Good HD TV For Sports

[Sad Clown]

Looks like the TV I wanted is no longer for sale through Best Buy so now I need to find an alternative.

I am looking for a nice HD TV that can handle sports motion without the blocky-bluriness that you get with fast motion.

Outside of being able to watch football, the only other requirements are that it be atleast 50" and around the 2k mark in price. I also don't want a DLP TV that uses bulbs. Don't want to deal with the hassle of having to replace bulbs on a periodic basis.

The TV I really wanted was the Samsung HL61A750 but it looks like 2 days after having decided to get it that Best Buy is no longer selling it on their website.

Any information you guys can throw my way would be greatly appreciated.

 

[erwos]

This is one of the few times I will actually recommend buying a 120hz HDTV and then turning on motion interpolation.

 

[Muadib]

Are you saying that you must be able to buy it at best buy?

 

[Noubourne]

Why not just buy it from Amazon and be done with it?

In my experience, sports broadcasts have blocking because providers don't provide adequate bandwidth for them. Wide-angle views of any sport (basketball, football, baseball) and fast sweeping motions always show defects in visual quality (aliasing in long shots, and blur in fast panning). I have seen this on my 62" DLP (especially noticeable due to the size and viewing distance), and also the HDTVs in bars (all three types) - even though I have been sometimes 15' away from a 50" - you can still tell. This includes both DirecTV, cable feeds and even OTA broadcasts on major networks.

In other words - any HDTV is good for sports. Broadcast quality and compression is a far larger issue than the TV technology used.

A bigger TV will make any signal quality issues very, very obvious. However, my friends came over one day and I had The Dark Knight playing on my HD-DVD player. They said "wow! that looks REALLY good". So a very large HDTV will also show just how GOOD a source can be.

Also, I have owned my DLP for over 2 years and have yet to change the bulb. This winter my warranty will expire (my warranty is good for 3 years or until I use it to pay for a bulb replacement), and I will order the new bulb before it runs out - so I am sure to get my money's worth. Quite frankly, if I could have had a thin LCD for the same price that was much smaller - I will easily take the simple bulb replacement every 3 years to have the bigger screen. It's far more impressive than a smaller set (and most of my friends have smaller sets) - so much so that two of my friends who have 50" LCDs plan on buying DLPs next time to get bigger sizes - due to having seen my set. You don't watch TV from the side.

Good luck.

 

[Muadib]

If he wants a Samsung Dlp, then he may have to look elsewhere. Samsung hinted that they might be getting out of the dlp business. Best Buy removing this model from their site is a pretty big clue that it's true.

 

[GarfieldtheCat]

Originally posted by: Sad Clown
Looks like the TV I wanted is no longer for sale through Best Buy so now I need to find an alternative.

I am looking for a nice HD TV that can handle sports motion without the blocky-bluriness that you get with fast motion.

Outside of being able to watch football, the only other requirements are that it be atleast 50" and around the 2k mark in price. I also don't want a DLP TV that uses bulbs. Don't want to deal with the hassle of having to replace bulbs on a periodic basis.

The TV I really wanted was the Samsung HL61A750 but it looks like 2 days after having decided to get it that Best Buy is no longer selling it on their website.

Any information you guys can throw my way would be greatly appreciated.

Panasonic Plasma....don't know the new 2009 models, but their basic 50PZ80 was well around 1400. Their mid/high end 50PZ800 was also about 1700.

 

[kalrith]

The Pioneer KRP500 is the best TV you can buy for $2,000. Please note that it does not come with a tuner and only has 2 HDMI inputs, so those my be deal breakers for you. The Panasonic P50G10 is the best TV you can buy for $1,520. You can get it for $1,500 from Vanns, but the extra $20 for ordering it through Amazon will get you white-glove delivery. The 54" version of this set is due out in May and should cost about $400 more. All these sets will handle motion really well, but so will most HDTVs these days. LCDs used to suffer with motion, but I'm pretty sure that's no longer the case.

