Gaming HDTV recommendations

[Korax]

Welp, my old, third-hand TV just decided to stop working correctly. Repairs look like they'll be in excess of $700-800, so I figured that it might just be time to get a new one. My main concern is video lag, as I use my TV almost exclusively for gaming. Other than that, I'm looking for something in the 40-50" range, with up to a $1000 price tag (though I'm a bit flexible with that). Suggestions?

[T-Matt]

The panasonic G10 is a good buy

http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-VIERA-TC-P42G10-42-Inch-Plasma/dp/B001UAEWSU/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1252533351&sr=8-3

Sharp Auquos series are known for low lag.

http://www.amazon.com/Sharp-Aquos-LC42D65U-42-Inch-1080p/dp/B001E93J36/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1252533579&sr=1-5

Samsungs always seem to have the highest lag when people test them but they always look nice.

[Chris]

  T-Matt said:

The panasonic G10 is a good buy

http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-VIERA-TC-P42G10-42-Inch-Plasma/dp/B001UAEWSU/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1252533351&sr=8-3

Sharp Auquos series are known for low lag.

http://www.amazon.com/Sharp-Aquos-LC42D65U-42-Inch-1080p/dp/B001E93J36/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1252533579&sr=1-5

Samsungs always seem to have the highest lag when people test them but they always look nice.

I've had a Sharp Aquos 720p TV for about four years now, and it's always been fine for me.

[Moelman]

  T-Matt said:

The panasonic G10 is a good buy

http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-VIERA-TC-P42G10-42-Inch-Plasma/dp/B001UAEWSU/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1252533351&sr=8-3

Sharp Auquos series are known for low lag.

http://www.amazon.com/Sharp-Aquos-LC42D65U-42-Inch-1080p/dp/B001E93J36/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1252533579&sr=1-5

Samsungs always seem to have the highest lag when people test them but they always look nice.

I just got a 32" Samsung 1080p last week and I've been playing 360 extensively on it, and had no problems with lag (including Rock Band 2). I've always had good luck with Samsung (well my first TV but I love their monitors) so I would recommend them.

[Korax]

The dying TV is an old Samsung DLP. I never really noticed lag until I did the auto-calibration for Rock Band 2. Several calibrations later (just to make sure something wasn't wrong) it had a lag of about 40-50 msec.

That Aquos is looking mighty fine...

[brkl]

Anything good in about 37 inch? My brother's getting one and I think 40 or more would be overkill and too expensive.

[Razor]

We have a 42" Toshiba (556 something it's called) and 32" Samsung, I didn't ever notice any lag, but maybe I'm too slow

[Scrobbs]

I reckon LCD's are all pretty much of a muchness now. Some people will prefer some brands etc. Personally, I've got a Samsung, purchased when I got the 360. Great screens, but poor DTV software.

If you've got the money (or rather if I had some to get another screen!) I'd go for a Bravia W series or something.

[syntheticgerbil]

  brkl said:

Anything good in about 37 inch? My brother's getting one and I think 40 or more would be overkill and too expensive.

I have a 37" 1080p Vizio which I sort of bought because it was relatively cheap at the time. I think it's even cheaper now, running about $500-$550.

The color and display look fine to me on the Vizio TVs, which are known for being a less expensive brand. There's also Olevia on the cheap side, but I don't seem to have generally heard good things about them. You can check existing reviews on Cnet that goes into all the nerdy stuff for each TV, half of which I understand.

http://reviews.cnet.com/televisions/

[jneeriem]

  syntheticgerbil said:

I have a 37" 1080p Vizio which I sort of bought because it was relatively cheap at the time. I think it's even cheaper now, running about $500-$550.

The color and display look fine to me on the Vizio TVs, which are known for being a less expensive brand. There's also Olevia on the cheap side, but I don't seem to have generally heard good things about them. You can check existing reviews on Cnet that goes into all the nerdy stuff for each TV, half of which I understand.

http://reviews.cnet.com/televisions/

I think I have that same Vizio and use it 3-4 (or more) hours daily for gaming. And love it.

[syntheticgerbil]

Haha if it's the same Vizio, the only reason I can imagine it really sucks is because I can't change the screen size with a button on the remote and instead have to go into a menu.

I've heard of Vizios that do have that function on the remote and the funny thing is, it's possible to program the function on a universal remote for the TV, even though it's unavailable on the factory remote.

REMOTE CHRIS REMOTE.

[jneeriem]

  syntheticgerbil said:

Haha if it's the same Vizio, the only reason I can imagine it really sucks is because I can't change the screen size with a button on the remote and instead have to go into a menu.

I've heard of Vizios that do have that function on the remote and the funny thing is, it's possible to program the function on a universal remote for the TV, even though it's unavailable on the factory remote.

I imagine its the same Vizio, these "cheaper" manufacturers I think tend to limit their overall product offerings. I also have found the remote crappy, however once I set the video settings, I only use it for the 360, and I have a seperate sound system so all I press is the power button.

  Quote

REMOTE CHRIS REMOTE.

