What do you think is the best non-widescreen standard-definition TV?

[Kaido]

and I'm talking BIG! with good picture quality. I have a 27" Panasonic Tau that is absolutely amazing, but it's on the smallish side. Fits perfectly in my apartment tho :thumbsup: I've noticed on a lot of big rear-projection TVs that the regular cable TV looks pretty crappy. What's a good size point between big size and good quality cable tv? What brand/model?

 

[vi edit]

Budget? Flat glass CRT's are clearly (heh) the best option for SD programing. But they get VERY expensive in large formats. Plus they weigh A LOT.

As far as the rear projection looking bad, that's just a simple factor of the poor source (cable TV) being projected on a high quality display.

Think of a 320x200 little movie clip being blown up and displayed at 800x600. It just gets really nasty looking being stretched past what it was intended to be shown at.

Same problem with standard def. It's just being displayed on a TV with a higher "resolution" than the source was intended...in a nutshell.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: vi_edit
Budget? Flat glass CRT's are clearly (heh) the best option for SD programing. But they get VERY expensive in large formats. Plus they weigh A LOT.

No budget, no size or weight limits. I'm just dreaming right now I'm an SD cable kind of guy and will be for a loooong time. I watch DVDs and cable, that's about it.

 

[Merlyn3D]

Panasonic tau's are nice, so are pretty much all the sony XBR models. My gf just bought one for her apartment off craigslist for $30 (person was moving out of country and had to sell) and s-video was pretty nice on it, albiet I'm spoiled by my philips 30" widescreen HDTV. Everything else just looks grainy to me now.

 

[Blayze]

I saw a JVC 32 inch Flat CRT at Sams Club this week. It had a great picture (or at least it looked really good in the store). It was $399.

 

[CalvinHobbes]

If you watch a lot of DVDs get a wide screen TV. A nice wide screen CRT RPTV will run $1200 - $2000. If you watch cable, get an HD cable box.

 

[BD2003]

Honestly, the best quality for SDTV is an HDTV, since it can usually upconvert it to progressive scan and such. How big you need depends on how far you sit from it...bigger isnt always better.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: BD2003
Honestly, the best quality for SDTV is an HDTV, since it can usually upconvert it to progressive scan and such. How big you need depends on how far you sit from it...bigger isnt always better.

Eh, every HDTV I've seen with SDTV pretty much looked like trash, really grainy.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: CalvinHobbes
If you watch a lot of DVDs get a wide screen TV. A nice wide screen CRT RPTV will run $1200 - $2000. If you watch cable, get an HD cable box.

No, SD cable looks horrible on widescreen TVs, and I'm not going to live with black bars on the sides. And they only offer like 8 HD channels here, it's not worth it.

 

[vi edit]

Right now, if I was in the market, I don't think I could bring myself to spend $600+ on a large screen, standard defintion CRT when a 32" widescreen LCD with HD support was available for $800-$1000.

And if I didn't want HD, I'd probably be looking at a 42" Plasma for TV and movies.

Non-wide screens are out of the..uhh...picture for me any more if they are going to be used as a primary movie/tv screen.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: BD2003
Honestly, the best quality for SDTV is an HDTV, since it can usually upconvert it to progressive scan and such. How big you need depends on how far you sit from it...bigger isnt always better.

Eh, every HDTV I've seen with SDTV pretty much looked like trash, really grainy.

You don't have to worry about that if it is setup properly. The HD cable box will scale everything to HD resolutions and can look quite good.

The graininess comes from the TV not being setup well (mainly sharpness and brightness WAY too high)

Go to a higher end AV shop and take a lot there.

 

[meltdown75]

i love my 27" JVC I'art

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: BD2003
Honestly, the best quality for SDTV is an HDTV, since it can usually upconvert it to progressive scan and such. How big you need depends on how far you sit from it...bigger isnt always better.

Eh, every HDTV I've seen with SDTV pretty much looked like trash, really grainy.

