What LCD-tv to get for cheap parents?

[slackerinabox]

Parents want to get a new TV for their bed room, replacing their 27" CRT tv... The problem is, they want to spend as closs to $200 as possible. I told them they should just bite the bullet and get a 32" olevia tv from Newegg ($600 or so but a bargain to me) but they refuse to budge.

So, in the $200-$300 range, is it even worth getting an LCD to replace the CRT? I'm guessing that that budget will only get a 20incher, if that.

 

[us3rnotfound]

$200 for a dvd player maybe

 

[slackerinabox]

Originally posted by: us3rnotfound
$200 for a dvd player maybe

Yeah, their unreasonable budgets always end up in me going on wild goose chases. I'm not even going to bother looking. $419 for a 32" refurb is a great deal, if they can't go for that then I'm not going to waste much energy on this...

 

[Kelemvor]

Gonna be a tiny TV indeed for that price. 15"-20" tops. I'd tell them to look through the ads in the Sunday paper and when they find something that looks good, have them let you know and you can go check out the specs. No sense wasting time on something that they'll eventually turn down anyway.

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

I believe the 23in Olevia 323V can be had for just north of $300.

But from a practical standpoint, why not just get them another SDTV/EDTV CRT instead of looking for LCD HD? If they watch a lot of TV, you could try the argument about saving a lot of electricity with a smaller 26, 23 LCD which would still provide more actual viewing area and potentially a better picture (with digital signal +/- HD content). Over time, the energy savings would more than match the upfront costs of buying a sub27 LCD.

If they don't buy that argument then it's probably better to just get a flat 27 or 24 CRT or possibly a 24CRT/DVD combo or 24DVD/VCR.

It's a shame their isn't a True Cost to Own for electronics like Edmunds does for cars.

 

[FDF12389]

Tell them to find tvs in that prive range and you will tell them which one is best.

 

[TheDrake]

Not an LCD, you can get a 27" CRT HDTV like open box at circuit city or bestbuy for around $200.

 

[slackerinabox]

Originally posted by: TheDrake
Not an LCD, you can get a 27" CRT HDTV like open box at circuit city or bestbuy for around $200.

Yeah, they already have a 27" crt, FD Trinitron - pretty nice, actually. But they're thinking about moving that to their vacation home and getting an LCD for their bedroom, to save space and such.

I'm not going to do any digging -the last time my dad asked me to find a decent digital camera for $150 I ended up getting frustrated and buying him a $250 one on my dime - they know I'm a decent shopper but sometimes they expect too much!