…under $300. There’s plenty. Particularly of the 32" variety.
There is WAY too much information going on. When I see the modern HD flat tvs they all look very sharp and and appealing to me. I have a 12 year old monster HD Panasonic that just doesn’t look anywhere near as good as anything I’ve ever seen displayed, but who knows what I haven’t seen.
Will I be sorry if I don’t go for the 1080 resolution? Is it really that much different?
Any recommendations for low-end? On ebay and discount sites TVs with original MSRPS up to $800 from a year or two ago can now be had for under $300, so any brand I should look for? I notice that Vizio has some good looking stuff, and I think Ellen Degeneres is always giving them away.
Tell me your thoughts.
Funny, even though my big monster TV, which we paid nearly $3000 for, works perfectly, I think I might have a time giving it away. Well, maybe I could get $50 for it. It’s got a nice big screen and it IS HD… I just know I’m over it and ready for something lightweight and sharper.
For $300, you’re going to get something between 32" and 42" (closer to 32", but you might luck out on a used/refurb 42"), so I wouldn’t sweat trying to get 1080p - 720p will be just fine at that size. As for sites to keep an eye out, I’d suggest the following:
Gizmodo.com - every day at 3:00pm (eastern) they post their “Deals of the Day”, and there are always the best daily TV deals in there. TechDealDiggers.com - A pretty decent compilation of deals, they’ll ocassionally have a scoop on Giz. Cnet.com’s Cheapskate - Broida doesn’t always post about TVs, but when there’s an incredible deal, he will. He posts (usually) in the morning, and whatever he features has a pretty high risk of selling out, since he has a pretty big audience.
I’d also keep an eye on craigslist. There are a lot of used HDTVs out there right now, since all the big sales were last week for the Super Bowl, and people who upgraded now have their old set sitting idle.
I’m happy with the Westinghouse flat screen that I bought 3 years ago. At the time, I read somewhere that the Westinghouse TVs were being made by the same manufacturer that Sony used. I found that the remote for my Sony DVD player would control power, source & volume on the Westinghouse, so maybe it is a Sony under another name.
I’ve shopped for flatscreens in that size range twice now - 32 and 42 - and to be honest, I can’t tell much of a difference between any of the name brands. They talk a lot about little technical differences and I find them totally imperceptible.
I think the SUPER cheap generic knockoffs aren’t quite as bright. So avoid those and you’re fine. Really, it’s not going to make enough difference to matter.
I would agree that if you were buying something substantially larger then 1080 might be worth it. You’re not, so it doesn’t.
I hate to be the lone dissenter on the Westinghouse sets. I have a Westy LVM-47w1, a set I got with eyes wide open, well aware of its issues. I lucked out that I don’t have any dark bands setting in or anything, but it’s slowly fading. I’ve only had it two years (though I’m well aware that the set itself is probably about 5 years old), which is disappointing. I got an absolute bargain on it, so I’m not too put out, and I’ll get maybe half back if I sell it on Craigslist.
But for what Stoid’s looking for, I think any house brand (Dynex, etc.) will be fine.
You’re not the lone dissenter - Westinghouse sets are garbage. Don’t get one. I replaced one <2 years old (47") because it had narrow vertical lines in it over the picture. Edit to add - that wasn’t the only issue - the picture was crappy vs the other vizio tvs I had (both older), and the speakers were all but useless.
No. Generally with stuff like that, the second tier company will get stuff that fails the first tier’s specifications but isn’t obviously bad. It’s a crap shoot. It may be almost as good but could be quite a bit lower in quality.
When we got rid of our big screen TV and got a flat screen, we donated our TV to the local VFW’s Legion bar. They got to yank out the dinosaur they had there, and they were very appreciative.
Oh, and spend the extra money on a name brand. Our first flat screen was some generic brand, and the screen started shadowing after about 2 years.