In recent polls, we’ve asked you how large your home theater screen is and how old your TV or display is. This week, let’s take a look at what brand names you favor.
I’ve tried to compile a list of many common HDTV or projector brands for the below poll. This list is by no means comprehensive. If you own something that’s not an available option, vote “Other” and tell us in the Comments section. If you own multiple TVs or displays, you may vote for as many options as you’d like.
A recent article in MediaDailyNews claims that Samsung is currently the most popular big-name TV brand, followed by Sony, LG and Vizio. I’m curious whether those results will hold true of our readers as well.
My primary home theater display is a JVC projector. I also have a Vizio 3D TV in the HT room and a Sharp HDTV in the living room. What do you own?
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Jonathan Doan
I’ve got a Dynex 40 inch LCD 1080P HDTV from Best Buy. Despite the issues with the backlights showing themselves when the screen is black, the quality of this cheap set is outstanding for the measly $350 I paid for it! I had a 47″ LG that was stolen from my previous apartment, and I thought 40″ wouldn’t live up to it, but it turned out to be plenty big, and of great quality.
Barsoom Bob
I’ve have owned two Panasonic Plasmas so far. Beautiful picture quality, only thing I have ever seen that approaches it was the Pioneer Kuro(?). Don’t want to tell you what I paid for the first one, but I could have bought 3 of the newer VT 50 Full HD 3D that I have now for the same price.
And, funny in retrospect story, I bought it the year of the Janet Jackson Super bowl incident. Had just gotten it and moved the old Sony CRT over to the side and me and the guys were watching the Super Bowl when the picture just went blank right before half time.
Much swearing, scrambling to fix the wires and then had to re hook up the old CRT. So after all that money, I still only got to see Janet Jackson’s breast in standard definition. LOL
HuskerGuy
Our two primary viewing TVs are both Samsung as was the primary TV before those. We own a Panasonic that resides in our bedroom that looks nice enough, but it is the slowest thing ever when it comes to powering on.
Even though I do love my two Sammy’s I’m certainly not brand loyal and found my way into those due to them being the best value.
lordbowler
I have a 47 LCD LG and a 32 LCD Vizio.
I’ve been impressed by both, but the apps on the Vizio is better than LG.
T.J. Kats
Currently Samsung plasma that replaced a Panasonic that died. I love(d) both sets and like both brands but ended up with the Samsung due to a great deal that came up right after the Panasonic died.
J.J. Carlson
I’ve had my Panasonic plasma for many years now, and I’ve been happy with it the entire time. It’s 720p, but at 42″, that’s just fine for now.
Heather
I have a 50″ Pioneer Kuro which I bought at a deep discount shortly after they were discontinued. I am completely in love with it to say the least. If anything ever happened to that diplay, it would be irreplaceable!
Drew
I actually just got a new Sharp XV-Z30000 3D projector for my primary home theatre display. I’m still in awe of it, more than two weeks after it arrived. It blows my Panasonic 3D projector, that I used for about two years, out of the water! It outperforms the JVC that I used prior to that, by an even greater margin. My former projectors used LCD technology, which simply can’t compare to DLP when it comes to displaying 3D content.
In my secondary home theatre (great room), I’m using a 65″ Panasonic VT30. I also have a Sony HX series HDTV in the master bedroom.
JM
When Pioneer died and all the Kuro engineers went to work for Panasonic my brand loyalty went with them.
However, with TVs switching to OLED, and projectors switching to laser, I have no idea which multinational conglomerate to fall in love with next.
I’m hoping by the time that the PS4 arrives that RED will bring out an affordable 4K projector that kicks ungodly amounts of ass.
But I wonder what will happen when North Korea nukes Samsung?
Or when Apple starts releasing televisions?
I mean, it wasn’t that long ago that Reference Quality = Sony.
JM
Will we have to buy new TVs to watch ‘The Hobbit’ in 48fps?
