Any advice on buying a bigscreen TV?

Various | 1/28/03 | The G Man

[The G Man]

Excuse the vanity but I'm in need of some FReeper assistance. Our 15 year old console TV is on its last legs so the Mrs and I are thinking of buying a big screen TV and I would welcome folks advice on this matter.

We really can't afford to go much over $1500 so after looking on the net, I think the features we want are 40" and above and HDTV compatible. I'm not sure how important widescreen (16:9) is compared to standard (4:3) ... is that something I need to reconsider?

I've found two that are somewhat affordable:

I also have Bernies and Best Buy near me, but Circuit City seems the cheapest.

Also, how much room do I have to negotiate? Will they actually negotiate price? Or should I ask them to throw some stuff in?

[WestCoastGal]

Great question, saving this to read later.

[libertylass]

Be sure to buy from an American Owned company. Will give you the options after my lunch. The book "Buy American" is out in my car.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Please ping me to your post on this, I'm interested. Thanks.

[The G Man]

Ok ... problem. I found one I liked ... a 56" Panaonic HDTV at a major department store for $1600 on their website. I went to buy it on line and the price came up as $2300 so I was like "whoa." I call their customer service dept and I think I'm getting the runaround. What is my recourse here? If they screwed up isn't that their problem? Similiar to a mistake in a newspaper flyer.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Wow. That doesnt seem right. I don't know what you can do except call their 1-800 and not a store (I think you did that, tho). Seems if it is marked 1600, they HAVE to honor that price. If you don't get satisfaction from the 1-800 people, what about calling a local store and seeing if they can match the web price?

[biblewonk]

I sure like my cheap new sharp 32 inch for 359.95 at Sams.

[dickmc]

Don't bother with 4x3. Get a set capable of projecting 16x9 HDTV.

Suggest you go to the AVS forum
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?s=60e46b89c2b8a684e6428037909ccbdd&daysprune=30&forumid=63 and look at the recent "What should I buy?" threads.

This is the largest and by far the best, most knowledgeable HDTV forum on the net.

General and very broad consensus for some time has been the Hitachi xwx series for picture quality as well as a number of other factors such as build quality, mfgr support, and tuneability.

Given you are on a budget, look at the Hitachi swx series which will essentially be the same set but without a built-in HDTV special tuner and with slightly larger-necked CRT's. As is, you will be able to use the swx's non-HD tuner for local reception and will be able to view true HD movies from a DVD player which are now quite cheap. If you have a cable box that has HDTV output, you will also be able to use that on the swx and get true HDTV. To find out your local situation for OTH (over the air) local HDTV go the reception section of the AVS forum and read the FAQ with links. BTW, within the swx/twx/xwx series, all of the screen sizes have the same CRT's and chassis. Thus, getting a smaller screen gets the same quality and a slightly briger picture since the lumination is spread over a smaller screen area!

To get HDTV reception from local stations at some point, you need an additional HDTV tuner. This is built-into the xwx series but can be added as a SetTopBox (STB) to the swx just the same way as you plug in a DVD player. Having an external HDTV STB tuner is not all that bad an idea at the moment because: it will often be cheaper than having one built-in, the technology is still evolving and you may actually be able to get a better external tuner, and you may not need it right away. Local OTA (over the air) HD is now from cloned stations that have UHF signals. You can find out more about your local situation (as mentioned above) by looking at the reception FAQ and forum section of the AVS forum linked above.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Hey, good info, thank you!

[maxwell]

Screw the big screen. Get a Harley.

[RightWhale]

Not gonna watch the Superbowl on the old 13" B&W Silvertone ever again, are you?

[maxwell]

Hey, that's the second time today I've made 69...

[Mamzelle]

I bought a 55" Mitsubishi HDTV compatable, a little more than you want to spend, but we have enjoyed it. We put it in guest quarters so that it didn't take over our lives

Used Best Buy and I have to say I was very impressed with the help there. You need to seriously consider the maintenance agreement, investigate average cost of repair.

My set can be upgraded easily to HDTV, but figured, why pay for something I can't use yet, and the hardware will probably be cheaper, later. Mitsubishi makes a big deal about guaranteeing that you'll be able to upgrade.

You'll want the newer DVD player to go with it that send the signal twice as fast for a better picture. When I got mine, it was just as cheap to go with a home theatre, with some speakers. Our viewing area is not big, so fancy speakers weren't necessary.

I got mine the same time that LOTR extended version DVD came out. DH says that the LOTR is the most expensive movie date he's ever had...

[Mamzelle]

Hey, I think we bought the same TV! We'll have to bookmark our names and see how this thing works out. So far, I love it. We bought it in November from Best Buy. It's In guest quarters, which has a bathroom and frij and popcorn maker (microwave). Better than the movie theater--you can't have a Cold One at the Cinema.

[steve86]

Thanks to everyone who has weighed in thus far.

Mine weighs about 220...

[Williams]

I have seen 16:9 sets in stores that have drastic color differences "burned" into the left and right sides of the screen. I asked if that was to show the "extra" screen on a 16:9. No, that is burn in. If you receive standard images on your 16:9 screen, those sides are dark and you don't get the use of the whiole screen. Plus possible "burn in".

On the other hand, if you buy a standard screen, you get letterbox when you watch hdtv and you lose the tops and bottoms.

I went for a 43" standard Hitachi. Most shows are not widescreen and I live with the letterbox when they are. In my opinion, Toshiba is now the best picture, followed by Hitachi

Just to show I know nothing, I get great picture when I play a DVD. But I gather from earlier posters that DVD's are not HD quality??

[Mamzelle]

re: Just to show I know nothing, I get great picture when I play a DVD. But I gather from earlier posters that DVD's are not HD quality??)))

Didn't know this. I do know I had to get a newer version of DVD player than that of our regular living room television. Something about sending the signal twice as fast or something, gives more resolution...(?) I hear that a still newer format is coming.

My widescreen has format options. I can use letterbox, widescreen, zoom, etc.

[redangus]

I have had the 47" Panasonic for a year and have had no trouble with it. Its only weakness is it does handle 720p as a native resolution, so you have to have a decoder that will change all 720p broadcasts to 1080i. Most good decoders will do that. Also only ABC broadcasts in 720p. The HDTV pictures from the over the air signals on NBC and CBS are outstanding. Once you get it you will wonder what took you so long.

[Always Right]

Just to show I know nothing, I get great picture when I play a DVD. But I gather from earlier posters that DVD's are not HD quality??

DVD is 480 lines interlaced (480i) meaning only half of the data is transmitted on each from. Progressive scan DVD players take two frames and combine them and transmit all 480 lines each frame (480p). When people talk about high defintion, they usually mean all 720 lines transmitted each frame (720p) or 1080 lines interlaced (1080i). I think technically 480p is considered high-definition, but since progressive DVD players combine two frames it is still not really a true high-definition signal.

[CharacterCounts]

The extended service contract is their profit maker.

Must be. Best Buy tried to get me to purchase one on a $39.95 Telezapper last week.

[keats5]

Don't do it, man. You're a Freeper. You have no time for TV.