LCD HDTV any good for gaming?
 

I am looking to finally get into the HDTV revolution. I have a 360 already which I play on a standard TV. I have a couple questions about HDTVs though.

1) Are LCDs good for gaming? I read a few years back that LCD suffers from motion blur if the motion is too fast. Since I prefer fast paced action games, this could be a problem. Also, I had read that LCDs can develop dead pixels. Have both of these problems been fixed in newer models?

2) Is there any real difference between name-brand TVs (Sony, Toshiba, Panasonic, etc) compared to lesser-known "generic" TVs? These name-brands TVs cost several hundred dollars more, and I am on a very tight budget. I have extremely bad eyesight, so I don't even notice a difference in picture quality between TVs unless it is huge. Whenever I go into the video store and look at all the HDTVs side-by-side, they all look the same to me. I don't see any way to justify myself spending a couple hundred more dollars to buy a name-brand. Are the generics built of lesser quality so that they break down easier?

look for one with a response time of a MAX 8ms. or do I mean min...

I always thought the Samsung LCDs used on the 360 displays looked great. I guess I was lucky enough to see displays that were properly set up.

Yeah that was my main reason for wanting to get a HDTV. :) Even though I am blind as a bat, I can still see a huge improvement between my standard TV and those Samsung LCDs.

How is this LCD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16889022002

Is it good for a budget LCD? It says that it is "recertified" too. Does that mean it has been broken and repaired? I am kind of leery of that. Does newegg allow returns if you get a defective one? I have never bought from newegg before, but I hear they are pretty reliable.

Newegg notes the following on the image pages:

Edit: Also:

The problem with the cheap stuff is that it will be more likely to have dead pixels and a blurrier image, or break in a year or two. By buying one of the more well-known brands (Sharp, Samsung, others) you will have a TV more likely to last you for a while. I would feel better buying a great TV used than a new cheap crappy TV but that's just me.

I agree every tv I see at best buy etc the Samsung LCDs always stand out, and all the screen shots of games running on the Samsungs look amazing. The colors really pop off the screen

I'm using DELL 2405FPW as the display for my PS2 gaming. It's no HD content but looks great so far. No motion blurring even when its official response time is 12ms. The only problem I have is that I'm unable to display a true 16:9 image (it fills the entire 16:10 display instead) even when both the game and console are properly configured for widescreen output.

Olevia is the next Samsung dude, I'm sure you'll be fine with that TV. 10 years ago you could buy basically any model Samsung TV at wal-mart and people would scoff at you but now they are a major player.

These TVs are from Taiwan and just like Samsung they want to penetrate the U.S. market by offering nice electronics equipment for cheap, give them 10 years and people will be telling you how fkn great they are.

I say go ahead and buy it :)

My brother has a 37 in dell LCD HDTV and it is fantastic for games. I noticed no blurring.

However, I didn't care for it for movies. LCD can't do a true black, it just looks dark great. It wasn't noticeable in the several PS2 game I played (looked great even not being HD games) but for the movies I watched it drove me up the wall.

So based on my experience, if you want it mainly for games, go for it they look great. But if you watch a lot of dvds, I'd say check some dark movies out and see if the blacks bother you or not.

Unless you really want the flat panel, i'd recommend looking into Samsung DLPs. You get better contrast ratio and you don't have to worry about dead/stuck pixels or burn-in (note: LCD isn't susceptible to burn-in either, that was more in reference to CRTs and Plasmas). Just make sure you're not too sensitive to the rainbow effect.

I bought that particular Olevia and it's been awesome. 1600:1 Contrast ratio! No ghosting even during Burnout. Plus the DVI port is HDCP so it will be compatible with either HD DVD format. In fact, this thing saved me today because the screen on my laptop started acting up so I used the VGA cables and was able to back up my stuff before taking it in for repairs.

Long story short, get that TV! ;)

Congratulations on the new title and avatar btw. So when will we see these Nintendo reviews getting cranked out? ;)

LMAO.......you start sending me Nintendo games and I'll review em ;)

If you looking for a cheap set that does the job, I have a 32" Westinghouse great for the 360.

I was looking into a 40" Widescreen LCD HDTV from Viewsonic. How are they? Too cheap or do they put out a good TV?

LCD Glass is sourced from 3 countries currently, here is the general expected quality: Japan > Korea > Tawain.

Samsung using Korean, obviously. Panasonic, sony, etc utilize Japanese glass almost always. No-names use Tawain glass.

This previouslt was pretty clear-cut, and the ratings of TV's were largely dependent on where the glass was sourced. (As far as image quality, few dead pixels, viewing angle, etc.) With the rapid increase in LCD use and new technologies applied to the manufacturing process, Tawain glass is much improved and the gaps have become quite narrow.

At the end of the day, your Japanese suppliers are still going to provide the best picture, but at a premium. If you are not a prefectionist when it comes to your AV, a "no-name" brand will likely serve you fine and will still be a large improvement over your conventional TV.

Three words of caution:
1) Especially when buying a "no-name" brand, be sure to read both professional and actual user reviews. Some of them are complete duds in quality.
2) Be warned now, these HDTV LCD screens often make conventional signals look worse. So if you don't have an HD signal from your cable/satalite, you may be underwhelmed, and even upset.
3) Know that there is "HDTV-Ready" units, and those that actually incorporate a tuner to decode over the air HD signals. If the unit is HD-Ready, you will need to buy a seperate tuner if you wish to get broadcast HD.

I have the 37 inch LCD model of the Syntax Olevia HDTV - I actually got it new for $899 last year during a Christmas sale where they had mistakenly ran two rebates at the same time. :) I researched it pretty heavily and found nothing but good info on it. Here is a thread with some GREAT info.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...ghlight=Syntax

Do it!

I am looking to get a LCD too. I hardly ever watch regular TV programs, but I do have quite a few TV season sets on DVD. Do these have the same problem?

No, the DVDs of TV shows should look fine, as DVDs in general look very good (the issue with not doing a true black aside). They are a higher resolution than SD cable, satellite etc.

Regular, non-HD tv broadcasts do look pretty crappy on HD sets in general though, not just LCD HD sets. The HD sets really make the flaws stand out.

I was surprised by the black levels on the Olevia once I got it set-up right. Most LCDs have black appearing a very dark green but the black on mine is really close to true black. Imperceptible to my friends. I got the refurnished too.

I have a HP LC2600N (26" LCD) and I love it. I don't use it for gaming, but rather my PC monitor. It has built in HDTV also, CableCard, HDMI, DVI, Component....(I believe VGA also). Lots of inputs....has optical out also.

Nice TV/monitor. Picture is nice....watched a few DVD's on it, seems nice. This is basically a secondary TV for me.