HDTV questions...

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Philly

Philly

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So I have a loose budget of around $700 and looking for an HDTV. The college is on regular cable, but I'll be getting a PS3 to hook up to it, so I'll want it to look nice with HD stuff. I'm also pretty much settled on 32 inches. A couple questions:

  • Resolution: Am I going to lose too much quality buying a 1080p TV over a 720p one in this price range?
  • Refurbished: It looks like refurbished TVs are running $200-300 off list price. Is this a good idea or is that too unreliable?
  • Brands: Anything I should watch out for? I've heard that Samsung, Sony and the Visio line are good.

Oh, and what I've found: 1080p Samsung refurbished, Samsung 720p new and Sony 720p new.
 
Also check Wal*Mart for Vizios. I got my 42" 1080p for under $900. So, you shouod be able to find some smaller models for your price range, but getting 1080p in a 32" is hard to find sometimes.

In fact, a quick search of their site shows that if you are fine with 720p you can get quite a few 32" HDTVs for your price and throw on their two-year extended warranty (which doesn't take effect until the manufacturer warranty runss out) and still keep it in your price.
 
Philly
Resolution: Am I going to lose too much quality buying a 1080p TV over a 720p one in this price range?
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Larger and it'll start to stand out, but not at that size.

A 32" Vizio will set you back $650 (according to their site - it'll be lower in stores, usually). I have this one and as of yet haven't had any problems with it and will be looking at a new Vizio sometime in the not too distant future.

Have a look at this post as I'm too lazy to re-type or copy/paste it. :p

I can't find a price for a Vizio at a Sam's Club in Michigan, but here the 37" is $678.
 
So is paying more going to get me anything? I see there are a couple levels of Samsungs out there. Is there a big difference between them? And am I going to see a difference between that $450 TV and a $800 one once I get it set up?

Oh, and I was planning to buy online.
 
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That's the fun of home theater purchases. More money will almost always get you something better. It's up to you to decide where to draw the line between price and features.

Also, what I might buy for my system, someone like Scaff or Pako (just to name a few) might think is crap and not even give it a second glance. It's all opinions and, once again, only you can make the final call.
 
Philly
Oh, and I was planning to buy online.
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All I can suggest on this is that if you do, make sure you have seen the model in person. You may find the placement of the inputs is weird for your setup or that one brands contrast ratio is different than another's.
 
At 32" you will be lucky to be able to distinguish between 720P and 1080P, the screen size is simply too small for the difference to be easily noticeable. 1080P only starts to become an advantage over 37".

I would personally avoid refurbished models myself, as the quality of the work can be hard to judge (even factory refurbs can vary) and personally I would stick with a good known brand.

One thing I would always strongly recomend is viewing a set with a wide variety of input sources (so Blu-ray, upscalled DVD and a Standard Def TV source), as a lot of HDTV panels look great if fed a HD source, but look very poor with SD.

I would also try and look (even if you intent to buy on-line) in a more specialist retailer, as the settings most big stores use are far from ideal.

Read up on reviews.....

http://www.homecinemachoice.com/reviews_archive

...the above being a good place to start and don't buy in haste. It is after all a lot of money to spend and you have to live with the result every day.


Regards

Scaff
 
Anyone remember when buying a TV used to be about what size and does it have front inputs?
 
Scaff
At 32" you will be lucky to be able to distinguish between 720P and 1080P, the screen size is simply too small for the difference to be easily noticeable. 1080P only starts to become an advantage over 37".
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I really still don't get this... I have a 28' computer monitor and I can tell the difference between the two. Unless I'm experiencing something other than resolution...
 
V1P3R
I really still don't get this... I have a 28' computer monitor and I can tell the difference between the two. Unless I'm experiencing something other than resolution...
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Do you sit less than 3 feet from your TV?
 
It's my computer monitor most of the time, then gaming tv, and finally tv via an external hd tuner box. I'd say I'm about 2 to 2 and a half feet away most of the time.
 
V1P3R
It's my computer monitor most of the time, then gaming tv, and finally tv via an external hd tuner box. I'd say I'm about 2 to 2 and a half feet away most of the time.
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OK, when you aren't using your computer monitor as a TV, and say you are sitting back on a sofa in a living room, are you less than 3 feet away?
 
It's basically my Computer monitor so I'm at my computer desk, I don't have a sofa near it and if I'm about 5ft. or more it gets a bit small for me. My dad's tv is a 60in. so I might be compensating a bit. xD
 
It doesn't seem too bad. I bought a $500 27" LCD (at 720p) a year and a half ago and its still going pretty well. That one was an Insignia (Best Buy's in-house brand), the only issue I've had so far is that the little light in the front that turns blue doesn't go blue anymore.

I don't think you'll need to go too huge or too extravagant for what you'd likely be doing. For that matter, anything between 27-32" would be more than enough to keep you happy and fit your needs, and truth be told, I don't think the 1080p stuff is going to make that huge of a difference.

Shop around, check stuff out. Just remember that what you see in the store may not always be representative of what you'll actually get at home.
 
I bought a 42" Vizio 1080P LCD at Costco for $900, and the quality seems good.

Try to shop through Costco if possible because they have a good return policy and warranty stuffs.

At 32 inches, 720p should be fine. My friend has a 37" 720p and it looks sharp on his PS3.
 

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