cheap HDtv

Question for a friend who's considering plunging into the HDTV era:

Best Buy has a Westinghouse 32w6 (32 inch lcd) on sale this Sunday for $600. He also has a 12% off coupon which makes the TV only $528. He would be using this TV for the occasional PS2 game, but mostly for 360 and Wii. He would be upgrading from a 32inch tube with s-video.

Does anyone have this TV who could attest to its quality or let me know if it is crap? Greatly appreciated.
 
dbish said:
Question for a friend who's considering plunging into the HDTV era:

Best Buy has a Westinghouse 32w6 (32 inch lcd) on sale this Sunday for $600. He also has a 12% off coupon which makes the TV only $528. He would be using this TV for the occasional PS2 game, but mostly for 360 and Wii. He would be upgrading from a 32inch tube with s-video.

Does anyone have this TV who could attest to its quality or let me know if it is crap? Greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

Isn't that the one that's 479.99 on Black Friday?

And to answer your question: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=678671
 
I am thinking of getting a Samsung LE32S71 (It costs € 796 here in Europe).

But then I noticed the LE32R76 for € 914 and the LE32R72B for € 934.

Are there differences between the S and R series besides contrast ratio? In fact, what are the technical differences between the different Samsung series in general? Also, can I assume that the highest number is superior (e.g. R76 > R72).

If anyone has any info let me know! Google really let me down on this one.
 
Hrm. I've been thinking about getting an HDTV, but I really only have one source of disposable income available: American Express points.

Basically, for every dollar spent you get a point, and each point is typically worth half a cent if you convert them directly into cash. Buying an X-Box 360 Premium from their AmexStore costs 79,964 Points. 79,964 / 100 = 799.64 Divide that by 2, and you come out to just under $400, the standard retail price.

There are, however means of more efficient conversion, such as Dell giftcards (500 points = $50 @ Dell; 1000 points = $100 @ Dell), or choosing from their limited time deals.

So I've got 102k of these points right now, not really anywhere close to being able to get anything super nice from their more efficient deals. There are a couple of HDTV's that can be bought for that number, though (literally - 2).

Toshiba 26" TheaterWide HD Pure Flat Television = 88,000 Points

Watch your favorite television programs on this flat television. Features a 3D-Y/C comb filter, SRS® WOW™ for enhanced sound, a HDMI™ (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) input, and a wide band video amplifier. Remote control included. 27-1/2" W x 19-1/2" H x 19-5/8" D
Click to expand...

Toshiba 26" HDTV/DVD Combo = 101,000 Points

Save space with this TV/DVD combo! Features a 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio, a 3D-Y/C digital comb filter, integrated HDTV tuners, and an integrated DVD player with DVD/-R/CD/-R/-RW/VCD playback. It is also equipped with StableSound®, and HDMI™, ColorStream® HD, A/V, and S-Video inputs. Remote control included.

Dimensions: 27-3/5" W x 21-4/5" H x 19-9/10" D. Weight: 86.9 lbs.
Click to expand...

Those two seem kind of iffy to me. They don't even really offer enough details to know if its worth anything at all. I'm trying to research them to see if they even have 720p.

These Dell HDTVs seem alright, if a little expensive, and given the more efficient point => dollar value conversion, it's alright for them to be a little expensive.
http://www.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/3x_lcd26?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&sku=222-4377&redirect=1
http://www.dell.com/content/products/compare.aspx/tvs?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

Any thoughts / help would be duly appreciated. Our current TV is as archaic as it is small.

It would seem the Dells would be far superior to those Toshibas, but the Dells might be overly expensive for what you get.
 
Aldi, cheep ass store in the UK specialising in weekly deals, are selling this HDTV tomorrow for £390. Looking at the specs, it seems OK, do any tech heads here know if it sounds decent? I'm in no way a man that needs the absolute best, I just want something pretty to occasionally hook my 360 up to and that will last me a good while.
 
sharigan_kakashi said:
could you please elaborate on that? i just want to get a better picture of what might be a future purchase.
Click to expand...


The PS2 looks best on a small TV w/ a s-video connection. Component, fixed pixel displays, while great for some things, seem to bring out all imperfections of the PS2's IQ due to the increased clarity/color separation. I'm anal, so you may not notice it.
 
