Do you own an HDTV? I have some picture quality questions...

[Kaido]

I'm thinking about getting a new family TV sometime in the next year. I really like the 32" Sony WEGA HDTV. However, my only concern (aside from the price!) is how does regular TV look on it? My family watches a lot of DVDs, but also some regular cable TV as well as VHS tapes. How do VHS tapes and cable (non-HD) look on an HDTV? I don't want to blow $600 - $1000 on a nice HDTV only to have most of the stuff my family watches look like trash because of the higher resolution.

It might be worth it just to get the 36" Sony WEGA non-HDTV for about the same price, and have a bigger screen but without the HD. Keep in mind, most of the content is from cable TV, just regular programs, and also VHS tapes ocassionally.

 

[toekramp]

well I have HD...and the quality of the regular signal does look like junk, but i'm pretty sure that's only because of how incredible the HD signal is and my eyes refuse to adjust

 

[mkahn5]

i have the 30" sony wega hdtv

personally i think HD is very good right now and if you are going to buy a tv just spend the extra ~$300 for the hdtv set.


football- concerts- movies- discovery hd- espn hd

 

[0roo0roo]

32 sounds more like ist geared mostly to standard def. wonder how much resolution it can really pull off for its hd compatibility. only smaller tube tvs that are impressive hd wise are the super low dot pitch wide screen ones from sony. like night and day.

 

[imthebadguy]

we gotta 32in sammy, regulat tv look alright on it, i mean i watch it in stretch mode, but if u watch it 4:3 it looks normal, however hdtv looks AMAZING, i have comcastHD with the comcast DVR...

 

[Kaido]

I think I'm going to stick with a regular TV for now...why invest when it makes regular TV look like trash?

 

[Montano]

You're wasting your money if you buy a square HDTV. HD is made for rectangular TV's. The 16:9 will 'fit' on a 34" screen, but will be 'cut' on a 32" screen. Regular TV looks like regular TV. HD looks amazing

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: Kaido
I think I'm going to stick with a regular TV for now...why invest when it makes regular TV look like trash?

well for one most any show worth watching is already broadcast in hd. could care less if cnn anchor looks perfect in sd.

 

[Qwest]

i still can't get into widescreen tvs. progressive scan ws dvds as well as broadcasts in ws look amazing. but most of the programming i watch isnt broadcast in ws. my 4:3 sony takes 16:9 inputs and does the job well anyway.

television in ws just looks messed up, no matter how much you adjust it.

 

[Doggiedog]

You'll get used to the different stretch modes on a wide screen TV. I would definitely get one instead of a SDTV if you are going to shell out that much money now.

I would also recommend against Sony. Get a Toshiba or Panasonic instead.

Doggiedog's dead Sony TV which didn't even last 2 years.

 

[MustISO]

We rarely watch anything other than movies on our HDTV. I still haven't gotten an HD receiver. Cable looks like junk but it also looks like junk on our 27" TV. DVD's look great.

 

[Hankerton]

I got a Panasonic 53" Widescreen HDTV and I friggin love it. Picture looks great with HD and on regular cable. Only paid a few hundred over a grand for the thing as well. You can find some great deals if you do your research.

 

[rh71]

If your VHS tapes are available on DVD, get the HDTV and buy the DVDs. If they are not, then since it's most important to you, keep what you have... seemingly forever.

As for regular cable tv... I think if you have HDTV, you'll want to subscribe to the HD stuff too... it's a huge difference and dolby makes it a theatrical experience. It's well worth the extra $20/mo. for us.

 

[Digobick]

Originally posted by: Kaido
I think I'm going to stick with a regular TV for now...why invest when it makes regular TV look like trash?

Personally, I think you're making a big mistake. HDTV shows are becomming more and more common, and in a year you'll be kicking yourself for not picking up an HDTV set.

Btw, standard definition channels will look fine on a 32" Wega; you probably won't notice much of a difference (unless you compare it to HDTV of course).

 

[TechnoKid]

If you are going to get a flat tubed tv, I urge you no to get the Sony unless its an xbr and only if you opt to get an extended warranty on it. I have a 32xbr400 and have had problems that to this day still aren't resolved (mainly geometry issues and convergence--on a crt of all things). Their customer support is horrible; sony's motto is once the tv (or anything) is sold, they want nothing to do with it. At least thats been my experience.

Get a panasonic Tau or something else, imo.

 

[Doggiedog]

Originally posted by: TechnoKid
If you are going to get a flat tubed tv, I urge you no to get the Sony unless its an xbr and only if you opt to get an extended warranty on it. I have a 32xbr400 and have had problems that to this day still aren't resolved (mainly geometry issues and convergence--on a crt of all things). Their customer support is horrible; sony's motto is once the tv (or anything) is sold, they want nothing to do with it. At least thats been my experience.

Get a panasonic Tau or something else, imo.

LOL!

I had the 36XBR400 pictured above and it stopped turning on. Sony denies that there are any problems with the TV despite that fact that so many people have the same problem. In fact, just this weekend, I got a PM from someone on AVS forum who recently developed the same problem.

Anyway, Sony just makes complete junk now. Avoid them like the plague. They could give a rats @ss about you when you have problems. This has been documented time and time again.

 

[welst10]

DLP or LCD projection, or LCD/plasma (if you can afford it) is the way to go. CRT-projection can have great picture but the convergence tweaking is a time-consuming, pain in the butt task.

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: Montano
You're wasting your money if you buy a square HDTV. HD is made for rectangular TV's. The 16:9 will 'fit' on a 34" screen, but will be 'cut' on a 32" screen. Regular TV looks like regular TV. HD looks amazing

see this is a problim, HD is wide screen and normal TV is 4:3, so if ytou wanna take advantage of HD you need a WS HDTV, but then all other 800 channels of non HD look like crap on it, either stretched or cropped

seeing as ther are only like 12 HD channels out there IMO its pointles because 90% of the channels dont support it

untlill every channel or like 80% of the 400 channels i get are HD im holding off

 

[TechnoKid]

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: Montano
You're wasting your money if you buy a square HDTV. HD is made for rectangular TV's. The 16:9 will 'fit' on a 34" screen, but will be 'cut' on a 32" screen. Regular TV looks like regular TV. HD looks amazing

see this is a problim, HD is wide screen and normal TV is 4:3, so if ytou wanna take advantage of HD you need a WS HDTV, but then all other 800 channels of non HD look like crap on it, either stretched or cropped

seeing as ther are only like 12 HD channels out there IMO its pointles because 90% of the channels dont support it

If you are talking about maximizing the screen real estate, then a widescreen tv is the proper way to go if you are going to watch mainly widescreen/anamorhic sources, however, many of the flat tube 4:3 crt tvs out there have a "vertical compression/enhanced 16:9 mode" that utilizes the tv's full crt resolution to draw only a 16:9 image on the screen. There are still gonna be bars on teh top and bottom, but at least they aren't taking up valuable resolution.

 

[Elbryn]

my opinion is that if you are going to get a tv now, might as well get an hdtv. While its not here quite yet, it will in a few years. Regular tv looks ok, you might notice it a little but not much. DVDs on the other hand will look awesome.

 

[SuRgEoN]

I have 52'' widescreen HDTV. Things in high def may be limited but it's definitely worth it. Keep your options open though, there are a lot of new techs coming out.