Hey. I’m about to move back home and have roughly $550 to spend on a nifty cool, brand spanking new tv. My minimum size is 30", but I want HD capabilities.
Now, I can find such tvs online well within my price range.
But, I’m hopefully going to be working soon. This means my price range goes up as well. I’m not averse to sitting on the money I have now and waiting for the job and the new money to kick in and upgrading. I just want to make sure my upgrade is noteworthy and won’t be obsolete. Also, paying an extra $100+ bucks for a 32" tv seems to be a waste compared to a 30" one.
So, are there any new tvs that just came out that are worth mentioning?
Should I skip the 30" vs. 32" debate and go straight for a 40" and save my money like a miser?
Note: Eventually, I’ll get an Xbox 360, when the price drops, which it’s supposed to do. Keep this in mind when recommending tvs, for I wish to abuse this newfangled HD capability.
I work for a TV retailer. HDTVs are our bread and butter.
The technology is ALWAYS improving, so there will always be something on the horizon that is better than what you just walked out of the store with.
That being said, I can tell you that the summer is the dead time for TV sales. People want to be outside and the networks have nothing but reruns.
Sales pick up in the fall, because there’s finally new programming and (especially) football.
The TV manufacturers know this and while they announce their new models around this time of year, these models don’t actually start to show up in stores until July at the earliest.
So if you’re looking to bargain you could go into a store now and haggle with a salesperson who desperately needs to make some commissions to feed his family.
Or wait until the fall to get last year’s models at a discount.
Or if you can wait until the fall and you can save enough money to buy one of the new models, you’re more sure to be future-proofed, as the features are improving with every passing year.
Personally, I would look for two things in a TV: First, 1080p display capability. This is the best picture available right now.
Second, look for the new HDMI interface. It’s version 1.2a. This new standard will allow for 1080p INPUT, which you’ll be able to get from the new high-definition DVDs. This standard is very new (released in December), and I don’t believe it’s yet available on any TVs.
If you are looking for HD and want to view 1080 (interlaced or progressive), make sure you get a display that can actually handle 1080 vertical lines of resolution.
I have noticed that a lot of displays say that they are “HD”, but when you finally burrow down to the specs, they are something like 720 or 768 vertical. They say they will accept 1080, but they downconvert it or something to display it on the lower-resolution screen. Make sure that the actual resolution of the display is equivalent to 1920 x 1080 pixels, in computer terms.
(I know that 720 is the other approved ATSC high-definition resolution, but having it in the HD display spec opens the door to a lot of weaseling on the part of vendors.)
Actually, yeah, this could help out a bunch. A buddy of mine worked at Best Buy and ran the Home Theater portion of the store, except I think he’d push me towards something more expensive.
$550 is just the starting limit, it’s going to go up as time marches on, so right now, it looks like I may wait until fall.
I guess I’m not an “early adopter”-I was watching Gradpa’s B+W TV until recently. Anyway, when does HDTV take over …and I’ll be forced to get rid of my old GE COLOR TV??
Speaking of other things, when does AM radio go away? :smack: