Should I buy a new TV?

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Kidavenger

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Ever since the new consoles were announced, I've been thinking about buying a new TV; I really like my current set, it's a 53" Panasonic DLP, it's 10 years old now but the picture looks better than most other TV's I've looked at so far; the two issues that are going to become a become a problem are: it's only capable of 720p and it only has 1 HDMI input. These may not be deal breakers, but I already have a Wii U and I'm going to want to leave my PS3 hooked up then there will be the PS4 and maybe even hooking up my PC having only one HDMI is going to get real annoying real fast.

This is the set I want to get, I paid $4,000 for my Panasonic way back when so it's pretty cheap in my eyes.

Really the only thing stopping me is 4k being right around the corner, I don't want to buy another TV 5 years from now because everything is suddenly 4k

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ThePhantomnaut

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Well as of now, 4k in console gaming is irrelevant. You can probably wait a bit longer and try just using HDMI switch boxes from Monoprice. Next gen consoles are still supporting 720p.

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TheHBK

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Clonedzero

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Yeah sure. I dunno, go ahead.

You have my permission.

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mclargepants

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You can get a really good set for well under $1000 that would be an upgrade from what you have now, and still save money for a 4K update in a few years when that becomes more reasonable. Console gaming on 4K won't happen for a long time, much like how the current consoles only rarely actually do 1080p, so if that's what you're hoping to use 4K for, who cares and go big on that nice Sony tomorrow.

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Sooty

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#6  Edited By Sooty

Yes. I would advise you to get a plasma, go Panasonic as they acquired Pioneer patents (who made the best TVs ever created: the Kuro series) and as such, they have utterly amazing screens at all price points. I have never seen black levels this good on a display before, they are even better than the expensive Sony LED set downstairs. (then again this is not really a surprise)

Plasma is the place to be until OLED screens drop, OLED is essentially going to be a plasma screen (great black levels, colour & good upscaling) with less power consumption. You can get pretty good LED TVs but in the same price range as a Panasonic mid-high end plasma they won't be able to compete.

Panasonic are just slaying it lately, their plasma range is insanely good value & quality. When my TV is showing a dark scene it looks like the dark/black portions of it are turned off entirely; that's how good the black levels are.

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Oscar__Explosion

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#7  Edited By Oscar__Explosion

Always be buying

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Aviar

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I would never say don't buy a new tv, but if you are worried about one HDMI port, they do make these:

HDMI Switcher

I'm sure there are others out there as well, but monoprice is the first place I look for, for that type of stuff.

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Dalai

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I wouldn't worry too much about 4K being a standard for a good, long time, especially when the next generation of consoles are still capped at 1080p. If you have $2,500 to spend on a TV, then go crazy, but I'm sure you can find a great TV for half the price. Also, do you really need the 3D? This second coming of 3D seemed to have fizzled just as it did back in the 80's and I personally don't see the need for it.

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Whitestripes09

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Keep in mind that the new consoles will only scale up to 4K. To be honest the only contributing factor to me now that makes me want to get a new TV is size and like many have said in here, there are ways to get add more HDMI slots to your TV. You have to really ask yourself if you want the 3D. I never had one, but I know people who had gotten some 3D TVs for their living rooms and they may have used it only like 2 or 3 times for movies.

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oldenglishc

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@sooty said:

Yes. I would advise you to get a plasma, go Panasonic as they acquired Pioneer patents (who made the best TVs ever created: the Kuro series) and as such, they have utterly amazing screens at all price points. I have never seen black levels this good on a display before, they are even better than the expensive Sony LED set downstairs. (then again this is not really a surprise)

Plasma is the place to be until OLED screens drop, OLED is essentially going to be a plasma screen (great black levels, colour & good upscaling) with less power consumption. You can get pretty good LED TVs but in the same price range as a Panasonic mid-high end plasma they won't be able to compete.

Panasonic are just slaying it lately, their plasma range is insanely good value & quality. When my TV is showing a dark scene it looks like the dark/black portions of it are turned off entirely; that's how good the black levels are.

Delete every other post here and replace them with this one.

I have Panny plasma in my man basement and a Samsung LED upstairs. The picture quality of the Panasonic is head and shoulders above the Samsung.

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ninnanuam

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I bought a Sony w805 55inch today, mainly for the same reasons as you I had a old Panasonic 42 inch I bought when the 360 came out, it only had one HDMI port. I bought w8 model due to it having the best rating input lag of any lcd/plasma/led on the sites i was looking at.

I would have gone a with a new Panasonic plasma or maybe a Samsung but the input lag on them was two to three times higher and as this tv is mainly for gaming input lag was important

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monkeyking1969

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I say get a nice, but not hugely expensive HDTV with 'good rated' input lag. Check out what you want and then look at the displaylag.com database or another reputable lag database. Than again unless you plasma is giving you trouble (aside from the lack of inputs) you could just as easily wait.

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monkeyking1969

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I say get a nice, but not hugely expensive, HDTV with 'good rated' input lag. Check out what you want and then look at the displaylag.com database or another reputable lag database. Than again unless you plasma is giving you trouble (aside from the lack of inputs) you could just as easily wait.

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Zekhariah

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I would wait for 4k, as the HDMI 2.0 standard was finally finalized to support 60Hz (and ends up being a firmware upgrade for the Sony / Samsung pre-existing ones).

At the moment 4k is irrelevant in terms of content, but if you are keeping TVs for more than 5 or 6 years the situation will probably be completely different. And the price drops have been coming in very quickly, with reasonable brands already in 3k territory.

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Kidavenger

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I ended up getting a Panasonic LED, price was just too low for a high end set and it had everything I wanted, really happy with my current Panasonic, hopefully this one is just as good.

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donkeycow

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If you're still okay with your TV keep it, no need to upgrade for no reason. As for the limitations that come with only one HDMI port, why not just get an HDMI hub, it'll solve your issue. HDMI hub

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irrelevantjohn

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@kidavenger: hopefully you are enjoying that TV. As for 4K, don't worry about it since you probably won't see the difference with a 55" TV. Hell even movie theaters don't use 4k...

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fastredponycar

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#19  Edited By fastredponycar

next gen consoles can barely run games @ 1080p right now so 4k is a waste IMO.

Back in may, I got one of the panasonic ST60 plasma's (the 50" version) and it looks SPECTACULAR even compared to my 720p panasonic plasma from aroun 2008.

Even though I have a nice 1440p monitor, 9 times out of 10 I will run games from my PC out to my plasma and kick back and play them that way.

When I was shopping around, I looked at the panasonic plasmas side by side with MUCH more epensive models and the ST60 had 98% of the picture quality that other TV's 2 or 3 times it's price had.

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Franstone

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#20  Edited By Franstone

I tend to lean towards Samsung or Panasonic.
Sony is good but overpriced.
If you aren't interested in 3D I'd say go with something else, same size, should be half the price.
Leaves more loot for 4k some day.

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GS_Dan

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thejke

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If you are worried about needing a 4k in 5 years I would get a cheaper TV now. Something like the Panasonic TC-P50S60. It costs $650 and has great image quality. It is also great for gaming with an input lag of 34.1ms.