I need help choosing a decent budget gaming TV/Monitor

[TripleSMoon]

Okay, so after some more research, I decided to be less picky about the refresh rate (it doesn't matter much for console games capped at 60fps anyway, from what I'm reading). So I'm thinking of going with this TV, which has less input lag (20 some ms) and a 60hz refresh rate. Not to mention that it's considerably cheaper, even new. What do you guys think?

 

[Issac]

I've got two Samsung TV's at home. One that is a bit older now, with LCD, which I though was AMAZING: http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-LN32B650-32-Inch-1080p-Touch/dp/B001U3Y8NG

... Until I played some on our newer LED Samsung TV: http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-UN46F8000-46-Inch-1080p-240Hz/dp/B00BCGRLU8/

My old TV seems so much darker now, but there's no difference (that I notice) in input lag or anything like that. JUST REMEMBER to activate game mode! I forgot that at first, and boy did it feel strange

 

[TripleSMoon]

I've got two Samsung TV's at home. One that is a bit older now, with LCD, which I though was AMAZING: http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-LN32B650-32-Inch-1080p-Touch/dp/B001U3Y8NG

... Until I played some on our newer LED Samsung TV: http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-UN46F8000-46-Inch-1080p-240Hz/dp/B00BCGRLU8/

My old TV seems so much darker now, but there's no difference (that I notice) in input lag or anything like that. JUST REMEMBER to activate game mode! I forgot that at first, and boy did it feel strange

That second TV is WAYYYYYYYYY above my budget.

 

[Issac]

No shit Haha! It was just for contrast. I was really happy with the older one until I used the newer, but compared to friends' TVs I must say that my (old) Samsung was the best of them all. They had Sony, LG, and a few budget brands.
What I can make out is the one you linked seem to be somewhat equal to my old one, but with LED (which I guess makes it brighter, which is positive in my eyes )

 

[slingblade1170]

No shit Haha! It was just for contrast. I was really happy with the older one until I used the newer, but compared to friends' TVs I must say that my (old) Samsung was the best of them all. They had Sony, LG, and a few budget brands.
What I can make out is the one you linked seem to be somewhat equal to my old one, but with LED (which I guess makes it brighter, which is positive in my eyes )

Exact same TV my brother has, great tv but netflix's red menu burnt into his screen over just a few hours so be careful. Other than that his tv is very very impressive.

 

[TripleSMoon]

Okay, so I know I keep saying that I've decided for sure what TV I'm going to get and keep changing my mind, but think I've finally come to a solid conclusion. The internet seems to collectively agree with most of your Vizio suggestions, so I'm going to go with this one. It's a bit bigger than I'm hoping for and doesn't have quite as low lag as some of the Samsung ones, but it has a better refresh rate, and I'm not too happy with what I've ready about the "screen lottery" with Samsung TVs. Plus at least one Amazon reviewer says he plays Street Fighter competitively and has no trouble pulling off instant combos, which is enough to convince me that the TV will be just fine for Super Smash Bros.. Plus if it's too big to put on my entertainment center, I could just wall-mount it, which would give me more room for my CRT and consoles anyway.

And I was going to buy the TV today, but today's snowstorm caused the bank to close before I could leave work and deposit the money needed to purchase. Hence, I'll be doing this tomorrow afternoon. Until then, what do you guys think?

 

[trumpet-205]

120 Hz refresh rate is useful when you watch Bluray, where it is multiple of 23.976 fps (assuming this is true 120 Hz). Not so much on regular contents though.

 

[the_randomizer]

Exact same TV my brother has, great tv but netflix's red menu burnt into his screen over just a few hours so be careful. Other than that his tv is very very impressive.

LED is resistant (or should be mostly) to burn in, plasma, DLP and rear-projection are far more susceptible I thought.

 

[stomp_442]

Have you thought about an LG tv? One of the nice features I like about my LG is it can play movie files from a usb stick. It can also recognize upto 4 usb partitions and play movies, music, and pictures. The reason I like LG better than Vizio is that my LG will recognize just about all movie files like mkv, divx, xvid, mp4, flv, are the ones I tested to work on my 2 year old LG tv. My parents just got a new Vizio 60" and I found it only recognizes mp4 movies. I know if I ever got another tv it would probably be an LG with a bigger screen.

 

[TripleSMoon]

Have you thought about an LG tv? One of the nice features I like about my LG is it can play movie files from a usb stick. It can also recognize upto 4 usb partitions and play movies, music, and pictures. The reason I like LG better than Vizio is that my LG will recognize just about all movie files like mkv, divx, xvid, mp4, flv, are the ones I tested to work on my 2 year old LG tv. My parents just got a new Vizio 60" and I found it only recognizes mp4 movies. I know if I ever got another tv it would probably be an LG with a bigger screen.

I actually bought the Vizio I linked earlier just a couple hours ago. The LG you're describing sounds cool, but I honestly have no real use for TV features. I never watch TV (I don't even have Cable) and I almost never watch movies unless I go to the theater. The TV is doing to be used nearly exclusively for gaming, so that's really all I need it to do well.

 

[trumpet-205]

Have you thought about an LG tv? One of the nice features I like about my LG is it can play movie files from a usb stick. It can also recognize upto 4 usb partitions and play movies, music, and pictures. The reason I like LG better than Vizio is that my LG will recognize just about all movie files like mkv, divx, xvid, mp4, flv, are the ones I tested to work on my 2 year old LG tv. My parents just got a new Vizio 60" and I found it only recognizes mp4 movies. I know if I ever got another tv it would probably be an LG with a bigger screen.

Just saying that it'll play mkv and mp4 file is pretty vague. These are container format. They can contain a variety of video and audio codec, some of which most TV can't play.

You can have a mp4 file with AAC audio codec that some Samsung TV won't play, or you can have a mkv with 10-bit H264 that will caused some Panasonic TV to hang.

IMO the best media player is using laptop to TV, or if your PS3 is hacked use Showtime. Some times TV manufacturers implemented half done support, like how they say it supports SSA sub but couldn't even support basic features such as position.

 

[stomp_442]

Yea, I don't watch much tv except for movies files, I can't stand advertisements, I got cable but never watch it. I mostly use my tv for my Wii U or ps3.

As for the Vizio, I was disappointed because I loaded up a 32GB usb stick with movies for my parents to watch at their house, and out of all the movie that played on my LG tv which was a lot of them, only two of them would even be recognized by the Vizio smart TV.

Just saying that it'll play mkv and mp4 file is pretty vague. These are container format. They can contain a variety of video and audio codec, some of which most TV can't play.

You can have a mp4 file with AAC audio codec that some Samsung TV won't play, or you can have a mkv with 10-bit H264 that will caused some Panasonic TV to hang.

IMO the best media player is using laptop to TV, or if your PS3 is hacked use Showtime. Some times TV manufacturers implemented half done support, like how they say it supports SSA sub but couldn't even support basic features such as position.

I did run across one mkv that wouldn't play on my tv, but PS3 showtime played it without any problems.