Forget the monitor

[Cantousent]

As you recall, I made a thread about monitors not long ago. You all convinced me to wait until the next batch of lcds since the current batch isn't quite up to snuff. In the meantime, I've decided that maybe I shouldn't worry about a new monitor at all. What I really need is a new television so that new xbox 360 won't be a waste. Now, I have an old crt tv. It's not hd. It's not pretty. ...And it's not big. I don't watch tv. I hate it with a passion, so there hasn't been any incentive to get anything better. Now, I'm thinking better of it.

 

I'd like to get a great tv, but I'd like to keep the price under $1k. Any of you nerds have some sound advice on a good picture?

[theslug]

Well I never buy anything so I think you shouldn't buy a tv unless you really want to. Just seems like kind of a waste if you are only going to use it for xbox and not any tv.

 

Edit: btw i know absolutely nothing about tv's so heres my suggestion.

 

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2008001,00.asp

Edited April 14, 2007 by theslug

[LadyCrimson]

Sony would be my LCD brand suggestion - they're by far the best LCD's picture-quality wise, imo, especially as you get bigger in screen size, but they're pricey, which is why we didn't buy one when we were looking (we were looking for over 40" tho). You might find one of their older 26" Bravia's on sale somewhere for slightly under or slightly over 1K.

 

You're probably looking at a 21-32 inch if LCD. Cheaper brands; Samsung and LG seem popular. Sharp might be ok. I didn't like Philips.

 

I noticed LCD TV's still can have a lot of that weird pixelation effect from a lot of fast-motion in a tv signal (indoor motorcross jumping can look pretty bad, for example) - it's more noticable the bigger the screen. I have no idea how that would affect game screens, if at all.

 

I don't know about tubes. They're cheaper for same size, but when we were looking around, the few that stores carrry nowadays didn't look very appealing.

 

Since we weren't buying our TV for gaming, I really don't know what would be best for that purpose.

[mkreku]

Strangely enough Hyundai and Sharp has been getting decent reviews. Sharp is a bit more expensive but has been getting great reviews for their Aquos (I think that was the name) series.

 

http://www.sharpusa.com/products/AQUOS/

 

Hyundai is an odd brand. My girlfriend's former monitor was a Hyundai and it had a fantastic picture, but it was only a 17" CRT so I traded it for a 19" Samsung LCD. The weirdest thing about it is that there are TWO different brands of Hyundai and they both sell LCD TV's! One is the same brand that makes cars and the other used to be the same as the car, but they broke free of the big corporation and decided to concentrate on electronics.

 

http://www.hyundaiq.com/

 

http://www.hyundai-world.com/

 

These three are worth checking out because their quality/price ratio is very high.

Edited April 14, 2007 by mkreku

[Sand]

Why not get a nice large LCD monitor for the computer, get a TV Card, and hook up the X Box 360 to the PC and use the monitor?

 

Kill to birds with one stone as it were.

Edited April 14, 2007 by Sand

[SamuraiGaijin]

Shop around, see what you like, get something with the inputs you need and 1080i and you get a monitor with roughly four times the real estate for about half the relative cost.

[Fionavar]

http://www.samsung.com/Products/TV/LCDTV/LNT3253HXXAA.asp

 

That's what we are getting after our move at the end of the month!

[theslug]

http://www.samsung.com/Products/TV/LCDTV/LNT3253HXXAA.asp

 

That's what we are getting after our move at the end of the month!

Looks sweet.

[Bokishi]

Yea I also want to get a big tv, whats the lowest price for 50" 1080p?

 

Oh yea it has to be flat and silver

Edited April 14, 2007 by Bokishi

[Deraldin]

Yea I also want to get a big tv, whats the lowest price for 50" 1080p?

 

Oh yea it has to be flat and silver

 

Plasma or LCD?

[Bokishi]

Whatever is cheaper

[LadyCrimson]

For TV's that size, plasma's are still generally cheaper. Not always, but usually.

And imo, they look better.

