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HDTV under a grand?

J

john doe 182

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I'm helping a friend of my dad's come into the 21st century. She currently has no computer new enough to have a CDR drive and here TV was made in the 80's. She will soon be getting cable with highspeed and an HDTV. She set the limit at $1000. Longevity is important. Assume this TV will be used for 10 years. The bigger the better but I don't thinka projection TV would be right. What do you guys suggest?
 
1080p is now finally going mainstream. It should drive down the price of 1080i HDTVs by quite a bit.

I suggest DLP.


Personally I am looking at those new LCoS screens, but they are out of the price range you are wanting right now (hopefully smaller ones will be much more affordable).
 
The OP did say under a grand...which rules out any current DLP, but does allow for a pretty pimp CRT.

Given that your user is not what we consider an Image Quality nit picker, I would say that you would be safe with the 34" Sony CRT that retails currently for $899, or if you need to go smaller, there are offerings from Sony at 30" also, and Samsung at 30" and 26"

Personally, I can't reccomend the Samsung 26" model that is out now enough. I have last years model, my friend has this years, and after using both of them extensively, I think they are awesome buys.

The added benefit of the built in HD tuner allows her to use a small antenna to pull in the local stations that probably aren't available in HD over the cable companies service
 
Kahnvex said:
The OP did say under a grand...which rules out any current DLP, but does allow for a pretty pimp CRT.

Given that your user is not what we consider an Image Quality nit picker, I would say that you would be safe with the 34" Sony CRT that retails currently for $899, or if you need to go smaller, there are offerings from Sony at 30" also, and Samsung at 30" and 26"

Personally, I can't reccomend the Samsung 26" model that is out now enough. I have last years model, my friend has this years, and after using both of them extensively, I think they are awesome buys.

The added benefit of the built in HD tuner allows her to use a small antenna to pull in the local stations that probably aren't available in HD over the cable companies service
Click to expand...

Local stations are availible over HD cable, just not usually availible in HD over sattelite (DirecTV).

Plus, unless she wants to invest in a good antennae (extra $100) and mount it outside, and run the cable, picking up OTA HD broadcasts can be problematic.
 
The power behind those stations being broadcast will only increase, making it easier and easier to pick them up as we go forward.

The same can't be said about cable companies re-transmitting local HD channels, so my advice is still valid. A lot of smaller markets don't have the luxury of a full HD channel package that includes local channels in High Def. Yet. I know we don't here in my town, although our issue is a money argument between local affiliates and mediacom more than it is their technical abilitiy to receive and retransmit the signal.

It never hurts to have your options open, and if the signal is strong, any antenna will pick up the station. We used a busted ass 10 year old RCA $20 antenna for a year to pick up out local NBC HD signal.

I also said 'probably' because it didn't say what market they were in, and I was merely listing suggestions that were generally valid, since we didn't get any specifics besides pricing.
 
I'm in St Louis, MO and she wouldn't mind a large CRT. The more suggestions the better so keep 'um coming.
 
if has to last 10years forget any tech besides CRT, dlp=light bulb replacements. Id suggest the largest CRT(widescreen) you can afford, just make sure it has HDMI with HDCP support and its future proof
 
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=6494153&type=product&id=1077628885976
Sony 34" Older model, HDMI, no built in tuner
This would be my reccomendation, although I have seen it lower, and I don't know why it's that high a price right now

This is another reccomendation
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...t&productCategoryId=cat03002&id=1099396990967
Samsung 30" Newer model, HDMI, Built in Tuner

Check with your cable provider in St Louie to see what type of packages they offer in HD, ask if local channels are IN HD on the cable service. If they aren't or there isn't an HD network channel available, I still reccomend getting a tuner. Almost all of NBC's lineup is in HD as well as Lost and a lot of your other prime time high-potential viewer type of shows. It's really cool if you can get it.

Doing a lookup on antennaweb with a St Louis zip it lists all of your major networks as available digitally with a small antenna, so you might be in business with that. That website isn't always 100% though, so I take it with a grain of salt.
 
Kahnvex said:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=6494153&type=product&id=1077628885976
Sony 34" Older model, HDMI, no built in tuner
This would be my reccomendation, although I have seen it lower, and I don't know why it's that high a price right now

This is another reccomendation
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...t&productCategoryId=cat03002&id=1099396990967
Samsung 30" Newer model, HDMI, Built in Tuner

Check with your cable provider in St Louie to see what type of packages they offer in HD, ask if local channels are IN HD on the cable service. If they aren't or there isn't an HD network channel available, I still reccomend getting a tuner. Almost all of NBC's lineup is in HD as well as Lost and a lot of your other prime time high-potential viewer type of shows. It's really cool if you can get it.

Doing a lookup on antennaweb with a St Louis zip it lists all of your major networks as available digitally with a small antenna, so you might be in business with that. That website isn't always 100% though, so I take it with a grain of salt.
Click to expand...
both dont have high-bandwidth digital-content protection so the hdmi port will be useless when you want to watch HD movies
 
from their description
"HDMI input provides an uncompressed all-digital audio/video link for the highest-quality connection, and supports copy-protected HD broadcast content"

I believe when you go into the store, it lists HDCP on the tag, but for some reason, Sony's website lists the TV as having only a DVI port, which I personally know to be wrong.

I'll leave that one to the ether.

The samsung description says the same thing, so, your guess is as good as mine. I was under the impression that all HDMI connections were HDCP, and that was why it wasn't really listed anymore.

(shrugs)
 
I have the Samsung 26'' HDTV , and I must say, I love it. I've connected my computer to it through DVI and games have never looked better. Gran Turismo 4 at 1080i is really nice at that resolution too. To top it off, I got it for $480CDN!! Brand new, with warranty and everything. I highly recommend this tv, or even the 30'', that goes for $660CDN last I saw. Awesome tv's.
 
i dunno, i love sammys but they have big overscan issues on 1080i that you need to fix in the service menu
 
http://www.outlet.philips.com

Simple as that. Killer deals on refurbished HDTVs, I got a 30 inch Widescreen HDTV, with 480p/720p/1080i support, and HDMI inputs for 600 dollars shipped to my house directly. Free shipping on all televisions. Don't let the fact that it's refubished scare you. It's actually a great idea to get an item refurbished because whatever was wrong with it when it was returned has been fixed, so you actually have it working better than out of the box. The television came quickly and the delivery man was very friendly and brought it up 3 flights of stairs for me. And the telelvision is amazing. Video quality is so gorgeous it will bring you to tears. Get a nice dvd player with HDMI output and you will be set.
 
I have used multiple Philips TVs that accepted 1080i over component jacks... The only sets I can recall that didn't accept 1080i over component were some older Zenith 4:3 HDTV tubes.. they had one set of component that was 480i/480p only, and one that was 1080i only.

St. Louis is a pretty big city, I would be very surprised if they didn't offer all the local channels in HD. I live in the philly broadcast market, and we have had all the local channels broadcast in HD over cable for at least 2 and half years already.
 
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