Do you have an HDTV?

I went shopping this past weekend. I looked at several models in several stores. I read reviews, I researched, I stood close, I stood far. I obsessed as much as any good consumer should.

When it was all said and done, I ended up driving home with a 42" Samsung Plasma. There were a few LCDs that I liked, but the Plasma was just ahead of them in terms of picture quality. For what I was willing to spend, it was the best one in the store according to my eyes. I'm officially a happy HDTV owner!

Cherokee said:

I went shopping this past weekend. I looked at several models in several stores. I read reviews, I researched, I stood close, I stood far. I obsessed as much as any good consumer should.

When it was all said and done, I ended up driving home with a 42" Samsung Plasma. There were a few LCDs that I liked, but the Plasma was just ahead of them in terms of picture quality. For what I was willing to spend, it was the best one in the store according to my eyes. I'm officially a happy HDTV owner!

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Congrats! EXCELLENT choice! Plasma is IMO the best picture you can get in a flat panel display. I much prefer plasma to even the best LCDs.

Plasma is the best when it comes to displaying the standard televeision type images. LCD is better when comes to playing games.

rman said:

Plasma is the best when it comes to displaying the standard televeision type images. LCD is better when comes to playing games.

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LCD is definitely the way to go for gaming or a large computer monitor. This TV will be used for TV and movies only. I may do a little bit of gaming after the screen is good and broken in in about 200 hours.

Bought a Sharp 42" LCD LC42D64U

Awesome, even with SD programs at present. Great deal at Future Shop on Boxing Day.

i bought a entry level samsung DLP back in october when my 27" tv finally died after 10+ years of use. i'm on a budget and a 1080p was out of the price range so i bought a 50" 720p for almost half as much as a 1080p in he same size would cost.

A bit off topic but... Pioneer to show ultra-black plasma TV.

I saw a couple of months ago an LCD Pioneer 42" HDTV in the Elite model line and the image quality was unbelievable. Looks like people at CES are in for a treat seeing this plasma prototype.

My parents have a cheap £300 hannspree jobby which is worse quality than our last tv, i'd love a decent one though.

I had a Panasonic rear projection LCD 50 inch that I sold and bought a 32 inch Vizio 720P LCD. I really like the Vizio better than the Panasonic and plan on getting another Vizio for the bedroom.

I am looking at the 26 inch Vizio they sell at Walmart right now for 470.00 but am not sure if I want to get it or keep looking. Does anyone have any suggestions on a 26-32 inch LCD flat panel for less than 550? resolution is no big deal to me as long as it is at least 720P

Honda - if you only have the money for one of the "throw away" brands, would probably stick with Vizio. They appear to have the fewest problems among these type of TV's. While I normally never buy extended warranties on anything, I do recommend their purchase on these throw away TV's.

What is "throw away"? The manufacturers producing these inexpensive TV's do not produce spare parts for them. When something goes wrong, typically there is no repairing to be had. If you're relying on the manufacturers warranty during that first 12 months, they just replace your set with a refurb. After the 12 months - you're out of luck. These include the most popular brands in this class: Vizio, Polaroid, Westinghouse, Emerson and others.

Too bad you're not down here in Tx. Have a top of the line Sony 26" I bought to replace a 32" Polaroid that went out that I'd sell. Paid a $1k for it a year ago and has less than 20 hrs up time on the thing. Had been using the Polaroid as a monitor for my PC and when the Polaroid died, I just went into auto mode and replaced it. If I'd been thinking at all, I would have realized "Hey dummy, you don't use that Win PC anymore, what do you need a large screen monitor for?".

no i don't have one

but i want one (who doesn't)

and whats with the names of the models? 3digits max. please! not the whole serial!

No, and I really don't want one.

I like the picture quality of my CRT, and no HDTV, be it LCD, DLP, or Plasma has even remotely met my standards for acceptable picture quality.

Everything always looks blocky and digitized, and the CRT puts less strain on my eyes.

