Best deal on Widescreen HD-ready TV

[quote name='Prepster']that price is showing me $1,199 when I put it into the cart....what am i doing wrong?[/QUOTE]

Is this a joke?
I see $1199
 
They fixed the error a few hours ago. For those of us lucky enough to catch this price error in time it is a killer deal
 
It does not seem to say exactly, but all signs point to CRT Rear Projection. CRT Rear Projection are susceptible to burn in if not taken care of. Just turn down contrast (to about 1/3rd when playing games or have bright static images on screen and < 1/2 otherwise) and don't be dumbass and leave CNN on all day.
 
See I don't want to have to adjust contrast but at the same time I don't want to pay a fortune cause I'm paying for school myself so I don't want to blow too much on a TV. I'm trying to do two completely opposite things and that's what is killing me.

I noticed some TV descriptions say "CRT based projection TV." I know you said CRT's shouldn't be a problem with the burn in but projection TV's are. So which does "CRT based projection TV" fall into?
 
I said CRT Rear Projection and CRT Projection is a CRT Rear Projection.

A digital Rear Projection such as DLP Rear Projection, LCD Rear Projection will not get burn in.

However, they do require bulbs. Bulbs are stated usually to last between 6,000 - 8,000 hours. The more you turn a bulb on/off the sooner it will most likely go. A lot of people blow the first bulb within 12 - 18 months.

Bulbs can blow at any time, the 6,000-8,000 hours is not guranteed. Most warranties (maybe for 30-90 days after purchase) do not cover them and the ones that do are big bucks. A Bulb replacement is usually anywhere from $200 - $400 and sometimes more.

So, you have your choice, get a stable working CRT rear projection or a bulb based digital. Either way there are downsides. The digital will cost quite a bit more and have additional costs after the fact if you ever replace a bulb. While as long as you take care of the CRT it will be cheaper and even if you do get some burn in do you really think it will bother you? Especially for the money you don't have to spend on bulbs or up front getting a digital set? And yes, if you get a CRT you really shoudl turn down the contrast below 50% for normal viewing and even lower when having bright static images on the screen. If you did that I don't think you probably ever will get noticable burn in.

Just a thought.
 
OK I think I'm pretty convinced on the CRT rear projection. I hope this is my last question:

Is the burn in noticeable while you are watching TV? Or is it only noticeable when it's turned off?
 
It is not on the screen. It is on the tubes.

Thus only visible when on. It is uneven aging of the phosphor on the tubes.

It will be like a transparent like image retention. It will look like part of the screen is brighter then the rest. The burned/worn part will look dimmer.
 
An area that is more worn then another area on the tube will just look darker. How much darker will depend on the amount of wear.

Also, there is NOTHING you can do about wear on CRT. As they get more use they wear. It is just a matter of wearing them evenly.

If you are that worried, just buy a micro display (rear projection LCD or DLP). You'll only have to worry about up front costs and bulbs.
 
Is it bearable to see the transparent burn in? I tried looking on the net for pictures but couldn't find any. Know where I can get a picture of what it looks like?
 
 
After doing my homework, including several posts on CAG (Thanks everyone) i decided on this:

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Panasonic-32-LCD-HDTV-Monitor-TC-32LX50-/sem/rpsm/oid/121106/catOid/-12869/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

Let me tell you it is the absolute crispest, clearest TV I have seen. I do not have a HD tuner yet, so I just have the Cable TV feeding throught the coaxial hookup and it looks decent. But once the HD tuner comes in from Service Electric (my cable provider) that will remedy that.

If anyone has any tuning advice, it would be appreciated.
 
[quote name='mobster011']Is it bearable to see the transparent burn in? I tried looking on the net for pictures but couldn't find any. Know where I can get a picture of what it looks like?[/QUOTE]

It will be very difficult for a camera to pick up what it will look like on the screen unless it is severe burn in.

