Need some advice on buying a television.

I have been watching tv on my monitor for the last month and my roomate says she needs help picking one out so i thought id help out. She has about $450 to spend (not counting the extended warranty) on one. Here are some that look good.

Zenith 27" HDTV on sale for $425

Samsung Enhanced-Definition TV for around $425

Sony WEGA 27" analog TV for $339

I really like the zenith sine its HDTV and has DVI input.
Circuit City has all of these three tv's the cheapest right now that i saw, I looked around and could use some advice from fellow ATOTers...

Thanks

 

[Electrode]

That Zenith so-called HDTV set is not an HDTV set at all. Blatant false advertising, and you should avoid it for that reason alone.

(rationale: not widescreen == not HDTV)

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Originally posted by: Electrode
That Zenith so-called HDTV set is not an HDTV set at all. Blatant false advertising, and you should avoid it for that reason alone.

(rationale: not widescreen == not HDTV)

I disagree. HDTV is a standard, not a TV. If the set can display the signal then the aspect ratio of the tube doesnt matter.

I have a samsung 3:4 and Comcast HDTV. It puts it in the proper letterbox perspective, and when I tune in INHD or the PBS HD channels, I get higher than NTSC resolution.

When I watch hockey games in "regular" mode, the puck is a little dark blob. When I switch it over, it is now a little hockey puck.

Will a standard NTSC TV do that? Havent see it yet.


Would I like wide screen? Yeah, but I didnt have the bucks. In the price range, the Zenith appears to be much better. Even if you do not have an HDTV source, progressive output from a DVD player is MUCH better than on a standard set.

 

Originally posted by: Electrode
That Zenith so-called HDTV set is not an HDTV set at all. Blatant false advertising, and you should avoid it for that reason alone.

(rationale: not widescreen == not HDTV)

Ok, with that being said, which of these would you choose? The Zenith will play xbox at a higher res than the others and has PIP which the sony does not. So you are saying out of these three (or at least whatever tv in this budget) i shouldnt get the zenith because it doesnt have widescreen?

 

[arod]

If your buying a TV set and plan to spend more than 500 bucks, spend the extra cash and get a ral HDTV, a widescreen one.

4x3 may be ok now but it will be a wast of money when HDTV really takes over because the HDTV spec states it much be 16x9 widesreen. And Im not even mantioning the DVD/soon to be HD-DVD argument.

 

Originally posted by: WinstonSmith

Originally posted by: Electrode
That Zenith so-called HDTV set is not an HDTV set at all. Blatant false advertising, and you should avoid it for that reason alone.

(rationale: not widescreen == not HDTV)

I disagree. HDTV is a standard, not a TV. If the set can display the signal then the aspect ratio of the tube doesnt matter.

I have a samsung 3:4 and Comcast HDTV. It puts it in the proper letterbox perspective, and when I tune in INHD or the PBS HD channels, I get higher than NTSC resolution.

When I watch hockey games in "regular" mode, the puck is a little dark blob. When I switch it over, it is now a little hockey puck.

Will a standard NTSC TV do that? Havent see it yet.


Would I like wide screen? Yeah, but I didnt have the bucks. In the price range, the Zenith appears to be much better. Even if you do not have an HDTV source, progressive output from a DVD player is MUCH better than on a standard set.

Now that makes sense....

 

Originally posted by: arod
If your buying a TV set and plan to spend more than 500 bucks, spend the extra cash and get a ral HDTV, a widescreen one.

4x3 may be ok now but it will be a wast of money when HDTV really takes over because the HDTV spec states it much be 16x9 widesreen.

Her budget is around $450, i have not seen a widescreen hdtv for close to that.

 

[Doggiedog]

Originally posted by: Electrode
That Zenith so-called HDTV set is not an HDTV set at all. Blatant false advertising, and you should avoid it for that reason alone.

(rationale: not widescreen == not HDTV)

How's that?

I had a 36" Sony XBR400 that was 4:3. How could you say that's not an HDTV?

In my opinion, I wouldn't get any of them. In particular the Sony because I hate Sony. You have to wonder what kind of HDTV or EDTV you are getting for that price. EDTV is nothing but a 480p TV and not even close to HDTV quality.

