Need recommendations for a HDTV!

[KaoTiK]

It's time for me to come out of the closet...

I don't have a HDTV yet...

After playing Gears of War, I've decided I need a new TV. 32" CRT isn't doing it anymore. I'm not looking to go huge, in fact, not much bigger than my CRT is fine.

I have been looking around at the selection for HDTV's, and it seems to me the only way I can get one with decent picture quality is if I spend $2500 at least. Is this the case or am I looking in the wrong places?

The best HDTV I have ever seen is the Samsung LNS4051D. A 40" LCD HDTV. Amazing picture quality. Unfortunately, it's one of the few that actually does seem to have good quality, and it will cost me $3000.

Is there no other option for a good TV?

[Spank_Me_Hard]

Where are you looking?

Future Crap?

I can get a HDTV 62" with DLP for that price down here (taking into account conversion).

What you're describing sounds outrageous!

p.s. did you see Torres hit last night?

[Kero-chan]

i want to help you, i've started to type 3 responses so far. basically hdtvs are crap. just pick out the one that looks best and fits your budget

i love my hdtv and there are few sets i'd trade it for. it's a sony crt 34" widescreen(kv-34hs420). but it has convergence, overscan, and geometry issues. so i hate it at the same time. no matter what the technology it is, they all have drawbacks. i recomend going to circuit city, look at the sets that pop out at you(try to play with the colors too because sometimes sets look good, but on display look like crap, they just need their color or brightness tweaked) and ask about those sets either here or at www.avsforum.com
what pisses me off is they are just now coming out with hdmi 2.0 which is what 1.0 should have been from the start so many years ago
i also find viewing angles in a lot of projection tvs fairly horrible, so be on the lookout for that. also keep an eye out for red bleeding everywhere. it's evil!

i havent even been to the store in a long time. are they still selling crt hdtvs? just remember that those ARE FREAKING HEAVY!!!!!!!!! i just helped my friend move and he had a 32" xbr, and i almost shat my hemroids out lifting that up a flight of stairs. my tv is bigger than his too, so i'm not looking forward to the day i move it

[ksuohio]

They are still making CRT HDTVs but only a couple that I know of. I was suprised at how bad the geometry issues are even on the high end Sony models. Like mentioned, it's a trade off no matter what you go with.

[KaoTiK]

Where are you looking?

Future Crap?

I can get a HDTV 62" with DLP for that price down here (taking into account conversion).

What you're describing sounds outrageous!

p.s. did you see Torres hit last night?

Anywhere. Is there any such thing as a HDTV that is reasonably priced? :/

And no, I didn't see the game last night.

Kero, there are no Circuit City stores here, so I'll have to make due with Visions Electronics, Futureshop, or Best Buy. I don't want a Plasma, DLP, or LCD Projection, every single one based on these technologies (that I've seen in person) looked like complete and utter ****. Terrible viewing angles, can't be any closer than 25 feet for things to look crisp, etc.

I can't see how HDTV's are so popular when you have to spend 3 grand to get a decent one, but I guess the average joe isn't looking for quality, he's looking for size... and size you can get. :/

The prices on Plasmas aren't that bad, but again, they look like garbage...

[Spank_Me_Hard]

Anywhere. Is there any such thing as a HDTV that is reasonably priced? :/

I haven't shopped for electronics in Canada for quite some time so I don't really know.

But I am pretty surprised as HDTVs start down here at under $1,000. Even with the conversion, they shouldn't be that much more.

In fact, when I came down in 2000, I had never seen a Best Buy in Canada.

And no, I didn't see the game last night.

Check out the highlights on tsn.ca ... he knocked Jason Williams out cold.

I can't see how HDTV's are so popular when you have to spend 3 grand to get a decent one

Wow.

I'm actually going to have to check them out just out of curiousity the next time that I'm back up...

[PriMaTe]

Anywhere. Is there any such thing as a HDTV that is reasonably priced? :/

And no, I didn't see the game last night.

Kero, there are no Circuit City stores here, so I'll have to make due with Visions Electronics, Futureshop, or Best Buy. I don't want a Plasma, DLP, or LCD Projection, every single one based on these technologies (that I've seen in person) looked like complete and utter ****. Terrible viewing angles, can't be any closer than 25 feet for things to look crisp, etc.

I can't see how HDTV's are so popular when you have to spend 3 grand to get a decent one, but I guess the average joe isn't looking for quality, he's looking for size... and size you can get. :/

The prices on Plasmas aren't that bad, but again, they look like garbage...

jeez, don't even buy an hdtv, you obviously won't be happy with any of them. Plasma looks like crap? All of the ones I have seen look better than lcd's. Can't sit closer than 25 ft to them without them looking like crap? I'm sitting here about 5ft away from a 32" lcd watching conan in hd and it looks just fine. I watch my friend's 50" dlp sitting about 10 feet away from it and football and other hd stuff looks fine. Were you watching hd programming or were you trying to wacth standard def on an lcd or dlp, because yea that looks like crap. All of the technologies have their issues, but you have to find what suites you. You make the hdtv's sound like they're in black and white...

