I currently own three LCD flat screen televisions. I own a 26 inch RCA and 32 inch Vizio and Emerson televisions. Moving into a new home last year, I found that the 32 inch televisions were disproportionate in a large family room with ten foot ceilings. The size was okay for apartment living, but I knew I would eventually have to break down and buy a larger television. I have been happy with the LCD’s, which generally use less energy than Plasma televisions and have historically been more resistant to image burn in. There are advantages and disadvantages to both LCD and Plasma. LCD tends to be more expensive but has a better repair history. Plasma tends to provide fluid high definition for sporting events, reduces glare and is less expensive. Plasma also consumes more energy and has a history of technical issues. Then there is always DLP, which are basically Projection televisions which have mirrors and are usually quite a bit thicker than the other two options. My research focused primarily on LCD and Plasma.
While researching my purchase I spoke to “experts” at any number of big box stores. One would tell me that the burn issues with plasma televisions have been resolved and the next would say “Go LCD…they have less burn in problems and last longer.” I spoke with a guy at HH Gregg who seemed to know what he was talking about. He advised me that you can expect around 10,000 hours of use from either Plasma or LCD. He also indicated that most of burn issues with Plasma televisions have been addressed and that I should not have any problems. Internet research resulted in the same mixed results. I was still leaning towards an LCD even though they are slightly more expensive. Tigerdirect.com had one advertised for just over $1,000 for Black Friday, which I intended to purchase after getting off work that day. When I arrived they were already sold out. I had been looking at some Plasma televisions as well and ended up in Wal-Mart where the Samsung PN50A400 was on sale for eight hundred dollars. I decided it was time to pull the trigger on my purchase and arrived at the house with my new television on Black Friday.
Setting up the television was fairly easy but required two people. The Samsung PN50A400 may be thinner than traditional televisions but it is still large and cumbersome as well as being heavy for one person to manage. The base was already attached to the unit when I removed it from the box. The box had a break away design that allowed me to remove the box from around the television. It was a nice feature but a potential problem if the unit needs to be returned to the store. Connecting the cable television was simple…plugging the television in was simple as well…that part only took me a minute. I could have begun watching television at that point, but needed to hook up some peripheral devices. That is where I ran into a bit more difficulty. Because my devices are older, my connections are also older. There are ways to adapt, but it requires some trial and error. My DVD player had the RGB (red, green, blue…known as Y,PB,PR) cable connection, so I was able to connect the DVD with those cable and an old RWY (red, white, yellow) cable for the audio, leaving one of the plugs unconnected. I still haven’t figured out what to do with my ancient VCR with it’s RWY connectors, but I believe I can connect the red and white normally and the yellow into the green input along with an antennae cable. I haven’t messed around with it yet, but the manual looks like this will work.
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