The Best Flat Panel LCD Television: Buying Guide & Top 5 Recommendations

The Best Flat Panel LCD Television: Buying Guide & Top 5 Recommendations
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Samsung LN46C630

Samsung is pushing their new LED TVs but this LCD model matches up well as a lower price, costing less than $1,000. What makes this TV a solid option is the fact that, despite the lack of LED and the fact it is a midrange LCD, this TV remains one of the best flat panel LCD televisions on the market thanks to the screen uniformity. It produces a better picture than even most Samsung LED models. The 46-inch model has a matte screen while larger sets have a glossy screen, which causes more reflections. There are four HDMI inputs as well as two USB ports and an Ethernet (LAN) port for your devices.

Hitachi UltraVision L46S604

The Hitachi Ultravision L46S604 offers great picture quality in a 46-inch TV for a relatively low price of $1,199 as of December 2010. This flat panel LCD television offers 1080p resolution, 120Hz panel speed as well as Hitachi’s Reel120 movie motion technology. This Hitachi technology allows up to eight high definition inputs on an Energy Star compliant television. Four of the inputs are HDMI pure inputs and the TV also offers Coneq 3D Sound, presenting crisp well-rounded sound quality. There is also a 60-inch version available for $500 more.

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Samsung LN46C630

Panasonic Viera TC-L42U25

Panasonic Viera TC-L42U25

Most Panasonic Viera televisions offer the VIERA Link, allowing users to connect to various devices using the VIERA remote control. All it takes is hooking your compatible devices up to the television using the HDMI cables and you can control everything with the TV remote. The picture quality on this television is fantastic, offering realistic flesh tones, high quality black levels and refresh rates that make even the fastest pictures look smooth and vibrant. This 42-inch television is also remarkably affordable, checking in at $599 as of December 2010.

Sony Bravia KDL-40EX500

The smallest TV on this list, the Sony Bravia remains one of the better choices for flat panel LCD televisions. This 40-inch TV offers a number of special features along with solid image quality at a low price, selling for less than $900 as of December 2010. This Sony television outranks most of the higher priced Sony’s on the market with a better LCD picture than its brethren. The Sony Bravia allows users to stream videos through a USB connection but, without an Ethernet port, it can’t stream from home networks. The TV only offers four HDMI inputs, two in the back and two on the side with the USB port also on the side.

LG 47LD520

The LD520 is the least expensive of the LG flat panel LCD televisions, checking in at under $1,000. Unfortunately, it is not quite up to the level of the Samsung and Sony televisions in this price range. The TV is the least expensive of the 120Hz processor televisions but also lacks the streaming of the higher level LG televisions. It does offer photo and music capabilities through a USB port and the Matte screen on the television cuts out a lot of the reflections. Where the television does step up is the picture adjustment selection, which matches up well with many top-of-the-line televisions. It also allows a user to select different picture modes based on the specified input.