Need help choosing a new 32" to 40" TV

I'm getting for a TV for Christmas but I am a little confused at all the choices, maybe you guys who have bought a TV recently could help clear some things up. The budget is $300-350 and i'll be using it for PS3/WiiU and movies. I'd like to go up to 37" or even 40" but I am working in that budget and I'm not sure what the value of all the different options are, which I detail below. I don't need a "Smart" TV since I do streaming already with netflix on my PS3.

Some topics I'd like your thoughts on:

1. LED vs. LCD: I understand the difference here is how they are being back lit but does it noticeably improve the image quality? Is it worth the extra money? I'm gravitating towards this VISIO, if LCD is not a big deal.

2. 1080p vs 720p: I'm most confused here. It seems there are a lot of cheaper 32" TVs that are labeled 720p and I was wondering what the designation acutally means, because it does not seem to indicate a native resolution. For example, my old 22" Samsung has a native resolution of 1680x1050 when I hook it up to a laptop, this is a TV labeld as "720p" and the PS3 seems to output some games in 1080p to it. Whats going on here, is there a native resolution improvement from a tv labeld 720p vs 1080p? Is getting a 1080p TV worth the extra money at 32-40"?

3. 60 vs 120 Hz? Whats the value of this?

1. LED vs LCD isn't a huge deal - generally the colors are a bit richer and tha backlight more even on an LED, but ultimately you get what you pay for. I have sen glorious looking LCD panels and hideous LEDs. LED is thinner and (typically) uses less power.

2. 1080p vs 720p only matters if a) you will be sitting very close to the TV (say 2-4 feet), or b) it will be doubling as a computer monitor. IF you go with a 32in panel, it is almost impossible to see the difference between 1080p and 720p if you are sitting more than, say, 6 feet back. The larger the panel, the more pronounced the difference will become, so if you are looking at a 40in you'll start to see a difference between the resolutions.

3. If you are using a PS3 or WiiU, your content will be generated by the console in 30 or 60fps, so anything above 60Hz will nto really make a difference. 120Hz TVs are often 3D capable, so that might benefit the PS3. Most 120Hz TVs have some sort of "frame smoothing" option (I feel like I am screwing up and this is the wrong term) to make content appear "smoother", but I've not got much experience with that I'm afraid - sure someone else with a 120hz unit can chime in. Most heavy post-processing options on TVs I've used have produced minute to noticeable input lag, so caveat emptor

I just bought a new 50 inch plasma during all that Black Friday stuff off Amazon.ca so I know the nightmare that you are going through right now trying to pick the right one. Mine was even more of a nightmare as I kept refreshing the page seeing the stock counter getting lower and lower. Every dam time I had the right one I would go to add it to cart and the site would explode or they would be out of stock.

Anyway, my suggestion is to go to cnet.com and read the reviews. Keep in mind too that a 3/4 star TV is not always worse then a 5 star. They take into account the price of the TV's, so a great TV that once started out over priced, thus getting one less star, could now be cheap and negate that star loss. So make sure you skim through the reviews/videos and take that into account.

I went from an LCD to a Plasma and the only difference I seen is the white/black levels for colour. After doing hours of research this seems to be what it boils down to:

LED/LCD

Pro:Does good white/bright colours, is lighter and thinner and uses less power.

Con:Doesn't do black levels that well typically, and is more expensive the bigger up in size you get. So you get less screen size for a similarly priced plasma.

Plasma

Pro:Does good dark/black levels, is cheaper the LED/LCD and you can get bigger sizes for the same price.

Con:They tend to be heavier and a little more bulky then an LED/LCD. Honestly it's next to nothing once you set it up and you won't notice, but some of those LED/LCD are mind boggling how thin they can make those fuckers.

I got two pro tips for ya. Don't get a glossy screen TV. My TV has a glossy screen that annoyingly reflects every light in the room. You don't notice it too much, but it drives me nuts when I'm on my PS3 and can see the little light at the top of the controller reflecting off the screen. So if you can, avoid a glossy finish screen. And secondly, make sure the TV has enough HDMI and other ports to plug in everything you need. It seems 2 HDMI is the standard and anything with more is in the $1k range with a few exceptions. Once the next gen stuff comes out I'm going to need to buy an HDMI switcher because it only has 2 HDMI ports.

As for 720p/1080p, go 1080p. Right now current gen consoles are just upscaled 720p, or lower, but next gen will most likely be true 1080p so futureproof yourself and get the extra p's.

Best of luck!

Does anyone own or know anything about the reliability or quality of the new TCL or Sceptre brand TV's?

Right now i'm leaning towards this tv as it is $298 at walmart.

@daedelus: Do you have a brand preference? I ask because at Best Buy there's an Insignia 39" LED that's both 1080P and 120Hz, which will be a lot better than the Samsung IMO, spec wise. Link if you're interested: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Insignia

@Kyelb22 said:

@daedelus: Do you have a brand preference? I ask because at Best Buy there's an Insignia 39" LED that's both 1080P and 120Hz, which will be a lot better than the Samsung IMO, spec wise. Link if you're interested: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Insignia

@Kyelb22 Thanks for the suggestion, i'm open to them. Do you have an Insignia TV? The only brand preference I have is just that I feel Samsung TV's are reliable from personal experience. I had looked at this 39" LED 1080p Samsung, similar to the Insigia with lower refresh but I think that it is slighly outside my price range. It seems like it would be worth it though to pay $100 more to get 1080p and 7".

I'll just say that whatever you go with, make sure to either read lots of reviews or see it in person first. It's the only real way to know if the screen looks good. The common specs simply do not tell the entire story in my experience. Or just buy a Samsung or Sony, as those are almost always awesome.

@daedelus said:

@Kyelb22 said:

@daedelus: Do you have a brand preference? I ask because at Best Buy there's an Insignia 39" LED that's both 1080P and 120Hz, which will be a lot better than the Samsung IMO, spec wise. Link if you're interested: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Insignia

@Kyelb22 Thanks for the suggestion, i'm open to them. Do you have an Insignia TV? The only brand preference I have is just that I feel Samsung TV's are reliable from personal experience. I had looked at this 39" LED 1080p Samsung, similar to the Insigia with lower refresh but I think that it is slighly outside my price range. It seems like it would be worth it though to pay $100 more to get 1080p and 7".

Honestly, since brodcast television only goes as high as 720p, and console games are mostly 720p upscaled to 1080p, unless you're planning on using this tv as a monitor, 1080p isn't really going to make as much of a difference as the refresh rate. I currently have a 32" Samsung LCD, 720p and 60Hz, and when things aren't moving, it looks very nice, sharp as hell. As soon as there's any motion, whether it be a movie or a game, motion blur becomes a much more noticeable issue. If you're think about spending a little extra money for a better tv, I would personally go with this 43" Samsung Plasma. It's only 720p, but like I said, I don't think it matters that much, but it is 600Hz. And since it's a plasma, you'll also get better color and deep black levels than an LED.

lcd and led are not a big difference, but hte picture on most led`s are usually alot brighter. unless your using a pc to play games on the tv your ps3 is only outputting the signal in 720p, even if the tv says 1080 (from what i have been told), and once again, 120hz is good if you get a 3d tv, or plan on using a pc, 60hz is fine. 120 is for games, and sports mainly