Find your New TV with RTINGS (Link)

[CadetStimpy]

Gonna spring for a new TV this Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or whenever? This is an excellent Site for someone ready to buy a TV. Lots of in-depth, detailed reviews, plenty of filtering options to narrow your search (even 'Usage', such as Movies, Sports, or Video Games), side-by-side comparisons, and a Link to each product on Amazon. Even some 'learning' stuff (e.g., "What is Local Dimming"?). Only 5 brands are covered, though, but they are 'heavy hitters': LG, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, and Vizio. Anyway, click RTINGS to check it out.

[DOS76]

Yeah research can definitely help out I bought a Samsung TV a few years ago and it is a beautiful TV but I didn't realize that it had a separate gaming setting for the longest time I blamed my PC and my controllers for terrible lag that was occurring especially when playing Mario Golf 64. Maybe if I would have done some research then I would have had some understanding of what my problem was. Until I read about the issue I never would have thought that the TV was the culprit.

[Jason Carr]

Nice. One of these days I'm gonna replace my TV that the kids decided to scrape up with scissors. That was a great day.

[Zombeaver]

RTings is a pretty good site for the review portion - I used it when shopping for our newest TV. The calibration settings they listed for the TV were complete garbage, however. CNET was much better in that regard. I used the CNET settings as a base and then the THX calibration disc that comes with the Terminator 2 blu ray to do some final tweaking - CNET's settings were pretty spot on while RTings's were pretty garish. It's a Vizio e55-c2 and I'm very happy with it despite a couple quirks.

[CadetStimpy]

Jason Carr said Nice. One of these days I'm gonna replace my TV that the kids decided to scrape up with scissors. That was a great day.

Yah, I'll bet you celebrated on that day. Are they old enough now to not do that again [hopefully]? Maybe you're too young to have owned a VCR, but many of those have been fed a PB&J sandwich by a helpful tyke.

[CadetStimpy]

Zombeaver said I used the CNET settings as a base and then the THX calibration disc that comes with the Terminator 2 blu ray to do some final tweaking - CNET's settings were pretty spot on while RTings's were pretty garish. It's a Vizio e55-c2 and I'm very happy with it despite a couple quirks.

So you used something such as this (but from C|Net)... Blu-ray setup discs for your HDTV I was unaware of the existence of these! Thanks for that enlightenment, Zombeaver. BTW, I like your 'screen-name' (assuming it's a reference to Zombies and beavers - for reasons I may not comprehend ). My home state (Oregon) has a beaver on the back of their state flag, and who isn't intrigued by Zombies? Anyway, since I lack motivation, on occasion , would you please supply that C|Net link you referred to. Thanks, in advance. P.S. Nice TV. I believe Vizio TV's, in general, provide some of the best 'bang for your buck' you can get these days.

[DOS76]

I still have a few VCR's around although none of them are actually hooked up to anything. My grandmother had a huge collection of VHS tapes that she had made from laser disc movies that she had and from recording TV. My brother and I spent a few summers with her and my grandfather out in Arizona which is far cry from our home in urban New Jersey. We saw some really good old movies while hanging out with my grandmom which gave me an appreciation for film of all era's something many of my peers didn't share they hated anything in black and white and just assumed that because it was old that it wasn't any good in retrospect many of them have turned out to be cretins but I digress. I believe that my grandmothers movie collecting is what got me into having a massive film and Television library of my own which I share with my family and friends thanks to Plex.

[Zombeaver]

Cadet Stimpy said So you used something such as this (but from C|Net)... Blu-ray setup discs for your HDTV

That looks very similar, yes. The one I used is in the special features for T2: Skynet Edition. I believe the original blu ray release came with its own separate disc, but it' built in with the Skynet one. It's actually an extremely useful tool for properly calibrating your TV.

Cadet Stimpy said BTW, I like your 'screen-name' (assuming it's a reference to Zombies and beavers - for reasons I may not comprehend ). My home state (Oregon) has a beaver on the back of their state flag, and who isn't intrigued by Zombies?

Thanks haha. It actually started out as a stupid not-really-reference to Grim Fandango. I think Zombeaver has a nicer ring to it than Demon Beavers though... so uh... yeah. Also...it's a movie. But I had it first! :(

Cadet Stimpy said Anyway, since I lack motivation, on occasion , would you please supply that C|Net link you referred to. Thanks, in advance.

The settings can be found here.

Cadet Stimpy said I believe Vizio TV's, in general, provide some of the best 'bang for your buck' you can get these days.

Exactly. It's not quite as feature rich as some other (significantly more expensive) TVs out there, but I already had all the various peripherals that I needed to compliment it, to the point that those extra features would just be redundant. It's got a stellar picture for the price!