What is the best TV for $3000?
I have a budget of $3000 to spend on a ‘big screen’ TV. Which model should I get? I plan to use the new TV in the following manners:
- will be located in the living room
- about 8 feet from the couch
- will be used for watching HD stations (most likely Comcast)
- will be used for watching DVDs
- will be attached to an external system for sound
- plan to attach my laptops (PC & Mac) for games play
- quality is more important than size, but would like the best bang for the buck
- prefer to stick with a quality brand with a proven track record
Would appreciate recommendations on model and/or merchant.
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Tags: 3 Responses to “What is the best TV for $3000?”
i personally like sharp aquos LCD TV, with your budget, you can get a 37″ (like 37D4U, 37D5U, 37D6U or 37D7U) one, or adding a few hundreds more to get 45″ one (probably better, you can get 45GD4U with about $3400). for good deal and good service, try amazon.com, or some store with higher than 4 star ratings on Yahoo Shopping (such as buydig.com). hope this helps.
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/wireless/ps4555/products_data_sheet09186a00801ebc29.html
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I would recommend a rear projection tv that uses some sort of microdisplay technology such as DLP or LCoS. Microdisplays reflect a light off a microchip that can control the reflectivity of pixels to be on or off (or somewhere in between) resulting in a picture with great resolution and color fidelity, with none of the black level problems that plague LCD, LCD projectors, or plasma displays. One notable exception is the Hitachi I’ve linked here, which is an LCD projector but seems to have amazing quality for the price. (linked below)
Good brands are Toshiba, Samsung, Mitsubishi, and JVC. All RPTV’s probably need a little bit of adjustment in the color/contrast department but a $30 DVD will do the trick (video essentials, or avia are good choices for calibration).
http://reviews.cnet.com/Hitachi_50VS810/4505-6484_7-30994111.html
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Typically, i’m a DLP guy all the way.
However, in my personal opinion, if you’re looking to spend $3000 on a television at the moment, there is really only one way to do it right. The best thing out on the market right now in terms of HDTV quality is the Sony KDSR50XBR1 50″ SXRD.
Sony created a new variation of the still young LCoS technology (Liquid Crystal on Silicon) they dubbed SXRD (Silicon X-Tal Reflective Display) and, to my knowledge, this television and a 60″ model in the same product line are the only 2 out at the moment that use it (that is of course excepting the $30,000 front projector and $13,000 rear projection models that the technology originated from). I won’t bore you with babble about how it works, suffice to say it makes an unbelievable picture that is currently unrivaled by anything else that exists.
In terms of features, this TV has everything you could wish for. The TV also has the ability to display 1080p resolution, the highest resolution available, and upconverts all incoming signals to that resolution. It has a 10,000:1 contrast ratio – that’s positively incredible – and it’s got all your regular features in a good HDTV: 3:2 pulldown, CableCard input, built in HD tuner, awesome viewing angle [130°(Horizontal) x 60°(Vertical)], etc.
Where to get it? I would strongly recommend: http://www.pricegrabber.com/ and just put in “Sony KDSR50XBR1″ and put in your zip code to find out what shipping costs are gonna be, and it will give you “your best bet” which in my case came out to be $2997.00 – nice! $3 left for the dollar menu. If you’re a local kind of person, and not into the shipping game, you could see if you have a place called “Video Only” in the area – if you haggle with those guys, you can sometimes get a fantastic deal on home theater gear..especially TV’s.
Don’t kid yourself – this is the best picture you could possibly put in your home for anywhere near this price range. You’re gonna stop goin to the movies and start calling the TV by name, and declaring it your child. Well..maybe that’s just me.
http://reviews.cnet.com/Hitachi_50VS810/4505-6484_7-30994111.html
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