Replacing a janky old TV...any recommendations?

About a year and a half ago, I moved into my apartment. My housemates had been living there for a while...with a VERY janky TV. When I say janky, I mean they got it from someone on Craigslist and it has this horrible buzz which gives me a headache any time it's on. In any case, one of my housemates is moving to grad school and is taking the TV with him (I don't think he can hear the buzzing). Good riddance, right?

That means my other housemate and I need to replace it. I'm quite new to home theater, but I think it's time to upgrade to something that doesn't make my head hurt.

The one we're replacing was a 32 inch CRT I believe (4:3 aspect ratio). Our TV stand is probably about 2.5 feet wide and our couches are maybe 7 feet or so away from the TV. We've got a basic DVD player and VCR so we probably don't need a TV-DVD combo. Any suggestions? Ideally we'd probably spend less than $500 on it.

Re: Replacing a janky old TV...any recommendations?

They key here is the screen size. The problem with comparing the diagonal measurement of a 4:3 TV to a 16:9 one is that you are almost literally comparing apples to oranges - the different screen shapes mean that the diagonal numbers can't really be compared in any meaningful way. The important stat, for you, is screen height. You probably don't want your new TV to measure much less from the top of the picture to the bottom than your current set. If it does, you'll notice the "loss" on 4:3 material, even though you'll see a bigger image when watching widescreen stuff.

A 32" 4:3 set has a screen height of a fraction under 20". (19.2308" to be exact.) To match that in a 16:9 set you'd need a roughly 40" diagonal screen. Unfortunately a decent 40" LCD TV would probably set you back between $650 to $700. To stay closer to your budget you'll need to trade size for price, and drop down a bit to a 37" LCD. (Which still has a height of 18.1233".) You should be able to get a decent set for around $500-$550, maybe a bit less with a decent sale. This won't be a top-of-the-line brand, but I've had very good luck with Westinghouse, which some consider an "off" brand, and I hear good things about Vizio and LG. Go for a 720p (at your screen size and seating distance you wouldn't see much difference between that and 1080p even with actual HD sources like cable or satellite.)

Hope this helps,

Joe

Re: Replacing a janky old TV...any recommendations?

Thanks for the great advice! We've been taking a bit of extra time to look around as our housemate hasn't actually taken the old TV away yet.

Any thoughts on the Vizio 37" LCD 720p VS370E (VIZIO I've also kind of been leaning toward their Energy Star certified TVs. One is 37" (VIZIO) and the other is 32" (VIZIO. The 37" is being carried at Wal-Mart for $597 it looks like...and the 32" is coming in at $398.

I'm definitely not married to any of those but I do like the idea of having a slightly more energy efficient TV. It looks like LG has a few Energy Star TVs but those are 32" and smaller. Philips, Magnavox, Sanyo, and a few others have some Energy Star certified ones too. But truthfully, I don't know too much about their TV reputations.

Re: Replacing a janky old TV...any recommendations?

In that size and price range, my experience is limited to the Westinghouse line, which, as I mentioned, I've had good luck with. (I have a 32" set and used to have a 27". I bought my mom a 32" for her birthday a couple of years back when her 46" RCA rear projection TV [RPTV] finally gave up the ghost.)

If you do a search on "Vizio", especially in the "Display Devices" forum, I'm sure you'll find a lot of threads discussing the brand, both pro and con. (In fact, I'm pretty sure there is a current "What do you think of Vizio?" thread on the front page of that forum now.)

As for Engery Star - I don't think there are any current models that don't qualify, especially among LCDs, which don't consume much power compared to CRTs anyway. Just because an ad doesn't tout Energy Start compliance, doesn't mean the TV lacks it. They may just be pushing other features or buzzwords. (And at this point Energy Star is as much a marketing term as anything else, since most modern appliance meet the standard just in the nature of things.)

CNET offers this handy chart of compartive power consumption among many makes and models, and all three major technologies (LCD, plasma and DLP/LCD/LCoS RPTV.) You can sort on any of the columns, which makes it easier to do a real apples-to-apples comparison. It even include estimate annual cost to operate. (Although this has to be a wild-a** guess, because power rates vary so much across the country. Still, it is useful for comparison purposes, much like MPG numbers for cars. They may all be nonsense, but they're all the same kind of nonsense, so car 1 may never get the promised 38 MPG highway, it will certainly get better mileage than the car that only claims to get 30 MPG. )

Of the brands you mention, the only one I've really watched recently was Sanyo and that looked very good. My cousin recently bought a 42" Samsung and that works very well, especially after I calibrated it for him with Digital Video Essentials, disc that guides you through properly setting the user-controls on your set. (Most TVs ship from the factory wit contrast, brightness, "sharpness", etc. turned up high to make them look better on the showroom floor. These setting never produce an accurate reproduction of the broadcast signal and can actually make a signal look worse than it should. This is especially true when you're watching a standard-def TV signal on an HDTV. So plan on buying or renting a copy of DVE, Avia II: Guide to Home Theater or similar DVD set up disc when you get the new TV.)

Happy shopping,

Joe

Re: Replacing a janky old TV...any recommendations?

Yeah, I'm sure you're right about the "Eco" advertising stuff. I did look at the list of TVs that are Energy Star qualified on the Energy Star website and there are only 335 listed and it looks like they'll be releasing new criteria for certification to go into effect on September 1, 2010.

Big thanks for the CNET power consumption chart! You're probably right on the estimates for annual cost but it's pretty wild to see some TVs costing $180 and others closer to $20. Of course, that varies a lot depending on the size....you're obviously going to pay more to run a 65" TV than a 32" just like you're going to use way more gas driving a Hummer than a Honda Civic.

Vizio is one of those companies with other TVs that are qualified but they really pump the advertising on their two "Eco" TVs and I'm sure bump up the price accordingly. But it does look like a lot of folks in the Vizio Owners How Do You Like Your LCD thread have pretty good things to say.

Thanks for all the advice. And it looks like Netflix had the Avia II: Guide to Home Theater so I'll definitely put that at the top of my queue when the time comes.

Re: Replacing a janky old TV...any recommendations?

You're very welcome. That's one of the things this forum - and especially the "Basics" area - is here for, answering questions and helping giving people the benefit of the members experience (which a nice way of referring to all the mistakes we made getting into this hobby that you now don't have to. )

Regards,

Joe