Best 27 inch or under, TV for 600 or less (1 Viewer)

Okay i am on sort of a budget here, but i think i could swing about 600 bucks. I am in a dorm so space is a concern, i would love to get a nice 36 incher but it would just be too cramped, plus i don't want to have to carry around all that weight ever year or so. So i think i will be pushing it with 27 as it is.

I have been looking into the flat screens buy Toshiba, Sony JVC and some other house brands. I haven't really heard anything good or bad about either one, so i am basing my optinion on picture quality and teh Sony seems really nice same with the Toshiba. But with all products there are those unseen problems, horrible life span, loss of color acturacy.

So what would you guy recomend for a semi poor college kid thats no bigger then 27"

I will mainly be using this for HT, and general TV, PS2.

For a direct view set, nothing beats a sony.

Hands down the best quality, construction, and value.

You can easily get a 27" sony Wega for about $400-$500 (maybe less).

I had one during my university years, but since I've moved back home I've gone to a bigger RPTV.

Allen,

I am in the same situation. ~$600 budget. Debating between a 32" and a 27" Sony Wega. Leaning towards the 27" tube though sicne 32" is going to cost me at least an additional $300 on top of the cost of the TV.

The Sony is your best bet I think.

I would argue than sony is garbage compared to a JVC or toshiba. Both have much better colour accuracy.

You are entitled to your own opinion Jonathan,

if you think sony is garbage compared with JVC or Toshiba then that's fine.

Try openning up a sony 27" Wega and then open up a comparable JVC model. You'll easily see that the components are much more robust (larger, heavier) and well build on the Sony model. This is a FACT - not opinion.

Picture quality wise everyone has their own tastes so you can't really argue that area. But build quality and component quality cannot be denied.

I would check for back threads on these different tv sets and see what kind of problems members have experienced with each brand. I personally like Toshiba mainly because of the great color, but I have seen some Sonys that had fantastic looking color too. I think some sets are just calibrated better than others from the factory. Let us know what you decide on.

i have to disagree with Luke on some parts...while Sony does make some very good tv's, i think their value is on the weak side, i think that panny taus at roughly 60% of the price of a sony are a much better buy....if you are on a tight budget, i would stay away from sonys...

having said that...

i would look for a samsung 27" 1080i tv's for around $600, if you can find a place with last year's model, you should be able to do it...

with dvd's this will beat any SDTV out there...

Rich

First off all, I completely disagree with you, Luke. When I went shopping for my TV I looked at 27" flatscreen models from all of the major manufacturers. The TAU, and The Toshiba were ruled out early on because they did not have a 16:9 mode. SO it came down to the Sony KV27FS100 and the JVC 27FA44. As far as I am concerned both TV's had identical build quality, I really don't see how you can say otherwise. In addition, the JVC had better colour (when in theatre pro mode) than the sony, almost on a par with Toshiba.

With Sony, you pay for the name. Nothing more. That extra 100-200 dollars pays for Sony's massive marketing budget, and that really is a fact. I agree with Rich, Sony's are decent, but not a great value.

I also agree about the Samsung HDTV idea, I really wanted one but the model Future SHop had was cheap for an HDTV, but still twice as much as my budget. I don't think I will buy another TV until LCD's come down to earth.

Jonathan: Why are you contradicting yourself now:

"I agree with Rich, Sony's are decent, but not a great value."

before:

"sony is garbage compared to a JVC or toshiba. Both have much better colour accuracy."

First it's GARBAGE and now it's decent???


Everyone will have their opinons, I respect that.

I'm only commenting on the build quality and components within the TV because I've had the opportunity to see them first hand.

The yoke on the sony's are clearly larger, heavier and more robust.

No matter what TV you choose all the major names will make "good" sets, but in my experiance the sonys have been better. My father has a 16 yr old projection Sony TV in the basement and it still runs perfectly. I had a 20" Sony Trinitron which I used for over 10 years and sold it (still running perfect at the time I sold it) because I purchased a 27" Wega .

I had the 27" Wega during my university years (used it for about 3 years) and now it's in my sister's room. I've gone for a 51" Toshiba Cinema Series now.

So as you can see, I've had good first hand experiances with Sony. I wouldn't buy their RPTVs though because of many known issues but I think their direct view sets, from their entry Wegas to their XBRs, are all extremely good sets.

We're not looking a playstations here.

Just sony direct view sets.

