Bought a new HDTV 12/9/05. It is amazing!!!(If you dont have it you ARE missing out)

CAMAROBOY69

Premium
18,567
United States
Michigan
CAMAROBOY69
I want a 27" tv for my living room. I bought a low quality 27" tv last weekend and it shows. It was the only one that fit in the entertainment hole. The name brand was called Symphonic 27" flat screen It is a flat screen. Now to the point.
I want a flat screen (not flat panel) 27" tv with really good quality. Should I get HD or is that highly overrated. This TV will be mainly used for DVD movies only.
Any of you out there with HD and play games on it or watch movies on it notice any difference?? I am willing to spend around $500-$600. More than likely I will need a new entertainment center to hold the TV. I only found one 27" tv that fits in the current hole and like I said above, that TV sucks.

THis is the new HDTV I ended up getting. Sony FD Trinitron Wega Hi-Scan KV-27HS420 I talked about it in post#29
 
Hi-Def is probably the way to go if you can afford it, you might not get the best use of it right now, but over the next 2 years they'll have started to become the standard.
 
HD looks GOOOOOOOD. Go to best buy or wherever on the weekend and check out a football game in HD, its fantastic. But I dont know if it makes that big of a difference for DVD movies, as those already look really good if you have component video cables.

I dont have the necessary cables for hooking up my consoles in HD so I couldnt tell you how big a difference that makes.

Like Live4speed said, its the way tv is heading, each year there are more and more HD channels on cable and satellite.
 
I've got my Sony Trinitron 32"Grand Wega ( or Vega, whatever ) just in the summer, prices JUST dropped last month again, on the 27" and the 32"...

Amazing picture, great flat screen, plus its a Sony!
 
I should specify that I am running S-video cables from the DVD player. I also posted the name of the crappy TV I bought. It is called Symphonic. I only bought it because it was the only tv in 5 stores that would fit. So are all movies, games, everythign going to switch to HD??
My GF just bought a 20" tv and it looks awesome so I know this 27" tv sucks. The good news is I have 30 days to return the heap. :sly:
 
Eventually yeah, we'll be watching all hi-def dvd's and playing all hi-def games. The transition has already started.
 
ok im sold on the HD now just need to find some deals. I guess the size of the tv wont matter because like I said I will be getting a new entertainment center or build the current one around the TV. :)
 
Reading about HDTV
WOW :dopey:

"Your old analog TV's picture is made up of 480 visible horizontal lines, each comprising a maximum of 720 pixels. By contrast, HDTVs can reproduce up to 1080 horizontal lines of 1920 pixels — resulting in a picture that's a jaw-dropping 6 times as dense. HDTV also has the advantage of enabling progressive-scan display (useful with the latest DVD players as well as TV broadcasts"
 
CAMAROBOY69
ok im sold on the HD now just need to find some deals. I guess the size of the tv wont matter because like I said I will be getting a new entertainment center or build the current one around the TV. :)
What makes HDTVs so fantastic are the built scalers. They convert all the images to the sets native resolution, which on a HDTV is somewhat high. How high depends on how much you spend, but not always.

I recently picked out a decent HDTV ready set for another member here. But, it's in the near $600 price range. I doubt if you can find a better TV set for less money.

You need to ask yourself, if want this TV set to last you the next 6 to 10 years, or If you're looking to replace it much sooner and use it as a second TV.

This set has what you need. Scaler, or line doubler, HDMI input, two component inputs, HD and digital-ready (just add tuner) and good picture controls.

http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wc...ategory=Tau™ Series PureFlat TVs&displayTab=S
 
I honestly dont think I want to spend that much money on it. Keep in mind the tv I am replacing it with was a 19" tv that is 12 years old and only had a cable output.. :lol:
I thought I would be happy with the cheap 27" I just bought but I was really surprised how bad the quality was. It was actually worse than my 12 year old 19" tv. :ouch:
I am doing a lot of searching on GTP for HD information so I wont be too ignorant when I go in. I will probably go to best buy to purchase the TV since I have the reward zone card.
 
Is it a CRT (cathode ray tube) or a flat panel (LCD/Plasma) you are after? - I would have thought that you will have little choice when it comes to HD CRT's, you can't even get HD CRT's here in europe, it's flat panel only. HD's are great if you are running a HD source through them, pointless and expensive if not. You'll need a HD DVD player to get HD quality pictures from your new TV, The Xbox 360 will play at HD quality (and looks good) - the normal Xbox may do to some extent also.

Most experts will tell you that good CRT TV's are still better for picture quality than most LCD/Plasmas. A cheap LCD or Plasma can be very poor quality. I still use an old (10year+) Sony 25"CRT - its still a great picture.
 
I guess I am not exactly sure what I would want. You bring up some great points. I dont plan on setting the tv up for HDTV to watch cable tv. I just want it mainly for DVD movies. I hardly watch cable tv at all.
So is HDTV really what I want or should I go CRT or some other route? :dunce:
Eventually If it is nice enough, I will get one for my game room too.
 
Have you tried eBuyer.com?

