Finally talked the wife into doing our part to support the economy. So I’m looking at all the TVs around, and am befuddled with the options.
Before I get to my basic questions, a little background…I have had the same 19" Sony for 11 years with ZERO problems, so I am very partial to Sony. Not that I wouldn’t go elsewhere if convinced, but I’d pay more for the Sony brand.
I’m looking for a 32" TV. Heard all about the HDTV, but not sure if that’s the way to go. Really like the way they look…but at $1,000 more than a regular of same size?
So:
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[li]Anybody here have HDTV? Do you like it? Brand and size? Drawbacks?[/li][li]Is it true that w/ HDTV regular non-HD-broadcast TV programs can actually look worse?[/li][li]What’s this about having to get a separate digital tuner (at additional cost) to actual receive digital signals even though you bought an HDTV?[/li][li]I have digital cable - does that matter for HDTV?[/li][li]Feedback on brands?[/li][li]Anybody have a non-HDTV flat screen? do you like it? worth the price?[/li][/list=1]
I could probably come up w/ a million more. Appreciate any advice on TVs, digital or not. Any insider info on upcoming sales. Best place to buy? Any good resources for reviews or info? etc.
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I bow to the collected knowledge and wisdom of the videophiles here on the board.
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Not much to offer except Sony Trinitron is great. Some areas have Sony outlets in those large outlet places (in U.S.). You might want to go to places like Best Buy & look at their stuff.
I have the Sony 32" Vega flat screen TV. I Love It!!
Great picture, great sound, etc.
I feel that the flat screen gives a better picture than the “rounded tube”, and there is less glare in a semi-dark room. I will warn you, it’s heavy. I mean weighs about 300 pounds, so get a friend to help you or pay for it to be delivered.
I too am in the market for a new TV soon and I would like to see some answers to some of your questions as well. However, maybe I can shed light on a few of them.
I do not have one but I’d very much like one. If the thing is running at full glory (i.e. a full blown HDTV signal with CD quality audio on a non-interlaces screen) the image is nothing short of astounding. It’s very nearly as good as the quality of a film in a theater and jaw dropping when you see it. Drawbacks? For the no-holds barred HDTV that can do it all they are hideously expensive…$8,000 and up.
Yes this is true. Just like a CD recording can make audio sound worse by enhancing flaws so too can an HDTV enhance flaws in a regular TV signal. I saw Toy Story 2 being demoed on a Bang & Olufsen plasma HDTV and the characters had the stairstepped effect along their edges. This staistepping (where a curve looks like a straight line then steps down a pixel or two, then straight, then step down, etc.) is called aliasing and till now has been most often seen on computer displays (which have higher resolutions than TV’s). Regular TV resolution is so low comparitively that these defects tend to be washed out but you couldn’t miss it on an HDTV. That said the rest of the image was stunning.
I’m not positive on the reasons for this but I’ll venture a guess. The battle over HDTV standards went to the highest levels of governments and industry and were in flux for a long time. In the end the US listed something like 16 different standards for HDTV. It is possible that no manufacturer wants to build support for all 16 in one set and want to see which ones tend to be the most used. Or perhaps they want to distiguish based on different numbers of supported standards. I don’t really know except to say that by decoupling the HDTV tuner from the TV you aren’t screwed if standards change or improvements come along or what have you. Youcould always just buy a new tuner. Again…this is a WAG on my part so take it with a grain of salt.
Nope…this is a totally different thing and (obviously) works on regular TV sets. Since HDTV is backwards compatible it’ll work just fine with your HDTV as well. It is possible that you might even get a bit more access to HDTV programming with digital cable than regular or broadcast but that is mostly up to your cable provider.
I’ve always been partial to Sony too and had good luck with their TV’s. Beyond that I don’t know but I think there are worthwhile competitors to Sony so don’t put blinders on and get what’s right for you in price and features.
Can’t help here…I’m looking at these too. I would suggest that whatever you get a TV with a 16:9 screen ratio would be worthwhile. This is the ratio you see in the shape of a mive theater screen (more rectangle than the more square standard TV). This will allow you to play DVDs in a full screen mode without letter boxing (the black lines at the top and bottom of the screen) and see the movie as it was originally seen on the silver screen. Most movies today are shot with the notion of TV in mind for the future (they make certain all the important stuff happens in a box that fits on a TV screen). However, some movies (like Star Wars or Casablanca) really need the 16:9 format to show their full glory. The alternative is letter boxing or pan-n-scan (blech) on a regular TV.
I bought my 36" TV from 800.com - they’re based in Oregon, so there’s no sales tax, and they also have free shipping. I figure I saved about $300 going through them.
Last year I bought a Panasonic CT32SF37 for 899 dollars. It came down to that or one of the 32 inch Wegas. As nice as those were, I think the Panasonic is better for less money. I don’t have HDTV or anything, but I just got Time Warner Manhattan’s DTV service, and the picture will make you wet your pants. I completely recommend this TV.
I have nothing against the Wegas, but there is a chance that some of the price is marketing. My Panasonic electronics are still working from years ago (I even have a 5-disc CD carousel with access to all 5 discs that still works), while my Sony products have died.
I’ll be glad to tell you more about the TV if you’d like.
depends what you want to do with your tv…video games, sports?
