I want a 40 + inch HDTV that wont break the bank!

November 14, 2007 5:27 AM

LCD - PLASMA TV FILTER: I am in the market for a Flat Screen HDTV. I would LIKE to stay at 1000 bucks or below (I could probably move up to 1300 if the extra cash brought in a big leap in quality). What is the best option on the market for a 40+ inch LCD or Plasma TV for around 1000 bucks?

Ive read alot about Vizio which seems decent... but I was curious about other options out there. The Olevia brand is also in the price range but I can not find a single mainstream review on one of these units that isn't over two years old... Any suggestions / help is welcome!

I will be hooking the TV up to standard Def Satelite until I upgrade my DVR to HD.

Cheers.

posted by crewshell to shopping (20 comments total)

In that price range, Consumer Reports recommends the Toshiba REGZA 42HL67.
posted by procrastination at 5:35 AM on November 14, 2007 [1 favorite]

my roommate just spend around $850 on a 40" lcd Vizio brand tv. It works fine so far and supports 1080 (i think "i" and not "p", but i could be wrong). None the less movies, ps3 and hd channels look great. The TV it self has a nice look to it also.
posted by Black_Umbrella at 5:50 AM on November 14, 2007

Personally, I prefer plasmas. I only watch television and movies with very occasional gaming though.

The Panasonic TH-42PZ77U is a 1080p 42" plasma and has received excellent reviews. While it lists for $1800 and is street priced at around $1400, for the next three days you can get it for $989 + tax at Sears. I'd call that a steal, and if I were in the market for one, I'd definitely pull the trigger on this.
posted by AaRdVarK at 5:59 AM on November 14, 2007

Oh, the $150 rebate to get it down to that price requires a Sears card. Here's a link to the rebate form.
posted by AaRdVarK at 6:00 AM on November 14, 2007

Last update. If you go into the store and apply for a Sears card on the spot, you should get the $150 credit instantly. The FatWallet thread has all this info.
posted by AaRdVarK at 6:02 AM on November 14, 2007

That should not be a problem at all. I got a 40" LCD HD 8 months ago for under 1000 from NewEgg. (Possibly the one mentioned above) Personally, I would never buy a plasma over an LCD.
posted by absalom at 6:18 AM on November 14, 2007

Sorry I don't have specific model #s...

Vizio LCD's are great first-time HDTVs. 2 years ago I bought my first one, a 32", for around $1000. Of course, now you can get a 42" for that price.

I also have a friend who has a 42" Westinghouse for his first HDTV and he is very satisfied with it.

Also, if you want more discussion than you can imagine about HDTVs, head over to AVS Forum.
posted by jbiz at 6:25 AM on November 14, 2007

You're in the same exact boat I am and am looking to buy one soon.
In-store, Target also has an Olevia 42" LCD (242T) for 949.99 and a Magnavox 42" plasma for 999.99 (42MF237B). You get 10% off for opening a Target card if you don't already have one. They also have a larger selection of mail-order TVs to view online.

If you want to hunt, Best Buy is always selling open-box models. and there are some decent deals. They're typically marked down around 10%, but you can haggle for more. Especially if you insinuate you're going to get the protection plan.
For BB, the USPS store has "new mover's pack" containing a 10% off card. I have no idea if they require proof of moving, but I just did so works for me.

If you're willing to go refurbished, Newegg and TigerDirect have great great prices.
posted by jmd82 at 6:41 AM on November 14, 2007

Best Buy had a 42" Westinghouse 1080P LCD for $989 last weekend, probably still going on for a while.
posted by prostyle at 6:41 AM on November 14, 2007

I got that one two days ago prostyle. They had a 12% off coupon when you opened a Best Buy credit card (expired now), so the price before taxes was $871. I have been very happy with it so far and have 18 months without interest to pay for it.
posted by ND¢ at 6:50 AM on November 14, 2007

We have the 42" Westinghouse and like it a lot. We're moderately fussy about picture and like the picture we get from it -- black levels aren't quite 100%, but it's a very, very good picture for the price. Lots of inputs, too.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 7:15 AM on November 14, 2007

plasma vs LCD boils down to the type of image you like more. the deep, deep blacks made me choose plasma. I play the occasional Xbox 360 videogame (not more than 15-20 minutes every few days) and I've had zero problems with image burn. it's a Samsung, it cost much more last year, now prices are falling. I gave my mom a Samsung LCD for Xmas and it's a lovely television as well.
posted by matteo at 7:22 AM on November 14, 2007

Seconding the Samsung LCD -- just bought a 40" 720p set from Amazon and it's a beautiful set. Around 1150, so maybe a touch out of your price range, but it was very well reviewed and I'd seen the 32" model in action at a friend's house, so I knew what I was getting. It's a great gaming and movie TV.
posted by Pantengliopoli at 9:34 AM on November 14, 2007

I'm very happy with my Westinghouse so far but if future warranty and service issues are important to you then I urge you to do lots of research. Definitely look into the Toshiba REGZA mentioned above and perhaps keep an eye on the following: Samsung LN-T4053H, LG 42LB5D, and Sony KDL-40S3000.

I put together a Google Custom Search Engine that returns results from a few forums that were useful to me when I was shopping around.
posted by healthytext at 10:31 AM on November 14, 2007

Strongly seconding the Panasonic TH-42PZ77U. I bought this model a few weeks ago from Sears when it was on sale (but still a few hundred more than the price as reported by AaRdVarK above).

Great, great TV at an amazingly great price. In fact I'll be heading to Sears later to take advanatge of the Price Protection on my previous purchase.
posted by johnvaljohn at 12:37 PM on November 14, 2007

I LOVE my Vizio 42 Plasma that I got for about $800 last year. I recently saw a refurb at onsale.com for $650. You can't beat that! It is a great picture, and my reliability has been spotless.

Check some of the Black Friday ads that are leak on the net. There are many great deals out there.
posted by cp7 at 1:45 PM on November 14, 2007

I like my Samsung LN-T4053H, too, but it has some issues. The gaming lag is enough to ruin one of my favorite games (Pac-man Championship Edition), but it is unnoticeable in 99% of the games I've played. This model and a few other Samsung models also have issues with tearing and spontaneous audio dropout, but those have been fixed in my set by calling support and getting a firmware upgrade.

I sort of wish I'd bought another model, but it certainly has an impressive picture.
posted by MegoSteve at 2:14 PM on November 14, 2007

My only suggestion is to look very closely at the actual pixel dimensions of whatever you buy - many 'HD Ready' TVs are using non-native HD pixel dimensions meaning everything has to be electronically reformatted and processed to be displayed, which can introduce a significant loss of quality.
posted by sycophant at 5:03 PM on November 14, 2007

Keep an eye on sites that publish Black Friday ads. I'm in the market for a 50+ inch LCD/Plasma myself and I'm looking in the $1300 range, and I've already found a few places I could/would hit in the next 2 weeks.
posted by revmitcz at 8:22 PM on November 14, 2007

Another vote for Vizio. Get it from a warehouse club like Sam's or Costco for a good replacement program.

I had a Samsung I bought from Amazon that died 12 hours after delivery. Customer service is horrible at both. Buy it in person, locally.
posted by ijoyner at 10:19 AM on November 16, 2007