Drensch said:
Anyone have Olevia 532h? I'd like impressions.
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DSC03211.jpg



What exactly do you want to know? The IQ is really sharp, the lackof PiP and the fact that you have to scroll thru all the TV modes are my biggest complaints. I have my Mac set on HDMI and the 360 set on VGA, because VGA comes after hmdi, If I want to go back to the Mac after playing the 360 I then have to go tv-composite/svideo -component then HDMI.

At first when I connected the 360 via VGA the colors seemed a bit washed out. I popped in AVIA and after about 10 minutes the 360 IQ looks very sharp with great detail. There is no ghosting at all or none that I can see. The 10 watt speakers are nothing to write home about and sound a bit weak, but they get the job done. The TV boasts a 1:1 pixel mapping mode as well as full screen/aspect ratios and several zoom in modes. I don't have the Olevia hooked up to any other sources, so I can't tell you how SD tv looks like.
 
This is for UK peoples only, Co-oP have got one of the best offers on a TV ever, 720p pfft old news, 1080 don't make me laugh they can't measure up with this.

A 19" Chello Widescreen televsion with 'Super' HD for £199, its got none of connections that would garner it with the HDTV certification but because its got a resolution of 1440 x 900 its 'Super' HD. Brilliant, teh futurez hear
 
B_Rik_Schitthaus said:
This is for UK peoples only, Co-oP have got one of the best offers on a TV ever, 720p pfft old news, 1080 don't make me laugh they can't measure up with this.

A 19" Chello Widescreen televsion with 'Super' HD for £199, its got none of connections that would garner it with the HDTV certification but because its got a resolution of 1440 x 900 its 'Super' HD. Brilliant, teh futurez hear
Click to expand...

CO-OP sell TVs now? Crazy...
 
I don't have the Olevia hooked up to any other sources, so I can't tell you how SD tv looks like.
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Doh. That's what I wanted to know about. Micro center has it for 369 after rebate friday. I hear it has a few isssues with 480i/p stuff and that'd be a mjority of stuff for me.
 
Drensch said:
Doh. That's what I wanted to know about. Micro center has it for 369 after rebate friday. I hear it has a few isssues with 480i/p stuff and that'd be a mjority of stuff for me.
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Just for you I'll hook up the ps2 on it to test it out. Problem is I don't have . .oh wait I have God of War so I'll try it out both on progressive and on SD.
 
Drensch said:
Doh. That's what I wanted to know about. Micro center has it for 369 after rebate friday. I hear it has a few isssues with 480i/p stuff and that'd be a mjority of stuff for me.
Click to expand...
The Olevia 532h uses the ATI Xilleon video processor, which is well known to make 480 (especially interlaced) look like crap. In fact, even Syntax has admitted the issue. Unfortunately, since it's a hardware design issue, they weren't able to fix it with a firmware update or anything. It's sad that several HDTVs out there use this processor, and I'd expect more from ATI.

BUT, from what I've read in the AVS Forum, that video processor makes everything else quite pretty.
 
Sega said:
The Olevia 532h uses the ATI Xilleon video processor, which is well known to make 480 (especially interlaced) look like crap. In fact, even Syntax has admitted the issue. Unfortunately, since it's a hardware design issue, they weren't able to fix it with a firmware update or anything. It's sad that several HDTVs out there use this processor, and I'd expect more from ATI.

BUT, from what I've read in the AVS Forum, that video processor makes everything else quite pretty.
Click to expand...


Well I hooked up the Ps2 this weekend after biting the bullet and to see what all the fuss was about with FF XII and all I can say is it looks craptacular, shit, doo doo, you name it. Mind you this was with component, aside from the fact that I can't stretch the image to full screen, there are aliasing issues galore too. I'll try and find my composite cable and see if that's any better
 
I ended up getting a 27'' Olevia from Circuit City this weekend ($450!), and after configuring all the settings last night, I have to saw my jaw dropped to the floor when I started playing Gears. I had always downplayed the importance of HD, but now I must say I've seen the light - HD rules!
 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16889022032

I just saw this and decided that after looking at the Dell's, nearly biting on a 32" from Walmart for $600 after missing out on the cheap 32" Westinghouse at Best Buy.

When I ordered it two days ago it was $300 dollars off, so I'm pretty happy with a $700 37" with those specs. I mean, sure, DLP is better, and 1080p is better, and bigger is always better, but for that price, hell yes (and I can't really afford better unless I get absurdly lucky with some kind of future black friday type thing). If only I had a respectable TV stand... but wallmounts seem retarded when I'm going to want speakers, a cable box, and 3 consoles hooked up. :lol

As for how? Mom gave my brothers and I $1000 check at Thanksgiving time. I should have saved it for later, but I'm pretty much geared up to take the 100,000 amex points, convert them to Toys R' Us giftcards, and go get a Wii and / or a 360. :D
 
JayDubya said:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16889022032

I just saw this and decided that after looking at the Dell's, nearly biting on a 32" from Walmart for $600 after missing out on the cheap 32" Westinghouse at Best Buy.

