Big 720p or small 1080p?

[anthony 0]

I just stepped into a bit of extra cash and I was looking to get a high-definition tv. It's a bigger room, but still just a bedroom with a desk, bed and la-z-boy chair. I was looking around and saw for instance at Best Buy, a 40'' 1080p set for 999, and a 50'' 720p set at 999. My question I guess is, should I scale back, get a smaller TV that's 1080p or buy the bigger-is-better 50''.

I have a Playstation 3, and HD cable. No Blu-Rays but I'd guess I would start renting them if I had a high-def tv lol. I'm leaning towards, since its a smaller room, getting the smaller 1080p set, but I've heard on a TV smaller than 50'' you don't see a difference between 1080p and 720p content.

...help Neowin!

[Rudy 457]

I'd go for the 40", but you might want to see if there's a 46", it would be a perfect compromise. The 46" might cost you a bit more but it would be worth it

[crazzyyfool 29]

Are these LCD or Plasma? It's true the benefit of 1080p drops the smaller the screen size is but personally out of the two I would go for the 40-inch. Provide more details about the TV's so we can make a better suggestion if need be.

[GameOverRob 132]

I'd go for the 40", but you might want to see if there's a 46", it would be a perfect compromise. The 46" might cost you a bit more but it would be worth it

I would agree with that

[ShawnDude 0]

I have bought and see quite frequently, 42" LCD 1080p sets for the $700-$800 range. Last year I bought 2 (have 3 in total) of them for the $700 price. What I have noticed is that watching BluRay movies is great, but watching DVD TV series, usually is quite poor (lots of noticible blockyness, loss in color detail, etc). SD satellite, is quite poor also (similar to DVD). HD satellite, is better, but nothing compared to the BluRay. So look at other places than just Best Buy, you can probablly find a much better deal. I find that Best Buy is good when buying a new computer/laptop on sale, but for TVs they are still higher than most others.

[+StevoFC 21]

Viewing Distance is the main factor...if you are fairly close to it definitely get the 40".

[nomis_nehc 0]

Meh. I would get the bigger TV. I have a 42 and I wish I had gotten a bigger TV. As for the res, I think that if you're sitting away on the couch, you probably can't detect THAT much of a difference, so might as well get a bigger TV.

[anthony 0]

Well a few replies here, I believe the 40'' 1080p was a Sony and the 50'' was a Samsung. Again it's a small-ish room so when friends are over, space might get crowded and people could be relatively close to the set. I keep thinking bigger is better but I'm wondering if in a smaller room, the better resolution might hold up better with people close to the set.

[jerzdawg 338]

See if you can get us the models... that might make all the difference in the world..lol... although if its Sony and Samsung LCDs they are both going to be good..

[Euphoria 2,044]

Go for the 40'' 1080p . I have the LN32A550 Samsung 1080p in my bedroom and I love it.

No matter what people tell you, you can see the difference from 720p to 1080p, even on a 32' Screen.

Cheers

[+Audioboxer 2,876]

I have a 1080p 40" Bravia, great set.

Both Samsung and Sony's are great TVs, what's the rest of the TV specs?

It's not just about size/resolution, contrast, ratio and other things affect picture quality.

If you get me the model names/numbers I'll do some more research for you.

50" would be to big for me in my room, and I wanted a 1080p set, so personally I'd probably go 40 and get 1080p, however as I said, if you give me some more info I can make a better judgement :yes:

[darkz 12]

definately 1080p 40", size is more than enough (maybe except for if you live in a castle where the tv is at one side of it and the sofa at the other)

where i live there's a 50" 1080p pioneer plasma -- basically it's so big, you can't look at anything else in the room when it's turned on. pure attention suck-off.

[nomis_nehc 0]

I guess the factor is whether or not you have the room then.

Again, I do have to reiterate my point that nowadays, I wish I had gotten a bigger tv. Mine is 42" and it does 720 and 1080. And I stand by what I said earlier... unless you're sitting close to the tv or have 20/20 vision, you are not going to notice much difference between the two.

[Jason S. 1,504]

i have a 40" 1080p Samsung in my room. it's pretty amazing for a small room. i would not recommend a 50" 720p tv for a smaller room.

[HilariousNinja 6]

40" for sure. The 50" would be big but the difference between 720p and 1080p is staggering and it would be much more worth it to go for the 1080p. My mate has a 60"+ playing on supposedly 1080p and the quality is pretty rubbish compared to my measly 32" on 1080i.

[Rudy 457]

I guess the factor is whether or not you have the room then.

Again, I do have to reiterate my point that nowadays, I wish I had gotten a bigger tv. Mine is 42" and it does 720 and 1080. And I stand by what I said earlier... unless you're sitting close to the tv or have 20/20 vision, you are not going to notice much difference between the two.

are you sure your tv is not just a 720p? most 720p (if not all) will accept 1080 signal but it will convert it down to 720

[Hungarian Salami 3]

Probably that 50" TV is an older model. So you might want to check its other features first.

[User6060 351]

i would get the 1080p set :D

[bdsams 365]

If you put the 50 inch in a small bedroom your going to go blind at night watching it not to mention you may not be able to sit far enough away to truly enjoy the size

1080P FTW

[Shadrack 601]

My vote goes to the 40" 1080p set. If it isn't big enough for ya, move your furniture closer. I would imagine that the 50" 720p would look fairly "blocky" in comparison.

[soniqstylz 1,048]

70" or GTFO.