$600-700 for an HDTV

SynGamer

SynGamer

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Since i mainly use my Xbox 360 for gaming and DVDs...i've decided to finally get an HDTV. I'm trying to find the best offer in both size and specifications for at a max, $600.

I had my taxes done last night and instead of having to pay-in, i'll be getting a refund, plus the stimulus check. So i'm upping my price range to $700 (max) shipped but still looking for a 32".

Any help?
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Suggested so far;

SAMSUNG Black 32" 720p LCD LNT3242H
Olevia Black 32" 720p LCD 232V
Vizio 32" 720p LCD VX32LHDTV10A
Olevia Black 37" 720p LCD 237T
Samsung 32" 720p LCD LN32A330J
 
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I highly-recommend Samsung, and try to go 1080p, if it's feasibles or if you can find a deal. After a long deliberation, which involved me returning comparable Panasonic and Sharp models, I finally decided on a neat 32-inch Samsung LCD television based on the picture and options (I am mightily picky about setting control). If you want good prices from a reliable online vendor, then I recommend NewEgg. In fact, I found out that they sold my TV cheaper ($699) than the price I purchased it at a brick and mortar store. :whistle2:( You may also want to look into Olevia TVs, sir. I have not had an opportunity to check out the picture in-person, but read good reviews on their products. In any event, good luck with the hunt. :mrgreen:
 
[quote name='chasemurata']I highly-recommend Samsung, and try to go 1080p, if it's feasibles or if you can find a deal. After a long deliberation, which involved me returning comparable Panasonic and Sharp models, I finally decided on a neat 32-inch Samsung LCD television based on the picture and options (I am mightily picky about setting control). If you want good prices from a reliable online vendor, then I recommend NewEgg. In fact, I found out that they sold my TV cheaper ($699) than the price I purchased it at a brick and mortar store. :whistle2:( You may also want to look into Olevia TVs, sir. I have not had an opportunity to check out the picture in-person, but read good reviews on their products. In any event, good luck with the hunt. :mrgreen:[/QUOTE]


I have the exact same TV and love it, had it for about 3 months now. Bought it from my workplace (electronics department in a large chain) and they've actually just put it on closeout, there is a similar model but it's typically around $100 more. Better specs and the style is nicer-- we just didn't have the $100 difference available at that time. I do kind of wish we'd gotten the next model up, but the LNT3242 is a great set.

I personally think the Olevia's are incredibly overrated-- I stare at these TVs all day long and I think the Vizio's look *much* better for the same price. Olevia's look terribly washed out to me. A lot of it is personal preference I'm sure, though. Samsungs are pricey but some of the best picture imho-- I think sonys are overpriced for what you get, Sharp has a few nice sets. Sylvanias are a piece of junk as are Venturer-- we get them returned all the time, and our floor models constantly need work.

When we bought our first LCD, we nearly bought a westinghouse because a lot of people seemed to like them, but we went into a store to check it out and it just looked awful to me. So did a lot of the other recommended tvs in our range. We couldn't find much research on the one we ended up getting-- Best Buy's Insignia brand. It's really a great tv for the price in our opinions-- We use our 360, PS3, and wii all on it and haven't had *any* problems with it. Its price was really great in comparison to the other sets-- we were able to upgrade to the 37" for the price of a 26-32 in other brands, although we surely gave up some specs for that as well. It's contrast ratio is much lower than the samsung's, but we don't notice it at all when we game personally.

So yeah, my best advice is even if you're buying online, look at them in store somewhere. You might read 2000 good reviews on a tv then it looks awful to you in person-- And you might see something that catches your eye much more that you didn't know existed.
 
Where were you on Black Friday when Target or whoever had the 37' Olevia for either $499 or $599...I camped out in 20* weather with my friend in Iowa to get one for him
 
The only store i have near me is a Wal-Mart and a Sears (and a Radio Shack). That's it :( So i'll have to buy online. Would have loved to of gotten a 37" for $600, that's what i'm trying to find now.
 
[quote name='SynGamer']The only store i have near me is a Wal-Mart and a Sears (and a Radio Shack). That's it :( So i'll have to buy online. Would have loved to of gotten a 37" for $600, that's what i'm trying to find now.[/QUOTE]
For a 37" bought online without waiting for any special deals for under $600? Not going to happen right now.

Closest thing would be the Oleveia 237T 37" for $699. If you keep an eye on Fatwallet or the like you may be able to find something, but right now I don't see any.
 
I recommend Sony. The picture for of the Sony ones are, in most cases, much better than others. For that price range I'd say about 27"-37" is fine. Anything higher probably won't be that great in quality. But also keep in mind Sony is also one of the most expensive HDTV brands. If you are on a lower price range, Samsung is pretty good as well. I'm looking into the Samsung 37" myself. From the store, it looks great.
 
