Chris V

Best Flat Screen Under $450?

So my parents old Samsung TV petered out last night. I heard a strange noise and went in the living room, and the thing was smoking. Ugh. So we went off to Best Buy, Circuit City, Sams Club, and Wal-Mart today. They are not looking for super high end, but decent quality. They will be watching mostly broadcast TV, from regular (not digital) cable. Digital is a possibility in the future though.

We looked at everything from $350 all the way up to $600. Their taste is somewhere in the middle, and my Dad wants to spend as little as possible. I think I may be able to convince him to go somewhere around $350, maybe $400. What do you recommend in this price range? We are interested in Flat-Screen CRTs only.

I did see a 30-in wide screen today at Sams Club. It was like $398. Made by Akai. I have seen some old audio equipment that they made a long time ago. A reel-to-reel if I remember correctly. Anyone heard about this unit? It seemed a little cheaply made to me. Also, it had a 2 line digi-comb filter, instead of a 3 line. How big of a difference is this?

Karl_Luph

Chris V, I'm no tv expert but I can make a couple of suggestions. Alot of members here have gotten the Samsung 27" flat screens and love them. The same tv is sold under a different name at Sam's I believe and it's about a hundred dollars cheaper. Another tv I can personally recommend is the Toshiba 27" flat screen. All these sets price range is in the $300.00 to $400.00 plus tax. About the 2 or 3 line comb filter,from what I've read, you won't see much difference between the two on tvs this size and under. It's much more noticable on tvs 30" and up. I hope this helps sir.

Chris V

Hey thanks for the help. I didn't think that the difference between those 2 filters would make much difference. There are just so many choices, and I want to help them make the best decision.

Chris

Rus Bowisc

I just bought at Sharp 32" (Model: 32F631) for $550 from Best Buy.

It has component video, 3-line comb filtering, also has "vertical compression", temperature adjustment... flat screen too. Nice set for the money.

Just another option.

Good luck!

Rus

My 5.1 Home Theatre

Karl_Luph

That 32" flat screen Sharp looked the best to me too compared to all the other brands in that size at BB.

Patrick Taylor

I had last years Sharp 32" model flat-screen. I took it back because of bad convergence. You could not even read any small white type on the screen from sources like a THX Optimizer section found on some DVD's. The picture has very "sharp" even with sharpness turned all the way down. Even the tech I had out to my house would not fix it. Told me to take the TV back if I could. I was going to give the new model a try but I am hesitant. I have not read any reviews so I don't know if this has been fixed or not. I know mine was not just a isolated incident.

PAT

Chris V

Thanks for the replies...

We bought a 27in. Panny CT-27SC13. And we are taking it back tonight. We pulled the thing out of the box, placed it in the entertainment center, and fired it up only to find that the CRT had been affected by a magnet somewhere along the line. While testing the set out with a couple of DVD's using component video, I noticed some discoloration in the upper-left hand corner of the screen. Who knows, maybe they had the thing stored in the back beside a huge transformer or something. But anyway, it is going back.

Other than that, the picture is great. I guess I am a little biased, as this is the first time I have had a TV in my home with component video. What a difference! Now to decide if we should go with another brand.......