Suggest Flat Screen TV for COLLEGE DORM (1 Viewer)

[BlakeS]

Hi,
I've been looking around for some flat tube TV's under $400. I did some internet research and then went into Best Buy, Circuit City and Sound Advice to compare the quality of the TV's. Here is what I'm looking at:

Sony KV24FS100 - $387.99 @ Circuit City
Toshiba 24AF42 - $399.99 @ Best Buy
Toshiba 24AF41 - $382.95 @ Sound Advice

Below are two other TV's that are 27" but their quality was not as good as the above three, do you think I should consider them because they are larger or not?

Advent Q2735A - $379.99 @ Best Buy
Apex GT2715 - $379.99 @ Circuit City

What do you think I should get? I am leaning towards the Sony because its picture quality was EXCELLENT. And I am NOT looking to go over my budget.

 

[Lew Crippen]

Apex is ok when its ok. There has been general quality concern with these sets, but as long as you are willing to take one back if it quits, might be ok.

For a dorm room, i'd consider the smaller set in any case.

 

[Sumir B]

I have a panasonic 27in flat, It has a really good picture and it also has a component input. It got it for $400 from bestbuy then they had a special. But if you consider saving more you could get one. only problem i have have had with it is geometry related. the edges are all messed up. is there anyway i can fix this?

 

[Bill Will]

Take a look at the 27 inch Flat Tube Samsung. I don't know that much about this years model but last years got some pretty good reviews & could be had for around $350 Try doing a search on it & the "AKAI" that Samsung made for Sam's Club's.

 

[BlakeS]

Bill,
I have been unable to find the Samsung AKAI 27" model you are referring too. Can someone provide me to a link of it? And possibly a link where it is UNDER $400 as Bill says it could be. Thanks.

 

[Larry F.]

GO to samsclub.com. You'll find it.

 

[BlakeS]

Ok,
I found it: http://samsclub.com/eclub/main_shopp...cfkjdgoodflf.0
But is it good? Or should I go with the Sony KV24FS100?

 

[Bill Will]

If you have the room for the Akai (or Samsung) go for it. As far as I'm concerned it's a better set than the Sony Wega's. Just my 2 cents. Try a search on this board because there is plenty of info on them. The only difference between the Akai & Samsung are that the Akai is silver, the Samsung is black, 90 Warranty on the Akai, 1 year Waranty on the Samsung.

 

[Dan V]

Blake, I bought an Akai 27" for the bedroom and couldn't be happier with it. It does an anamorphic squeeze from the remote and the picture looks incredible with an anamorphic enchanced dvd. The picture looks like crap out of the box but with a little adjusting it's great.I don't think it can be beat for $379

 

[Chris Duran]

I too have the Akai 27' inch from Sam's club and couldn't be happier with it, for the money it's the best deal I've seen and the picture with a little tweaking is fantastic, like others have said it's basically a Samsung just under a different name, anyone know why they did this?

 

[Bill Will]

Chris, the big reason companies make odd ball models for certain stores is to sell more tv's & the reason why they will change the model number or name & sometimes even features is so that their other customer's (retail stores) won't have to worry about price matching.

 

[BlakeS]

Well, I picked up the Akai 27" at Sams Club today with my mom. I'm not going to take it out of the box until I arrive on campus on August 30th. It has a 90 day labor warranty and a 1 year parts and service warranty. We picked up an extended 1 year warranty from Sams Club just incase something happens to it as many people say happens to flat tv's. Also, could someone post me what tweakings they did to theirs to get a good picture quality? Because at the store I noticed the quality wasn't that great, but then I found out they had it set on the "Natural" color setting which gave it a pinkish tone. I turned it to the normal setting and it looked a lot better. Or, if the tweakings are based different for each TV then what settings should I mess with to get a better picture? Thanks!

 

[Lew Crippen]

Pick up an AVIA disk. Click here for a thread on where to purchase. Most on this forum would no more watch without using this (or similar) to help calibrate their sets than they would install new speakers without using an SPL meter.

I had no clue as to even the existence of this tool until reading about it in this forum. Just passing along very valuable advice.


This thread Has good information about calibration. There are many others. You might like to try searching for AVIA, calibration, etc. as I have read a good many threads devoted to this subject.

Good luck, and I’m glad that you noticed the difference right away.

 

[Tony_Woods]

The first thing you should do when you turn on the set for the first time is turn the sharpness control all the way down, that is step one to a good picture on this set (and many others)

 

[Bill Will]

Blake, CONGRATS on your new set, but if it were me, it would be killing me not to open the box When you go to turn the set on for the first time, the first thing I would do is turn the the "CONTRAST" (PICTURE) control down as far as you can then start from there using the AVIA setup dvd.

 

[BlakeS]

Well,
I couldn't help it so my dad and I took out the TV and set it up. It looks like everything is fine on it, I adjusted all the controls to make it look better, however, to me the Sony Wega has a better picture. I think I am going to order that Avia disk everyone is talking about to get the picture and sound setup good.

 

[BlakeS]

Well I have an update. I noticed that when I turned the volume above 13 the right speaker made a cracking noise. So I took it back to Sams Club and guess what?! That model CFT2790 was cancelled by Sams Club and they will no longer carry it in stock, my luck got even worse when I found out that 3 other Sams Clubs around my city did not have any in stock either. So I went back to the TV section and saw that they now carry the Akai CFT2791, with a price of $379.99. The only difference between the CFT2790 and CFT2791 is the fact that the newer model supports surround sound, the older model said simulated surround sound. But I dont think that matters if you were going to hook up a receiver and speakers to the TV anyway? I looked at the back of the TV and both models had the same hookups. Well, I thought everyone should know about this situation.

 

[Bill Will]

Blake, Sorry to hear about your problems but be glad you opened the box now & checked the set out before you got to school. Let us know what you think of the new model & is the new model silver with the AKAI name on it?

 

[BlakeS]

Yep, the new model looks identical to the older model. The only apparent difference on the box is the fact that is says Surround Sound and not simulated surround sound.

 

[Larry F.]

You had the same problem with your 2790 I had with my second one. The first one went back because the picture did weird things and the tech said they wanted to take in for 2 weeks and "throw parts at it to see what's wrong". WRONG not on a 2 week old set. The 2nd was GREAT picture but than the sound became completely distorted through the set's speakers. That one went back and we got the JVC 32260. No problems with it. Really liked the AKAI but 2 in a row scared me off. Was really hoping they'd work out 'cause I really like my Samsung 19" monitor. Thought I'd get same quality in a TV. :frowning: