I'm not sure I'll be of any help, because I'm not sure I've given any thought how to connect my HDTV to my computers. But, for the price you really can't go wrong with a 1080p Vizio. They're the best bang for the buck. Since owning my Vizio for a while now, my sights are set on something with at least 120 hz update freqs and a higher contrast ratio for my next HDTV.

http://reviews.cnet.com/tvs/?filter=100021_11154904_500963_9030881_&sort=userRating%20desc&tag=mncol;dir1

We have a Samsung. I could not recommend them more. The have linear interpolation for low quality signals, which helps with the graininess of the non HD channels. They are significantly less than Sony, and we still think ours has a better picture. They typically have computer hookups so you can watch stuff off your computer.

Plasmas have a truer black, but if you want to watch TV without the blinds closed get an LCD.

No service provides information in greater than 720 dpi, but that may change. So go for 1080 dpi.

1. HMDI, Parallel Port or equivalent, Composite Inputs hookup
2. >= 80 Hz (look for 120)
3. >= 720 dpi

Why LCD? Why not projection? Inch per inch, DLP is cheaper.

Though I have no clue how you would wirelessly stream anything without dropping a HUGE amount of cash.

You can do it with an Xbox or PS3. Or like I said, you can hook it up to a computer.

They don't sell tv's out in Wyoming.


Buy a horse and call it good.

Buying HDTVs is confusing especially since both commentators and people often throw marketing jargon and necessities at you that you really don't need. Most important is to see them set up in shop and compare and contrast, most places usually loop the same kind of content over all screens so you can quickly see what is good and what is not for your eye.

I would recommend a Plasma over and LCD, I own an LCD but I watch movies at my buddies place and he has a Viera Plasma that gives a much better picture and it looks less like a PC display which is what I feel with my LCD. Plasmas now offer the same brightness as LCDs, the Viera sits in a living room that has no curtains on the 6th floor in Kuwait. Sunlight has never been a problem. But this is neither here or there, anything you will buy will be good. Unless you buy something called Wansa or Chanachong or Leakwong (Lots of unheard of chinese brands in Kuwait).

Don't bother with Full HD or HD TV Ready, all that means is whether or not you will get 720p or 1080p. Now people will tell you that you MUST have 1080p, but that's really a false economy, as that increase in quality is marginal over increase in price. Almost 90% of HD content right now is 720p, and it's more then enough. P means progressive as in the whole picture is rendered at the same time, essentially.

Don't bother with 120Hz, it's all marketing jargon. It doesn't make that big of a difference unless you watch an ungodly amount of sports. But even then I will bet you hard cash to convince me there is a tangible difference from 10 meters away.

You must ideally look for a combo deal that will get you the TV and a home theater system at the same time, but be sure that the home theater has HDMI out (best TV quality), several RCA red/white audio inputs (connecting other audio) and a Optical In (future proof).

What you are trying to achieve is have all video separately to the TV via HDMI or composite connections and then route all the audio routed to your home theater. This will utilize both systems fully. I hate seeing systems when they have the DVD home theater but the satelliate audio is only from the TV, its just retarded.

For streaming content you should really look into the Xbox 360, mostly because it's idiot proof and every easy to setup. You plug it to your TV, then plug the Ethernet cable and you are pretty much set. If you want to watch Blu-rays you could get a PS3, as it is far cheaper then a standalone Bluray player. But its totally atrocious and much more fiddly feeling then the Xbox 360. Plus your son is bound to love the games on the 360 more then the PS3.

If you download alot of content from the Internet its fairly easy to set up a streaming TV server from a PC to PS3/Xbox360 using Tversity, and its also fairly easy to set up. I have done this several times, however it is also fiddly if something goes wrong and it won't really let you play MKV movies unless you do transcoding to a lower format that can be streamed from PC to TV, as real time conversion is a bitch.

Personally I have a Sony Bravia with the Sony home theater system, I use a Western Digital HD TV player to play all kinds of shit I download. Its a small unit that is really cheap, it plays almost all the current video formats as well as HD Blu-ray rips encoded in X264. You would need a separate USB drive that you hook up content to, but those are cheap and allow you to expand storage however much you want (think 500gb USB drive for family movies, 8Gb flash disk for kinky Cambodian sweat shop porn). It has HDMI, RCA and optical connections. It's only fault is that it doesn't do digital to stereo sound conversions, so you must have a optical in on your sound system to enjoy DTS streams, or your files will just have no sound.