So is this like "Jake the RodKing" and thus "Touch Chris' Remote"? Still leaves one out.

[Jayel]

I just got a 37" LG LH30. Supposedly has really low input lag - this guy at avsforum went through 15 TVs in a quest to find an LCD TV with the lowest input lag, and he chose LH30 in the end.

Mind you it's a bit old and doesn't have the greatest contrast ratio or deep black levels (or even perfect uniformity), but the colours are simply fantastic and they're so adjustable!

Here's cnet review

I'm using it as a PC monitor and pretty happy with it.

HOWEVER

Most LCD TV's these days come with "game mode" that turns off all the fancy video processing and reduces lag. So with this option on I doubt you'll actually notice lag, even on the slowest LCDs.

[Chris]

  jneeriem said:

So is this like "Jake the RodKing" and thus "Touch Chris' Remote"? Still leaves one out.

I've always been partial to "Nick Breckon Be Wreckin'"

[Scrobbs]

Just to throw another iron in the fire, Sony appear to be doing interesting things with 3D gaming, things which will link directly into Bravia TVs.

Eurogamer Article

[Korax]

Ugh. 3-D in movies and games is a horrible idea. There's a reason it died in the 50's, and there's still no good justification to try and bring it back.

[Scrobbs]

Oo, I dunno, looks quite good tech this time around. I won't be able to use it though due to fucked eyes.

[jneeriem]

  Chris said:

I've always been partial to "Nick Breckon Be Wreckin'"

And thus it is born, the triology of Idle Porn:

Meet Jake the Rodking

Touch Chris' Remote

Nick Breckon Be Wreckin' Other People's Wives.

Ok, umm, I have nothing to say for myself.

[syntheticgerbil]

  Chris said:

I've always been partial to "Nick Breckon Be Wreckin'"

He needs a gold chain with that on the medallion.

[dartmonkey]

Exhumed!

 

I've searched but this is the only thread about TVs I could find. Maybe that says something - being surrounded by screens, I get that not everyone bothers with an actual TV set anymore - but watching some things on a laptop or phone is a sadness and I still buy the odd Bluray. For the past five years a 32" HD Sharp has been fine for us, save for a vertical line of blue pixels that appeared on the left last year. However, over the summer I spent a month at a friend's flat in the company of his 55" 4K curved Samsung monster. It took some getting used to, but...I did. I expected Breath of the Wild and MK8 to look ropey blown up so big but they looked great. Actual 4K stuff looked predictably nice. I was impressed.

 

On returning, my humble 32"er looks like a chunky, distant relic. An upgrade may be in order. What sizes/makes/models do you have? I'm looking for something with low-ish lag, decent black levels and viewing angle. I've seen loads in shops (including this Samsung designed to look like a picture frame when you're not using it - it fooled me when passed by) but I'm interested in first hand experience of sets in the 500-1000€ range. Got any tips/horror stories?

[jennegatron]

i just always trust the wirecutter to do all the research on anything for me - https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-tv/

 

[Ben X]

There's the Home Theater thread, which might be more appropriate if you're not asking about gaming tellies?

 

I have a 42" plasma telly. I used to have my gaming pc plugged into it but it's now my 1080p laptop and blu-ray player only, for watching tv/film and a little browsing. I'm dreading the day it breaks.

[Badfinger]

It's hard to go really wrong on a tv, now. The thing I hear the most, especially higher end stuff, is everything is good but too expensive. My suggestion is take a look at the wirecutter article and if those TVs don't quite fit what you're looking for, pay attention to the qualities they valued and compare what you're looking at against them.

[Professor Video Games]

I don't think it's fair to say they're all the same...there's definitely differences in panels and tv quality at the various price tiers. Diminishing returns as you go up in price though for sure.

 

Anyway, last year I got a Samsung 65KS8000, which I've been pretty happy with. 4k/HDR content looks amazing and it's got a game mode that minimizes input lag (I did notice the lag when in normal mode). One thing it's got which I've only toyed around with once or twice is a Steamlink app built in...seemed to work ok! My one complaint is that because it's edge lit instead of backlit the black levels are probably not as good as they could be. Like in very dark scenes like for example credits or load screens where the screen is all back aside from some small text or image, you can see that that column of the screen is being lit up and the "black" in the column is a bit grayer, whereas I assume something that's backlit will just have a gray zone in the area where the text is (or in my dreams where I have one of those LG OLEDs, only the white pixels are lit up and the blacks are perfectly black). I haven't found it to be a dealbreaker though.

 

Also, go as big as you can afford/fit. At first you'll say "haha this is comically large" and like ten minutes later you'll wonder how you dealt with your old set.

[dartmonkey]

Yeah, we were concerned that something too big would take over the entire room, but we're steadily inching the sofa towards our TV so we can see it better. Stupid deteriorating eyesight! More is more.

 

OLEDs look so nice. A little too pricey but they do look amazing.

 

Thanks, I'll check out the wirecutter article and the Home Theater thread 👍