Lcd Hdtv

[Ace H]

Need recommendations for a 42 inch LCD HD TV (NOTHING Larger). Must have ATSC Tuner and QAM Tuner. Cost...under $2,000.

[Mr Peabody]

If you are a cable user you might want the "cable card" feature. This will allow you to receive HD and scrambled stations without a box. It is only like a $1.50 a month charge from the cable company opposed to what they charge for a box. The downside is the cable card is not interactive. Certain TV's will work better than others with giving you a guide. One other thing to look for and it will drive the price up as well as the cable card, I'd recommend going ahead and getting a TV that is 1080p. The new HD movie discs, Blu-ray, are 1080p capable. Not all the LCD's are capable of this, many are still 720p. I haven't checked pricing in a while so I can't help you with cost. I have a Sharp Aquos LCD that I think does a good job. I've also heard the Sony LCD's are big contenders. I just recently bought my daughter a small Samsung and it is very nice. It provided a lot of features and a good picture. If it means anything she also thought it was cute. I haven't checked to see if the Samsung offers a channel guide. My Sharp is probably the best with cooperating with cable and providing good channel guide info. My Sony tube HDTV with cable card only gave the channel name when switching. The Sharp gave an actual guide like you see with cable or satelite boxes.

[Jack in Wilmington]

The Sharp is a very good choice as mentioned. The Toshiba 42" is also a nice alternative. If you look at the Sony it will be a 40" and not a 42". If you don't mind buying online you can get the top of the line Sony the KDL40XBR4 for less than $2000. A lot of online dealers have free shipping.

Another feature with the Sharp that I saw in today's newspaper. Best Buy and Circuit City are offering with the purchase of a 42" a free BluRay DVD player ($500 value)

[pixelthis]

You can get a Vizio for less than a grand, also olevia has inexpensive models.
I love my Vizio 37in, a 42 would be nice but I can live with this one.
As for PQ I SIT QUITE CLOSE TO MINE WHEN USING IT AS A COMPUTER MONITOR, which I am doing now, it does a great job at this, btw, but I see little video noise, and even the smallest text is quite readable.
Movies? FANTASTIC.
Some on this site are a little disparaging concerning Vizio, seem to think you have to pay a ton for quality, well there are the sharps, samsungs, etc, I SEE LITTLE JUSTIFICATION for their higher pricetags(Sony IS worth it, IMHO):1:

[Ace H]

So far I'm considering the following:

Philips - Ambilight 2 42" 1080p Flat-Panel LCD HDTV
Model: 42PFL7432D

Sony 40" Bravia V-Series LCD HDTV
Model #: SON KDL40V3000

Are these good choices?

[johnny p]

I like Sonys (and I have an Aquos...... GO WITH SONY!)

[Mr Peabody]

I took a look at the Phillips on the Best Buy website, it's on sale from a normal price of $1,599.00. It has good ratings from the customers. I can't imagine anything not being HDCP compliant but you had better make sure before buying. Some one posted here they bought a Phillips TV from 2005 and it was not. Your potential model has 3 HDMI inputs which is good you just want to be able to use them.

The Sony has excellent customer ratings (on Amazon) and is about the same price, one online source showed $1,499.00 with free shipping, if this qualified at BB for the free Blu-ray player though it may be worth a few extras bucks at purchase to get the player if you don't have one yet. The Sony give up a HDMI but adds a computer input. The Sony also has a list of trademark features like the 24p input capability.

Me personally I'd choose the Sony. It would really come down to which picture you thought was best and it seems like both models would be easy to find. If you go with Sony the extended warranty might not be a bad thing if not too expensive. My Sony tube HDTV messed up not long after the factory warranty was gone. Luckily when I bought it it was on sale and I took the extended warranty. I also had a couple low end Phillips things like one of those Tv's with a built in DVD that didn't last long. So I've had issues with both brands. One thing about my Sony it has virtually unrivaled picture quality and the best upconverting of lower video resolutions of anything I've ever owned. The picture from our VCR is unbelievable, the best I've seen from VHS. I have a LG upconverting DVD player hooked to it using HDMI but the picture from other sources that the TV upconverts is as good or better. The LCD you are considering mentions it does this upconversion as well.