Cheapest Plasma/LCD? (1 Viewer)

[Matthew Will]

Hello,

I am in search of the cheapest possible plasma or LCD television. I don't care if it is an off brand, isn't HDTV, etc. I'd like it to be at least 35" but no bigger than 42".

It will be used in a college dorm room primarily for tv and video games. Do plasma's have direct cable inputs? I'm pretty sure they at least have component inputs for the vide game systems.

So far the cheapest price I've found is $1599 or so on ebay for off brand plasma's. Is there any cheaper?

Perhaps LCD is cheaper? Thanks in advance. Matt

 

[Kenneth Harden]

You will be SCREWED if you get the cheapest plasma you can find, trust me!

However, there are lots of good, cheaper ones (people can recomend, I don't know off the top of my head).

 

[Matthew Will]

Screwed how? All I want is a basic flat panel. No bells and whistles. I don't even think my schools cable has any kind of a high definition signal. Need it just for cable, video games, and dvd's played through the video game system.

Matt

 

[Jerome Grate]

Walmart is selling a Hyundai 42 inch plasma screen for $1998.00. Some posts suggest that the cheaper models produce a bad picture, but if you can look at it and compare it to others and live with it, there you go, Walmart is maybe where you want to go.

 

[John S]

Do a search on some Panasonic ED Plasma screens. They have glorious picture and performance.

http://www.pricemad.com/productdetai...productid=3644


Best of luck with your quest....

 

[Dave>h]

A plasma TV for you dorm room?

Am I the only person here that thinks that is just insane?

Spend your money on beer and condoms!! And get out of the dorm room!!

Dave : )

 

[John S]

Yeah.. For a dorm room, I'd probably go with the biggest CRT RPTV I could find cheapo...

But the Plasma will take up very little room, and have a good coolness factor to it. So maybe not so bad.

 

[Matthew Will]

Insane no, but sweet yes. I should have considered a necessity at UConn since there is nothing to do here. I've spent over $2000 on a HD projection system that I can only use when I go home, I figure I might as well get something nice to play with for most of the time when I'm at school.

Besides, this is why I'm a poor college student and have to get $12 handles of vodka. I spend too much money on home theater. Oh and condoms are free at the health center.

So is $1500-2000 the typical price range for a basic plasma of the desired size? Anyone have any prices for cheap models that are used? Whats the blue book value on one of those?

Do plasmas have a cable connection for television or do I absolutely need a tuner to compliment a plasma? Matt

 

[Jerome Grate]

I think most t.v.s, Plasma, DLP, CRT etc.., have tuners and should have a coax connection that would allow you to watch t.v. with a box.

 

[Kenneth Harden]

Screwed because a plasma is a very stressed, complex piece of equiptment and a cheap generic could just die in a few months and you are out $1500, $2000. A name brand (Panasonic or the like) will probably last you for decades.

 

[Matthew Will]

Have a lot of people been coming back with complaints of off brand plasmas dying after a few months?

Typical price of a Panasonic in my desired size of 35-42"? Matt

 

[Tim Markley]

You can buy the Panasonic plasma ED for less than $2k. It's a commercial monitor though and doesn't come with any kind of a tuner or speakers. If you've got a cable box and stereo to hook it up to, then it's not a problem.

I'm not sure if a plasma is your best bet if it's going to be used for a lot of video games. From what I've read (don't have my plasma yet) it's much more susceptible to burn-in.

 

[Earl Simpson]

Just got back from SAMS and saw a Panasonic 50" LCDTV/HDTV for $2200. I almost bought it. Wow! At least I think it was 50"

 

[Scott Dautel]

Norcent 42" Plasma EDTV for $1599 this week at Buy.com
Move quickly .... Expires on 13-Apr-05.

 

[Allan Jayne]

Another problem you might encounter with "cheap" plasmas or LCD's -- Banding or contour-map swirls on what should be a smooth somewhat solid color patch with slightly varying color due to an unusually small number of gray scale steps.

Video hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/video.htm