I hope this helped.

I meant wait for your answer before I rambled on with a longer response. Everything Farhad said was great, but I will reiterate a few major points. Don't. Get. 1080. Unless you're sitting four feet from the TV, there's a 98% chance that you won't notice a difference.

As far as LCD/Plasma v DLP - I'm a DLP fan simply because you can get a bigger screen with equal quality for the same price or less. It's my opinion that the only reason that LCD/PLasma screens sell so well is because you can hang them on a wall. If you have no intentions of doing that, you should open your options to DLP as well.

And for streaming: Wireless HDMI systems are not cheap. Might I ask why you want it wireless? Just so you don't have wires sticking out, or is it a distance issue? (Your computer is far away from the tv)
I currently have my computer set up right next to the tv/reciever, and use a 15' DVI-HDMI cable to transfer the video feed. My sound feed is embarrassing - 2.55mm jack to an RCA jack cable feeds it. But my receiver does a great job of taking that two channel sound and splitting the sounds up to put them in appropriate locations - it's almost as if it was 6 channels.
By having your computer next to/near your TV, you eliminate having to buy something extra just to do something you already can. If your computer is moderately powerful (HD signals are a bitch) and you have a decent graphics card with DVI out, then you're set. Just get the cable, which brings me to my most important piece of advice. If you ignore everything else I say, heed this:

PRICE SPENT ≠ PERFORMANCE GAINED

We're talking about cables here.
People all over the place see these "Monster" cables and think that because they spent $40 on a 6' RCA cable, they got a good product. I'm not saying that it won't be good quality, but I am telling you that a $10 cable will give you the exact same performance.
I spent $12 on my DVI-HDMI cable and use it constantly. I'm perfectly happy with it and it has no flaws. Don't be the guy that buys a shielded digital signal cable, lest you find the $500 6' Denon ethernet cable on Amazon (read the reviews - they're HILARIOUS.

To simplify:

1) Price
2) Size
3) Specs

Your choice of brand should come after all that.

This what I use now,I don't know if this work for you...


http://www.amazon.com/Sharp-Aquos-LC46D65U-46-Inch-1080p/dp/B001E8YQ1Q/?tag=trusted5-20&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER


The quality of the image is great,look for more reviews if you want.

•I just recently purchased a Samsung 42" 1080p

•It's fucking gorgeous. I watched the stupidbowl on a friends 780p and it looked like dog ass.

•I have a PS3 as well, which will stream almost anything on the web. I use it for VS, Hulu, CNN, and YT. Also they come standard with a Blu-Ray player.

•I also have a Roku player which streams Netflix.
(http://www.roku.com/default.aspx)




The Samsung cost me $760 at Circuit City (going out of business)
The PS3 was $250 with 5 games.
The Roku was $99



This is a stellar combination.

* ALFUCKINSO

Since the PS3 is on my LAN, Nullriver has an excellent piece of software called MediaLink which allows me to access mp3's, videos, and photos from my computer. Setup playlists, create slideshows/screensavers, watch movies you've downloaded. Super awesome.

http://www.nullriver.com/products/medialink


Supported Formats:
----------------------
* MP3, AAC, WMA, WAV
* MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4
* H.264, DIVX, XVID
* AVI, WMV, ASF
* JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIFF, BMP
* RAW, PDF, PS, EPS, TGA

Those reviews were hilarious. Thanks MarineGunrock!

buy all your cables from http://www.monoprice.com
do not buy any cables from retail stores, they price-gouge like mad.
that $45.00 3' hdmi cable at the store? $4.14 at monoprice.

Sorry I'm late to this party, but I do have some relevant information. First, it sounds like you are only interested in Standard Definition (SD) content (no HD on NetFlix), in that case go no higher than 720p. However, if you are still curious about that 1080i/p stuff you've been hearing about (game consoles, HDTV over the air or from cable/sat, blu-ray), I worked out some numbers a couple of years ago (when 1080p was very expensive). I'm too lazy to double check the numbers.

the thing you have to keep in mind is the maximum angular resolution of the human eye. I'll spare you the details, which you can look up yourself, but for a person with 20/20 vision (corrected, in my case), assuming a 16:9 aspect ratio screen and 1080 by 1920 picture size (resolution is a misnomer) you need to be 1.5 diagonals OR CLOSER to resolve the difference between pixels.


