My parents are ready to take the plunge and upgrade to an HDTV. They've had a 36" Toshiba CRT for about thirteen years. I think they will be looking in the 46" to 52" range. They could possibly swing rear-projection but most likely would want a flat-panel. I know they want 1080p. 120Hz isn't a necessity. They sit about eight feet from the screen.

And the biggie, price will probably max out at $1500 though I think they'd like to stay closer to $1000.

They already have a Blu-ray player and HD Tivo. The actual TV is the last step. (And maybe, in a few years, a nice 7.1 HDMI receiver)

What would you buy??

panasonic 50" 1080p plasma. Fits all your requirements. Costco has the 46 for under 1k and the 50 for just over.

Link? Or is it in-store, only?

They seldom have the same TVs instore and online unless there's a coupon deal. Don't see smaller than 58" online right now.

I just got a new panasonic plasma 50" for $999, it's 720p but the thing gets one of the best pictures I have seen.

The cheapest 1080p version is $1300.

You can also check the LCDs. Sony, Samsung, Sharp make good LCDs. And Costco have them at that size and price too.

My buddy picked up a 1080p 50" Panasonic plasma from 6th Avenue on Monday for $1088.

We're looking at the TH-50PZ80U and 85U. I've also heard great things about the Samsung PN50A550. From what I've read, Samsung has better color, a cleaner picture, and a better bezel design. The Panasonic has better black levels. They are all around the same price so I guess it's all up to my dad, now!

free shipping?

I'm helping my folks put together a system as well. I've got them talked into a 52" screen. And they get the need for at least a basic surround sound system. But they are only will to go to $500 for that.

My question is what does everyone think of that LG BD/HD DVD player? I have both BD and HD. So I thought that might be the way to go for them. Obviously they will only buy SD DVD and BD from now on, but it might be nice if they could watch some of my HD DVD's.

My biggest and I mean biggest issue is getting something that is easy for them and that I won't have to be consently upgrading FW, setting, etc. I gave up trying to keep their computer running and now they just use HP support. I seriously don't know what they do to that thing.

Try an iMac.

If anyone cares, they ended up with the Samsung PN50A550. My dad thought the Samsung had a better picture (granted, it was in the store, but it jived with what the reviews said) and it was a few hundred dollars cheaper. Brought it home, set it up, today. I calibrated it with some numbers I pulled of AVSForum. The picture is absolutely incredible.

It's a good panel, but you shouldn't be calibrating it until after the break-in period, which is around 100 hours. Flatten out all your levels and give it some time, then calibrate it.

Man, I've heard so many opinions on that. Some say run a special break-in disc, others say leave it on something like Cartoon Network or National Geographic with the zoom function, others say it doesn't matter with modern plasmas. Hell, the manual doesn't even mention a break-in period, at all! So I don't know. I threw in some numbers I found at AVSForums and gave my parents the break-in DVD to run when they're not watching it. I told them to use it like they wish but to be careful about leaving still images, including bars, on if they're not watching anything in particular. And honestly, the various calibrated figures weren't that far off from the default settings, especially for black and white levels. The biggest changes were in the white balance and color space settings.

Could you please PM me the settings you used to set it up?

You can also try this site. It's been posted here before.

http://www.tweaktv.com/

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...5#post14128085

No need for me to start a new thread when I'm asking the same question.

My dad is looking for a new TV for his bedroom. The current TV is about 15 years old and is a 32" standard TV. Here's what I gathered from him:

1. He wants around a 50" screen. The room is usually fairly dark. He will probably end up buying one of the HTIB setups for surround and having his neighbor set everything up.

2. His budget is up to about $2000, although he can bump it to $2100 if absolutely necessary.

3. He has in his mind that he wants a Samsung or Panasonic, but I'm sure he's not 100% tied to that.

4. He's not specifically tied to Plasma or LCD.

5. He does not play videogames, the unit will be hooked up to a DirecTV HD DVR. He has an upconverting DVD player but no Blu-Ray yet, and I'd guess that's not a priority for him.

6. He watches some sports, but I guess the bedroom tv will be more for watching movies.

He told me he was looking at this link for reviews: link

Suggestions? I assume one of the Panasonic Plasmas, but which one?

~$2000 including the HTiB or before? Not that it matters though as the recommended 50" offerings should be decently under that amount either way.

For plasma, either the Panasonic 720p model TC-P50X1 (2009 version of TH-50PX80U) or the 1080p TC-P50S1 (2009 version of TH-50PZ80U).

The TC-P50S1 should be a step up in quality, resolution aside, but if he has no interest in BD long term in that room and won't be sitting close to the TV, no reason he couldn't save a few hundred and go with the 720p. Both should be simple to get a pretty close to ideal picture out of after the actual install.

Well, my dad went off on his own and says he's leaning towards picking up the Samsung LN52A650 52-Inch LCD. Amazon has it for $1900 with free shipping.

He was wondering why they don't offer White Glove for this tv, and also asked me about the Amazon credit card, 6 months no payments. Anyone know how that works? He said he called them and they said something about debt insurance, which I had no clue about.

Thoughts?

LCD picture quality is subpar compared to plasma and the price is generally the same, if not cheaper for plasma.