Won contest, Need help on video game tv purchase, $1700 budget... (1 Viewer)

[Nathan Gillmore]

Ok, my wife won a contest that is allowing us $1700 or so to purchase any television we want. I already own a Sony 53" 4:3 HDTV (HS53 or something like that model) and was thinking I'd just buy something to play video games on. This will be for all consoles, I own them all. What kinda suggestions would you guys have for this?

Or, I suppose I could use the money to change out my current 4:3 set for a 16:9 set and use the old one for games hehe. I realize these are all rear projection I'm talking about, but I've never had a reason to fear burn in. I rarely game for more than an hour at a time (since EverQuest eats so much of my playing time!).

So, suggestions please? What would you do?

 

[Kelley_B]

i'd just upgrade to a 16:9.

 

[Jay Mitchosky]

Moving to Display Devices.

 

[JakeMcM]

don't know if this is possible but get the tv sell it than buy a projector, an X1 possibly, that way you get a HUGE screen and don't have to worry about burn in. If thats not possible I would get a widescreen tv as you already have a 4x3.

 

[JakeMcM]

you could even play everquest on your front projector...imagine that.

 

[Richard Paul]

You mentioned the fact that you rarely play games for more than an hour and I'm afraid that would not prevent burn in. It is the accumulated hours of a static image on the screen which causes burn in and not the longest individual length. For instance if you have a health bar from a game on the TV for 30 minutes per day but that occurs 60 times over a year then you would have 30 hours accumulated time of that health bar on your TV.

As a gamer myself I would recommend getting a Direct View TV. Though a Direct View can burn in it takes a lot longer time to occur and my first Direct View TV that was never calibrated survived a LOT of static images without a bit of burn in. Thats not to say it can't happen but it is a much safer bet to play games on than a Rear Projection. Unfortunately all the display technologies that are burn proof are currently the newest and most expensive such as DLP, LCD, and LCOS. As of this moment there are few games for any console that have a 16:9 mode so it would be best to get a 4:3 TV. It might be best to get a EDTV such as the 32" Samsung which at Circuit City goes for $700 and probably could be found cheaper. A EDTV can only do 480p but gives a clearer image than 480i. As far as I know Samsung is the only TV manufacturer making EDTV's though more will surely follow. The Xbox would take the most advantage of a EDTV since almost all Xbox games can do 480p. I'm assuming that you can buy a cheaper TV and keep the remaining money for perhaps surround sound speakers, AV receiver, or such.

 

[Masood Ali]

While Richard has a point, why not spend the entire balance of the $1700 if it's not your money to begin with? Get a nice 16:9 set to replace your main one right now, or get a front projector and screen (the Infocus X1 is going for ~$1000 right now).