Read this: http://curtpalme.com/TubeCondition.htm
 
Bad blacks/contrast
Haze/Block Effect
Screen Door Effect
Washed out colors
Dead/Stuck Pixels

On the plus side:
No Bulbs if a flat panel LCD
No burn in
Bright
Multiuse (computer, tv, dvd, video games)
Thin
 
Wow there is no TV that is as reliable as a regular tube TV. If you don't mind, could you please explain to me what all those negative points are aside from the dead pixels. Are the washed out colors very noticeable?
 
[quote name='Chi_Cubs05']Here is the tv that im looking at

27" SlimFit Samsung HDTV
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp;jsessionid=ISYTPKZSRHJNXKC4D3KFAGI?skuId=7345688&type=product&productCategoryId=cat03003&id=1122652695847

i saw somewhere on here were it said that there was a 10% discount code for samsung hdtv's and just a 10% code for everything. where can i get these cupons at?

also anybody have any opinions on this tv or know where i can get it cheaper? thanks alot[/QUOTE]

Just saw this post, I have the 30" Samsung SlimFit, and it looks great. No geometry problems, incredible picture, and takes up half the space most other CRTs require. From what I've read, some of these TVs have the geometry problem, others don't. Hopefully it won't be a problem in the future, but reading reviews ahead of time warranted the purchase of a 3 year service plan from Circuit City, just in case. Well worth the money spent for a larger screen size than a similarly-priced LCD, with size and weight being a slight trade-off.
 
If anyone has one of these Samsung tv's and is playing the 360 on it. Please post your color settings for me. I'm still looking for the perfect setting for HD gaming.
 
My Bedroom's RCA 27 inch tv (you know, the one that sets in a wooden case, made about 15 - 17 years ago, has a S-Video port! :shock: ) And it is finally giving me screen geometry problems with reds that bleed to the right slightly.

I am looking now to get a widescreen HDTV that is a tube and has many plugins for S-video and a/v cables.. I am also looking for the cheapest price for one that isn't a turd :D

Thanks! :)

Update: Found a Samsung TX-P2670WH 26" Wide Premier Series DynaFlat™ HDTV With Built-In Tuner. Anyone know how good this is?

Hmm.. for $518 ground shipped (free shipping) to $586.13 ($67) Next day Air
from:

Ideal Av
 
I found this review on MSNBC ( http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5695964/ ). It sounds pretty good, I also have been looking for a low priced HDTV. Our rinky-dink cable co. is finally getting HDTV DVR's (dual tuner!) soon and I want to go all out, but the wife won't let me spend more than about $600. I also found the following in my all-night search and comparison:

Toshiba 26HF85 ~$550 @Target or the 26HF84 ~$510 @Bestbuy (see Toshiba for the diffs)
Hyundai HLT-2670 26" LCD ~$700 @Walmart
Syntax-Olevia LT26HVE 26" LCD `$500 AR @Compusa or Target

I have to go see each one to make a final decision though, oh and wait til' Feb!

Good Luck!
 
[quote name='Number83']After doing my homework, including several posts on CAG (Thanks everyone) i decided on this:

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Panasonic-32-LCD-HDTV-Monitor-TC-32LX50-/sem/rpsm/oid/121106/catOid/-12869/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

Let me tell you it is the absolute crispest, clearest TV I have seen. I do not have a HD tuner yet, so I just have the Cable TV feeding throught the coaxial hookup and it looks decent. But once the HD tuner comes in from Service Electric (my cable provider) that will remedy that.

If anyone has any tuning advice, it would be appreciated.[/QUOTE]

The panasonics are supposed to be awesome, so a pretty good choice.
 
I've been needing to upgrade one of my TVs for quite a while now. Currently, my PS2 is hooked up to a 20" TV that is roughly 30 years old. The color sometimes works, and the picture obviously isn't the greatest. I'll be getting my Xbox 360 soon (hopefully) and would like to get the most out of it. Since I need a new TV anyway, I figured I'd get an HDTV. However, I am TV-illiterate. This topic gave me many good ideas on what I am going to get, but I figured I'd ask for advice here anyway. I found this TV at Target.com under the HDTV section, but the price suggests that it isn't really an HDTV, can someone let me know if this is a decent TV?: http://www.target.com/gp/detail.htm...1?_encoding=UTF8&frombrowse=1&asin=B0001KV50S

The price makes it seem too good to be true, and the description doesn't say anything about HDTV, so I think it was just misplaced.