I have a Sony KDP-WS550 with an integrated HDTV tuner. OTA HDTV picture is great, specially for HDTV sporting events. My HDTV is getting up there on age, though. We'll be looking for a new HDTV LCD and Blue Ray DVD in the future. We just haven't had to up to this point.

Bought another Vizio today a 26 inch for the bedroom as well as an additional HD DVD player that was on sale for 50 so I now have a 32 inch Vizio and HD DVD in the living room and a 26 inch Vizio and HD DVD in the bedroom.

As for being throwaway televisions. If I get a year out of these televisions I will be happy because by then who knows what technology will be available and I will be ready to upgrade.

Why buy HDDVD? They are dead, blue ray wins

I would like one, one day. I don't have money to burn so can't buy hehe

I do have a Sony 21" tv which has been going for 15yrs

ogacon said:

Why buy HDDVD? They are dead, blue ray wins

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I bought the HD DVD player because it was only 10 dollars more than the cheapest dvd player at walmart, and I already have 30 HD DVD's and a HD DVD player in the living room so I might as well be able to watch them in the bedroom. Plus it is one of the best upconverting dvd players I have ever seen.

I needed a new dvd player for the bedroom and figured 10 bucks for the ability to play the HD DVD's I have, and upconvert the regular dvd's I have.

The funny thing is it was on sale because it is discontinued, but they also said that it had no movies in the box so they took an additional 20 off for me so I got it for 49 total. I get home and 300 and Bourne Identity HD DVD's are both in the box, 300 was opened but still I found that to be funny.

If anyone wants those movies I will sell them for 18 shipped. I already have both.

ogacon said:

Why buy HDDVD? They are dead, blue ray wins

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Yeah, Blu-Ray won, and we lost. At least for the time being and probably for the next several months if not a year or more.

I was not on either side of the issue. I just enjoy movies and HD including the HD audio.
Have 2 HD-DVD players and a PS3 for playing B-R disks.
Would really like to get another B-R player and have been looking at them for several weeks now.

Want a B-R player for less than MSRP? Not possible at this time. There are no sale prices for them. They don't have to. They're the only game in town for HD now.

Want a B-R player that is spec 2.0 - not, none exist. So the one you buy at full list price now is old news probably before the end of the year.

Want a B-R player that is spec 1.1 - Panasonic has one - it's your only choice. Unless you can afford $2000 for a B-R player, then there are a couple more options.

Want a B-R player that can internally decode both Dolby HD 5.1 and DTS HD/MA 5.1 and send that signal to your A/V receiver - sorry, have to spend $2000 to get one of these. And no point posting back here if you haven't done your research with model #'s that list themselves as being capable of both these audio formats. According to the spec, as long as they can decode these, they can say they are compliant. However, to be compliant they only have to send it out in 2 channels, which is what they do. And the manufacturers of these models have said there will be no firmware updates to enable 5.1 pass-thru on them. Now, I ask you, just why in the world would anyone with a high end setup, want their HD audio reduced to only 2 channels?

Want a B-R player that can at least pass both of these audio codecs to be decoded by your A/V receiver? There is again, but a single player for under $2000.

Once you buy that B-R player that can pass thru those audio codecs to your A/V receiver, you'll need to now get a new receiver that can decode them. Sony had one, and I managed to pick up one of them for the bedroom. It's been discontinued. The only game left for less than another $2000 is Onkyo.

Yeah, the format with the most storage space on it's disks won out. Now what are they doing about it? Why isn't there spec finalized as HD-DVD was from the get-go? Why is it still not finalized? When will it be finalized? When will the consumer be able to purchase a B-R player that will be able to take advantage of all the features the spec is suppose to offer?

Yes and no for me. Here at my mums house we just have a standard definition TV, while at my dads house we have a Samsung 42" (I think it's 42") HDTV.

I'd like to get one for my bedroom because my standard definition TV just takes up too much room on my desk.

SONY LCD 32" i think , it is the biggest of its model I know that much ask my dad

It is great picture love playing hd games from the wii on it so much better

Wouldn't change it for the world