minimum screen size for a 12ft room?

[Ruptga]

Our dorms are 12x19 and the plan is to use one bed as a couch and keep the monitor on the desk opposite it. As you may've guessed my budget is pretty small, though I'm hoping to get a good 19-21" that'll last a good five years (17-19" for 4:3 movies). I just don't want to get something expensive and find it's too small to see well from that distance.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

76" in my 12x10 dorm (10 feet away from display)

What's the seating distance? 12'? If this is for movies, 19"-21" is going to be sad at that distance.

 

[Ruptga]

Seating distance would realistically be around 6-8 feet, since 12' is wall to wall. Keep in mind I'm not looking for anything spectacular, just something that will work. We're poor collegians, and we're not at a tech school so expectations are kinda low I think the TV we'd been using for movie night is in the 15" range, 4:3 ratio, and we'd been watching at about the same distance as we'd have in my dorm.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Remind me not to come over for a movie night there

6-8 feet I'd be trying to get a 32" or larger display for movies to get a ~20 degree viewing angle.

What's the budget?

 

[Ruptga]

I'm thinking about a $300 budget, but I don't really know since we haven't done all the number crunching as far as loans and what I can expect to make and all that. Plan B is to put it on the Christmas list and wait six months, I really don't know what the budget would be in that case, they could go all out and drop $600, or they might not like the idea at all and get me some shirts.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

What about getting a used SD 27" - 36" CRT? People are practically giving them away on craigslist and such. You wouldn't worry about having anything happen to it and you'd get a decent sized screen for quite cheap. It wouldn't be good for computer use, but it would be solid for regular TV / DVD use (and might even look better).

 

[Ruptga]

That's probably what I'll do, though I was hoping to keep it simple and have one screen to rule them all. Then again, I'm thinking of getting a PS2 sometime soon, and it's limited to SD anyway..

30" would be sweet, I'll keep an eye out for one, now I just have to think about where to put the thing.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: ADDAvenger
That's probably what I'll do, though I was hoping to keep it simple and have one screen to rule them all. Then again, I'm thinking of getting a PS2 sometime soon, and it's limited to SD anyway..

30" would be sweet, I'll keep an eye out for one, now I just have to think about where to put the thing.

I just looked on craigslist and saw a number of 36" CRTs for well within your budget and some very cheap prices on 32" ones.

Be aware that some of these sets, especially the sony wega sets can be beasts.

Getting this ~210 pound sucker moving around was not fun
https://mywebspace.wisc.edu/sp...04805/Blank%20Wall.JPG
(shown in a transitional period when I had my projector but hadn't ditched the tube yet)

 

[Ruptga]

Yeah there's a 27" for $75 in my area, I'll keep an eye out and will probably pick one about the time school starts just so I don't have to move the thing twice in a month. The one I'm looking at right now is 5 years old though, how paranoid should I be about the condition stuff is in on craigslist?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: ADDAvenger
Yeah there's a 27" for $75 in my area, I'll keep an eye out and will probably pick one about the time school starts just so I don't have to move the thing twice in a month. The one I'm looking at right now is 5 years old though, how paranoid should I be about the condition stuff is in on craigslist?

Well I would make sure to test the TV out in person before you buy it, but CRTs tend to last fairly well. Hopefully you should be able to find a good brand in good shape for that price based on the number of people who are upgrading to flat panel TVs.

 

[Ruptga]

Yeah I'd planned on testing it in person, and I thought CRTs hold up forever, but thought it best to ask. What are some good brands? Decent brands?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Sony made some of the best ones last time I checked.

 

[Tiamat]

for 6-8 feet, ive found 32-42" range to be perfect...

 

[AlienCraft]

I just bought a 27" Sony , 3 years old for $20.00 off of CL.

 

[RupTheKid]

Agreed with AlienCraft. Craigslist is such a great venue for picking up a cheap, durable CRT.

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: RupTheKid
Agreed with AlienCraft. Craigslist is such a great venue for picking up a cheap, durable CRT.

indeed. They dont make TVs like they used to. People got sick of waiting for their TVs to "break" (but they dont break) before justifying an upgrade, so they flip them onto Craigslist for cheap prices.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Tiamat

Originally posted by: RupTheKid
Agreed with AlienCraft. Craigslist is such a great venue for picking up a cheap, durable CRT.

indeed. They dont make TVs like they used to. People got sick of waiting for their TVs to "break" (but they dont break) before justifying an upgrade, so they flip them onto Craigslist for cheap prices.

Indeed. I found my (literally) old 24" for $15 a couple days ago.