Matt Lucas

Need advice on buying new TV

Hello all---

Our bedroom TV went out, so I'm looking to replace it. It's been a few years since I've shopped for a new TV, so I'm not really current on what to avoid, etc. I'm looking for something like:

-32" or less
-prefer widescreen, but not required
-prefer hi-def ready
-prefer [hope!] to spend less than $1,000

I know that probably doesn't leave a lot to consider, but I'm open to anything at this point. I noticed in this week's ads that there is a 30" WS Philips on sale for about $800 and a Sony 30" WS for about $1000.

Are the smaller Philips and Sony models any good? [The TV we're replacing is a Sony that died all too young, so I'm not exactly high on them right now...!]

mattl

Johnny_M

well i have a 27"sony wega and i hate this tv. its about to join faite of your tv i think. i am sure this is up for debate, but i have not been impressed with sony products for several years.

ive heard good things about philips, but have never owned one. i'm a huge fan of Samsung Tvs right now. Best buy has a good price on 26", WS flat tube tv, with HD tuner built in.


Samsung

Johnny

Gary SI

Hi Matt,
Sony KV30HS420, Just your basic 16X9 tube TV , no pip or HD tuner , but compatible, and it does have a ton of inputs including HMDI.
So far that seems to be the best under 1K TV.
Check it out at > sonystyle.com
MSRP. $999.95
Best of Luck
Gary

Bill Will

You might want to take a look at the Sanyo 30" Wide-Screen or 32" 4:3 that Wal-Mart has for $747 Both have HDMI Inputs, a Built-In HDTV Tuner & P-I-P & they have gotten some pretty good reviews at www.avsforum.com (Last Time I Checked The Review Was Over 25 Pages Long) Check www.sanyo.com for the full specs. & you can also download the Owners Manual.

BrionL

Seriously consider buying a Sony. They make pretty good equipment.

Brion

Steven_Jobe

Sony's are great, Phillips are great(were Magnavox TV's before and are just fine), Zenith's are great, Samsungs CAN be great but have had alot of bad consumer reviews(Only seen it on their 4:3 27 and 32 inch TV's so unsure of 16:9's) and Sanyo's are all great. Just do some basic research. Check out consumer reviews from the TV's offered at Circuit City .com(can't post urls yet sorry) and look around for other reviews. Basically you can't go wrong with any of them as they are all well built TV's and should give you outstanding performance. For a little less money you can go with the 26" Samsung widescreen which has great reviews. Also consider which type of broadcasting you watch most. Do you watch widescreen movies and HDTV broadcasts more or normal signals the most? I watch the latter so I purchased a 4:3 TV(also 'cause I have a dedicated HT) but you lose so much more screen space from the bars on the side of 16:9 tvs that you do on the top and bottom bars of 4:3 tvs. Consider which you watch the most and which suits you best. I'd prefer the bars on the 4:3 tvs myself so that's what I bought.

Iver

I would also suggest you look at that Sony (30HS420). Sony has a pretty good track record on features and design. AFAIK, they're okay on reliability but, unfortunately, Sony only gives full warranty coverage (including labor) for 90 days.

Toshiba is bringing out a new 30-inch widescreen that's going to list for about a hundred less than the HS420. I would check that one out also. The Toshibas carry a full one-year warranty.

Whatever you get, a digital video connection (DVI or HDMI) is a good feature to have. Some of the TV's in this price range just have the component analog HD inputs, though they also usually sell for a bit less (like the Samsung TXN3075).

If you're just going to use an OTA STB, the digital connection wouldn't be that important (except in terms of a possible difference in image quality, but DVI would not likely be that different from the component analog connection on a 30-inch CRT direct-view).

It's possible that in the future some high-def source devices may only output HD through a digital connection, because of the capability of employing copy protection with these connections. That's why a DVI connection is a good idea.

Steven_Jobe

Toshiba's are also great TV's, my father has a 36" HD model and I'd put it up against any other HDTV.

Matt Lucas

Thanks a lot for all of the great input. I checked Consumer Reports and was surprised to find that Sanyo gets the best overall rating in terms of the percentage of repairs and serious problems. I'd have never expected them to be at the better end of that list!

I actually considered getting the Sanyo 30" widescreen at Wal-Mart, because it seems to be a lot of TV for the price and it's received favorable reviews. However, it's a half-inch [no kidding] too wide for our TV slot in the bedroom. Argh.

mattl

Matt Lucas

Thanks a lot for all of the great input. I checked Consumer Reports and was surprised to find that Sanyo gets the best overall rating in terms of the percentage of repairs and serious problems. I'd have never expected them to be at the better end of that list!

I actually considered getting the Sanyo 30" widescreen at Wal-Mart, because it seems to be a lot of TV for the price and it's received favorable reviews. However, it's a half-inch [no kidding] too wide for our TV slot in the bedroom. Argh.

mattl