This makes sense if you think about movie screens or IMAX screens, or a graphic artist computer work station. Most TV viewers don't think about (being that close to a screen) | (having a screen that big).

That means if you have a 32 inch TV and you are 6 feet away, you will not see all the detail on a 1080p TV, so you can save a few bucks with a 720p.

Now that the price of 40"+ LCD TVs has dropped dramatically, you should consider a 1080p screen, but keep in mind you viewing distance.

In my case I could resolve 1080p for videogames since I sit up close for that, but I haven't upgraded because we sit way back on the couch for movies. I wouldn't be able to see the detail of a 1080p blu-ray without a 42 inch (or larger) TV. Or if I pushed to couch up.

Err, sorry to burst your bubble MGR, but DLP TVs look fucking awful. CRTs look better.

KP, I have seen a TV from HP and 1 other brand that have built-in streaming features, but the unit was much more expensive than just buying an HDTV + game console (or that Roku player), so I would find a TV you like first.

Some other points related to some comments above:
1080p- a few years ago this cost a lot more, but nowadays it's only marginally more expensive than a 720p, many blu-ray discs are encoded 1080p, so it's worth getting a 1080p screen today. (I have a 720p LCD TV that I bought 2 years ago, and it's fine, though I use it mostly for games).
^MycroftHomlz, p (progressive vertical lines) is not dpi (dots per inch) (a 46" 720 dpi display would cost over a million dollars and have 225 times the resolution of 1080p)

120Hz- this is the new fancy feature on higher-end hdtv's. it doesn't magically make your content any better. Even the best Bluray movies are still recorded and encoded at 30fps. It will make some DVD content look better, because 120 is an even multiple of 24, whereas to display 24fps content at 60Hz (standard refresh rate of LCD's) you have to drop or add frames (called inverse-telecine) so sometimes you see tearing. So movies, sports, games, with lots of motion or many small moving details will look better. I've asked several Best Buy "tv specialists" some specific questions about 120Hz that I already knew the answers to, and NONE of them got it right. and instead of just saying "I don't know" they talked out of their ass and tried to sell me some special hdmi cable that supports 120Hz... epic lolz. If your total budget is $1500, don't waste your money on this feature.

LCD vs Plasma vs DLP- The quality depends a lot on the manufacturer. It used to be that LCD screens simply could not be made as big as plasma, but they are getting larger and cheaper each year. Plasmas still have burn-in problems (more problem for games than movies), and a shorter life span (about 7 years vs 10+ years for LCD- both assuming you use the TV several hours per day). Plasmas are also more fragile, so be careful when moving them. That said, I think the picture does look slightly better on plasma, but would still get LCD. (samsung, sony, mitsubishi- all great choices. other brands, try to look at it in person before you decide). DLP is a rear-projection TV, and I've found these to not be as crisp as LCD/plasma (sometimes the pixels blur and/or you can see horizontal scan lines). They are usually 80+ lbs vs an LCD being 30 lbs (base detached). Some people can see a flickering of the color-wheel with DLP (personally I can't, depends on lighting conditions and how sensitive your eyes are).

streaming content- if you have a PC with windows XP media center or Vista premium/ultimate, and all your content is windows compatible, an xbox-360 will make a nice front-end that you stream videos from your PC. If you use other formats, the PS3 has a better chance of playing them (also recommended since it plays bluray). I have both consoles, and the PS3 is much better at playing H.264 videos from CD-R/DVD-R and wired network. I haven't seen Roku player in person, and I don't have netflix, but it looks like a nifty device. If you subscribe to cable or fios, many of their DVR's can stream content that was recorded in other rooms.

projectors- not sure if you will find a decent 1080p one under $1500, but you can get a very large screen. Keep in mind the cost of replacing the lamp/bulb can be several hundred $$ (lamps usually last 2000+ hours in eco-mode). I have a 480p (widescreen but not high def) projector in my bedroom with an 8' diagonal screensize. Upon advice from someone else, I bought a 4'x8' foam board, and painted it with brightest white but non-glossy paint, and hung it on a wall for my screen. $380 projector + $30 screen + $37 progressive DVD player + $15 component cable + $30 black curtains. Compgeeks has a electric roll-up screen for pretty cheap.
Choosing a projector also depends on your room size, visit www.projectorcentral.com and use their calculator for any given model you are considering.

