led tv 60hz vs 120hz image
Kentucky
I haven't bought a tv in about 9 years. I'm completely overwhelmed when looking at tvs today. I know nothing about the specifics. I have cable. I need a 37" screen size. But...
Plasma, LCD, or LED?
Brands? Is Panasonic a good brand?
720 or 1080 p? what is that?
60 Hz? What is that?
Answer
(1) Take your time then and learn about new technical specifications so you can be an educated buyer. Don't rush into a purchase.
(2) Go to cnet.com and look at their HDTV buying guide - http://reviews.cnet.com/tv-buying-guide/
(3) At 37", you don't have to be too worried about a lot of the confusing specifications out there. The reason being is that a lot of the fancy options out there are really only better suited on larger sets (50" or larger). They are just hard, if at all possible, to see in smaller sets. Most good buying guides will tell you that you don't need to spend money on those features in that size.
(4) LED is just a form of LCD. The "standard" LCD TV uses fluorescent based lights as the light source. LED LCDs simply use LEDs as the light source. This is considered a premium feature though and will cost you more.
LED lights provide a lighter weight, less power consumption, and can provider truer blacks. That's why they have become a popular choice in LCD buyers.
(5) Standard LCDs and LED LCDs can have issues with fast motion playback. That's where you'll see the feature called Refresh Rate (60Hz vs 120Hz vs 240Hz). The higher refresh rates are meant to try and help with fast motion playback. You need to look at fast motion on an LCD though before investing in a faster refresh rate set. Everyone's visual sensitivities are different, so some people don't even really pick up on the LCD flaw at all, and so don't really benefit from paying for the premium option. Also, some people find the 120Hz or 240Hz options to have a peculiar looking motion playback.
(6) 720p and 1080p are resolutions.
Think of your screen as being a drawing composed of tiny little pixels. A 720p image is drawn using 1280x720 pixels and a 1080p image is drawn using 1920x1080 pixels. So in theory the 1080p picture will have more details because it has more pixels (more subtle information).
But again, your visual perception makes a difference. In reality in smaller sized sets you can't notice the extra pixels (they become so small they aren't visible really). Also, again, we all have different visual sensitivities so you need to look for yourself and not rely only on theoretical specs. I know people who have 50" sets at 720p and are 100% satisfied with the HDTV viewing experience.
(7) Plasma has a lot of great features inherent to the technology, so can sometimes be cheaper than an LED LCD. It naturally produces very good colors and blacks. LCDs brought in LEDs to help try and match Plasma. Plasma has an inherently super fast response time, so it can playback fast motion flawlessly (like an old CRT/tube TV set). That is one place Plasma definitely beats LCD.
Plasma though is glass. So it can be an issue for glare if the room you're putting it is very bright and you can't control that light easily. Panasonic has a really good anti-glare screen, but it is still glass, so will have more glare than say an LED LCD.
Plasma isn't made in smaller sizes. You would have to jump to at least 42" to get a Plasma.
(8) Panasonic is an amazing brand. They are the world leaders in Plasma TV technology. If you go Plasma, they should be your first consideration (and maybe your only consideration). They have one of the strongest reputations right now in television for both quality of image, but also quality of product. Panasonic LCDs are also very good quality TV sets (if you do go 37", Panasonic does have LCD offerings you might want to consider).
Sony, Samsung, Toshiba, LG, and Vizio are all also considered "top tier" brands. They too would be worth your consideration. Other brands would be considered "second tier" brands and frankly, I would tend to avoid those if possible.
(9) Shop around for prices. Most places will price match each other, so you can buy a set from the place closest to your house and just get them to price match the best price you can find out there.
Amazon.com is a great place to look for prices (or even buying frankly). I would always check prices there first. ABCWarehouse is also a good place to look for prices. I would take a peak at their online site for prices as well.
If you're getting close to your TV purchase, but can wait a bit, wait until late february and early march. There will be a release of some new TV models at that point. So you can either consider those or you can look for some big sales as the last year models (which are still perfectly great sets) are liquidated. June is the other big sale period (revving into Father's Day and also the second "new TV models" release phase). The final sale period is Black Friday. It always has good prices, but not always good models. The March and June sales I find can often result in better buys on the good models.
(1) Take your time then and learn about new technical specifications so you can be an educated buyer. Don't rush into a purchase.
(2) Go to cnet.com and look at their HDTV buying guide - http://reviews.cnet.com/tv-buying-guide/
(3) At 37", you don't have to be too worried about a lot of the confusing specifications out there. The reason being is that a lot of the fancy options out there are really only better suited on larger sets (50" or larger). They are just hard, if at all possible, to see in smaller sets. Most good buying guides will tell you that you don't need to spend money on those features in that size.
(4) LED is just a form of LCD. The "standard" LCD TV uses fluorescent based lights as the light source. LED LCDs simply use LEDs as the light source. This is considered a premium feature though and will cost you more.
LED lights provide a lighter weight, less power consumption, and can provider truer blacks. That's why they have become a popular choice in LCD buyers.
(5) Standard LCDs and LED LCDs can have issues with fast motion playback. That's where you'll see the feature called Refresh Rate (60Hz vs 120Hz vs 240Hz). The higher refresh rates are meant to try and help with fast motion playback. You need to look at fast motion on an LCD though before investing in a faster refresh rate set. Everyone's visual sensitivities are different, so some people don't even really pick up on the LCD flaw at all, and so don't really benefit from paying for the premium option. Also, some people find the 120Hz or 240Hz options to have a peculiar looking motion playback.
(6) 720p and 1080p are resolutions.
Think of your screen as being a drawing composed of tiny little pixels. A 720p image is drawn using 1280x720 pixels and a 1080p image is drawn using 1920x1080 pixels. So in theory the 1080p picture will have more details because it has more pixels (more subtle information).
But again, your visual perception makes a difference. In reality in smaller sized sets you can't notice the extra pixels (they become so small they aren't visible really). Also, again, we all have different visual sensitivities so you need to look for yourself and not rely only on theoretical specs. I know people who have 50" sets at 720p and are 100% satisfied with the HDTV viewing experience.
(7) Plasma has a lot of great features inherent to the technology, so can sometimes be cheaper than an LED LCD. It naturally produces very good colors and blacks. LCDs brought in LEDs to help try and match Plasma. Plasma has an inherently super fast response time, so it can playback fast motion flawlessly (like an old CRT/tube TV set). That is one place Plasma definitely beats LCD.
Plasma though is glass. So it can be an issue for glare if the room you're putting it is very bright and you can't control that light easily. Panasonic has a really good anti-glare screen, but it is still glass, so will have more glare than say an LED LCD.
Plasma isn't made in smaller sizes. You would have to jump to at least 42" to get a Plasma.
(8) Panasonic is an amazing brand. They are the world leaders in Plasma TV technology. If you go Plasma, they should be your first consideration (and maybe your only consideration). They have one of the strongest reputations right now in television for both quality of image, but also quality of product. Panasonic LCDs are also very good quality TV sets (if you do go 37", Panasonic does have LCD offerings you might want to consider).
Sony, Samsung, Toshiba, LG, and Vizio are all also considered "top tier" brands. They too would be worth your consideration. Other brands would be considered "second tier" brands and frankly, I would tend to avoid those if possible.
(9) Shop around for prices. Most places will price match each other, so you can buy a set from the place closest to your house and just get them to price match the best price you can find out there.
Amazon.com is a great place to look for prices (or even buying frankly). I would always check prices there first. ABCWarehouse is also a good place to look for prices. I would take a peak at their online site for prices as well.
If you're getting close to your TV purchase, but can wait a bit, wait until late february and early march. There will be a release of some new TV models at that point. So you can either consider those or you can look for some big sales as the last year models (which are still perfectly great sets) are liquidated. June is the other big sale period (revving into Father's Day and also the second "new TV models" release phase). The final sale period is Black Friday. It always has good prices, but not always good models. The March and June sales I find can often result in better buys on the good models.
What computer video card do i need to run 3D on Samsung 3D HDTV 240hz?
Kev
I am getting a new 55" Samsung 3D HDTV 240hz 1080p LCD-LED television very soon.
My question is what video card for my computer am I going to need to run 3D games on that TV?
The video card I am using now is a ATI Radeon HD 4850
The price needs to be within $100-$400 USD
Answer
Details that would help would be what operating system that you plan to run. And what other specs you have for the system that you plan on using. I see that you are currently using an ATI card, so I would assume that you would want to have an ATI replacement card. I will also assume that you have enough room around your PCI slot to fit a dual slot card. Also power supply specs come in to play as well, especially where graphics are concerned. You want 600watt supply at the bare minimum. I would strongly suggest over 800watts and above to give you room to grow later.