I'm not sure if I'd agree with the above recommendation for a 120Hz TV with motion interpolation. AFAIK the motion interpolation can introduce artifacts, which would fall under your category of not wanted "blocky-bluriness".

If you want bigger than this, then rear-projection is probably the way to go. 60" plasmas are well over your $2k budget.

Instead of buying from 6ave through Amazon, you might want to buy the TV directly from 6ave. They're running a special right now for white-glove delivery for $50. They'd come in, unbox the TV, put it on your stand, and allow you to make one connection and turn it on before having to sign for delivery. I think that's well worth the $50, and you're still more than $500 below your $2k limit.

 

[s44]

Originally posted by: Noubourne
In my experience, sports broadcasts have blocking because providers don't provide adequate bandwidth for them. Wide-angle views of any sport (basketball, football, baseball) and fast sweeping motions always show defects in visual quality (aliasing in long shots, and blur in fast panning).

This, sadly, is the answer.

Also, yeah, buy from Amazon.

 

[rdp6]

I really like the 120hz for sports with AMP on my lnt-5271f. I occasionally get artifacts, but it isn't enough to make me turn it off. I haven't even bothered with upgrading firmware, which is supposed to reduce triple ball effect. I have read at avsforum that the 750 series was supposed to have less of a problem with the artifacts, but samsung also reduced AMP's dramatic effect after the 71f was replaced, but that can be restored with a setting in the service menu.

As for movies, sometimes I use it, sometimes I turn AMP off for 24hz hd dvds.

 

[Sad Clown]

Thanks for the replies folks. I guess I will just get the Samsung HL61A750 either through Amazon or 6ave directly. My only real concern with buying the set from a website without a B & M store to go to was in the off chance that something went wrong.

My best friends brother has a 67" Samsung DLP TV and his picture has always looked great so I am confident this one will look good too.

Anyone have any opinions on Direct TV and their TV signal quality? I plan on getting the Sunday NFL Ticket package to watch football this year. I finally bought a house and look forward to doing all the custom mounting of my other TV's that I put off doing due to living in an apartment all these years.

Last question. Has anyone here ordered anything through 6ave? If so, what was your experience with them?

 

[Muadib]

Have you gone to or called your local best buy or sears? I was at sears yesterday, and they still had the hl61a750. I can't recomend 6th ave, because of their seedy practice of selling gray market goods back when they first opened here in NJ.

As far as directv goes, I'm a longtime subscriber, and just love it. Since they've gone to MPEG 4, I find their HDTV signal to be equal to what I get ota. I'm sure the fact that all of the stations in the ny area split their signal 2-3 times has something to do with that.

 

[kalrith]

I also wanted to point out that you can get the Samsung DLP in 67" for $1,748 from 6ave and the 72" for $2,000 from Vanns. The 72" is the 650 model compared to the 750 model of the 61" and 67". You might specifically want the 61", but if you want to go bigger, there are other options that still fit your budget.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

I'd get a Plasma or a LCD w/ 120Hz.

 

[spidey07]

As others have said, that's not the TV doing that. That's mpeg compression, you're gonna get it no matter what TV you buy if your source is compressed like that and there's nothing you can do about it except watch over the air.

 

[Sad Clown]

Ok, so I ordered the TV from 6ave. Got the white glove delivery option along with it. Now I need to get a stand for it.

I read some reviews on the stand that Samsung recommends for this TV and it sounds like the stand isn't very sturdy. Can you guys recommend me a nice stand for this TV? I am looking to spend no more than $400 on the stand. I would prefer to get it in black if possible.

I was thinking of getting this one:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/ol...&cp=1&id=1209774376477

 

[s44]

Watch the height! It's a big set, and sensitive to vertical angle issues. I believe 18-20" is supposed to be ideal stand height for this model -- maybe a bit more could be OK, but not much.

So look at, say, this, this, this, this, or this.

 

[Muadib]

You can go nuts looking for a stand. If you live with someone, do yourself a favor, and get their opinion. I didn't, and ended up returning the 1st one I got. I like tech craft. The ptv583b fits your needs, and is also sold by 6th ave.