HDTV? To get hdtv programs you need rabbit ears right now. lol. The tuner is an extra $1000.00 too. dvd & hdtv aren’t the same so don’t expect a much better picture.
I dont know about you guys buy i like tvs, all of mine have it, with Guide Plus, which is free, works with regular cable service & is a complete listing of tv programs on & descriptions of them & its free & no its NOt digital cable. Its the tv. So cool. Tvs with it seem cheaper too. Odd.
This is really more of an IMHO thing, so I’ll shoot it over there for you.
The answer of course, is that you shouldn’t buy a TV at all – you should pour all your money into computers and bandwidth so you can spend more time at the Straight Dope!
Buy a Sony wega. I just bought a KV-32FV27 (32 inch) a few months back. The picture will MAKE YOUR JAW DROP! My previous tv was a 27 inch rca with the bubble screen, which was good for the time but doesnt even compare. A word of advice, flat screen makes a huge difference, no glare whatsoever. Get some gold monster cables, and hook up your dvd through the component video, and you will never leave your house again. Least I havent yet!
Read the fine print, most sets are listed as “HDTV Ready” which means they can be fed digital input.
A couple of tips (opinions of someone who designs digital TVs),
1). Make sure it is capable of receiving DVI signals,
2). Projection TVs don’t look so good IMO with HDTV, go with a direct view.
3). Yes, flat screen is the way to go.
4). Make sure you get a 16:9 aspect ratio (wide screen) set.
5). From the thousands of test digital streams I have seen, football games are the best at bringing out the flaws (especially if played on artificial turf). So when you go pick out a set, go while a football game is on and pick a model based on how that looks.
If you are really only looking for a 32 inch screen, HDTV is a waste of money. A good digital set is what you need. (To be true HDTV, a set needs to have 1081 vertical lines of resolution - on a 32 inch set that’s such a fine pixel size as to be wasted at normal viewing distances). The best use for HDTV are in the high end front projectors (like a movie projector onto a big screen). The best one’s can show true HDTV, with almost 2 million pixels. I’ve not seen one, but the people that have said that on the very best ones, your brain starts messing with you – you really think you’re looking out a window.
I don’t think this is true. However, if you get a wide screen set, non-HD broadcasts will be narrower than the set is wide, leaving you with black bars on the sides of the image. Some people don’t like that. The better digital sets can take care of that problem by either blowing up the picture (which cuts off a bit at the top and bottom), or by spreading the picture, which distorts the image somewhat (however, the newest sets actually spread less in the middle, and more at the sides, so the center of the image is not very much spread – it works so well you almost never notice any distortion). Also, once you’ve seen a good digital image, regular TV looks like crap.
The new digital sets are basically monitors - most have a standard tuner, but some of the higher end ones don’t even have that. You need to feed the image to the set, from a DVD player, cable box, DirectTV Box, Tivo machine, HDTV Tuner box, etc. There is starting to be some convergence here, with some boxes performing multiple functions. Or, if you’re a real techie, you run everything through your computer.
Depending on your set top box, and the signal options provided by your carrier, you may be able to run a digital signal to your digital TV, which would look better. As far as I know, at this point no cable providers are sending true HDTV over the wire.
The Sony Wega’s are great. Toshiba cinema series are really nice too. Same with the Pioneer elite series. Sampo makes a relatively inexpensive digital monitor type set. As does Princeton Graphics. The new ones have the capability to show a digital, progressive image. The widescreen Wega is an awesome digital set, pretty expensive though, and not enough resolution to be true HDTV (but, as I mentioned above, at 34 or so inches, it really doesn’t make much difference).
The flat screens (direct view, like the Sony Wega) are great. I think they’re worth it. The really bitchin’ sets are the plasma displays (flat, thin, hang on the wall). The best ones have a retail price of about $15,000 however, which is a little bit ridiculous.
TVs are getting to be more like computers - in three years what ever you get now will be obsolete, and look like you paid way too much.
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[li]Many of you have flat-screens and LOVE 'em. Doesn’t sound like they’re the HDTV versions though.[/li][li]If i get a flat-screen, regardless HDTV or not, either my jaw will drop, or I will wet my pants. Or both.[/li][li]HDTV is probably not worth the $$ right now[/li][li]The Sony WEGAs are great, but you’re paying for all the hype.[/li][/list=1]
Is a “digital television” the same as HDTV?
Sounds to me like what I need to do is to go w/ a flat-screen non-HDTV, and use the money I save to buy a DVD player.
Any else have any experience, opinions or advice on this stuff? Time’s a-ticking, I may be buying tonite.
I have the 32" WEGA also and I love it. It is better than a curved screen, but be aware that it is NOT the ultimate answer to glare problems. Your viewing room still has to be at least reasonably well set up. My set up was initially so bad that it was practically impossible to watch TV during the daylight hours (too many windows). We ended up with blackout curtains to solve that problem.
Just to throw one additional variable into the mix, you should consider saving out some $$ to buy TiVo, especially if you watch a lot of broadcast programs. I won’t hijack with a missive about the glory that is TiVo (unless you want me to), but I will say that it is probably the best thing to happen to TV since color.
Best thing to do, visit the store & look at the picture!..one person’s beautiful screen is another person’s flickering pciture.
PS: those big tvs are heavy.
