<p>Our 12 year old television just went what would you recommend? It was a 27 inch and we have it in a cabinet-bookcase so most likely will want something that fits.</p>
<p>Forego the cabinet and get yourself a nice 50-65" plasma or LCD that’s LED edge lit. Don’t worry, it’ll take only a few minutes to get used to the size but once you do you’ll wonder how you ever put up with a 27" tv.</p>
<p>Stick with the major manufacturers - LG, Sony, Hitachi, Samsung, etc. Try to compare side by side to select the one with the best picture - make sure you compare like size to like size when doing this (i.e. 55" to 55", 42" to 42", etc.).</p>
<p>Many of the new TVs have wireless or ethernet connections and come with apps that allow you to stream Netflix, Amazon, and other streaming services and some let you browse the web (a bit clunky though) and run other apps like games, streaming music, etc.</p>
<p>We have a 27" (which is about as big as I can tolerate), it’s a Vizio and I thought it was a good buy for the price and when we bought it a couple years ago when our very expensive Hitachi died. Consumer Reports gave it a good rating. Somewhere I saw a chart that told you how big your TV should be for how far away you sit. My H would have a TV in every room. When we married at 30 I didn’t and hadn’t ever owned a TV :-)</p>
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<p>My relatively cheap 42" Dynex all sorts of ports in the back, including a VGA port that allows me to use it as a giant computer monitor.</p>
<p>That. Is. Awesome.</p>
<p>we love Sony and Samsung quality. What EVER you do , don’t buy a Plasma TV , regardless of the great prices. All Plasma models have been discontinued, cause the picture quality just doesn’t cut it in comparison to LCD. Stick with LCD’s or LED’s. A tip-the higher the refresh rate- 240 vrs 120- the less" fuzzy" the fast moving action shots will be.</p>
<p>We have a 47" LG LED. It’s a great tv. We love it. The picture is unbelievably clear. Got a good deal on it at Sam’s Club.
The only drawback is that the speakers are in the back of the TV making the sound a little muffled. We fixed that by purchasing a sound bar (that sits in front) from Wal-mart. Now the sound is great.</p>
<p>Also have a 32" Sony that we like too.</p>
<p>
There aren’t really any LED TVs for sale. The ones advertised as ‘LED’ are really LCD TVs with LED backlighting as opposed to a different type of backlight. Then there’s ‘edge lit LED’ which means the LEDs are placed around the edge for a more balanced backlight. These are quickly replacing LCDs with the non-LED backlights.</p>
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Plasma TVs haven’t been discontinued since some major manufacturers are still making them. They’re still being offered in the very large sizes. As to whether the picture is better or worse than an LCD of the same size may be debatable - it’s best for one to do their own visual comparison. There are advantages and disadvantages to each type (Plasma vs LCD). It’s best for the purchaser to understand the differences, use their eye for the most important aspect, and also possibly consider things like weight of the TV (LCDs are lighter) and power use (LCDs use less power).</p>
<p>If it were me my first look would be at an LCD TV with LED edge backlighting and internet capability.</p>
<p>A friend recently bought an LG 42" LCD (LED edge lit) with internet capability that’s very nice. It had a noticably better picture than the other 42" brands that were right next to it in the store (but I don’t remember which brands the others were). The price was relatively decent as well.</p>
<p>"Plasma TVs haven’t been discontinued since some major manufacturers are still making them. "
I think that the plasma screens are now no longer being made, and current plasma TV’s have been constructed with parts that were already in production.</p>
<p>I just bought a 37in vizio LCD that I am really loving. I paid $478 for it. The smaller ones were nice too, but I wanted a big one. Was planning on shelling out for the sony and realized this was just as good. Surprisingly even the sound is fine even though I have it mounted flat against the wall. I anticipated it being muffled.</p>
<p>menloparkmom:</p>
<p>You might be right on the plasma screens no longer being manufactured, I don’t know, I just know the sets are still available and still show as new models on some manufacturers websites - but not on some others.</p>
<p>I’m pretty pretty sure all screen manufacturers have moved to LCD only. I recall reading that about 6 months ago.</p>
<p>LCD outsells Plasma by a large margin these days, but plasma is not dead by any means, there were 18 or 19 million plasma TVs sold in 2010, and growth is projected for 2011. Some manufacturers no longer carry a line of plasma TVs, but they were for the most part not making the panels anyway - there’s only a few companies that actually make the glass and everybody resells those.</p>
<p>I personally feel plasma TVs have a richer picture, but these days they are all pretty good. You can’t get a plasma smaller than 42" though.</p>
<p>IMO 27" is ok for watching news or a sitcom, but for movies or sports, bigger screens give a better experience.</p>
<p>If you have a Best Buy nearby, go talk to the wizards there. They are well trained and can give you lots of good advice about tvs. I ended up with a SONY Bravia for my husband a couple Christmases ago. We have been quite happy with it.</p>
<p>Personally, I prefer the deep rich darks the plasma’s give. It seems counter
intuitive, but a really good picture is about getting deep black. And plasma’s are still going strong and still being manufactured. The rumor that they are being discontinued rears it’s ugly head every year.</p>
<p>I have both a plasma and an LCD and the picture on the plasma is, no question about it, better than on the LCD. They are both Samsung.</p>
<p>Go to Costco and get a Vizio LCD. Best deal out there and they stand behind the product.</p>
<p>I watch tv on my laptop & have for years- but I agree Costco is a good place to check them out. They have several aisles at the front of the store- just look for all the men.</p>
<p>We bought a Samsung 46" three-plus years ago as a family gift. It’s been wonderful.</p>
<p>Plasma is cheaper, but the LED models will use the least energy. Costco (and possibly Sams Club?) has a great return policy. If you live in a major city, consider the advantages of buying from your local big screen specialist. You won’t pay rock-bottom price but they’ll take care of setup for you, including (if you so desire) mounting the screen on the wall.</p>
<p>For what it’s worth: we are a one tv household. When our 9 year old 27" CRT screen died a premature death about a year ago, I thought about the advice I’d read in Consumer Reports about buying a TV. The overwhelming regret that people expressed was not getting a bigger screen. With that in mind, I went looking on slickdeals.net for the best deal around on a 55" LED. Got a Sharp Aquos. Watching “Downton Abbey” on PBS in high definition was a revelation. :)</p>
<p>Friends of ours went with the projector-hooked-up-to-a-tv-tuner set up. 12 foot (diagonal) image, projected on a flat white wall. <imagine a=“” drooling=“” smiley=“” here=“” ;)=“”></imagine></p>
<p>If you want to keep your cabinet measure the dimensions and get the largest TV that will fit. We did this in our bedroom, we had a big 32 inch TV which we replaced with a 37 inch LCD. In the kids room we replaced a 20 inch with a 26 inch LCD that still fits in that cabinet. In our family room however we have a 60 inch Sony LCD mounted to the wall and hooked up to a great sound system and it is wonderful.</p>
<p>Oh and we went with LCD over Plasma because of the lighting in our family room. The LCD was much more forgiving with glare.</p>