 

Originally posted by: Doggiedog

Originally posted by: Electrode
That Zenith so-called HDTV set is not an HDTV set at all. Blatant false advertising, and you should avoid it for that reason alone.

(rationale: not widescreen == not HDTV)

How's that?

I had a 36" Sony XBR400 that was 4:3. How could you say that's not an HDTV?

In my opinion, I wouldn't get any of them. In particular the Sony because I hate Sony. You have to wonder what kind of HDTV or EDTV you are getting for that price. EDTV is nothing but a 480p TV and not even close to HDTV quality.

For that price range what would you get?
That is all she has to spend, its not like shes saving another $500 for vegas hookers, we are both in school poor like sh!t.

 

[Aves]

Originally posted by: Electrode
That Zenith so-called HDTV set is not an HDTV set at all. Blatant false advertising, and you should avoid it for that reason alone.

(rationale: not widescreen == not HDTV)

Your rationale is flawed.

 

[Doggiedog]

Originally posted by: Phocas

Originally posted by: Doggiedog

Originally posted by: Electrode
That Zenith so-called HDTV set is not an HDTV set at all. Blatant false advertising, and you should avoid it for that reason alone.

(rationale: not widescreen == not HDTV)

How's that?

I had a 36" Sony XBR400 that was 4:3. How could you say that's not an HDTV?

In my opinion, I wouldn't get any of them. In particular the Sony because I hate Sony. You have to wonder what kind of HDTV or EDTV you are getting for that price. EDTV is nothing but a 480p TV and not even close to HDTV quality.

For that price range what would you get?
That is all she has to spend, its not like shes saving another $500 for vegas hookers, we are both in school poor like sh!t.

Does she really need HDTV or is that your idea to try and get her one?

If you are as skimped for cash as you say you are, I'd skip trying to get HDTV at that price and buy a decent 27" for less.

In my bedroom, I have a 27" Toshiba 27AF42 SDTV that I bought for $270 a year or two ago that can display "HDTV". I have an HDTV cable decoder box with S-video out connected to it. Even though the TV is not HDTV, it will still take the HDTV signal from the cable box and display it. It's not really HDTV but it still looks pretty good. If you really want to watch those HDTV channels like Discovery or PBS, it can display it. There are ways of doing it.

 

[richardycc]

get the hdtv-ready one, the built-in line doubler is worth the extra money.

 

[NuclearNed]

Considering that in 2-3 years there will no longer be such a thing as an analog TV signal (per FCC rules), I think it would be a waste of money to get anything other than an HDTV.

 

Originally posted by: Doggiedog

Originally posted by: Phocas

Originally posted by: Doggiedog

Originally posted by: Electrode
That Zenith so-called HDTV set is not an HDTV set at all. Blatant false advertising, and you should avoid it for that reason alone.

(rationale: not widescreen == not HDTV)

How's that?

I had a 36" Sony XBR400 that was 4:3. How could you say that's not an HDTV?

In my opinion, I wouldn't get any of them. In particular the Sony because I hate Sony. You have to wonder what kind of HDTV or EDTV you are getting for that price. EDTV is nothing but a 480p TV and not even close to HDTV quality.

For that price range what would you get?
That is all she has to spend, its not like shes saving another $500 for vegas hookers, we are both in school poor like sh!t.

Does she really need HDTV or is that your idea to try and get her one?

If you are as skimped for cash as you say you are, I'd skip trying to get HDTV at that price and buy a decent 27" for less.

In my bedroom, I have a 27" Toshiba 27AF42 SDTV that I bought for $270 a year or two ago that can display "HDTV". I have an HDTV cable decoder box with S-video out connected to it. Even though the TV is not HDTV, it will still take the HDTV signal from the cable box and display it. It's not really HDTV but it still looks pretty good. If you really want to watch those HDTV channels like Discovery or PBS, it can display it. There are ways of doing it.

It was only my idea after i went to circuit city, I looked at the different sets for about 45 minutes. The zenith looked very nice picture-wise. She was talking about the wega before she came to me. The zenith had the best looking picture for her price range IMO. There was a panasonic at Frys that looked pretty good as well but no zenith to compare it to, it also didnt have PIP which is an extra but not a selling point.

 

Originally posted by: NuclearNed
Considering that in 2-3 years there will no longer be such a thing as an analog TV signal (per FCC rules), I think it would be a waste of money to get anything other than an HDTV.

