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I think it's time to replace my television. What would best meet my needs?

post #1 of 9
9/5/09 at 1:13pm
Thread Starter 
Hello everyone,

I have been using the same Gold Star color CRT for 24 years now (which must be some kind of record.)  The picture has started to randomly stretch vertically.  Given its age, I've decided it's not worth repairing again.

So now I need to figure out what to replace it with. 

First of all, I'm not looking to replace my home entertainment center right now, so the new set needs to fit in a 28" x 25" opening.  I think that means I need to get a 26" screen. 

I will be sitting about 9 feet away from the screen. 

I do have digital cable, but not HD.  I do not have a Blu-Ray player yet, but I do have a Philips region-free player, a Samsung DVD/VCR combo, and a stereo to run the sound into. 

I have an extensive library of SD DVDs.

I watch a lot of material in Academy ratio (1.33:1), both movies and TV shows, which will be either film or video-based.  I want a monitor that will be able to have film look like film and video look like video.  From my reading, it sounds like I will need a monitor that will allow me to turn off any sort of enhanced settings to get the look I want. 

I am not a gamer, so the monitor does not have to meet those needs.

Any recommendations?

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post #2 of 9
9/5/09 at 1:27pm
No real suggestion here. I'm not familiar enough with screens that size. But, sitting 9 ft. away, is an awfully far distance, for a 26" screen.
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post #3 of 9
9/5/09 at 1:48pm
Honestly, under those circumstances, I'd recommend browsing through craigslist and finding a decent used 24-27" standard definition CRT to tide you over until you feel the need to get a large HD set.
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post #4 of 9
9/5/09 at 1:49pm
Find another CRT, used.
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post #5 of 9
9/5/09 at 3:19pm
New 20" and 27" tube sets are still around as House Brands. They may not be always on display but there still are some. (but rapidly becoming scarce) I saw a 20" at WalMart for about $135 and the 27" around $200. They will have a digital tuner but still be 4:3 CRTs.
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post #6 of 9
9/5/09 at 4:26pm
Tim:  is that 28" wide by 25" tall? 

WalMart/Sam's Club has been selling flat panel sets in the 20" to 26" diagonal size for only about $200-$350, and they include an ATSC tuner and an HDMI interface.  At that price, why go search for an old tube set?  But of course at this size you can live with 720P rather than pay more for 1080P.

As an example, http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?dest=5&item=407759&pCatg=13309  It has all the inputs you need.

Tim: would you like to watch any OTA TV at all?  The NTSC analog tuners in the old sets won't do you much good these days.
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post #7 of 9
9/5/09 at 8:00pm
Thread Starter 
Yes, Dennis, that space is 28" wide by 25" tall. 

Which is why I was asking about sets in the range you're talking about.

Since I have digital cable, OTA TV isn't an issue at all. 

The thing I'm concerned about is getting a set that will display my DVDs properly. Especially my Doctor Who DVDs.  That's a major criteria in whatever I choose.

Now, if the entertainment center wasn't a problem, what would be an appropriately sized TV for the 9 foot distance I'm sitting from it? 
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post #8 of 9
9/6/09 at 1:21am
I like about half the distance, so 54" +/-.  Anywhere from 50"-58" depending on budget limitations.
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post #9 of 9
9/6/09 at 8:16pm


Quote:
Originally Posted by Tim Tucker View Post

Since I have digital cable, OTA TV isn't an issue at all. 


It may not matter now, but if you're gonna buy something new, you might consider the fact that this new TV's gonna last a long time and could easily go into your bedroom or somewhere else in the house later after you upgrade to a larger display for the main viewing room.

Also, maybe you'll some day decide you don't want to keep paying $$$ to the cable company (or wish to enjoy the free network stuff in higher quality).  FWIW, if you stop paying for cable service, you might easily buy a new entertainment center to accommodate a much bigger/better display too.  

For us, we own more than enough DVDs and BDs to not also need/want to spend loads of time watching all sorts extra, lower quality stuff on digital cable/sat service.  Also, depending on your exact situation, you might find that you can pull more digital broadcasts w/ a modern OTA tuner (built into a new TV) than you ever could (in acceptable quality) back in the analog OTA days -- of course, this will certainly vary according to individual location, etc.  For us, even w/out cable/sat, we now have 2 dedicated fulltime kids digital OTA channels between PBS and Qubo that air kids shows (w/ maybe 80% cartoons) on top of the regular PBS channel -- and that covers a lot of the need/wants for us as far as network TV programming goes.  Sure, it'd be nice to get stuff like Discovery HD, etc., but I'm fine w/ just buying the best such programs on DVD/BD instead.  And of course, there's the internet and whatever multimedia edutainment content for PCs, etc. on overload nowadays, so there's far less need for that kind of content on TV.  But that would be part of our consideration for whether to bother or not w/ cable/sat service.
 

The thing I'm concerned about is getting a set that will display my DVDs properly. Especially my Doctor Who DVDs.  That's a major criteria in whatever I choose.


Beyond what's already said, I'd recommend seeing how they look on the sets for yourself -- although this is not as easy as we sometimes make it sound.  What exactly does "properly" mean to you though?  What kind of lighting environment will you be in?  Brightly lit room?
 

Now, if the entertainment center wasn't a problem, what would be an appropriately sized TV for the 9 foot distance I'm sitting from it? 

That may depend on how much SD vs HD content you'll be watching and what kind of quality expectation you have, especially for the old SD stuff.

For HD, I'd go for 60"-plus -- we have a 61" DLP RPTV and watch it from ~9ft away (eyes-to-screen) for a view comparable to being in the rear ~1/3-to-1/4 section of a decently set up theater.

For SD of rather old content, 60"-plus will likely look like crap to you, especially if you're not used to that size from that distance.  Even the best SD DVDs will look a bit soft though they can still have a film-like appearance to a good extent, eg. the Star Wars OT DVDs and Lord of the Rings EE DVDs still look pretty good at that size, but definitely much softer than you're probably used to seeing.  Most folks moving up that much in screen size will find the image way soft -- and also revealing (and sometimes exaggerating) all sorts of artifacts that used to be hidden by their former much-smaller display.

If you need something that yields a good compromise, especially if you don't plan to watch lots of HD content anytime soon, and also don't need a size that comes close to a real theater experience, you might be better off going for something in the 40-45" range instead (at least until you're ready for something much bigger and will have lots of HD content to watch).  Not sure what your current TV size is, but sounds like jumping to say 45" would already be a pretty sizeable jump.  And if/when you decide to go bigger again, that 40-45" display may well still fit fine elsewhere in the house.

You might also want to consider that whatever you buy now may continue to be the main display for the old 4x3 SD content if/after you upgrade later too since most of that stuff (at least the video-based stuff) will probably never look good on a big screen -- well, maybe someday, it'll be easy enough to just display them in a reasonable windowbox mode rather than enlarge to full height (as is typically done) so that  all the PQ deficiencies of the old content will remain more or less hidden.

_Man_

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