cables- buy online. someone mentioned monoprice, they are good, just check their in-stock status to be sure. they always ship ground from CA, so can be slow depending on where you live. HDMI and DVI are electrically identical, so it's a passive adapter. HDMI includes extra pair for sending digital audio. Component and VGA are analog, HDMI/DVI is digital - means more accurate colors, less ghosting/interference effects. Although analog is capable of carrying a full 1080p signal, content creators (namely Sony blu-ray) will cripple devices stating that you need HDMI to do 1080p output. This is because HDMI support encryption in the form of HDCP, which they think will reduce piracy (obviously they have been proven wrong already). fiber (sometimes called TOSlink) vs digital audio over copper (RCA jack) doesn't make a difference in quality, digital is digital. Look for a stereo receiver with many inputs and outputs.

antennas- hdtv's can pick up all the local broadcast channels with perfect picture and digital surround sound, if you get the right antenna. check www.antennaweb.org to see where channels are broadcasting relative to your home and to pick the correct antenna. It's a 1-time fee, unlike month-to-month cable/satellite. www.titantv.com is a tv-guide style website, lets you sort by broadcast type.

internet speed- 1.5Mbps should be fine, as long as you have patience to download the video before watching it. Will stream standard def no problem, but high-def or netflix downloads would take longer-than-realtime. Most services let you download in advance, so I wouldn't upgrade your 'net connection until you try it out for a month or 2.

buying online- go to best buy or walmart, and look for a screen you like, so you can see it in person. a lot of times the specs "on paper" look good, but the display is mediocre at best. Then look for exact model online, try to get a pricematch. Get the extended warranty if it's not outrageous (a single repair could be $500+ without it). We bought a 46" LCD for work from www.lcdtvs.com, they are New Jersey based, and their salespeople might try to up-sell you some cables, but we got free shipping and a free hdmi cable from them, and 3rd-party warranty was cheap (service is actually provided by best buy locally). Took about a week to arrive (western PA). If you buy online, make sure you factor in shipping costs, it could be $150+ since it's considered freight.

wireless vs wired- Roku, Wii, PS3 have wifi built in. xbox-360 is $99 for the wifi adapter (all except wii have wired ethernet built in). It's not too hard to run cat-5 cable if you are a DIY'er, but would be really expensive to get an electrician to do it. Ethernet hubs/switches are cheap, put a 4-port hub at your TV, run single cable between hub and DSL/cable/fios router, and all devices are online.

hope that helps. sorry for the long post. I'll answer specific questions if you have any.

followup (3D DLP) - I found out about neat feature available on newer DLP's by mitsubishi and samsung - they have built in Stereoscopic 3D support. Check out www.dlp.com/3D and it'll list available models and more information.

it requires you to wear glasses (wireless) which are active- meaning they block each eye, 1 at a time, at 60fps. So the screen is refreshing at 120Hz, and it has a checkerboard pattern even pixels left eye, odd pixels right eye. Because it's spread out on a checkerboard and has a high refresh rate, it should look better than older tech. (I've not seen these in person yet)

I've seen different forms of this technology over the years, and it's gotten more and more impressive. Most of it has been very expensive, but these DLP sets with it built in are around the same price as other DLPs (which are cheaper than LCD and Plasma). You can get the glasses kit for $150, and video cards that support it are not that expensive.

There is also a company, Blitz Games, that has just shown a tech demo of this working on both PS3 and Xbox360, so you might see it built into games in the near future.

Even if you don't buy it for the 3D feature today, there will be more 3D content in the next 2 years, so it's easy to upgrade later. This definitely makes me lean more toward DLP now...

Samsung LCD 650 series or higher (I have the 52" 650 series)
Sony PS3

These are the tools I use and I love'm. I have recommended several friends to go with the Samsung and all have been very happy with the purchase. PS3 is the no brainer for Blu-Ray, and media intergration, hell Criterion uses they PS3 as their referance Blu-Ray player in their QC lab.

good luck