Fuzzz
I have a 42″ Fujitsu panel, only does 720P but still outshines most full HD tv’s and I see a lot of tv’s in my job as a satellite installation engineer
Fuzzz
Oh and its over 5 years old now!
Drew
Is ‘The Hobbit’ really going to screen in theatres at 48fps? How many theatres are 48fps equipped?
What about those of us that are equipped with tech that can do 48Hz or 96Hz? Can we just screen ‘The Hobbit’ in 96Hz mode and get the same result?
I can’t wait for my RED ray player and RED 4K projector!
Josh Zyber
AuthorLong story short: No, TVs that convert 24 fps to 48 or 96 just multiply the existing frames. This is not the same effect. Turning on “MotionFlow” on a 120 Hz or 240 Hz TV would be closer.
Early reports about The Hobbit say that the 48 fps looks TERRIBLE. I’m working on a post about this that will probably run Monday.
JM
Peter Jackson said 10,000 screens will be 48fps by December.
Jason
Epson 5010 on a 110″ Elite Screen for movies, prime time television and other HD shows and a 42″ Sony RPTV for everything else.
Drew
If Apple starts releasing televisions, they will look a lot like dog shit!
I can just imagine it now – “When a television screen looks this clear, you won’t believe your eyes. Take a look at our one thousand HD retina display. With a 1G resolution (they will hide the fact that it is sub-full HD, and it will be something like 1800×1000 resolution), enhanced sharpness, and advanced digital noise reduction, you won’t ever need another television.”
I’m stifling vomit just thinking about it.
JM
I read that Apple LED LCDs will be made by Samsung, with built-in Apple TVs, and controlled by Siri.
Patrick
I own two Vizios. I bought a 42″ 1080p 60hz LCD two years ago was very happy with it. I moved it into my office and Bought a 47″ 1080p 120hz LCD w/ Internet apps to replace it. For ‘budget’TVs, they have impressed me infinitely more than the Toshiba DLP I had prior.
Drew
No, Josh, SOME early reports say that the 48fps looks terrible. Other early reports say that it looks revolutionary.
With 240Hz LCDs, you can actually achieve the 48fps look if the equipment has customizable video processing options.
I didn’t think that you could get the effect using a 48, 72, or 96Hz plasma, but the good thing is, if blu-ray ever adopts 48fps, 96 and 48Hz equipped owners will be able to display 48fps properly, without 3:2 pulldown artifacts.
Josh Zyber
AuthorCurrent 48 Hz and 96 Hz TVs are not designed to accept a 48 fps input signal. They will only accept 60 Hz or 1080p24. New TVs will be needed.
I haven’t seen any positive reactions to the Hobbit screening. If you can link to some, that would be appreciated.
JM
AICN was positive about parts of the footage.
Eric Hulen
Can you provide a Link to negative reactions to a true 48 fps screening of the Hobbit?
Eric Hulen
Never mind, just saw the comment about you making a post about it.
JM
When James Cameron showed 48fps last year everyone called it inconceivable.
And Roger Ebert has been singing folksongs about 48fps since the folksong days.
I’m thinking ‘The Hobbit’ footage went poorly because of its unfinishedness.
Peter Jackson and his crew have been watching 4K 3D 48fps dailies, every day, for hours, for months.
Entire film purists have been wholly converted.
Maybe their eyeballs have evolved to the next level of human evolution.
EM
Terrible and revolutionary are not intrinsically opposed. As the French taught us, Revolution and Terror sometimes go hand in hand.
JM
What you’re saying is, 48fps is the croissant of cinema?
EM
What, was that the only French word you could think of? Given the context, brioche might have been more apt if you were going for foods, but outside that curious restriction I would have at least expected guillotine.
JM
I could only think of croissant because I made homemade croissants today and was eating ham and cheese on my croissant when I read your comment.
Now that I’ve had some time to digest, perhaps 48fps is the pâte à choux of cinema.
EM
Well, croissant literally means “growing”, and 48fps may end up a growth technology, but it’s not there yet!