Notice how I even said I probably wouldn't purchase a sony RPTV. I'm saying sony makes very good DIRECT VIEW TVs. I could care less about their PS2, camcorders, mp3 players, etc....

"Sony offers much, much less for the same price, and all indications are a much higher failure rate. "

Offers much less???
When the yoke is almost double the size I don't see that as much less, it seems like A LOT MORE.

"All indications are a much higher failure rate."

What indications are you going by???????
I've shown by firsthand examples that sonys are reliable and last.

ill say i have never had a tv fail on me or any of my family...

that includes
panny
toshiba
sony
quasar
rca

Rich

After reading this whole thread, I have to add something here. The ONLY TV set I had fail on me in the last 10 years was a Sony. I had a 19" Toshiba Black Stripe that is over 20 years old and it it still going strong at my sister's house. I had a 21" Hitachi set that I gave to my brother's mother in-law that is still going strong despite its being bought in 1986. I have since bought 2 Panasonic TV's, non-TAU sets, that are excellent, but only time will tell how long they will "live." I normally tend to shy away from Sony products simply because of the cost. Sony products, of any type, as far as I have seen, are almost always higher priced than their other name brand counterparts. I work in the IT field and Sony VAIO computers are always more expensive than other brands, Dell, Gateway, eMachines, etc. In the IT field, it is pretty much common knowledge that PCs almost always use similar components. This leads me to believe that with Sony products, you pay partly for the name. That is probably the case with TVs as well. I am not saying that Sony makes products inferior or superior to other brands, I am only saying that if you buy Sony, you pay partly for the name. Isn't that what Bose does, sell their name mostly? If I wasn't a memeber of this HTF community, I would think that Bose was a premium brand heads above the others simply because of their advertising campaigns. A case in point would be that my nephew bought an APEX DVD player at the same time my sister bought a JVC DVD player, about 2 years ago. The JVC died about 6 months ago, the APEX is still working fine. This sounds so similar to Ford vs. Chevy discussion. In the end, I believe that most brands of electronics are pretty equal, however, some brands are thought to be more "premium" than others simply because of their name and advertising budgets.

Back on topic, I can't speak to the quality, but there's a very inexpensive 1080i 27" set on sale at Best Buy this week from (of all companies) Advent. I have no idea about the quality, but at $470, it's about the cheapest hdtv monitor I've seen around,that fits the space you're looking for (unless I'm totally missing something).

I'd post a link from their website, but HTF forbids. Just look at their 21" - 29" Televisions link on their TV page. It's model #HT2751A.

comparing sony with bose, is a bit, harsh...

sony does make some fine products, some of their tv's are among the very best, they may be expensive, but among the very best...

has any knowledgeable person ever said that bose was among the best...

if someone compared me to bose, i would have to compare them to....to....to....a yugo or something...i dont know...maybe a tv evangelist...

ooooppphhhhh

that was hitting below the belt....

Rich

Poor college kid might be stretching it...

I dont know of too many poor college kids that can afford a $600 tv...

A truly poor college kid has some cheap 13in portable at most or no tv at all... Personally, I would never want to live in a dorm... But, if I did I dont think I would bring expensive things like that with me... If they got stolen (A huge possibility in that life style) I would die... My wallet still cries from the 10 or so times money was removed from it...

Then again, who knows if you live in a dorm? You might be lucky and live somewhere else...

well seeing that i have over 3 grand tied up in my computer and over 2 grand tied up in my sound system, and about 500 bucks in DVDs, links bellow, i am not your typical dorm dweller, i have saved most of my cash, i haven't blown (all of) it on booze and other crap that college kids do, I am just looking into the future. seeing that i looking to make this purchase around xmas at the earliest i just want to do some research.

As for the Sony reputation thing, thats what i have been hearing from other people i talk to. but in general i would not be afraid of buying one.

Another one to through up in the air, Zenith, my rents have an old (92) 27 inch that is amazing for the age, the picture is still crisp, it has full AV in and out with S video, granted its about more then 10 years old and we have had to fix the audio a few times but its still a rock solid set IMO, i am wondering what people have heard of their current line?

The C27V36 looks like a steel at that price, and seeing that it has DVI input that would kick butt having my computer hooked up too it, get nice HDTV quality.

What have you guys heard of this one?

BTW sorry for not checking back till now.

doesnt look bad, and the dvi is good...

if its 649 at CC, you can probably do better at other places...

Rich

Does any one have an the Advent 27" HDTV that was mwntioned above? I was thinking about buying it because it is less than $500, but I can't really find any info or reviews on it.