[quote name='Littlefields']I recommend Sony. The picture for of the Sony ones are, in most cases, much better than others. For that price range I'd say about 27"-37" is fine. Anything higher probably won't be that great in quality. But also keep in mind Sony is also one of the most expensive HDTV brands. If you are on a lower price range, Samsung is pretty good as well. I'm looking into the Samsung 37" myself. From the store, it looks great.[/quote]

Sony you basically pay for the name. I'm trying to remember if it is the same company that makes panels for Samsung and Sony.

OP: Keep pushing to save up a little bit more for a TV. I have a Toshiba Regza that I love. You can pick up a 32" for $680 shipped over at Newegg.
 
i picked up a 32" olevia a year ago for $450 at 6th ave. it was 720p but obviously 20x better than my tube tv. i dont know if you can get 1080p at 32" or more for your price.

6th ave does seem to have decent sales that no one believes it because they don't have a great reputation. regardless i would just keep on checking slickdeals.net or one of those sites and get in on one of those deals.

also, don't wait too long for price drops. the prices are always dropping and you could theoretically wait months/years if you keep on waiting for the next price drop.
 
I got a 24" Samsung monitor for $270. All you need are the Xbox monitor cables and your good to go.

Oh and 1080p is not very important right now. TV broadcasting is at least a decade away while the amount of games that actually display in 1080p are few and far between.
 
[quote name='Nealocus123']I got a 24" Samsung monitor for $270. All you need are the Xbox monitor cables and your good to go.

Oh and 1080p is not very important right now. TV broadcasting is at least a decade away while the amount of games that actually display in 1080p are few and far between.[/quote]

Yeah, i've decided that 720p is all i need right now. Still aiming to get at least a 32" since this will be replacing the living room TV.
 
I picked up a 32" Vizio at Costco back in August, and I'm very pleased with it.

There's no noticeable lag when playing games, even Guitar Hero and Rock Band.
Plus, there's a good number of ports. 2 Component, 2 HDMI, 2 Composite (1 with S-Video), and a couple others.

I'm not one to compare the picture quality between TVs, so I can't say much about that. But the colors do look good.
 
I have an HDTV dedicated for gaming in my bedroom. It's a 32" 1080i Olevia (not sure about the contrast, but I believe over 1000:1; no idea on the refresh rate; lots of connection ports). I got it for about $500 in a cyber Monday deal about 2-3 years ago and I LOVE it. I play most of my 360 games in 720p via HDMI though. 1080i actually looks worse and I don't think 1080p on a 32" would make too much of a difference. Anyway, I highly recommend an Olevia for the money (at that size). I honestly have no complaints with mine and I'm generally a picky bastard.
 
Thanks for the thread OP. My wife has some extra cash from teaching in the after school program and she said she wanted an HD TV. I think were going to score an Olevia from Sam's Club, but will look for the best deal before buying. Also does anyone know of some cheap HD TV stands. Target has a decent grey one that will be perfect @ $70 on clearance. Maybe it will drop one more time before we get our TV.
 
[quote name='insertcleverthing']I have an HDTV dedicated for gaming in my bedroom. It's a 32" 1080i Olevia (not sure about the contrast, but I believe over 1000:1; no idea on the refresh rate; lots of connection ports). I got it for about $500 in a cyber Monday deal about 2-3 years ago and I LOVE it. I play most of my 360 games in 720p via HDMI though. 1080i actually looks worse and I don't think 1080p on a 32" would make too much of a difference. Anyway, I highly recommend an Olevia for the money (at that size). I honestly have no complaints with mine and I'm generally a picky bastard.[/QUOTE]

I have the same television. I bought it for $499 (after coupon) from Circuit City to replace my crappy CRT television and couldn't be happier. I use it mostly for my Xbox 360 and I think it looks phenomenal. My brother bought one six months later because "Gears of War" looked so good on it. I'm doubtful you will find a 32' for less than $500 that is better than this television.
 
[quote name='valor19']I have the same television. I bought it for $499 (after coupon) from Circuit City to replace my crappy CRT television and couldn't be happier. I use it mostly for my Xbox 360 and I think it looks phenomenal. My brother bought one six months later because "Gears of War" looked so good on it. I'm doubtful you will find a 32' for less than $500 that is better than this television.[/QUOTE]

I hope you're not foolish enough to mean that about CRT HDTV's. Almost every one of the new technologies can't do blacks worth shit. The only one I've heard that supposedly do blacks decently are the new Kuro's.
 
[quote name='Sarang01']I hope you're not foolish enough to mean that about CRT HDTV's. Almost every one of the new technologies can't do blacks worth shit. The only one I've heard that supposedly do blacks decently are the new Kuro's.[/QUOTE]

Foolish, huh?

I meant flat-screen as I assumed that is what the OP was looking for. Going back, he didn't specify either way which opens him up to a lot more options, including CRTs. I still stand by my initial statement (which was referring to flat-screen only) that I have yet to see a better 32" television for under $500 that isn't "open box" or "refurbished." If he wants CRT though then he has a TON of choices, of course.
 
I own the Olevia Black 32" 16:9 8ms 720p LCD HDTV 232V. Overall I am satisfied with it. I paid $419 on Thanksgiving Day 2007 at K-Mart. It is my first HD TV that I use in my room. It beats the 20' inch wide screen PC monitor I was using for my next-gen console. Here is my feed back:

Cons (minor annoyances):
-uninspired remote--not responsive.
-Menu and interface is not refined.
-You must toggle thru all inputs and of course I'll skip the one I want and it's slow. (most annoying)
-Original firmware sucks (pre-2008) HDMI did NOT work with the 360. Dunno if they fixed it.
-Doesn't play nice (buggy) with my DVD recorder/player (Toshiba) over HDMI.
-Olevia's website and tech support sucks. They are so surly.
-Mother-friggin' blue LED is on when it's off. I think the new firmware fixed it.
 
Again, thanks for all the feedback everyone (though it took me some time to find my thread this morning because it was moved :D). I really need specs. Minimums that i should never go below.

What type of inputs for general use (both now and future)?
Number of ports/inputs?
Brands to avoid?
Contrast ratio?
Refresh rate?

Also, i won't be mounting this, but instead literally replacing my current tube TV so will i need to buy something to support the HDTV or do most have a base? I've seen a lot of people refer to 'stands' which i take as the wooded 'stand' that holds my current TV, DVR, etc. so i need some clarification on that.
 
long time reader first time poster here....

your priority should be contrast ratio, contrast ratio, contrast ratio. oh and black levels.
 
I went to my local audio/video store today and checked out some HDTVs. I saw a Sony and LG 32" that were both nice. The Sony had MotionFlow which smoothed the picture a lot but i'm not going to pay the premium.

The sales rep said to look for the refresh rate and said 120 is ideal. He said the contrast doesn't really matter so long as it is 1200:1 (normal, not dynamic) so i'll keep that in mind but i would still like at least 2000:1 dynamic contrast. He also said there's a difference between 1080p and 720p on a 32" but i don't need 1080p so no worries there.
 
Lol why does everyone go crazy over tv's. I got a regular 23" Magnavox tv with Component hookups for my 360 and it's clear enough for me. Cost me 180 bucks. Everyone else is spending 500 or more bucks just cuz it looks better. Its clear enough for me lol.
 
[quote name='SynGamer']I went to my local audio/video store today and checked out some HDTVs. I saw a Sony and LG 32" that were both nice. The Sony had MotionFlow which smoothed the picture a lot but i'm not going to pay the premium.

The sales rep said to look for the refresh rate and said 120 is ideal. He said the contrast doesn't really matter so long as it is 1200:1 (normal, not dynamic) so i'll keep that in mind but i would still like at least 2000:1 dynamic contrast. He also said there's a difference between 1080p and 720p on a 32" but i don't need 1080p so no worries there.[/quote]

Manufacturers have been known to lie about dynamic contrast ratios, so the best thing is to actually look at the sets and not to put to much trust in the numbers.
 
the difference between 1080p and 720p on a tv 37" or under is negligible. You have to be less than 2ft away from the screen to see the difference.
 
My biggest concern is motion blur. That 120 mhz on the Sony i saw smoothed things out but i'm not paying a premium for that. For those with the Olevia mentioned in the OP, is there any motion blur?

@bornrunnin31

I argued my case but the guy still disagreed. He has a 52" Bravia at home (1080p) and i'm sure he had an employee discount and that he works on commission so he was probably trying to sell me on the 1080p but i don't need it.
 
Little off topic but still sorta' on topic, mainly for the OP...

My brother and I went to BestBuy and looked at televisions. His 30" HD CRT died one week prior to Halo 3 coming out and he only had about $550. We were there checking out HD sets in his price range but he wanted an LCD which cut his choices down to about three televisions. I had read decent things about that Westinghouse so that is one of the things we checked out specifically. Well, it looked more washed out and grainy compared to the Sony and Toshiba next to it. I guess that's to be expected as it was about $300 less. Upon further examination though I found at that that Toshiba and Sony had beefy component cables (like the think Monster Cables) running to them and that Westinghouse was using composite cables! The Westinghouse wasn't even getting an HD feed! So, obviously their setup was rigged and was not a fair comparison. Now, I have no doubt that those other televisions were better, but there is no reason to not give a fair comparison. Not that it mattered, they did not have the television in stock so we went to Circuit City and got that Olevia anyway.