As far as space goes, I am somewhat limited. The total size of the TV can only be ~24"X20", but I could always put it someplace with more room. If anyone can give me some advice on HDTV shopping in layman's terms, it would be greatly appreciated.
 
Ok, can anyone else recommend a LCD TV...I would like 23-27", no bigger. It will be used mainly for a computer monitor, with SOME TV being watched on it. I don't want to spend too much, but the off brands don't seem that great when compared to Name-brand stuff. I saw a 25" Olevia (sp?) at ABC Warehouse today for $600...seemed good, but the Picture Qualiy lacked when set against the Sony/Samsung and other LCD's.

Anyone else? What about the Westinghouse, Tatung or other "off-brands"
 
[quote name='THPS']I've been needing to upgrade one of my TVs for quite a while now. Currently, my PS2 is hooked up to a 20" TV that is roughly 30 years old. The color sometimes works, and the picture obviously isn't the greatest. I'll be getting my Xbox 360 soon (hopefully) and would like to get the most out of it. Since I need a new TV anyway, I figured I'd get an HDTV. However, I am TV-illiterate. This topic gave me many good ideas on what I am going to get, but I figured I'd ask for advice here anyway. I found this TV at Target.com under the HDTV section, but the price suggests that it isn't really an HDTV, can someone let me know if this is a decent TV?: http://www.target.com/gp/detail.htm...1?_encoding=UTF8&frombrowse=1&asin=B0001KV50S

The price makes it seem too good to be true, and the description doesn't say anything about HDTV, so I think it was just misplaced.

As far as space goes, I am somewhat limited. The total size of the TV can only be ~24"X20", but I could always put it someplace with more room. If anyone can give me some advice on HDTV shopping in layman's terms, it would be greatly appreciated.[/QUOTE]

That is definitly NOT a HDTV. It will state HDTV in the ad/description since that is the big selling point. I think the smallest HDTV I have seen (not including LCD or Plasma) is 24". When you search the various sites, just type HDTV into the search and filter for lowest price. Then you will see the smallest they offer.
 
Does anyone else have a problem when hooking up their cable or satellite connection to their tv and the picture quality being worse than on a standard tv? I have noticed this on two tv's that I have recently purchased. Anyone know why?
 
If you're talking about non-HD material, yes, non-HD stuff looks like crap on HDTV's. Just something you'll have to deal with. It's not the TV, but the fact that you're taking a 480i image and scaling it up to 720p or 1080i (depending on the HDTV).
 
Ok, I have two questions since I've been looking into buying an HDTV. First, if playing a video game in 720p or 1080i, is that automatically in widescreen? By that I mean, if I played a high-def game on a standard-sized HDTV, will it have the black bars over the top and bottom? And if so, does that mean I should go with a widescreen HDTV?

Secondly, if I get an "HD Built-In" tv and play regular cable (not digital) on it, will the ones that say they play in High Def (Like certain football games, or Late Night with Conan, or Lost, for examples) actually be in High Def? Or would I need digital cable for that to work?

Any help is majorly appreciated.
 
HD programming is 16:9 (widescreen). You should therefore get a widescreen TV if you want to properly display HD material. I believe all 360 games are widescreen, not sure since I don't own one. When watching 4:3 material, you will have black bars on the sides....most widescreen TV's have the option to stretch the image though to fill the screen up.

If you want to get HD tv shows you need HD cable. Digital cable isn't necessarily HD, it's just being sent through the cable lines in 0's and 1's rather than an analog waveform. If you have a cable card in your HDTV you will be able to get OTA (over the air) HD broadcasting with an antenna.

TV shows that say that they are filmed in HD doesn't mean that what you see is capable of being HD if you have the TV, it means that it is available if you have HD service. It's a bit misleading and people don't realize that. They should really say also available in HD.
 
[quote name='Camwi']Ok, I have two questions since I've been looking into buying an HDTV. First, if playing a video game in 720p or 1080i, is that automatically in widescreen? By that I mean, if I played a high-def game on a standard-sized HDTV, will it have the black bars over the top and bottom? And if so, does that mean I should go with a widescreen HDTV?

