Any Advice on an HDTV?

[Adam West]

Thanks,

I think the problem with the DVD's in my case is that the TV I'm looking at purchasing is in the 45-50 inch range. That was the main point that the employee was trying to make. He said smaller sets would be less noticeable but a larger set would really show. He did show me what a standard dvd would look like on a larger size HDTV using an upconverter and it looked about the same to me as you might see on a standard television set. Of course, right next to it is the same movie playing in blue-ray and the images are stunning but the blue ray dvd player was close to $400 and the discs are about $30 a piece...too high for my tastes right now.

I also live in a valley surrounded by mountains (not huge) but enough to block antennae reception.

Right now, I'm pretty convinced that for my particular needs LCD is the way to go. I was really impressed with Sony's LCD TV's (especially their new BR4 models).

The particular person I talked to was very helpful in explaining the pro's and con's of plasma vs. LCD, which models he thought were top notch (which were already in line with what I had researched) as well as the dvd issue, digital cable, etc. He wasn't high pressure at all like they usually are at Circuit City since I still think they work off of commission.

I still haven't made my mind up just yet whether to go for it or wait a bit for the cable service to provide more HD content before pulling the trigger.

[MegoSteve]

If you have any interest in high definition content, HD-DVD players are coming down in price as they compete with Sony's Blu-Ray. Separate HD-DVD players run in the $200-ish range, and Wal-mart is going to be having an unadvertised "secret sale" on the Toshiba A2 for $199, plus 10 HD-DVDs (your pick of five in store and five more via mail in rebate). A few weeks ago, a few places were selling the A2 ~$100.

Honestly, it is quite a leap expense-wise in moving from standard to HDTV, and, while the picture is truly amazing, it wouldn't be a mistake if you wait to make the commitment. Prices have come down dramatically, and even in the four months since I've bought my HDTV, the price on it has dropped over 10% from the same vendor.

[Zemo]

Here were some of things I asked the person at the store who didn't give me an answer I was comfortable with.

1. I inquired about what an analog signal would look like on an HDTV and he said pretty bad.

You need to have digital cable with todays t.vs. Right now on average channels 1-70 come in your house analog and then are tansfered to yout as digital. For the most part Channels abouve 70 come in your house digital.

Non Hd channels will look fine on a 50" set

2. I also asked about viewing regular DVD's through the LCD. Again, the answer was that it would look bad

Total BS through in any dvd in any crappy dvd player and again the picture is fine, not great but fine.

3. I then looked a little into Comcast's digital cable and it looks like you have to purchase digital cable boxes for all of your analog TV's

I know how excellent it is to watch a sports program or other program broadcast in HD but it doesn't seem like my cable company has the offering I was hoping for. Once I added in all of the additional costs, it just didn't seem to me like it was worth it at this point.

I wanted to confirm my doubts and determine wheter or not most of my issues were valid concerns and things those of you who have converted have had to contend with.


I have a cable hd box in my living room and bedroom. Cost is nothing compared to watch hd programming.

[z3zep]

What do you have now? Do you have a large screen tube TV? Are you satisfied with your DVDs on it? Then you may just wait it out a bit. Prices will come down and the channel line-ups will increase.

Or if you just got the HD bug -- get a smaller 42 - 46 LCD with 1080i / 720p. This way you won't be spending the big bucks and you will still view the current HD channel offerings. Get yourself a cheap upconversion dvd player with hdmi (mine was like 80.00) and you will be good. Later when more content comes online and are broadcasting at 1080p -- the sets will be cheaper you can get a new one and have the old LCD as a second set.

[cjefferys]

Of course, right next to it is the same movie playing in blue-ray and the images are stunning but the blue ray dvd player was close to $400 and the discs are about $30 a piece...too high for my tastes right now.

Prices are coming down on the players, and online, you can get discs for cheaper, especially if you wait for sales. Last month for example, Amazon had a "buy one get one free" sale on Sony Blu-ray discs. A lot of titles worked out to be only $10 each. Not bad at all. Don't buy the discs in stores and you shouldn't have to pay $30 each for them. And as mentioned, the competing format, HD DVD, has players that are even cheaper. Of course, many are waiting out the format war to see what happens, but I couldn't wait and jumped right in (and on the plus side, the format war has made prices come down much faster than they otherwise would have).

[cjefferys]

Prices have come down dramatically, and even in the four months since I've bought my HDTV, the price on it has dropped over 10% from the same vendor.

You ain't kidding! I bought my set in January, and at this point I could buy the same thing for at least 30% less if not even cheaper (I could have saved more than $1000 if I had waited, but that's how things often work in the consumer electronics world). Prices are coming down like crazy.

[Adam West]

Thanks for the advice. I think right now I'm going to wait it out a bit longer.

Right now, I have a 36 inch tube set. We have been hot and cold about buying an HDTV for the last two years. My brother just bought a 50 inch plasma screen and we were stunned at how great a Football game looked in High Def. That got the bug going and my wife's green light was all I needed to jump.

I think the main thing holding me back right now is the lack of high def offerings from our cable provider. Once the content is there, the prices should be coming down and I'll make the move.

I don't frequent stores like Circuit City or Best Buy. I typically purchase dvd's and other electronic equipment on-line. I don't think I saw a tube tv even being offered at Circuit City anymore.