Best LED HDTV Brand for the Money

I've owned a Panasonic for 5 years and I've had no problems with it at all. It still looks better than most new TVs on the market. Granted, it's a plasma, but a good brand nonetheless.

I'll start by suggesting what NOT to get! Stay away from Hisense, Sceptre, and Sanyo for sure.

Of the brands you mentioned, LG and Vizio would work within the budget I'm guessing you've set for yourself. I agree with you about 3D, however, I will say that you're not really paying for that feature anymore. All manufacturers are putting it into their TVs in the off chance that they don't and someone wants it...they'll lose market share :)

Thanks, josh.

OK, steer clear of the HiSense and Sceptres; got it. Any particular reason? Have they been known to fail after just 6 months?

I looked at the Plasmas and wasn't impressed with the way Plasma crushes blacks (blacks look newspaper gray). Maybe it's just a problem with CURRENT Plasmas, which have had to be manufactured dirt-cheap to compete with LCD and LED. Glad the Panasonic is still working well for you!

3D: Hey, if they're not charging a premium price for it, and are offering 3D for the same price as 2D, great, I'll take it.

Plasmas produce better blacks than LED/LCD. Panasonic plasmas are known for black levels.

I would highly recommend getting ISF calibration with any TV. I recently got mine calibrated and i noticed a huge difference. You'd think after 5 years, if there wasn't a difference...I would know it!

As far as the cheaper brands go, the reason I'd stay away is although the panels themselves are all made in the same two factories, the processors they use are lesser in quality.

Thanks.

How much does ISF calibration cost? I already own Joe Kan's Video Essentials DVD, which contains the Pluge blacker-than-black bar for correctly adjusting black level and color bar test pattern with included strip of blue-filtered film that you look through to correctly adjust color and hue. I have all my TVs set to the warm color temperature and turn sharpness down to zero so no electronic fringing interferes with the source's true organic picture detail.

I'd expect it to cost a couple hundred bucks. So, unless your TV costs 4 or 5 figures, it's kind of hard to justify.

You could buy a colorimeter for less money, and possibly do it yourself, or at least test your TV and know how good or bad it is. One example is the Datacolor Spyder; they're popular with digital artists and photographers who need accurate colours on their computer monitors. There's even a DIY colorimeter probe (google HCFR sonde) if you can make printed circuit boards and program a PIC. AVSforum.com should have discussions and advice on colour probes and DIY calibration.

You cant calibrate it properly with those kits. The techs can access settings in the service menu that I would not recommend playing with unless you really know what you are doing.

This next TV will only cost three figures, so, nope, ISF calibration is not worth the money. I'll just stick to the controls (brightness, contrast, color, hue, sharpness, color temp) that I can adjust myself. I'm sure the picture will look gorgeous after I'm through with it using the Video Essentials test disc. Thanks anyway.

Update: I "settled" on a Sanyo LED HDTV from Wal-Mart for $598. After calibrating it with ISF Digital Video Essentials test disc, WOW, the picture is FANTASTIC! I'm totally happy! Thanks for your help, guys.