[TV] Questions about HDTV's

You're correct. Check Fry's for the best prices. I got my Mitsubishi WS48315 there a month ago and now the price at Best Buy is double what I paid at Fry's. Tremendously awesome picture, too.

 

2 years back I bought a HD ready 47" samsung rear projection at Best Buy for a very nice price (and 0% financing to boot).

It has a been a great set and the picture is as good as any I've seen.

 

If you buy a HDTV, make sure you live in an area that gets quite a few HDTV channels. Otherwise, it will be a waste of money unless you just need a new TV. My dad bought a big screen with HDTV, but our cable provider only has like two HD channels...HBO and something else. HD isn't the reason my dad bought the TV, but it's kinda disappointing to drive a Corvette 55 MPH all the time.

 

5 months ago I bought a 50" Samsung DLP HDTV.

Best purchase I've EVER made in my life!

Watching football on a big screen in HDTV is a life altering experience.

 

Agreed. The Samsung DLP's are amazing. My dad got a 46" "store model" at Best Buy for like 1000 bucks off. Great quality.

 

That's correct. I have a friend that just bought a 42 inch plasma, but it is not HD. I really think that was a stupid purchase, but I think he just wanted to be able to say he had a plama.

I bought a 51 inch Sony rear projection hdtv earlier this year. So far I've been very happy with, but I still haven't splurged and bought the hd package for directv. I got a heck of a deal on it at Conn's, because I took a Frye's ad in there and asked them to price match. What they didn't notice is that the tv Frye's was selling was refurbished.

This is the one I've got: Here

Looks like Circuit City has it on sale for $1,614.00. By getting them to price match I was able to get mine for $1,399.00 .

I have heard really good things about the DLP's as well, I just didn't want to spend that much.

 

i recently bought a Panasonic EDTV (42") from circuit city for about $2400. i did a lot of research (online and at brick-and-mortar stores) for about a month before making my purchase. EDTV can translate an HDTV signal and has almost the same quality resolution. in fact, i watched the EDTV and HDTV versions of the monitor i bought side-by-side for about an hour and could only tell a slight difference. however, the differece in cost was about $2500 for the 42" HD version of the same tv. also in my research, i found out that only about 3 companies manufacture the plasma glass itself (Panasonic and NEC come to mind.) all other plasmas are "rebadges."
i am EXTREMELY pleased with my purchase. football and basketball will never look the same again!
please do as much research online as you can handle before going to a store. here's a nice place to start:
http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/
(also, i got a flat-panel plasma because of space issues in my living room. it's hanging above my mantle and it looks cool even when it's not on .) good luck.

 

i think my bro in law has that one

 

53" HITACHI HDTV monitor. US-Digital (from WalMart) HDTV Receiver using COMPONENT cables from the box.

Can't get 67 (telefutura) correctly, 47 (Telemundo) doesn't have sound. It's OK. The Rockets' game on Saturday will be on 51, but not HDTV.

This past Sunday was the first time my TeXaNs played on Nationally-televised HDTV, and they blew their opportunity to shine. The Indy game better be on WIDESCREEN HDTV.

All Fox 26 games (baseball, Football) are on HDTV WideScreen.
I love all the REGULAR-TV channels broadcasting on HDTV, and some even come in WIDESCREEN. Gotta love REBA on HDTV.
Be careful: HDTV NOT(=) WIdescreen. Can't wait until my ROCKETS' games are on HD WIdescreen. ABC 13 broadcasted their weekend games last season on HDTV widescreen.

check out: http://www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=149477
and http://doug.le.home.comcast.net/

 

how much did you pay for it and where did you purchase it?

 

I have been seeing quite a bit of ads for "HDTV Monitor", what exactly does "monitor" mean? Also is a rear projection a good investment?

 

HDTV Monitor means that it doesnt have an HD Tuner. HDTV Ready means that it does. Typically I feel like you dont need a tuner since you are probably going to get your HD signal via cable or satellite.

There are several types of rear projection. DLP/LCD seems to be your best bet due to quality and longevity for the price.

 

Au, contraire. Or whatever the heck it is in Franch. What do you mean, "typically"?