That was her comment after hearing that this zenith was on clearance, its normally $600.

 

[Doggiedog]

Actually, $425 is a nice price for the Zenith. I'm in the market for a TV now too because my wife thinks the 27" in the bedroom is too big. I was trying to convince her to go with an LCD 20" but those are too darn expensive. I'll have to try and convince her to "upgrade" to this Zenith.

FWIW, I was at CC in Paramus, NJ this past weekend and they had new 27" Apex TVs for $109 on clearance. I don't know how good they are since they were in boxes but it was a pretty cheap price. It might have just been local in my store though so I didn't post it in Hot Deals.

 

[dullard]

Where do you get that on sale for $425? Is it a refirbished item? To me, widescreen is crap that I'd never want in my house. 99.99% of what I'd watch would have to have those black bars on the sides - which would burn in and then the last 0.01% would look awful.

 

[Doggiedog]

Originally posted by: dullard
Where do you get that on sale for $425? Is it a refirbished item? To me, widescreen is crap that I'd never want in my house. 99.99% of what I'd watch would have to have those black bars on the sides - which would burn in and then the last 0.01% would look awful.

Just stretch it out then. There are different ways of getting rid of the bars. You get used to it after a while.

If you watch DVDs you will almost always get black bars unless you buy a full screen version. When watching HDTV, there are no bars whatsoever.

 

[NuclearNed]

Originally posted by: Doggiedog
If you watch DVDs you will almost always get black bars unless you buy a full screen version. When watching HDTV, there are no bars whatsoever.

I disagree. A widescreen hdtv has an aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Some movies are in other aspect ratios, like 2.35:1, which gives you black bars on the top and bottom of a widescreen tv.

 

[Doggiedog]

Originally posted by: NuclearNed

Originally posted by: dullard
If you watch DVDs you will almost always get black bars unless you buy a full screen version. When watching HDTV, there are no bars whatsoever.

I disagree. A widescreen hdtv has an aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Some movies are in other aspect ratios, like 2.35:1, which gives you black bars on the top and bottom of a widescreen tv.

I said almost always. I haven't seen too many movies that do not have black bars on my widescreen.

 

[woowoo]

(Broadcaster here)

Lots of incorrect info in this thread

4x3 HD is allowed by the FCC
It's one of the 18 formats we can transmit.
Most programming will shift to 16x9 but it will take forever to transition to.

FWIW
We use computer monitors at our transmitter sites to monitor the video


To the OP

I would go over to AVS forums and look around.
Lots of correct info there

 

[KLin]

Originally posted by: NuclearNed

Originally posted by: Doggiedog
If you watch DVDs you will almost always get black bars unless you buy a full screen version. When watching HDTV, there are no bars whatsoever.

I disagree. A widescreen hdtv has an aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Some movies are in other aspect ratios, like 2.35:1, which gives you black bars on the top and bottom of a widescreen tv.

actually widescreen HDTV's are 1.78:1. 16/9=1.7777777778, or when rounded to the nearest hundreth, 1.78

 

[woowoo]

Like I said before, there are 18 formats that are fair game in OTA Digital Television.....

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: Doggiedog
Just stretch it out then. There are different ways of getting rid of the bars. You get used to it after a while.

If you watch DVDs you will almost always get black bars unless you buy a full screen version. When watching HDTV, there are no bars whatsoever.

Why pay all that money to watch a stretched out picture that looks like crap? Don't watch DVDs (or any movie for that matter) and there are standard versions if I decide to start watching them.

 

[Doggiedog]

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: Doggiedog
Just stretch it out then. There are different ways of getting rid of the bars. You get used to it after a while.

If you watch DVDs you will almost always get black bars unless you buy a full screen version. When watching HDTV, there are no bars whatsoever.

Why pay all that money to watch a stretched out picture that looks like crap? Don't watch DVDs (or any movie for that matter) and there are standard versions if I decide to start watching them.

Crap is your opinion. It doesn't look like crap to me. If you like to watch Fullscreen versions of DVDs (when you watch them) you obviously don't care about PQ so why would stretching bother you? Besides, 95% of the picture isn't stretched out. Its the corners that are adjusted and it works quite well, IMO.