If I buy the nonamebrand TV it's going to explode!?

elpea: You can also do that stuff with almost any of the set top media boxes out there now. I went with Samsung for my latest TV... one thing to realize is that while there are many brands, there are only a few manufacturers of the panels. Samsung, Sharp, LG are the big LCD panel manufacturers. Panasonic are probably #1 for plasma. These are most of the high end brands. Most other brands use panels made by these companies, adding their own hardware around it. Personally, I love Samsung, but even then you can get a good deal if you don't get suckered into the latest greatest models and features. Just get a 60hz LCD, non-LED, from one of those brands, and you'll be pretty well off.

The expected lifetime of an LCD flatscreen TV is about 20,000 hours. The average American watches 4 hours of TV a day. This translates to a life expectancy of about 14 years. More for a bedroom TV of course, and yet still more if you watch less than the average. Let's assume a $100 price difference between a no-name brand display, and any Tier One brand. The premium you are paying to have the best is about $7 a year. I find more than this in change down the back of my couch. Having reduced the difference to the ridiculous, it seems obvious that getting something from a reputable manufacturer makes sense. I work in this industry. What size display are you thinking of?

Think about what sources you want to run to the display then, make sure your TV can accommodate them. Are you going to hook a computer up? If so, Mac or PC or both?

Thanks for all the knowledgable responses. I'm now thinking the 32 might be plenty large which means the price is less of a concern. Also, it was less of a concern per se and more of a "do I have to" or can I cheap out?" thanks for the info!

http://ask.metafilter.com/182261/If-I-buy-the-nonamebrand-TV-its-going-to-explode#2623742: "knowledgeable observers recommend a viewing distance to a 16X9 aspect ratio display should be about 2.5 X the screen diagonal" Other people prefer the TV not be the center of the room, and pick one that is good enough to look nice without dominating the room it is in. We went with one that was as tall as the CRT it was replacing. Compared to the former, it's huge, because it's wider. Compared to my neighbor's 50" monstrosity, it's small. But it's plenty big enough for us. If you could see the CRT just fine from where you're at when it worked, then find an LCD that's about the same vertical size. With a better picture the clarity of the onscreen stuff will be better, even if the screen itself is not markedly larger than the CRT was.

For your 15ft viewing distance, a 32" LCD TV should be good. Not sure what would make you say that, given that knowledgeable observers recommend a viewing distance to a 16X9 aspect ratio display should be about http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimum_HDTV_viewing_distance#The_Diagonal_Measurement_x_2.5. For a 42" display this translates to 8.75 feet. A 70" would not be too big for that distance. That said, people do tend to put smaller displays in their bedrooms, as the watching there is usually not intended to be an immersive experience as it is in a home theater. You say you stream Netflix to your iPad, which is a tiny display.Whether you should buy a smaller or larger set then is a function of it's importance to you, the amount of use it receives, and the kind of material watched. I personally wouldn't want to try to watch a 32" from that kind of a distance, but then TV itself is not important enough to me to bother with one in the bedroom at all. Thinking of this as a 15 year investment, which it is, you need to prioritize this based on your usage, which only you know. I've just been looking at flat screen prices and see that the premium on Tier One brands like Samsung and Panasonic in the 32 inch category is only about $30- $50, so see no real reason to buy Tier Two product at all. Don't understand it, actually. It seems that going up to the 40-42 " size pushes the cost above your budget though. Here in Vancouver 32" Tier One brands on sale go for about $350. we picked up a http://www.visions.ca/Catalogue/Category/Details.aspx?categoryId=511&productId=5669 for my girlfriend's bedroom last week for $345. I am quite surprised to see that displays from mail-order operations in the U.S. aren't as available at these price points. Were it me, wanting to hit that budget and get a fabulous image, I'd opt for the better black levels, higher dynamic range, and better viewing angles offered by plasma displays over LCDs and get http://www.kmart.com/shc/s/p_10151_10104_012W020811920001P?vName=Computers%20&%20Electronics&cName=Televisions&sName=Flat%20Panel&sid=KDx20070926x00003a&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=012W020811920001P.

I'm going with 15 feet?

What is the viewing distance from the screen?

Also, bc life is funny, said tv is totally functioning now. I still need to replace this baby ASAP, but it's as if the TV knew I was getting a dvice on how it replace it. Or, uh, that dust moved and that wire jiggled an blah blah blah.