Korean Job Discussion Forums

[legalquestions]

I am looking for one (used or new). Where are the best prices to be had for these? online? Costco? Homeplus? Hi Mart? etc?

What is the difference between HD and plasma?

Any real appreciable viewing quality difference between the name brands and the off brands? (for the average consumer, not the spec/techno geek, that is)

[bassexpander]

We've owned four, and have two now.

LCD has caught up in the past year or so, but I still feel that once you get the set home, Plasma has a better picture. On the showroom floor, where they are blasting loud-colored stills and slow-pullouts on flowers, the LCD's will look more sharp and vivid. Keep in mind, however, that these images are picked for the express purpose of showing the LCD's strong points, and hiding its weaknesses.

The weaknesses of LCD are in fast movement, particularly faster pans. You can see a sort of ghosting behind the images due to refresh rate and other things. This has improved a great deal, but it's still not the best, unless you are willing to shell out big bucks for a top model from a top manufacturer. Another big weakness of LCD is that they don't always have a uniform blackness in the background. You can see a clouded black image in black areas of the movie. This is worse on some models than others, and hopefully has improved. The set you buy on the floor can look different than the set you get -- it just depends. When you buy one, watch it for a few hours to let it warm up, then park the channel on a black picture, and turn out the lights in your room. See if the black level is too uneven and clouded. I returned 2 LG TV's because of this. A warning -- the service guys know this is a big issue with some people, and they are TRAINED (LG anyway) to deny it's a problem. Their rule is to provide, at minimum, one service call where they say, "it looks OK to me" and go home, hoping you'll just give in and not bother with service. We had to do 4 service calls on our LG before they'd switch it out.

The images are incredibly sharp on LCD, but can look fake due to this extreme sharpness and color pop. It depends on the material. Personally, I prefer Plasma on movies, and LCD on HD video content overall.

The top manufacturer of LCD's is Sony (quality wise), but Korea adds a massive tax on them. Samsung's PAVV best models are a close 2nd. You have to pay more for both. In Korea, LG Xcanvas would be a distant 3rd.

Plasmas have a more accurate look to them on film, IMHO. The colors, which tend to look less exciting next to an LCD in a store, will win out at home, given a dollar-to-dollar comparison. Plasmas don't suffer from the problems in fast movement that LCD's do.

The downside of Plasmas are that they can buzz. That's what I replaced by LCD with. I had the same LG repair man here ANOTHER 4 times to work on my TV, replace a circuit board, and add dampening material to get rid of the buzzing sound. Buzzing can be worse if you live on a mountain.

Whatever you buy, these days, you should not bother with anything lower than Full HD 1920x1080 resolution, unless you're trying to do things on the cheap.

In my humble opinion, you should purchase either Samsung or Sony, and stay away from LG. We've had nothing but grief from them, and three of them have needed replacing due to the above issues!

As to where to buy -- check Costco, as they sometimes have good prices, or get them online, or from ET Land in Yongsan. Prices for the same thing vary drastically. They ALL come delivered from the SAME PLACE no matter where you buy from. Service is all from the same guys. So you might as well go for the best price.

The 120hz refresh rate/24fps thing on the newer LCD's isn't something you should spend a lot extra for (make sure you really like it, if you do want to pay for it). It has a way of making film movies look like home-shot home video. I hate it. People ooh and ahh over it in the showroom, but soon realize it's a gimmick that makes movies look like stupid home videos.

Lastly: Never, never, never purchase from an LG or Samsung boutique store on the street. That was a huge mistake I made. Their special discounts put them at about the same price as the non-discount prices online, which makes them more expensive. Worse, they absolutely will flat-out refuse to give you your money back on a TV, and will only let you switch for another one of their own brand (at a non-discount cost). Any other shop selling other models and other brands will let you trade for a different brand if you have problems.

In every case, when we've purchased a new TV, no matter where we've purchased from, the TV arrived on either a truck direct from Samsung or direct from LG. Service was the same way. There is no reason to purchase from one place over another. If you buy online, however, check to make sure the shop has good feedback and seems legit. Costco, as I mentioned, has a very liberal return policy in the USA. I'm not sure about Korea.

What my wife and I learned to do when we bought our last TV was the following:

1. Check online prices
2. Check Costco
3. Check Hi-Mart (almost always higher)
4. Go to ET Land and try to barter for less on the model we like.
5. Buy from the place with the best price

[legalquestions]

Bassexpander,

Thanks for that excellent review/info. Much appreciated!

[JustJohn]