I use a Hyundai ImageQuest 26" LCD which is HD ready. There's a photograph of it in the UKGTP4 thread in the Online Racing forum, so you can judge for yourself how good it is. Or not. :D

Edit: In fact, here it is, with Lotus350 driving.
 
CAMAROBOY69
I guess I am not exactly sure what I would want. You bring up some great points. I dont plan on setting the tv up for HDTV to watch cable tv. I just want it mainly for DVD movies. I hardly watch cable tv at all.
So is HDTV really what I want or should I go CRT or some other route? :dunce:
Eventually If it is nice enough, I will get one for my game room too.

I'm no expert, but for your budget, i'd plum for a good CRT and not bother with HD until you really have too. You've already bought a cheap flat-panel (probably a LCD at that size) and not liked the results, buy a CRT if your not pushed for 'rear' space, but buy a good name and make sure its got the connectivity you're after. The Sony i bought was an 'ex-rental' model and although it was no more than 12months old, it cost me a 1/5th of it's new price. You can get a lot of TV for your money this way, as long as you don't mind 'used'
 
CAMAROBOY69
I guess I am not exactly sure what I would want. You bring up some great points. I dont plan on setting the tv up for HDTV to watch cable tv. I just want it mainly for DVD movies. I hardly watch cable tv at all.
So is HDTV really what I want or should I go CRT or some other route? :dunce:
Eventually If it is nice enough, I will get one for my game room too.
The TV I linked you to is both a CRT and a HDTV. But, if all you want is to play DVDs, then a non-HDTV set is what you're after. Just make sure it has component inputs for your PS2 and a decent deinterlacer (line doubler).
 
Famine

I use a Hyundai ImageQuest 26" LCD which is HD ready. There's a photograph of it in the UKGTP4 thread in the Online Racing forum, so you can judge for yourself how good it is. Or not. :D
.

I thought it had a good picture, you can get some real stinkers though!

Who's was the LCD used on the 3rd station? - that was great
 
I am going to make this more realistic. If I am going to do this I want to do it right. How about I say anywhere around the $500-$600 range.
I really like the TV Solid Lifters posted above but I cant find that at BEst buy. So I will try to buy something as close to that as possible. I just want a really really good 27" HD ready tv. Solid lifters has been helping a lot via pm. 👍
To make it even easier, I dont want a wide screen tv.
 
After much research I think I am going to try and get something very close to this.
Sony FD Trinitron Wega Hi-Scan KV-27HS420
It was one of the highest on the www.consumerreports.org web site and it seems to be getting extremely high marks everywhere in quality. :)
It has the highest ratings in the 26-28" hdtv list.
 
Here's what I don't get about the tubes.

What are you going to do with it 5 years from now when you want to upgrade? Are you going to put that big honker in your bedroom? Are you going to place that monster in the kitchen?

Get a flat panel, keep your options open.
 
As much as I would like to, there is no way I can afford a flat panel. WAY out of my price range. I do have a flat panel monitor for my PC and love it.
I doubt I will be upgrading for a while. The tv I am replacing is 12 years old so im really not that picky about upgrading. :)
 
Also (correct me if I am wrong) the tube syle HDTVs still have the highest quality which is my main concern.
 
danoff
Here's what I don't get about the tubes.

What are you going to do with it 5 years from now when you want to upgrade? Are you going to put that big honker in your bedroom? Are you going to place that monster in the kitchen?

Get a flat panel, keep your options open.

I've now got a 26" LCD in the bedroom, a 19" TFT and a 15" LCD in the computer room and, of all things, a 36" CRT in the living room.

Want to lift that sucker? Be my guest. It took FOUR of us to carry it from the van to the room.
 
Famine
I've now got a 26" LCD in the bedroom, a 19" TFT and a 15" LCD in the computer room and, of all things, a 36" CRT in the living room.

Want to lift that sucker? Be my guest. It took FOUR of us to carry it from the van to the room.
Our 32inch Sony CRT weighed in at 72kg :nervous: 36inch must be a real back breaker.
Here's what I don't get about the tubes.

What are you going to do with it 5 years from now when you want to upgrade? Are you going to put that big honker in your bedroom? Are you going to place that monster in the kitchen?

Get a flat panel, keep your options open.
Give it to any kids you have :dopey: I'm sure they'll appreciate a widescreen TV even if it is gonna take 2 square metres out of their room.
 
I bought the Sony TV that I listed in post 22. WOW!!!! I played GT4 in 1080i and holy crap I honestly never ever expected to see the graphics look like that. I ended up playing all weeekend long. Just loading every single car to see it like a brand new car all over again. Then I went to every single track. It truly looked like the top of the line PC game but it was a PS2 game. Absolutely mind blowing how incredible the graphics looked. My girlfriend and I sat like this for most of the weekend looking at the new TV. :eek: :eek: :eek:
I dont have HD cable yet but games looked amazing using the component cables. Movies looked really nice but no where near as nice as xbox and PS2 games. Most xbox games are 480i. It is like I am putting in a new game every time I put one in with this new tv. :cheers:
Oh yeah its extremely heavy too. I re-engineered my old entertaniment center. That tv has to be over 100lb. I barely could lift it myself since it didnt have handles.
 
Back