Samsung vs Sony LCD TV

[geokilla]

Quick guys. Which LCD TV should I get? Here's the following choices. Budget is $2000, and of course, open to recommendations as well.

Samsung LN46A850
Sony KDL-46XBR6
Sony KDL-46Z4100

It was very hard to even let my mom consider the Samsung TV because she's dead set on Sony TVs, since they're a more famous brand than Samsung. However, she wants to get the KDL-46Z4100 now because it seems to be the best bang for buck according to the sales guy (no commission involved) and simply because the Samsung is not on display at the stores that we went to.

Also, are Samsung TVs made in Korea? Because Sony TVs are made in Japan, that's another reason why she wants Sony.

[NyteOwl]

Sharp Aquos, better than either IMHO

Much as it pains me to say it (as I dislike may of their business practices) my second choice after Sharp would be Sony, even if they tend to be higher priced.

[enaberif]

Originally Posted by NyteOwl

Sharp Aquos, better than either IMHO

Much as it pains me to say it (as I dislike may of their business practices) my second choice after Sharp would be Sony, even if they tend to be higher priced.

Bingo and the 46" is on sale everywhere right now.

[Iamcanadian7]

Just picked up a Sont Bravia 32" LCD to replace my monitor and I'm very happy with it. The menu system is pretty cool and is similar to the PS3. It was between either this Sony or a 32" Samsung. The picture was about the same between the two, but I chose the Sony because of a few little featured it had over the Samsung.

For all the praise I've heard about Sharp's Aquos line, I was pretty underwhelmed at the model they had on display. The picture seemed to be dark and grainy compared to the Samsung and Sony model. Mind you this could have been the settings or a bad signal but it certainly didn't seem like it was worth another $100 over the other two.

[enaberif]

Originally Posted by Iamcanadian7

Just picked up a Sont Bravia 32" LCD to replace my monitor and I'm very happy with it. The menu system is pretty cool and is similar to the PS3. It was between either this Sony or a 32" Samsung. The picture was about the same between the two, but I chose the Sony because of a few little featured it had over the Samsung.

For all the praise I've heard about Sharp's Aquos line, I was pretty underwhelmed at the model they had on display. The picture seemed to be dark and grainy compared to the Samsung and Sony model. Mind you this could have been the settings or a bad signal but it certainly didn't seem like it was worth another $100 over the other two.

TVs in a store are never setup properly or use a good signal and is a bad way of deciding whats good and whats bad.

[geokilla]

Well, Sharps, Toshiba, are a no can do option because originally my mom wanted a Sony TV. Took a lot of talking to get her to consider Samsung TVs.

It seems that my options are all great choices according to Samsung or Sony LCD TV - AVS Forum. What do you guys think?

[Chilly]

The Z series is based on a MVA panel, its an EXTREMELY nice TV, very high contrast ratio, but colours will shift slightly at extreme angles(moot point when it comes to TV's usually). Its a very thin TV, with a nice brushed bezel. The XBR6 on the other hand has a slightly lower contrast ratio(very slight), but will not exhibit any colour shifting at extreme angle(much less than the Z series anyways). Its also a physically larger TV(thicker), but has a slightly better up convert engine(this is important if she watches lots of DVD's without an up convert player or regular TV channels alot) than the Z series.

Both TV's use the XMB crossbar as a menu UI, which IMO is a GREAT and easy to use UI to edit settings in and etc. FYI I'm a Sony fanboi, so thats why I know so much when it comes to the Sony. I don't know much of the Samsung TV's, BUT Sony and Samsung use the SAME LCD factory(they jointly built and run it) so the LCD panel quality is going to be the same in similar price/feature ranges. Because of this, its usually only features and appearances that separate Samsung's from Sony's.

I recommend the Sony overall, I've had great support from them when my 52" TV had issues, they have a 48 hour policy on their TV's, meaning that a TV technician will be out to contact you, pin down the exact cause, see/diagnose the TV within 48hours of the service call. They may not actually go to your house with-in 48 hours depending on if they can diagnose the problem over email/phone(in my case, I asked the support line for the Technion to contact me with email, they give you a chose, he didn't need to come over, a picture sufficed in his(proper) diagnose), but they will have the parts and etc on order and diagnosed with 48 hours of the service call. Even thou my part wasn't in stock, the technician was able to get it in in only 3 days, I was happy overall.

Take my opinion as biased if you like, as I am a self professed Sony lover (FYI Sony Electronics, and Sony Entertainment are separate company, like how DC and NCIX are different, what one does is not the fault of the other *cough rootkit*, so don't blame Sony electronics for Sony entertainments doing)

[geokilla]

Update:

Bought the KDL-46Z4100 for $1799.99 + tax. We have to get it on Monday cus we didn't pay for delivery. Was this a good choice? Judging from the above posts, it seems to be a good decision.

[Bucklaz]

Lol I kinda know how you feel, my parents my gf's parents and my best friends parents will only ever buy sony tvs. I guess its because sony used to make some damn awesome televisions back in the day.

If your mom is anything like my parents and was already set on getting a Sony tv then there probably isn't much you could have done to convince her into looking at other brands. But from what all my friends tell me and all the reviews I've read, a 40 - 60 inch plasma will be much, much cheaper than a 40 - 60 inch LCD of equal quality. Of course I'm not going to go into the whole LCD/Plasma thing as, you may already have your reasons for sticking to LCD as well.

Again, its probably too late to do anything now, since you've purchased the TV. But about the Samsung comparison, most of the people that I know, who work with televisions would recommend a sammy over a sony of equal price. I think I read some where that Sony panels were manufactured in the same place as Samsung panels, maybe the assembly of the television is in Japan but I'm pretty sure the panels of atleast some tvs are manufcatured in the same facilities as sammys.


EDIT* oh dangit! I didn't read Chilly's post sry

[Chilly]

Originally Posted by Bucklaz

Lol I kinda know how you feel, my parents my gf's parents and my best friends parents will only ever buy sony tvs. I guess its because sony used to make some damn awesome televisions back in the day.

If your mom is anything like my parents and was already set on getting a Sony tv then there probably isn't much you could have done to convince her into looking at other brands. But from what all my friends tell me and all the reviews I've read, a 40 - 60 inch plasma will be much, much cheaper than a 40 - 60 inch LCD of equal quality. Of course I'm not going to go into the whole LCD/Plasma thing as, you may already have your reasons for sticking to LCD as well.

Again, its probably too late to do anything now, since you've purchased the TV. But about the Samsung comparison, most of the people that I know, who work with televisions would recommend a sammy over a sony of equal price. I think I read some where that Sony panels were manufactured in the same place as Samsung panels, maybe the assembly of the television is in Japan but I'm pretty sure the panels of atleast some tvs are manufcatured in the same facilities as sammys.


EDIT* oh dangit! I didn't read Chilly's post sry

Its okay.

As for the reason Samsung's are often recommend over Sony's, thats because Samsung's typically have have more features than the Sony, while being the same panel quality, at the same price point. That doesn't negate the fact that Sony still to this day still makes some of the best damn TV's in the industry, and when it comes to SD images the electronics in the Sony will often up convert them images much better the the Samsung will. That said, the up converting point is moot the second you start to pump any HD(720/1080) resolution into the TV. At that point they will look the same image wise.

That being said, Sony's recently has really been fighting well on the price front, to the point where the old "get the Samsung over the Sony as they are the same TV underneath" point is now moot, and at some price points the Sony is even winning feature wise.

Besides, you can't deny, the Z series TV he decided to go for just looks so damn sexy.