New Bedroom TV HDTV or not? (1 Viewer)

[Pete_Jr]

Well wife gave me the OK for a new TV in the bedroom. Now she doesn't want to spend alot. Probably a 27in or bigger.
Now me I would like to get a HDTV to see what all the fuss is about but they are around 600-800 and that is almost double what she will want to spend. Will a normal TV be the right choice here? or Spend the money now for a HDTV for in a few years you must have one?

The cheapest ones I have been reading about are the Wally World Sanyo and a Zenith model at BB.

Or just get a 27 in Sony Wega for 400.

Any advice would be great

Will a analog tv still work for viewing when they switch over all the signals in the next few years?

 

[Pete_Jr]

Well wife gave me the OK for a new TV in the bedroom. Now she doesn't want to spend alot. Probably a 27in or bigger.
Now me I would like to get a HDTV to see what all the fuss is about but they are around 600-800 and that is almost double what she will want to spend. Will a normal TV be the right choice here? or Spend the money now for a HDTV for in a few years you must have one?

The cheapest ones I have been reading about are the Wally World Sanyo and a Zenith model at BB.

Or just get a 27 in Sony Wega for 400.

Any advice would be great

Will a analog tv still work for viewing when they switch over all the signals in the next few years?

 

[Jack Briggs]

Pete, we're at the stage where it makes less and less sense to spend almost any money on an NTSC-only set. Certainly anything more than $500 or so should be directed at an ATSC-capable set. Tell your wife about the analog bandwidth being shut off within the next few years and all that.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Pete, we're at the stage where it makes less and less sense to spend almost any money on an NTSC-only set. Certainly anything more than $500 or so should be directed at an ATSC-capable set. Tell your wife about the analog bandwidth being shut off within the next few years and all that.

 

[Pete_Jr]

Well since I posted I've read about a billion threads on hdtv's from here and avsforums.com

I see there aren't that many in my price range and would have to spend more than she wanted to.

My question now if I do get a HDTV which one.

The only one I would consider being bigger than 27in would be the Sony 30" widescreen.

The other options are the samsung 26 widescreen, Sanyo 27 at walmart or the Zenith 27 HDTV.

What to do? Spend the extra money and just get the Sony?

If I get a HDTV should it be 16:9?

Anyone want to comment on the listed tv's I know there are 1000's of comments on each but I'm to the point of overload and just need some new advice on these sets.

Thanks
Pete

 

[Pete_Jr]

Well since I posted I've read about a billion threads on hdtv's from here and avsforums.com

I see there aren't that many in my price range and would have to spend more than she wanted to.

My question now if I do get a HDTV which one.

The only one I would consider being bigger than 27in would be the Sony 30" widescreen.

The other options are the samsung 26 widescreen, Sanyo 27 at walmart or the Zenith 27 HDTV.

What to do? Spend the extra money and just get the Sony?

If I get a HDTV should it be 16:9?

Anyone want to comment on the listed tv's I know there are 1000's of comments on each but I'm to the point of overload and just need some new advice on these sets.

Thanks
Pete

 

[StephenHa]

if you do hdtv get widescreen, I like the 30 in philips, in my bedroom I did a 20 in panasonic but it's a small room, keep in mind most of the hd sets in your price range won't have the hd tuner so you'll end up in the same boat as if you bought a standard 27 (in that I would recommend panasonic or toshiba flat screen better warranty)

 

[StephenHa]

if you do hdtv get widescreen, I like the 30 in philips, in my bedroom I did a 20 in panasonic but it's a small room, keep in mind most of the hd sets in your price range won't have the hd tuner so you'll end up in the same boat as if you bought a standard 27 (in that I would recommend panasonic or toshiba flat screen better warranty)

 

[RussellTodd]

I'm all for HDTV I just purchased the new Sony KV-36HS420. However, I am not yet sold on the fact that in 2 years everything will be HD. For me personally I think you would be just as well saving your money a buying a quality non-HDTV especially if your talking 27" and smaller. The non-HDTV's handle the analog signal just as well if not better than the HDTV's.