It’s funny that you should mention pâte à choux, for I was also thinking of one of the pastries that it is often used for: the éclair. Éclair also means “lightning”, and etymologically it conveys the idea of exuding brightness, as in la Liberté éclairant le monde—Liberty Enlightening the World, the formal name for that gift from France in New York Harbor. Will 48fps enlighten the world? Will it, as lightning sometimes does, set the world on fire? and if so, will that be in the good way or the bad way? Like lightning, will it be over in a flash?
(I’ve been doing some planning for a trip to Paris, and that has encouraged my thinking about these baked delights. Another I’m looking forward to is petits pains au chocolat—mm-hmmm!!)
JM
48fps is a compromise.
Peter Jackson would have shot ‘The Hobbit’ in 60fps if enough screens could have been ready in time.
Douglas Trumbell argues that 120fps is the future for spectacle films, which will need to be shot in a new cinematic language, and that 99% of normal movies should stick to the 24fps tradition.
The éclair is perhaps the perfect metaphor.
70mm 3D 120fps event cinema will be a special delight, enjoyed on occasion.
Coincidentally, petits pains au chocolat was next on my list to bake.
Jason
I have a Samsung for now, but as soon as I move I will be getting the Epson 5010 projector!
Barsoom Bob
I am very surprised to find myself siding with Drew, sorry old boy, but early reports are that the 48FPS showing of The Hobbit landed with a resounding thud. Google CinemaCon Hobbit
All everyone could say was it looked exactly like Josh’s worst nightmare of a Tru Motion movie theater experience. This may die before it even gets out of the gate or the they are going to have to learn real fast how to tame this beast and make pleasant looking movies with all that extra detail.
I know this not the same thing, because what I saw in front of John Carter was 24FPS Imax, but in truth The Hobbit trailer looked terrible to my eyes. It looked extremely washed out and was just off in a lot of ways visually. I wrote it off at the time to being a regular movie blown up to Imax, which I don’t care for very much. But now I am wondering was it these super sharp frames, that may have been stepped down to 24fps that caused that off kilter look.
JM
Google > CinemaCon James Cameron 60fps.
Everyone agrees the technology is brilliant with finished film.
‘The Hobbit’ was unfinished, un-graded, incomplete effects, cut together like a sizzle reel.
The segment that worked for people was a scene with Bilbo and Gollum in the cave, a long segment, cut together like a normal scene.
They say 3D doesn’t play well with MTV editing, maybe 48fps is similar?
Barsoom Bob
I hope you are right. The Hobbit is a movie I’m greatly looking foward to seeing. Don’t get me wrong, I was all for this evolution, as were most people at the screening. Seems weird that you would show something that wasn’t finished, and didn’t come across right, to the very people you are hoping to persuade to drop money on upgrading their equipment.
It took the audio people more than a few years to figure out how to “warm up” and “fatten” the sound on CDs.
Doesn’t surprise me that Cameron’s footage came off well, he is so far ahead of everybody else, in real life exploits and when he creates a film.
I hear he is going to do Avatar 3 holographically a la Tupac at Cochella. LOL
JM
Could they up-scale 48fps to 480fsp, then down-convert to 60fps?
Can they give us 1080p x 60fps blu-rays?
If they just down-convert 48fps to 24fps won’t that look slightly wrong?
Barsoom Bob
Alert ! Timely piece of business on this topic. Episode IV of Harry Knowles “Ain’t It Cool” new webcast show has 12 minutes with Douglas Trumbell talking about what he is up to now. Torus screens and 120 FPS with double the light output. Fascinating guy.
JM
If Douglas Trumbell ran for president of the galaxy I would vote for him!
His recent interview in The Hollywood Reporter gave a lot more nuance.
His hard science fiction film sounds like a true sequel to ‘2001.’
Phlebotoman
Currently have a Sony 55XBR8. Great picture on this tv. But once we buy our house I plan to build a dedicated home theater with a JVC projector. The tv can stay in the living room.