I don't have cable and can see any HDTV broadcast of the local channels on my HDTV Hitachi. Sons of witches took away my LOCAL broadcasts of the ROX...
This is my TV (not ME selling it, but it's the same model) http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=15079&item=5731012884&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

 

I used to work at a high-end home theater A/V place here in Manhattan. I've installed dozens of plasmas myself. I'm sure technology has jumped a lot since I left a year ago, but here are some general pointers:

First of all, tubes make better pictures than plasma. Tubes make better pictures than just about anything; old technology, but still the best. An HDTV tube will cost way less than an HDTV plasma or LCD and deliver better video. Tubes are harder to find, because panel TVs are the big sellers now. This is not because it has a better picture, it's because of the sex appeal of a wall-mounted flat screen. Spousal Acceptance Factor (SAF) is a big deal in Audio/Video, and the techno-lusting man can often talk his spouse into a big purchase if she thinks it looks good from a design standpoint, fits the decor, etc. Flat panels are a home run on this point.

Most plasmas I've seen look better than most LCDs. However, the industry is going to LCD more and more because it has none of the maintenance issues of plasma- limited half life span of 10-20 years, altitude sensitivity because of gasses used, and the dreaded 'burn'. You can burn a still picture onto a plasma screen if it's left on there long enough.

In my experience with plasmas, you get what you pay for. At my store we sold mostly Fujitsu which is almost as good as it gets, but will cost you an arm and a leg. It costs almost double the competitors, but the picture is almost double the quality, seriously.

Big one here: low-def material looks like SH*T on a high-def plasma. Most broadcast cable channels don't look so hot. VCR tapes look awful. Major point about having access to high-def broadcast or cable if you're going to get one of these. If you're only going to watch low-def broadcast cable on your high-def set, you really are trying to race your Vette on a mud track. You'll get a better picture with a good old heavy as hell big picture tube on the old material. Check what kind of cable channels and sports broadcasts you can watch in hi-def before making the jump.

If you DO have access to high-def broadcasts and sports, it's a religious experience on a high-def set. Seriously. You will totally be spoiled and won't be able to go back. Watching football on high def is absolutely jaw droppingly awesome. DVDs are wonderful too.

If you want the clean sexy wall-mounted look of a flat panel on your wall, you most likely will need pros to do it. You better have some sturdy 2x4's supporting your sheetrock; sheetrock alone is NOT safe for installation. Ideally you'll have a nice big 3/4 inch panel of plywood behind your sheetrock, makes installation a breeze, but yeah that's rare. You'll want someone to channel video wires from the set down to wherever your console with the cable box/tivo/dvd player is. This is going to be extra cost on top of your set- don't forget to figure this labor cost in if this is what you're looking for.

Rear projection DLPs are a great bargain for big pictures. If you want a big picture, this is a vey cost-efficient way to go. The picture won't be as bright and crisp as a plasma or even an LCD, but it will be good. And the set will be nice and light and easy to carry (installers really appreciate this.)

If you want the biggest picture possible with the best definition possible at the best price, front projection LCD is fantastic. These little babies are amazing. We had a tiny little unit last year, about $10K, it could throw a 7 or 8 foot picutre with such incredible detail I couldn't find pixels even with my face right next to the screen. And it was a tiny four pound thing. Nothing like those frikkin rgb three cannon monsters. With LCD it's just point and shoot. But you have to have it in a dark room, draw the curtains. You loose tons of brightness and sharpness if there's a lot of daylight in the room.

If you want bargain plasmas, Gateway and I think now Dell are big players in the mail order biz.

 

I figure that most people go with cable or satellite versus having an antenna to get there HD programming. That is what I mean by typically. If you go through cable or satellite, you dont need the tuner.

 

I bought it at Best Buy.

I pricematched it with a web site, and with the warranty that covers the bulb, it came out to a LOT of money. E-mail me through the board if you want an exact price.

 

Channel 51 has never broadcast in HDTV format. Even if the Rockets were still on 51, you wouldn't see them in HD.

 

I know they don't. I never said they did. What I said was that IF a channel broadcasts their shows on HDTV, I can see them as such without Cable or Satellite. I don't know if you're saying I said that the ROX or 51 were ever on HDTV. But you're right, even when they were on ABC 13, I have not seen a ROX game on HDTV ever.

 

i agree mostly. most plasmas (HD or ED or neither) have multiple input capacity on the back. mine (see above post) has 3 "component" inputs, 1 HDMI input, 3 "video" inputs, and a PC input. conncted to my HD digital cable box i have: one component, one HDMI and one video. i use HDMI on all HD broadcasts. this is the clearest resolution possible (on my EDTV for the HD broadcasts.) i use the component inputs to watch "standard" digital-cable channels. i use the "video" inputs (standard RCA-type) for "analog" channels. these are the best set-ups i've found so far. the HD and digital channels look horrible through the RCA cables. the analog channels look equally lame through HDMI and component set-ups. it's all about maximizing the "current." that being said, i'm no tech expert by any stretch of the imagination. this is based solely on my experience.
also, stay away from Korea; buy Japanese.