Also, I didn't see HDMI running to any of the televisions which also strikes me as odd. Of course, I couldn't see behind all the flat-screens, just one row. It's very possible the next row up (of 1080p televisions) were hooked up via HDMI.
 
[quote name='SynGamer']My biggest concern is motion blur. That 120 mhz on the Sony i saw smoothed things out but i'm not paying a premium for that. For those with the Olevia mentioned in the OP, is there any motion blur?
[/quote]
Not on my Olevia, but it's slightly different than the one in the OP. I'm too lazy to look up the model number but it is a silver 1080i 32". I've seen HDTV's with bad motion blur before so I do know what you're talking about.

[quote name='PocariSweat']I own the Olevia Black 32" 16:9 8ms 720p LCD HDTV 232V. Overall I am satisfied with it. I paid $419 on Thanksgiving Day 2007 at K-Mart. It is my first HD TV that I use in my room. It beats the 20' inch wide screen PC monitor I was using for my next-gen console. Here is my feed back:

Cons (minor annoyances):
-uninspired remote--not responsive.
-Menu and interface is not refined.
-You must toggle thru all inputs and of course I'll skip the one I want and it's slow. (most annoying)
-Original firmware sucks (pre-2008) HDMI did NOT work with the 360. Dunno if they fixed it.
-Doesn't play nice (buggy) with my DVD recorder/player (Toshiba) over HDMI.
-Olevia's website and tech support sucks. They are so surly.
-Mother-friggin' blue LED is on when it's off. I think the new firmware fixed it.[/quote]
Now that you mention it, mine has a few of these problems. The menu could use some work, and the input toggle is kinda slow. Also that blue LED can be rather bright if that sort of thing annoys you. I sleep about 15 feet away from mine and it doesn't bother me. I haven't experienced any HDMI issues or dealt with their website/customer service, so no comment there. Overall, I maintain that I am still very happy with my purchase - especially at the price point.
 
Of the ones you list in your OP, definately get the Samsung. I have one of the models you list in another post that is similar (but discontinued) and the picture is wonderful for it's size/cost.
 
The 237T is the same as the 537H Olevia I've had for a year and a half. Great set for the price, and I've thrown all types of stuff at it and it looks great.

Two other CAGs have bought the 237T from my recommendation, and they haven't cursed my name over the purchases.
 
[quote name='shrike4242']The 237T is the same as the 537H Olevia I've had for a year and a half. Great set for the price, and I've thrown all types of stuff at it and it looks great.

Two other CAGs have bought the 237T from my recommendation, and they haven't cursed my name over the purchases.[/QUOTE]

where's the cheapest I could get this?
 
I don't know if it was just my luck, but when I bought a Olevia 32 inch the same model someone suggest 232V nothing was great about it. The cable box control non compatible, not to mention when i played guitar hero 3 the tv would skip or make some like jag either way it wasn't great. and no it was not my 360 because i checked on another tv. so if you want quality along with an okay price get a sharp.
 
i got a sharp aquos 720p set for 600 even including tax at sears the weeekbefore chrismas a local store had the tv listed at 588.88 whet down to sears got it pm



and ive been happy person
 
[quote name='PINKO']i got a sharp aquos 720p set for 600 even including tax at sears the weeekbefore chrismas a local store had the tv listed at 588.88 whet down to sears got it pm



and ive been happy person[/QUOTE]

How big is that TV?
 
[quote name='suko_32']Never had any problem with GH3 (360) and my Olevia 32" TV.[/QUOTE]
Dunnoe, but it would always skip. What did you use? AV plugs or component blue, red, green?
 
[quote name='loca']Dunnoe, but it would always skip. What did you use? AV plugs or component blue, red, green?[/QUOTE]

I'm using component cables and the X-Plorer guitar.
 
Well, instead of paying in $400 for taxes as i originally thought i would have to, i broke even and will be getting some money back actually. So my aim is now 37" and around $800 shipped.
 
[quote name='suko_32']How big is that TV?[/quote]


it is a 32 incher canty believe i forgot to included that info
 
I picked up a CRT 32" 1080i HDTV from my dad for $300. The picture could be a bit sharper but hey, it's only 300. It has 2 Component video inputs, one DVI/HDMI, 2 Composite and one S-Video with one Fiber-Optic ports.

From what I've heard, this Samsung TV has been discontinued anlong with most other CRT HDTV's....

I mainly bought this for my 360/PS3 and the DVI port allows for HDMI-2-DVI cables to be plugged in so I'm all good with Hi def stuff.
 
I ended up placing an order for a refurb Samsung LNT3253H 32-Inch LCD HDTV here. The reviews are good and if it arrives and doesn't work, i can call up support and they will fix it or replace it so either way i'm covered. There is no guarantee i'll get this, but it can't hurt to try.
 
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