Now you say you plan on running 3D games. That kinda narrows your list of possible choices to the more expensive end of the spectrum. Being able to play them and being able to play them well are two different things as I'm sure you know :P.
Requirements for HD3D Be sure to check that your TV is supported on this list. Also listed are the graphics cards that I recommended below. Go for the best that you can afford.
http://www.amd.com/us/products/technologies/amd-hd3d/Pages/supported-hardware.aspx
An important note from that list is that you will also have to get additional hardware. (3D glasses and such). I couldn't find any on AMD's website. Researching further into it, it appears that AMD delegates the task of 3D hardware sourcing and compatibility to third party manufacturers. The other options force you to purchase a specific monitor and glasses.
Choices:
Radeon HD 5970 (Hemlock) 2GB $499
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102887
A bit over your price range, but well worth it. Fastest card out at the moment
Then right beneath that you have the Radeon HD 5870
Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress XT) 2GB $369
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102888
I chose that specific 5870 because of the memory. It's a 2GB card, beware of the prices there. Make sure that you are paying for the memory and not for an over clocked GPU on a 1GB card. Don't settle for less than 2GB. And don't pay for an overclocked card, any overclock that you would get is marginal and could be done for free yourself if you so choose.
Comparison chart of the two so you can see the differences and decide for yourself:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/162?vs=165
To stay in your price range, you would want to stay with the 5870 though.
Now with all this said... I must mention that standard refresh rate for 3D is currently 120Hz and not 240Hz.
http://www.lcdtvbuyingguide.com/lcdtv/120hz-240hz-60hz.html -- Some reading on the subject.
Overall, I'd say those two cards are your choices. And congrats on the new TV. But stick with the 2D games for now, as for 3D technology, ATI doesn't seem to be on the ball.
Details that would help would be what operating system that you plan to run. And what other specs you have for the system that you plan on using. I see that you are currently using an ATI card, so I would assume that you would want to have an ATI replacement card. I will also assume that you have enough room around your PCI slot to fit a dual slot card. Also power supply specs come in to play as well, especially where graphics are concerned. You want 600watt supply at the bare minimum. I would strongly suggest over 800watts and above to give you room to grow later.
Now you say you plan on running 3D games. That kinda narrows your list of possible choices to the more expensive end of the spectrum. Being able to play them and being able to play them well are two different things as I'm sure you know :P.
Requirements for HD3D Be sure to check that your TV is supported on this list. Also listed are the graphics cards that I recommended below. Go for the best that you can afford.
http://www.amd.com/us/products/technologies/amd-hd3d/Pages/supported-hardware.aspx
An important note from that list is that you will also have to get additional hardware. (3D glasses and such). I couldn't find any on AMD's website. Researching further into it, it appears that AMD delegates the task of 3D hardware sourcing and compatibility to third party manufacturers. The other options force you to purchase a specific monitor and glasses.
Choices:
Radeon HD 5970 (Hemlock) 2GB $499
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102887
A bit over your price range, but well worth it. Fastest card out at the moment
Then right beneath that you have the Radeon HD 5870
Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress XT) 2GB $369
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102888
I chose that specific 5870 because of the memory. It's a 2GB card, beware of the prices there. Make sure that you are paying for the memory and not for an over clocked GPU on a 1GB card. Don't settle for less than 2GB. And don't pay for an overclocked card, any overclock that you would get is marginal and could be done for free yourself if you so choose.
Comparison chart of the two so you can see the differences and decide for yourself:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/162?vs=165
To stay in your price range, you would want to stay with the 5870 though.
Now with all this said... I must mention that standard refresh rate for 3D is currently 120Hz and not 240Hz.
http://www.lcdtvbuyingguide.com/lcdtv/120hz-240hz-60hz.html -- Some reading on the subject.
Overall, I'd say those two cards are your choices. And congrats on the new TV. But stick with the 2D games for now, as for 3D technology, ATI doesn't seem to be on the ball.
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Title Post: What do you need to consider when buying a new tv?
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Author: Yukie
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Rating: 98% based on 988 ratings. 5 user reviews.
Author: Yukie
Thanks For Coming To My Blog
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