed it out.
My TV is a Sony Grand Wega 50" LCD combo projection. I bought it 2 years ago and have been very impressed. I don't want to plug Sony too much though because I'm currently angry at them for their draconian copy protection that almost caused me to have to buy a new DVD player. But thats another thread.

 

[GlassJaw]

As of right now, there is no way I would spend in the thousands of dollars and NOT get a TV that supported 1080p. It just doesn't make sense.

Also, don't discount rear projection sets. You can usually get an equal or larger screen size for less money than compared toLCD or plasma and the picture quality is at least equal, sometimes better.

If you are completely new to the HD market, don't rush into a purchase. Check out some good message boards and search around. I always refer to www.homethreaterforum.com.

Narrow down your price range first and then research a few brands. I always start with Toshiba, Samsung, and Sony for HD sets. The new Sony RP's are amazing.

 

[Felon]

As of right now, there is no way I would spend in the thousands of dollars and NOT get a TV that supported 1080p. It just doesn't make sense.

A co-worker made a similar remark, though he set the bar even higher. The ones I linked to were both 1366 x 768p.

Narrow down your price range first and then research a few brands. I always start with Toshiba, Samsung, and Sony for HD sets. The new Sony RP's are amazing.

I like Sonys. My price range is $1500-$2000 at the moment.

 

[GlassJaw]

I like Sonys. My price range is $1500-$2000 at the moment.

They might be a tad higher than your price range but the SXRD series is really sweet. My cousin has the 60" and it's amazing. You might be able to get swing a 50" around the 2k mark.