Advice on buying an LED tv needed.

[Disney Guru]

I had purchased an LED tv 5 years ago that after 6 months after having it on for an hour the tv would keep breaking up. After that had gone back to using an old SHARP that I had in storage.

I want to get one again but I want to know what the best brand to get is as I don't want to make a major investment again and be stuck with a piece of junk. Any advice is welcomed.

[Jules]

Well, I am in possession of a 2-year old 40" Sharp Aquos LED so I suppose I can comment on Sharp.

Pros

1. Excellent colour reproduction, bright and vivid retina-busting images. Colourful animated films are lovely to behold on my set. Look for Sharp's "Quattron" certification.
2. Smooth motion with 24p material (you can also switch on "Film Mode" from the TV setup menu, and the TV will itself process 3:2 pulldown on NTSC DVDs to provide smoother pans.
3. Smartly designed user interface complete with tooltips to help you figure what things mean

Cons

1. Unimpressive black levels. I have tried to get around this by almost completely switching off the LED backlight, which begs one to ask why the hell I bought an LED TV in the first place.
2. Uneven brightness across panel, due to LED edge-lighting. This was so noticeable that for the first 6 months after I bought the TV I was convinced there was something wrong with it. However, I expect current LED TVs will have improved in quality since I bought my TV, so maybe this is no longer an issue.
3. AV Synchronisation - This bloody thing almost drove me crazy for about a year. My Sharp TV is not capable of outputting audio and video in perfect sync. I really think I should returned it because of this, but it took me some time to notice. If you decided on a Sharp, I suggest you make it clear with the store owner that you will not accept audio video synchronisation that is anything less than perfect. Get it?

[dvdjunkie]

I have had two LED large screen television for over five years now and they have been trouble free. Both are made by Insignia, and I purchased them at Best Buy. They are not as pricey as some of the others, but they have some of the same features as most of the other big screens do. One of my sets is 47" and the other is 55". Never have had a problem with them, and I had them calibrated after 100 hours by the Geek Squad, and just after our recent move, I had them checked for claibration by Geek Squad and they were just fine.

I have nothing but good to say about Insignia products. I own a DVD Recorder/Playback that also has a VHS Recorder/Playback and have had it for almost eight years now, and still going strong. I also have a Insignia Blu-ray player that is the newest electronic device to the family and it's only three years old and works great. Have no problem playing anything on it, Microsoft programs, JPEG, Blu-ray, DVD, just about anything you can think of it plays.

So check into them and see what fits your needs and don't scoff at Insignia, they are really good products.

[Jules]

Did some research on Insignia, as it's not sold in my country. Turns out it's a Best Buy brand so it's obviously sold exclusively at Best Buy stores.

I wonder if it's best to have all components of a home theatre system be from the same manufacturer, like dvdjunkie's. Mine's quite a varied mix. I have a Sharp Quattron TV, a Panasonic Blu-ray player (and a Philips as a secondary machine), a Denon AV receiver, a very cheap Roadstar belt-drive turntable, and a budget set of Boston Acoustics speakers.

[Disney Guru]

Insignia was the brand of my LED tv that was full of bugs. But perhaps it was just that model will have to look into the new ones they have available now.

[Jules]

I know dvdjunkie recommended them, but personally I'd be wary of buying electronics manufactured by a retail chain company.

Why don't you go check out Panasonic? Their plasmas will make you drool, I guarantee it.

[DancingCrab]

I am pretty much IN LOVE with my panasonic plasma that I have had for less than a year now. I def recommend checking those out. They aren't too pricey either, especially if you look for a non-3D set. My 42" has 3D, but was still under $600 at Best Buy when I got it earlier this year. The black levels are one of my favorite things about it. The only thing I'd say LED has over it is they offer better brightness, but once I had it calibrated properly, it looks almost perfect. If motion is a big issue for you, than plasma offers a better film-like motion compared to some of the juttery issues that can plague some LCD/LED sets...at least the cheaper ones. I bought an LED initially and returned it because the image jutter was making me insane, and switched to the plasma.