As for aspect ratio, I prefer the 4:3 considering what I just said that it may take longer than expected for the majority of stations to roll out HD. It doesn't make since to pay a lot of money on a 16:9 HD set then wind up having to watch 90% of what is on TV with either a stretched/distorted image or grey bars on the side. You must consider what you are using the TV for. If it will be used primarily for basic TV then you will be just as well served to go the non-hd route or possible buy a HD 4:3 set. This way you can watch most of what is on television in its original 4:3 format and then also have HD capabilty for when you need it. For me I would prefer grey bars on the limited amount of HD and DVD's I watch rather than having the grey bars or stetched image on just about everything else on TV.

Basically much like eveything else in life its a matter of personal opinion.

Good luck with your purchase.

 

[RussellTodd]

I'm all for HDTV I just purchased the new Sony KV-36HS420. However, I am not yet sold on the fact that in 2 years everything will be HD. For me personally I think you would be just as well saving your money a buying a quality non-HDTV especially if your talking 27" and smaller. The non-HDTV's handle the analog signal just as well if not better than the HDTV's.

As for aspect ratio, I prefer the 4:3 considering what I just said that it may take longer than expected for the majority of stations to roll out HD. It doesn't make since to pay a lot of money on a 16:9 HD set then wind up having to watch 90% of what is on TV with either a stretched/distorted image or grey bars on the side. You must consider what you are using the TV for. If it will be used primarily for basic TV then you will be just as well served to go the non-hd route or possible buy a HD 4:3 set. This way you can watch most of what is on television in its original 4:3 format and then also have HD capabilty for when you need it. For me I would prefer grey bars on the limited amount of HD and DVD's I watch rather than having the grey bars or stetched image on just about everything else on TV.

Basically much like eveything else in life its a matter of personal opinion.

Good luck with your purchase.

 

[Jean D]

If I were you, I'd hold off on the HDTV, and just get some mediocre tube tv for now (unless your tv still works, if thats the case, dont buy anything.) for only a couple hundred. cause as soon as you get an hdtv for the bedroom (assuming you have an hd feed) you wont watch tv in the livingroom/theater anymore. Trust me. Wait until everything is hd, and the prices drop significantly, your better off saving the excess cash you would've spent and put it toward an upgraded livingroom tv in a year.

 

[Jean D]

If I were you, I'd hold off on the HDTV, and just get some mediocre tube tv for now (unless your tv still works, if thats the case, dont buy anything.) for only a couple hundred. cause as soon as you get an hdtv for the bedroom (assuming you have an hd feed) you wont watch tv in the livingroom/theater anymore. Trust me. Wait until everything is hd, and the prices drop significantly, your better off saving the excess cash you would've spent and put it toward an upgraded livingroom tv in a year.

 

[Steven_Jobe]

That is no longer a correct statement. A bill(or whatever you want to call it) has passed stating that HD will be the main focus in the next few years, although most likely not completely HD until 2007-2010 and analogue TV's will be able to recieve HD broadcasts in analogue quality through a converter that down converts the signal. So analogue TV's will not be obsolete. This is confirmed by the Dallas Morning News and you can search for it at DallasMorningNews.com

 

[Steven_Jobe]

That is no longer a correct statement. A bill(or whatever you want to call it) has passed stating that HD will be the main focus in the next few years, although most likely not completely HD until 2007-2010 and analogue TV's will be able to recieve HD broadcasts in analogue quality through a converter that down converts the signal. So analogue TV's will not be obsolete. This is confirmed by the Dallas Morning News and you can search for it at DallasMorningNews.com

 

[Bill Will]

