Help finding CRT, Flat Screen, HDTV-Ready, 36" or above (1 Viewer)

[Shana]

My mom is looking for a new TV for a large living area. She does not want RPTV or widescreen so she is pretty limited on size. She needs at least a 36".

Her room has a lot of light so she needs a flat screen, preferably 16:9, PIP, all the usual bells and whistles. She will most likely be using cable (no box, probaby non-digital) or DirecTv if I can talk her into it. She probably will want to spend around $2k.

Any recommendations will be very welcome! I'm still a novice to home theater but learning!

Thanks,
Shana

 

[Jack Briggs]

The Sony WEGA XBRs and HS-series models offer the advantage of a native 4:3 screen along with 16:9 raster-compression capabilities.

 

[Shana]

Can you tell me what the difference is between the XBR and the HS?

Thanks

 

[Shana]

Looking at 40XBR700/800, 36XBR800, does anyone have any knowledge of these?

The 36FV300 has 16:9 but is not HDTV Ready. Can someone please explain what the difference is?

Thanks and Merry Christmas,
Shana

 

[TimTurtino]

The FV will show all the lines from a normal DVD (around 480). It will not show all the lines available from HDTV (around 1000). Furthermore, even if the DVD is a widescreen
(say 1.85:1) DVD, you'll _still_ get all those lines (albeit crammed into a smaller space), rather than using something like a third of your set's lines to display darkness. This means that that "anamorphically enhanced" (or "enhanced for widescreen TVs") DVDs will look sharper and clearer on the FV than they would on a normal analog TV.

HDTV is a relatively new standard that allows digital TV to be broadcast in a resolution that is (depending on how you measure) 3-7 times sharper than "regular old analog TV".

If you buy the FV, then DVDs will look awesome, but, in the future, when more and more programming is HDTV, you won't be able to show HDTV images in all their glory.

My advice-- if you want to save a little, go with the 36HS500. Not quite as nice as the XBR800, but still an eminently respectable HDTV monitor.

Me

 

[Shana]

I'm just going by what I have seen online and I havent seen an HS version that I am aware of, just the XBR and HV or FV.
My mother wouldn't know the difference between the two I am sure, I think she would just benefit from the flat screen and larger set than she has now. I just thought it would be nice for later if she had the HDTV capability in case she gets bitten by the HT bug
Peace on earth.....
Shana