[Kero-chan]

jeez, don't even buy an hdtv, you obviously won't be happy with any of them. Plasma looks like crap? All of the ones I have seen look better than lcd's. Can't sit closer than 25 ft to them without them looking like crap? I'm sitting here about 5ft away from a 32" lcd watching conan in hd and it looks just fine. I watch my friend's 50" dlp sitting about 10 feet away from it and football and other hd stuff looks fine. Were you watching hd programming or were you trying to wacth standard def on an lcd or dlp, because yea that looks like crap. All of the technologies have their issues, but you have to find what suites you. You make the hdtv's sound like they're in black and white...

lol, depending on the programming, it will still look like crap. wtg time warner and your stupid compression technology!!!

for the most part the hdtv stuff looks pretty good. it just tends to break up in blocks(on cable not just satellite) sometimes, kind of like a scratched dvd. i'm actually about to switch to dish network cause time warner is way overpriced and i'm only getting like 4 hd channels in addition to(most) locals which is BS.

if you can wait a little bit longer on an hdtv, laser hdtv is the newest technology along with OLED displays. from the first veiws of the laser tvs, they look better than plasmas and are cheaper.

of course, i noticed a lot of hdtv fans like myself seem to be extremely picky. before my hdtv, i had a sanyo 32" regular tv and even if i bought a crappy hdtv, it would still look infinitely better than that thing.

as much as it pains me to say, wal-mart is kind of decent for an average run of the mill cheap hdtv. i mean, they are the ones who are pretty much breaking in hdtv into the mainstream. dont expect to find the holy grail or anything there.

[Phanstern]

I have had a Olevia 542i 42" lcdtv for about 2 weeks and LOVING it. I spent $1498.00 shipped, and am 100% satisfied with this TV.

Black Friday would probably a great time to grab a HDTV

[Paladyr]

I think fixed pixel displays (DLP, LCD, Plasma, HI-DLA) are all still way too expensive considering you can get a big honking rear projection CRT for 900 bucks. Yes it's huge, and yes the viewing angles aren't great, but as long as your in the right viewing area and know how to do some tweaking, CRT's look great.

I might be biased though because I know how to get into the service menu and fix the convergence/geometry/grayscale issues to make my TV look perfect. I also now own a colorimeter .

Anyway, bottom line, I wouldn't shell out the dough for any of the fixed pixel HDTVs. Still cost to much for me. Projectors are cheap though. I have an Infocus 4805 waiting to be hooked up! You could set it up on a table and project onto a small screen .

[Paladyr]

I have had a Olevia 542i 42" lcdtv for about 2 weeks and LOVING it. I spent $1498.00 shipped, and am 100% satisfied with this TV.

Black Friday would probably a great time to grab a HDTV

That sounds pretty reasonable. If you can find a TV at that price I think that would be okay.

[KaoTiK]

What I'm basically gathering here is that HDTV's in general look better than I seem to think they do.

This is weirding me out a little bit, lol.

Whenever I go to a store and look at displays, they all look unimpressive. 20 or 25 different HDTV's all showing the same thing, but they all look bad, then there are 3 or 4 that look simply amazing.

I guess I'll have to go back down there and look around, again, and try to modify my perspective or something.

Heavily pixelated picture, flat color, blurriness, terrible viewing angles are the things I'm seeing.

[Hadsus]

Anywhere. Is there any such thing as a HDTV that is reasonably priced? :/

And no, I didn't see the game last night.

Kero, there are no Circuit City stores here, so I'll have to make due with Visions Electronics, Futureshop, or Best Buy. I don't want a Plasma, DLP, or LCD Projection, every single one based on these technologies (that I've seen in person) looked like complete and utter ****. Terrible viewing angles, can't be any closer than 25 feet for things to look crisp, etc.

I can't see how HDTV's are so popular when you have to spend 3 grand to get a decent one, but I guess the average joe isn't looking for quality, he's looking for size... and size you can get. :/

The prices on Plasmas aren't that bad, but again, they look like garbage...

First of all, Torres will be avenged. I'm a Wings fan, I saw it over and over. It wasn't an illegal hit but it was late and it wasn't necessary to skate that distance to whack a guy in the head with all that speed. Williams on IR for ten.

Now on the ancillary question at hand ....... the aforementioned game was watched on a 50 inch panasonic plasma. HD is simply glorious on a good plasma with the color saturation, wide viewing angle and bright imaging. The only negative to plasma (from a PQ standpoint) is the glass which reflects light. IMO, there is no better picture. LCDs panels are comparatively more expensive (size for size) and don't do a better job imaging, rear project LCDs have poor blacks, screen door and silk screen effects, and don't handle motion as well as plasmas. DLPs don't have the color saturation, suffer from dithering effects and silk screen effect (sorry, I just don't like 'em)....not to mention alot of people see rainbows. I don't see 'em but I literally get sick watching DLPs....something about the spinning color wheel methinks.

I also own a 52" Pioneer Elite rear projection CRT....yep it can be a bit dodgy with convergence adjustments, viewing angle is the *hits, and brightness is not adequate in bright rooms. In a darkened room though, properly calibrated, watching a good DVD, there is hardly anything that matches it. Wonderful blacks.

When your evaluating HDTVs, do yourself a favor and watch only live feeds from high def channels. I find Circuit City is the best chain store for this....in my area they play a live feed from Discovery HD and if they don't, ask 'em and they'll turn the channel. Forget SD channels and the stupid high tech loop that's good for just about nothing. Fiddle with the adjustments on the TVs you're interested in as people do play with 'em and can make 'em look quite bad.

My 2 cents. YMMV.

[KaoTiK]

Don't be so hard on Torres, hitting is what he does.

As for HDTV's...

Alright, so basically is any name-brand HDTV that has 1080i going to suffice?

For example, is this a good TV?

[PriMaTe]

[QUOTE=KaoTiK]What I'm basically gathering here is that HDTV's in general look better than I seem to think they do.

This is weirding me out a little bit, lol.
QUOTE]

lol, if you can try to get a look at a hockey game on a regular tv, and then look at it on an hdtv. I'm assuming you like hockey based on your avatar. Or try basketball or football, sports really look great.