Any Advice on an HDTV?

[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.

[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.

[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).

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[PCofmisfittoys]

TV's are like cars to me , they get me from point A to point B .

but on the other hand , get to know all the Local store manager in your area and get a great discount on one Then come to my Bass Pro to buy outdoor stuff when the BONBONs hit your waistline...LOL

[MegoSteve]

The info they gave you at Circuit City is good, but not entirely accurate.

1. Regular standard definition TV does look pretty crummy on an HD set, especially at bigger sizes. You may want to upgrade your cable, but in many cases, you can attach an antenna and pull local HD stations through the air like in the old days. I tried this and did okay, but eventually upgraded to digital cable because over-the-air just wasn't reliable and I couldn't get all of the local stations I wanted.

2. Regular DVDs look fine on an HDTV set... not as good as an HDTV signal, but they aren't as bad as standard definition TV. I play DVDs on my Xbox 360 which is connected through component cables and it upconverts the picture on the DVD to 480p (I think that's the res...), which is perfectly acceptable for me. If I had a digital connection, they'd convert up even further. I vaguely recall reading somewhere that upconversion was limited by the studios when you are using analog TV connections. To get the full upconversion, you need to use a digital connection (in my case for the 360, either a VGA cable or HDMI).

3. I don't think you'd be obligated to get converter boxes for every analog TV unless you want to watch those digital stations on your old sets.

I have Comcast cable and I really like the HD offerings so far. I get the regular broadcast networks, plus maybe a dozen or two other HD channels. I may end up dropping digital, because I mostly stick to local broadcast networks, but some of the channels are quite nice, like the National Geographic channel. I'm not a huge sports nut, but it's really hard to beat watching U.S. Open Tennis or the World Series in HDTV.

The model I have is a Samsung LNT4053H. I'm really happy with the picture, but I do notice a lag when I'm playing high speed games. (I was once the #3 player in the world at Pac-Man C.E., but now I'm barely in the top 20 because of the lag issue.) I probably wouldn't buy it again if I knew then what I know now. I leafed through my parent's Consumer Reports over Thanksgiving and the Toshiba Regza line is ranked really high in terms of bang for your buck. I'd probably look into that or the new Samsungs that just came out that have a plasma-like contrast ratio.

You might also want to take a gander at AVS Forum if you have time.

Also, I wouldn't necessarily trust customer-posted online reviews; I wrote a review of my HDTV and the company where I bought from didn't post it, probably because it wasn't 4 or 5 stars.

[cjefferys]

On my TV (60" Sony SXRD 1080p), standard def TV looks ok at best. Nothing amazing but certainly watchable. Right now I only watch HD television using an over the air antenna and the picture is stunning. After seeing an HD signal, it is hard to go back to watching standard television, but right now the choice in HD channels is limited (especially here in Canada). As for standard DVDs, it can really depend. Many televisions do a good job of upconverting themselves, but it does depend on the TV. You may or may not need an upconverting player. I've done tests with and without and have seen no real difference on my TV. Also it really depends on the transfer on the DVD itself. I think that some look great, but other transfers really show their limitations when blown up on a big HD screen, so your experience will vary from disc to disc.

If you have a room with a lot of ambiant light, LCD might be better than plasma due to a less reflective screen. Shopping for a HDTV these days can be frustrating, due to all the different kinds available. There is never one clear winner, they all have positives and negatives.

[Adam West]

Well, I completed some research and visited a local Circuit City to check out some of the LCD and Plasma models I was interested in.

Based on the amount of light I get in my family room, it appears that an LCD would work better for me. I looked at the Panasonic model with the anti-glare screen and it still didn't look like it would do the job.

Now there is another whole host of questions I have which is leaning towards just waiting it out for another year until the cable systems go all digital.

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. I checked with my local cable company (which is Comcast) and the only channels they offer in HD are the main stations (NBC, ABC, CBS, ESPN) and couple of other ones but not many. I could switch to Satellite which has much more HD options but I have a cable tv and internet bundle and don't want to spend the extra money to split up the two services
2. I also asked about viewing regular DVD's through the LCD. Again, the answer was that it would look bad unless I purchased an upconverter which I think was a little over $100 or purchasing a Blue Ray player which will play regular discs. He did show me what a normal DVD would look like using an upconverter and it was adequate but still had a lot of graininess to it. I have a pretty large library of DVD's and I'm not about to start buying Blue Ray discs at $30 a pop.
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.

Thanks again for everyone's insight since this is fairly expensive investment and I want to make sure I do it right the first time.

[Surfsup]

I know Samsumg have got some great LCD models that have been getting great reviews:

Samsung LE46F86BD
Samsung LE52M87BD
Samsung LE46F71B

[JPkempo]

Hulk I attached my laptop to my 50" and it looked great. Just big. You would need to buy the correct VGA connector. I had one don't know where I got it from.

[Zemo]

I'm sure all that HQ says is on the money, but he is around electronics all the time and surley is geeked up about the latest toys and absoulty best features and pic. WHich with big names and top of the line equipment comes way to high prices.

The pictures on these lcds and plasmas in hdtv is so brillant, that you go with lesser known brands and save a lot of mego money and still have a great picture. You certainly don't need to buy one that is 1080p this is a waste of money 720p is just fine and you will save a ton of money. Your not going to be watching anything in 1080p.

Plasmas are way to heavy. lcds are super light and don't need a wall mount that has to be constructed to hold the Statue of Liberty.

I think the best way to read reviews is a circuit citys site. The reveiws are wriiten by users. Can't get more real than that.

Look at this Polaroid for 1100 bucks, somthing like this is the way to go. I think Best Buy sells westinghouse. I have atheir 32" in my bedroom and love it.

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Custo...do#custRatings


Hulk I think Oveido makes 26" tv that has split screen. So you can watch tv on half and surf the net on the other.

[Mikey]

I know nothing about these but I remember hearing a news story on these a few years ago.

I forgot which one they were talking about--- LCD, Plasma or whatever....

But the story said one of them can't be repaired if it ever breaks-- and it has a limited lifetime.

Maybe check up on that before you buy.

m