Choosing between 4 HDTVs (1 Viewer)

[Rob_V]

My parents have finally decided to upgrade their 10 year old RCA 27" TV and they've tasked me with researching and choosing between a few replacements they've selected based on price and availability.

I've done what research I can, but I havn't found many reviews online at all, and of the few I've found it really doesn't sound like the people writing the review knew what they were talking about, it was more a "Oooooo, HDTV!" type thing I got from all of them.

The four sets are :

Samsung TXN3071WHF
Philips 46PP9302
RCA D40W20
Toshiba 42H82

They won't be doing anything too special with the set, just watching HDTV from the local cable provider, who's boxes only output 1080i, and watching DVDs.

Could anyone provide any input on these four sets? I'm looking for pros and cons, but mostly cons. For example, I've heard a lot of the Toshiba 41H81 sets had problems where after a few months they would start turning off on their own, and Toshiba offered next to no help regarding the problem ... these are the kind of things I DO NOT want to happen with my parents set, since it would then be my fault for recommending they buy it ...



TIA,

Rob

 

[Rob_V]

Bump.

Come on. Someone must know something about at least one of these sets ...

91 views and no one can give me a single pro or con?

 

[Ed St. Clair]

I can not 'promote' ANY RCA displays.
Lot's of Toshiba fan's here, though!

Do a search, for each of the products too help yourself out!
All the best!

 

[Rob_V]

Well, as I mentioned, I've got a Toshiba myself, and I'm less than impressed with it. I've also read a lot of reviews that complain about how the convergence goes after as little as 12 hours on most of their sets, and the 'touchfocus' just makes things worse ...

This obviously would not be good for my parents, as I wouldn't be going over there weekly to re-converge their set.

It's not *that* bad on my 57xh81, but I would still be happier if I had time to do the convergence at least once every other week, and my parents will not be able to do that.

What about the new Samsung non-projection 1080i displays? Anyone seen any of those? Any pluses or minuses? I would like something I wouldn't have to service everytime I'm there, so I'm almost leaning towards that one, but it seems expensive for only 30".

 

[Bill Will]

The first thing I would find out is do they want a tube set or a RPTV. For more info on brands & models check www.hometheaterspot.com & for reviews on models check www.audioreview.com & www.ecoustics.com If their not in a hurry to get a set I would wait because the new models are just starting to come out.

 

[Christopher Lyn]

If you have not solely made up your mind on the four models, I would suggest you also consider the Hitachi 46F500.

 

[Steve Cross]

I have the Samsung you're lookin at.
you 1st have to take into account that this is the only HD set i've ever owned and i've never used an SM, just Avia to tweak user settlings.

Pros: Great picture, great features; like a 5 band EQ, sound and picture presets (only one custom preset for all inputs ), very good power supply (so far), digital (video) noise reducing, tilt, and many other nice features for the novice like me. oh i almost forgot, the headphone amp might be independent because it it sounds perfect even with 20' of cable


Cons: Only one S-Video input and its or the side where everyone can see all the big clumb-z cables, its not very anti reflecting, as i said above when you set the one customizable channel its for every input (same with sound) (cable, HDtuner, dvd, etc...), you really have to work on the sound to get a decent image, but you have plenty of tools to work with, and the speakers are really decent so...

hope endless chatter helped.

Steve

-P.S. if you have trouble finding reviews for the 3071 try 3075 same set i think other than PIP.