cnet is a decent site, the link here should give you the information you need.
you can send me money so i can save up for University of Toledo’s engineering courses 
buy a car!
I unfortunately don’t have THAT much money. Getting a parking spot downtown in a building like mine costs an extra 30k.
holy shit
that’s downtown montreal for ya! …too glam for its glitz 
Donate it to charity.
:kissy:
Save them, I’d say. It doesn’t sound like you really need a new television or a television at all really, so why waste the money when you could save or invest them and eventually buy something you actually need? Or you could donate them to me. Either one.
buy a roomfull of scotch
why does your university give you money?
Because he’s bright and holds a stipendiate?
I’m an MD/PhD, which means I get a bare minimum of 21k a year + access to tons of extra scholarships and research grants, some of which I’m automatically enrolled for (I’ve made over 30k with these up to now), some I receive almost automatically upon applying for them and my tuition is taken care of automatically.
The selection process for a lot of these grants is biased in the favor of people in my program as they often require you have high grades (pre req to be where I am), certain activities (also a pre req) and research (which is part of the program).
So nobody gave real advice yet?
You really missed out…had you gone out on black friday you could’ve picked up at 42 inch Westinghouse at Best Buy for 999USD 8(
The difference between Plasma and LCD is that Plasma is a cheaper and older technology. Plasma will burn-in, leaving ghosts of what you’ve been watching. Say you play FFXII all day…if you play long enough, the battle text boxes will be burned in, since they’re pretty much always there when you’re playing. Another common burn-in is the newstickers on CNN and stuff.
LCD is newer and doesn’t have this problem, and also has a quicker response time, which means less streaking but i’ve never seen a plasma streak :. LCD won’t burn in. LCD is also going to be way way more expensive than a plasma, since its a newer technology (in TVs at least). Also, LCD won’t get up to the sizes you want, and if it does, its going to be out of your league.
DLP TVs are the other ones you’ll see. I don’t really know how i feel about them. They’re rear projection, meaning they’re like the “big screen” tvs from the early 90s, but apparently they have better quality and performance via the Texas Instruments DLP chip. I wouldn’t buy on just because a rear-projection setup is oldschool :\ However, these TVs will definitely have large sizes in your price range.
When you buy, you want to look for supported resolutions. 480, 720, 720p, and 1080p. Resolutions are the same as they are on your PC monitor. 480 is standard TV. 720 is “hi resolution”, but not widescreen, 720p is also hires but IS widescreen, and 1080 is the gold standard “HD TV” resolution.
If the resolution has an i next to it, like 1080i, it means that it is interlaced. Interlacing is the old way of making quality images. If the resolution has a p next to it, like 1080p, that means it has “progressive scan”, and the picture quality will be somewhat better. Progressive Scan is the new way of doing things. It’ll be tough to find a TV with 1080p.
Honestly i’d say just go buy a freakin’ couch. Heck, go to ikea, and blow all your money on furnishing your apartment/dorm/whatever. You’ll get more chicks than you would with a big-screen TV, and plus, you can take the furniture with you when you leave. Any TV you buy right now will probably be outclassed in a matter of months, since this whole “HD” tv thing is still in its infancy. And like 984 said, even if you buy God’s own TV, most HD programming is premium content…and EXPENSIVE premium content…or is in a lower resolution than your TV prefers to do, meaning you’re watching something in 720p when you paid for 1080p :\
Also, what systems are you playing? You’ll need to check out what resolution they export in, and make sure your TV can display that without a hitch. Also, if you want the most bang for your buck, you might want to look into upscaling…certain DVD players, and some HDTVs will upscale the 480 content put out by, say, your PS2, and push it into 720p, that a PS3 would produce. There are also DVD players (expensive ones) that push 480 DVDs into 1080p.
<- is holding out for SED 8)
Thanks for the info Dev.
What is “SED” ?
Seriously emotionally disturbed children is what. He wants children that’ll help him cash out his insurance on his expensive expensive surface-conduction electron-emitter display, by breaking it in an emotial fit. Devious Dev.