When I ordered it two days ago it was $300 dollars off, so I'm pretty happy with a $700 37" with those specs.
Click to expand...

AGH! 2 days ago?! :( Aww man...

Well, if it has that ATI chip, I don't want it, but if not, I'm hurting over the fact that I missed that deal.

I probably have to wait until January for good deals like that again.
 
Well, it's not the same model, but I hear you. I guess I'll find out soon enough.

I mean... look. I use the same 19" TV / VCR combo I had when I started college back in '99. I think "looking like shit" is pretty relative.

The specs page says MTK MDDI, not ATI Xilleon, though.
 
Dr. Kitty Muffins said:
Why do some HDTV's say they have "HD component" and some just say "component"?

I'm guessing its the same thing?
Click to expand...

Usually TV manufacturers label "HD Component" when the component input can accept a native 1080p signal.... I think. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
 
I was originally going to get the 19inch Samsung monitor that has been floating through this thread for ages now, but recently my brother got a job at Circuit City in their TV department. As such, he can get me a pretty nifty discount on anything I want so I'm going to take a step up from the monitor. Unfortunately Circuit City employees people like my brother who frankly don't know nearly enough about HD so this is where you come in GAF.

I'm worried about the 1366 x 768 resolution of this, but the contrast ratio is great and it has HDMI which is a nice plus.
/Samsung-23-LCD-HD-Monitor-LN-S2341W

Any idea why this model is more expensive, I'm not too sure why.
Samsung-23-HDTV-Monitor-LN-S2352W

And finally, any thoughts on this model, it has the more conventional 1440 x 900 resolution but a much lower contrast ratio compared to the other two models and is only 19".
Samsung-19-LCD-HDTV-Monitor-LN-S1951W

Whatever model I buy will be used for both occasional TV and lots of DVD viewing as well as for use with both my Wii and 360 with a PS3 hopefully sometime in the hopefully not so distant future. Oh, and I'll also be hooking up my Powerbook to it sometimes, but thats not too important of a quality requirement to me as the gaming and DVD ones are.

So GAF, any helpful hints / suggestions. Should I maybe consider an alternative brand?
 
sorryaboutdresden said:
What do you think of it? It's pretty cheap, and it has some nice specs. Intriguing.
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It's a great TV. Picture quality is fairly good and the only thing its really lacking in terms of support is 1080p...

You do need a sound system to get good quality sound. The built in speakers are just terrible. There also aren't enough options to play around with. :(
 
sorryaboutdresden said:
I was originally going to get the 19inch Samsung monitor that has been floating through this thread for ages now, but recently my brother got a job at Circuit City in their TV department. As such, he can get me a pretty nifty discount on anything I want so I'm going to take a step up from the monitor. Unfortunately Circuit City employees people like my brother who frankly don't know nearly enough about HD so this is where you come in GAF.

I'm worried about the 1366 x 768 resolution of this, but the contrast ratio is great and it has HDMI which is a nice plus.
/Samsung-23-LCD-HD-Monitor-LN-S2341W

Any idea why this model is more expensive, I'm not too sure why.
Samsung-23-HDTV-Monitor-LN-S2352W

And finally, any thoughts on this model, it has the more conventional 1440 x 900 resolution but a much lower contrast ratio compared to the other two models and is only 19".
Samsung-19-LCD-HDTV-Monitor-LN-S1951W

Whatever model I buy will be used for both occasional TV and lots of DVD viewing as well as for use with both my Wii and 360 with a PS3 hopefully sometime in the hopefully not so distant future. Oh, and I'll also be hooking up my Powerbook to it sometimes, but thats not too important of a quality requirement to me as the gaming and DVD ones are.

So GAF, any helpful hints / suggestions. Should I maybe consider an alternative brand?
Click to expand...

So what should I do with my situation?
 
sorryaboutdresden said:
So what should I do with my situation?
Click to expand...