Secondly, if I get an "HD Built-In" tv and play regular cable (not digital) on it, will the ones that say they play in High Def (Like certain football games, or Late Night with Conan, or Lost, for examples) actually be in High Def? Or would I need digital cable for that to work?

Any help is majorly appreciated.[/QUOTE]

If the tv really does have an HD tuner in it all you need is a pair of oldschool rabbit ears to try and pick up the HD signal. However if you do not live in a big city you may have a problem finding the satellite that the HD is coming through. It is easier to have a some sort of HD service IE. dig cable with HD channels as they are doing all the hard work for you.
 
Cool, thanks for the info, guys. I have one last question, and that is when playing video games that are standard definition ON an HDTV, will the quality be crappy? Since people have said that regular tv channels played on an HDTV look bad, is it the same with video games?
 
Yes.

Imagine taking a low resolution/small picture. Then blow it up or zoom in a few times. It will be something like that.
 
Well that really bites. Maybe I'm not that interested in buying an HDTV afterall.. :/

Thanks a lot for the information, guys. Very much appreciated.
 
A lot of the newer, and better HDTV's have special modes to try and make 480i stuff look better, but it still doesn't look great.

You gotta make a sacrifice somewhere :)
 
True, but it's still a hard thing for me to do. I don't suppose you know of a site that shows a comparison of non-HD video games and/or television programs playing on an HDTV?
 
You are taking this the wrong way it seems.

SD does not have enough information. SD has always been crappy. It's just that everyone has owned crappy televisions until just a few years ago.

HDTV sets are able to display much more information. If you feed it crap it will display crap. But only because it was crappy all along.

YOU will have to see it for yourself.

Also how it looks will depend on the size of screen you have. Bigger screen will result in more obvious defects in the image (depending on resolution). You may find that a 30 inch HDTV will look fine, but the 50 inch looks like crap using the same signal. It's because the 50 inch makes small defects look larger then the 30 inch.
 
Ya know what? I have been taking this all the wrong way. The way people have been talking in this thread, I expected a SD show to look absolutely horrible on an HDTV compared to a regular one.

The HDTV I want is a 30" one, so then by what you say I should be fine.

Sorry for sounding like such an idiot on the subject. That's mainly because I AM an idiot on the subject. ;P

And thanks once again for the help. I guess I'll get the TV afterall.
 
What you should do is go to a store and look at the tvs and ask to be shown various signals. With a 30" sitting at 6-7ft you'd probably be fine. Most people that have issues are getting the 40-60" sets which make SD stuff look terrible. I never liked SD stuff on regular tv's of that size to begin with.
 
[quote name='puternerd']That is definitly NOT a HDTV. It will state HDTV in the ad/description since that is the big selling point. I think the smallest HDTV I have seen (not including LCD or Plasma) is 24". When you search the various sites, just type HDTV into the search and filter for lowest price. Then you will see the smallest they offer.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for that info. You saved me a whole lot of hassle regarding the TV I posted a link to. I went to a few stores last night, and have narrowed down my search.

Regarding the recent discussion of non-HD material on HDTVs, I am a bit confused. Does that mean that, for instance, an older video game would look worse on an HDTV than it would on a normal TV? Or does it just mean that it won't look any better? I'm used to a TV with terrible resolution, so I'm sure it wouldn't matter too much. In addition to that, I will most likely be getting a smaller TV so according to what others have said, it won't be too bad. Sorry for my lack of TV knowledge, I'm sure my questions must sound very dumb. I just want to clear up a few things before dropping a decent chunck of change on one of these things.
 
[quote name='daschrier']What you should do is go to a store and look at the tvs and ask to be shown various signals. With a 30" sitting at 6-7ft you'd probably be fine. Most people that have issues are getting the 40-60" sets which make SD stuff look terrible. I never liked SD stuff on regular tv's of that size to begin with.[/QUOTE]

That's a good idea. I think I'll go over to Best Buy before I go to work tonight and see if someone can do that for me.
 
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