You don't have to worry about that if it is setup properly. The HD cable box will scale everything to HD resolutions and can look quite good.

The graininess comes from the TV not being setup well (mainly sharpness and brightness WAY too high)

Go to a higher end AV shop and take a lot there.

Yup. Cable has never looked better than on my HDTV. The reason you think it looks worse, it cause it looks so good that you can see the flaws.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: BD2003

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: BD2003
Honestly, the best quality for SDTV is an HDTV, since it can usually upconvert it to progressive scan and such. How big you need depends on how far you sit from it...bigger isnt always better.

Eh, every HDTV I've seen with SDTV pretty much looked like trash, really grainy.

You don't have to worry about that if it is setup properly. The HD cable box will scale everything to HD resolutions and can look quite good.

The graininess comes from the TV not being setup well (mainly sharpness and brightness WAY too high)

Go to a higher end AV shop and take a lot there.

Yup. Cable has never looked better than on my HDTV. The reason you think it looks worse, it cause it looks so good that you can see the flaws.

Yeah. Its a common complaint among new HDTV owners. "gee this looks like crap"

Well the truth is you've taken crap and blown it up on a high resolution monitor. Big arse scan lines do not mean "sharp"

With a good scaler (and this totally depends on the TV or cable box) SD content can look very good. Don't forget that DVD is standard definition.

 

[quakefiend420]

i have a RCA 27" HDTV that i picked up at wal-mart for $330 and i couldn't be happier...not that much more expensive than a comparable SDTV, the only drawback is it doesn't have a HDTV tuner built into it...plus my HTPC looks much better than it did on my old SDTV

 

[CHfan4ever]

Sony KV32HS420

http://www.sonystyle.ca/commerce/servle...ctId=173027&navigationPath=32050n32052



Its a 4:3 television that is also capable of doing HD and doing widescreen if you wish.

I am currently owning a 46 inc widescreen by Hitachi, but only 7 month after the purchase, i am having a little burn-in on the bottom left corner because i watch a certain channel too offen.So im thinking about selling my 46 inc to get CRT tube television.

Best 4:3 television on the market, period.

 

[mercanucaribe]

Just stick with your Tau for now. AFAIK, they are the best, and 27" isn't exactly small. I <3 my 27" VEGA.

 

[jfall]

I'd look into a projector. You can pick up an Infocus X1 on ebay for around $700, it'll go around 100" and look perfect, plus you can put it in 4:3 or widescreen with the press of a button. Plus the unit is very small. You'd need around 12-15 feet to make good use of it though.

 

[Ornery]

I went with 36" WEGA for the same reasons you're asking about. It's got 16:9 Enhanced Mode equivilent to 33" Widescreen, which is fine for the 5% of the time it's used to view movies.

 

[Dr. Detroit]

I just picked up a Sony 36HS420, and while its great!

I prefer my 32" Sony for watching plain cable TV.

 

[CHfan4ever]

Originally posted by: Ornery
I went with 36" WEGA for the same reasons you're asking about. It's got 16:9 Enhanced Mode equivilent to 33" Widescreen, which is fine for the 5% of the time it's used to view movies.

Which model of 36 wega did you choose? Have you choose a HD model? ( like the 420?)

 

[CHfan4ever]

Fmr12B why do you prefer watching regular cable on your 32? Is the cable quality horrible on your 36 hd?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Cable looked pretty nice on my sony 36fs100 while I had it.

Cable also looked a lot better than I thought it was going to on my projector once I got that.

I could see more flaws, but I wasn't bothered by it much.

 

[CHfan4ever]

Im just curious to know if the cable quality on the 420 model will look like crap like it does atm on my rear crt 46 inc tv.

Cause on my old trinitron, cable and digital cable were looking amazing on my trinitron

 

[Childs]

Philips has some good budget CRTs. I got one at Costco for a really good price. I have my PVR hooked up to it and its super clear via Svideo. Its a 27" and cost under $200. Has all the features all the high end sets have.