If I was you & seeing you seem to be looking for a 30" Wide-Screen set I would give the Sanyo 30" Wide-Screen with the Built-In HDTV Tuner a Shot & if your wife doesn't like it Wal-Mart will always take it back. After you have it in the house & she sees an HDTV picture she might just be sold on the idea of spending the extra money Myself I think I'm going to wait until a before Xmas sale on the Sanyo 32" 4:3 which I'm guessing will be $698.00 Also from what I understand Sanyo is only shipping the 27" model to Canada & not the USA but that could change? My local Wal-Mart has a tag on the 32" saying 30" Wide-Screen $747.00 & it's just hooked up to an Analog Feed & when I talked to the Video Manager he really din't even know what I was talking about but he did tell me he had the 30" in the backroom & that one of the cleark's lost the tag for the 32" model. Also sitting on the bottom shelf all still boxed up were a 36" Sony Analog, a 24" Sony Analog & a Panasonic 32" HDTV & none of them had prices on them & they have all been sitting there in the boxes for a least 3 weeks? The worst thing is I live in an upscale town & if they would just feature some of these HDTV's I'm sure they could sell them & there's no RPTV's at all in this Wal-Mart. I spent years in the retail business & your not going to sell things just throwing them on the bottom shelf in unopened boxes with no prices on them.

 

[Bill Will]

If I was you & seeing you seem to be looking for a 30" Wide-Screen set I would give the Sanyo 30" Wide-Screen with the Built-In HDTV Tuner a Shot & if your wife doesn't like it Wal-Mart will always take it back. After you have it in the house & she sees an HDTV picture she might just be sold on the idea of spending the extra money Myself I think I'm going to wait until a before Xmas sale on the Sanyo 32" 4:3 which I'm guessing will be $698.00 Also from what I understand Sanyo is only shipping the 27" model to Canada & not the USA but that could change? My local Wal-Mart has a tag on the 32" saying 30" Wide-Screen $747.00 & it's just hooked up to an Analog Feed & when I talked to the Video Manager he really din't even know what I was talking about but he did tell me he had the 30" in the backroom & that one of the cleark's lost the tag for the 32" model. Also sitting on the bottom shelf all still boxed up were a 36" Sony Analog, a 24" Sony Analog & a Panasonic 32" HDTV & none of them had prices on them & they have all been sitting there in the boxes for a least 3 weeks? The worst thing is I live in an upscale town & if they would just feature some of these HDTV's I'm sure they could sell them & there's no RPTV's at all in this Wal-Mart. I spent years in the retail business & your not going to sell things just throwing them on the bottom shelf in unopened boxes with no prices on them.

 

[StephenHa]

that panasonic model isn't even listed in panasonics service literature (I called tech support and they deny it even exists) it also is only about $50 cheaper than the regular model, and the store I was at honored the wal mart price not a bad set, runs I think 650 or so

 

[StephenHa]

that panasonic model isn't even listed in panasonics service literature (I called tech support and they deny it even exists) it also is only about $50 cheaper than the regular model, and the store I was at honored the wal mart price not a bad set, runs I think 650 or so

 

[Jeff W.]

$400 for a HDTV? I think you are out of luck :frowning:
You could get a Samsung/Phillips 30-32" for more like $800, but that's about the cheapest they get. Unless you want to venture into Walmart/Target/other mega store's "Brand of the week" piece of .... which I don't advise. :frowning:

My advice is get a SD set for the bedroom, the WEGA 27" is nice, unless you want something bigger, which you can easily score for $300-400. Save the rest for a nice HD set for the living room / etc

 

[Jeff W.]

$400 for a HDTV? I think you are out of luck :frowning:
You could get a Samsung/Phillips 30-32" for more like $800, but that's about the cheapest they get. Unless you want to venture into Walmart/Target/other mega store's "Brand of the week" piece of .... which I don't advise. :frowning:

My advice is get a SD set for the bedroom, the WEGA 27" is nice, unless you want something bigger, which you can easily score for $300-400. Save the rest for a nice HD set for the living room / etc