I’ve got a crappy, broken 19" TV with permanent discoloration and no A/V ports. Yes, quality stuff. Won’t take much to impress me.
Anyway. I need to move up. But I’m poor. I’m looking to get the best bang for the buck I can out of $250… possibly $300. I’m thinking about something in the 25" range. I can pick up a cheap (generic brand, sanyo, etc.) 27" for around $250, or I can get a better quality 23" or 25" for around the same price, I’m guessing.
Anyway, I have extremely small requirements. All I need is cable in and RCA in ports. I’m guessing those are pretty much standard for any tv made in the last 10 years, except for the one I currently own.
Also nice would be that menu where you can get a TV guide listing based on the ‘subchannel’ data available on cable channels. Is this feature limited to digital cable only?
Anyway. I need general recommendations. What brands to go with, what brands to stay away from. Whether it’s better to get a good quality 23 or 25" tv, or go with a cheapie 27".
Right now I’m looking at a sanyo 27" for $250 - which is the generic version of sony as far as I know. Good (cheap) brand? Would I be better off with another for the same amount?
Anyway, any recommendations as far as what to look for, info about brands, etc. would be helpful. thanks.
I wouldn’t go with the knock-off versions. You get what you pay for. I’d buy from a reputable company.
Consumer reports says that two great buys are the JVC AV-27D303, ~$330, and Sharp 27U-S600 ~$280.
Also, if you haven’t already, I’d suggest buying a Sunday paper and flipping through the ads for Best Buy, Circuit City, hhGregg, etc. You can find some really good deals.
I can’t really give you any firm recomendations, as I tend to look at the higher end TV’s myself, but what I do suggest is that you take a look at the “open items”. Those are usually floor displays, that they’re looking to replace. while they’ve been on a lot, for the most part they don’t really get fiddled with too much. Our 32" Sony Wega was a floor model, and it cost us $300 less than the regular prices. I suggest taking a look at those while you’re in best buy. Sometimes you can get a better tv for the same amount. Just be sure to check that it comes with all the parts, or that something seriouse isn’t wrong with it. Good luck.
" Also nice would be that menu where you can get a TV guide listing based on the ‘subchannel’ data available on cable channels. Is this feature limited to digital cable only?"
Nope. I got guide listings with regular cable tv. You need a tv that says on the front of it ‘guide plus’… You should be able to get a 27" with pip, s-video inputs for $270 at circuit city, I did. But then mine was open box. Lots of open box deals there & sears too has them.
Whatever TV you decide on buying, I would recommend you buy now. With all of the post-Christmas, End-of-the-Year sales going on, you could probably afford to get a much better TV than you would at most other times of the year.
Well, I’m going to go hunt around for good deals very soon - are there any brands I should absolutely avoid? What are the best of the more generic/cheaper brands?
Buy the biggest, cheapest, who-cares-what-brand model.
Standard warranty is 6 mo to a year…you’ll know long before if it is a lemon.
Do NOT buy an extended warranty, they are for suckers…besides, that is why you are buying the cheapie. If it breaks down in 5-7 years, so what.
I bought a little 12" no-name tv in 1987 that still works great.
Got a big (31") in 1993 that broke last year, but it only cost me $300 so I figure I got my money’s worth.
Now I have a 36" that I bought for $550 on sale, and have had it for 3 years…so far so good.
You are going to have to buy a new tv, or converter box, pretty soon anyway due to new regulations re: digital converters/HDTV.
Also, don’t fall for those combo deals TV/VCR/DVD…if one part of the unit breaks, you have to take them ALL in for repair. Plus, you come out saving money if you buy the units individually.
Sadly, tv/vcr/dvd repair is not really worth the money anymore…it will cost you $35 just to have someone LOOK at it, and then you have parts and labor…might as well go out and buy a new one. If you are so inclined, sometimes it is fun to open up the units and see if you can repair it yoursel - expecially vcr’s as mostly it is a moving part that breaks and can be fixed with a rubber band or by removing a part that got loose and is stuck in a cogwheel.
Last tidbit…Circut City, Best Buy and a lot of other places have price matching - so check out the sales, cut out the ads and take them into those places. If they see you are serious and they will not be able to talk you into the super-giganto widescreen - salespeople will often quietly tell you what the best cheapo deal in the store is.
“Pretty much all of the RCA’s have the “Guide Plus”. The RCA’s are doing much better in Consumer Reports than in the past also.”
I went back & got the longer warrentee after I read about the RCA quality on Consumer Reports. Even with the price of that, it was well under new price.
Visa.com gives you twice the guarantee plus they have their own longer warrentee programs that are cheaper than in store. Also, Visa.com now lets you put any photo on your card free (first time), I put a picture of my favorite surf spot
CAREFULLY check out the floor models. These are TVs which have been really been put through the paces, and you can get a good idea of what your TV’s performance will be like after a while.
I was considering buying a certain TV, until I saw that the floor model had green zig-zags through the top of the picture. When I asked a salesman about it, he nonchalantly replied, “Oh, yeah, they all do that after a while.”
Remember that the showroom models are (generally) all getting the same video feed, so if one TV looks bad, chances are, it will look bad at home on your cable as well.
I dropped mine from a height of four feet, cracking the case, and the daggone thing STILL works. Sanyo must be Japanese for “indestructable.”
I’d say not to bother with HDTV. The picture’s not all that much better for the money they’re asking. Our salesman gave us dire warnings that TV will only be broadcast in HDTV in five years or so, no doubt trying to plump his commission, but I don’t think it’s going to happen. Logically, advertisers will not want to lose the consumers who can’t afford to buy a converter switch.
Flat-screen also still doesn’t seem worth it. The only advantage is that it reduces glare in brightly lit rooms. I say buy some curtains.
Also measure how far youll be from the tv at home so you can sit that far away from one in the store & compare. Basically you want to sit so far away that you dont see those lines on the screen.