ZacharyTF
42″ Panasonic plasma and a 27″ Philips CRT.
August Lehe
I KNOW, I’m not just an idiot, but an OLD idiot! Anybody know any real good reasons I SHOULDN’T buy a 46-inch G series Pansonic Plasma? It’s a perfect size for me and my den. It’s 3-D rated and THX certified. I don’t do games. I’m just a movie guy…period! I’m also planning for an OPPO BLD-93 PLAYER. Beyond that, I’m not real sure about anything. Maybe a Yamaha receiver? A surround strip, maybe?
Barsoom Bob
Panasonic’s VT line is supposed to have the best picture, but trust your eyes. That’s a very good BD player. Don’t neglect the sound component of your set up. If you want to keep it simple, just set up your stereo on either side of the display and maybe add a sub woofer.
If you can live with having the extra required speakers step into the world of surround sound. When used subtly it draws you in and makes you feel like you are in the middle of something. I went from Yamaha to low end Marantz last year, maybe about $350 dollars more, and it was a world of difference. I love music and have owned stereos from the days when it was the “cutting edge new thing” and we used to listen in dorm rooms to demo records of trains passing by or pulling into stations and nothing has ever sounded as good as this amplifier.
JM
THX says the ideal viewing distance of a 46″ 1080p screen is 4’6″.
If you buy a bigger TV you can sit farther back.
August Lehe
Thanks for the helpful hints…you, JM, and B. Bob..My viewing distances will be 6 feet, no farther.
JM
The nudity was cut from ‘Titanic 3D’ in China.
“Considering the vivid 3D effects, we fear that viewers may reach out their hands for a touch, and thus interrupt other people’s viewing. To avoid potential conflicts between viewers and out of consideration of building a harmonious ethical social environment, we’ve decided to cut the nudity scenes.”
– China’s State Administration Of Film.
I wonder if 60-120fps, with the increased sensory immersion, will lead to greater censorship of sex and violence?
EM
I’m not sure those grasping hands would be going where the Chinese bureaucrats seem to indicate they would be going.
JM
We’re from the government, and we’re here to help.
Barsoom Bob
Who knows, but it’s sure gonna feel great !
6 degree of Doug Trumbell tangent :
The main conceit of his Showscan movie, Brainstorm, was they invented a machine that could record other people’s sensory information and then patch it in to someone else’s nervous system to give them the experience. Think sky diving and race driving.
So this older dude wires up his younger assistant guy, who is about to get it on with his hot young girlfriend, to record the deed.
After a few days his fellow scientists notice the older dude has gone MIA. They go to his house and he has sniped out the climactic moment, fashioned it into a repeating loop and has spent days just orgasming out. His friends unhook him from the machine to save him from starving to death.
The cool beat was when you run into him a few
days later on the golf course, he is a changed man, alive, thriving, energized and clear in his vision for his future.
August Lehe
Another dumb question anyone? I have purchased HDMI cables of six and 15 feet w/ethernet. Should I only use the six-foot between my player and my set and use the 15-foot cable from my player to my receiver mainly for surround audio purposes? I expect to purchase a 7.1 channel receiver in the $650 to $1000 range. I have months to decide on my speakers.
Barsoom Bob
Normally you would send the player, cable box and anything else you have to the receiver and then one wire from the reciever to the display.
The receiver acts like a switch9ng device. If you did it your way, which would work, you will have to switch the TV to BD and then switch the reciever to that input to hear the sound. Now, I don’t know if the first way I described passes along the ethernet for streaming ability but I would kind of guess that it would. Anyway, you could always just run an ethernet cable to the TV.
Make sure you check Marantz in that price range. I bought a full size mid low end Marantz for $750 and it is the best sound I have ever experienced.
August Lehe
Thanks, Barsoom! Actually, I am considering an NR 1602 Marantz 7.1 Receiver. Josh suggested a short cable from player to set. He also reminded me how much work is involved in hooking up a receiver!