[metadigital]

For TV's that size, plasma's are still generally cheaper. Not always, but usually.

And imo, they look better.

Cheaper to run, too: the LCD twists crystals to produce black (cell becomes opaque to light) when a current is run through the cell, so if you watch a lot of black, the current will be huge. Plasma tends to be a much better buy (it's a better, sharper and brighter picture) at larger sizes, as the LCD cheapness is less evident.

 

I haven't started looking at the tv tech, but I would always advise reading a few magazines ("What HomeCinema" or the like). Here's a sight I found with one google.

 

PS LG is an "entry level" brand of Philips, and the products come out of the same factories.

[LadyCrimson]

PS LG is an "entry level" brand of Philips, and the products come out of the same factories.

Isn't Samsung kind of the same thing for Sony? I can't remember.

 

50"plus LCD tv's are still not very common, either; plasmas dominate (or the projections), tho that may change before too long.

Again, I'm not a huge fan of LCD, and Sony is the only LCD that went above 46" that I liked at all, of the ones I saw. Gorgeous color and picture from good viewing angles, assuming an ideal signal. But it was $4-5K vs. a plasma's $2-3K. So maybe in a few years.

[Cantousent]

Thanks for the input. I'm definitely going to buy an HDTV. I just need to make sure I get the best one I can. Something under a thousand dollars sounds good. (okay. okay. maybe a PINCH over a thousand if push comes to shove.)

[angshuman]

You can get an Optoma HD70 for under $1000.

[metadigital]

I saw a Sony (50"?) rear-projection tv for about

[taks]

there's two types of sony rear projections, one is the standard WEGA and the other is the SXRD (with WEGA engine). the SXRD, which i'm probably going to get at some point soon, is sony's version of LCOS. i find the picture to be about as crisp as the DLP projections, with a higher contrast ratio (10000:1 now, much greater than standard LCDs). also, there are no moving parts so i don't have to worry about the spinning wheel making a noise that i can hear (yes, i can hear it... drives me nuts).

 

anyway, in the US, particularly CO, the 50A2000 is about $1600-$1800 right now, and the newer version (apparently with better sound, which i don't need), the 50A2020 is about $2200. i'll wait till i can get the former for less than $1500 delivered.

 

taks

[LadyCrimson]

I don't like rear projections much. Not that they're bad, but just not my thing.

We paid about $1900 for our 50" plasma - I think because it was 'last years' model maybe, that they still had some stock left.

[Bokishi]

Well this tv is on its way to my house. It's not 1080p but price was reasonable. Can't wait to hook up that Xbox360 that I haven't touched in months

 

http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-TH-58PX60U...V/dp/B000F70UY4

[LadyCrimson]

Panasonic's rule.

[Bokishi]

cool

[Cantousent]

I think I'll get a nice 42" TV. I've really had to juggle the difference in my mind between the monitor, tv, and xbox 360. I don't want a tv unless I'll use the xbox 360 a lot. However, my current xbox is also my dvd player. I'd like to get the tv/xbox 360 so I have a better dvd player, which means waiting until the hddvd is included in the xbox 360 bundle. I'm kind of at a loss because I don't want to get a monitor until I know whether I want an lcd or a crt. I'm leaning crt right now, but I don't want to rush. Meanwhile, I can get a plasma tv, but I'm leery of putting money into something that gets used for dvds and xbox games. I pretty much use Itunes for my songs these days, so I don't really care about my stuff on the xbox like I did in the past. Of course, if the xbox 360 lets me put my itunes on it and play them through my home theater system, the that might do the trick.

[LadyCrimson]

We almost got a 42" TV. It was one of those things where we kept thinking "I hate to get the 42 and end up wishing we'd bought a bigger one." Just don't test drive a bigger one in the house first, or you'll never want to go back to a small one.

 

I want this Viewsonic CRT monitor. :D

It's 60 pound weight would give me (back) trouble tho - hubby would be the one moving it around. heh

[metadigital]

I want this Viewsonic CRT monitor. :D

That looks great!