OK, first off pretty much any Sammy monitor you buy will look good. I would suggest either of the 23" widescreens. The difference between them is contrast ratio and style obviously. They both use 1366x768 panels, but only the white model (and its glossy black sister) has a S-PVA panel for better viewing angles. The slightly above 720p resolution shouldn't worry you because it is a smaller model and Samsung LCD's up to 40" use that resolution. It is a better native resolution than 1440x900 (common in 19"ers, mostly suited to PC) for gaming too because its 1366x768 native res is closer to 720p (1280x720) and, for example, the 360 VGA cable supports 1:1 pixel mapping for 1366x768 displays.

I have a Samsung LCD from the 51d/52d series, it makes a great gaming/movie/HDTV/PC display, and wouldn't trade it for the world.

One point to note: if you go up to the 26" model it has to have an ATSC tuner built in, anything below doesn't. Free HDTV if you live in/near a big city though.

Hope I was of some use.
 
I ordered my Olevia 532H this Monday online after having to cancel from another site since they got backordered after i placed my order. Got it for $675 even, with free shipping. To my surprise, it got here this Wednesday, a day ahead of schedule. In fact, the day I got it, the price on the site went up by $50.

I had really tempered my expectations because of all of the "horror stories" online, but I hooked it up to my HD Cable box via component cables and was VERY VERY PLEASED! HD PROGRAMS LOOK GREAT! I'm not into sports at all hardly but found myself watching ESPN HD just because of how damn nice SportsCenter looked.

DVDs on my Sony upconverting DVD player(upscaled to 720p via HDMI) look great as well.

SD content looks better than I expected. I can't speak for composite, but cable looked fine via my Tivo via s-video(s-video out from the HD cable box to tivo, s-video out from tivo to HDTV).

As for videogames, i've only tested out my Gamecube(gonna hook up my X-Box later, and the PS2 is dead so oh well). Games vary. F-Zero GX via S-Video looks pretty damn good, even in full screen mode...Resident Evil 4 looked very bleh. Wish I had component cables, but I guess i'll have to wait until I get a Wii and a Wii component cable.

Anyway, as far as i'm concerned, this HDTV performs better than I expected from a so-called "budget, no-name" model.

I'm definitely looking forward to getting an X360 and PS3 and doing some hi-def gaming for the first time.
 
Drugs for Sale said:
OK, first off pretty much any Sammy monitor you buy will look good. I would suggest either of the 23" widescreens. The difference between them is contrast ratio and style obviously. They both use 1366x768 panels, but only the white model (and its glossy black sister) has a S-PVA panel for better viewing angles. The slightly above 720p resolution shouldn't worry you because it is a smaller model and Samsung LCD's up to 40" use that resolution. It is a better native resolution than 1440x900 (common in 19"ers, mostly suited to PC) for gaming too because its 1366x768 native res is closer to 720p (1280x720) and, for example, the 360 VGA cable supports 1:1 pixel mapping for 1366x768 displays.

I have a Samsung LCD from the 51d/52d series, it makes a great gaming/movie/HDTV/PC display, and wouldn't trade it for the world.

One point to note: if you go up to the 26" model it has to have an ATSC tuner built in, anything below doesn't. Free HDTV if you live in/near a big city though.

Hope I was of some use.
Click to expand...

I live in DC, so how exactly does this free HDTV thing work?
 
sorryaboutdresden said:
I live in DC, so how exactly does this free HDTV thing work?
Click to expand...
if you live in a major city and have a high-def TV with a built-in ASTC tuner, you can literally use a pair of 70s-80s era rabbit ears to pull off-the-air (OTA) HD programming, which should include the major four (CBS, NBC, FOX, ABC), PBS and possibly a few others.
 
you plug in some bunny ears, point them towards your local broadcast towers, do a channel search, that's it. you should get 10-20 high-def/5.1dd stations, and the quality is better than anything you can subscribe to.

Read up on OTA antennas, ATSC, and go check out antennaweb.org
 
OmniGamer said:
I ordered my Olevia 532H this Monday online after having to cancel from another site since they got backordered after i placed my order. Got it for $675 even, with free shipping. To my surprise, it got here this Wednesday, a day ahead of schedule. In fact, the day I got it, the price on the site went up by $50.

I had really tempered my expectations because of all of the "horror stories" online, but I hooked it up to my HD Cable box via component cables and was VERY VERY PLEASED! HD PROGRAMS LOOK GREAT! I'm not into sports at all hardly but found myself watching ESPN HD just because of how damn nice SportsCenter looked.

DVDs on my Sony upconverting DVD player(upscaled to 720p via HDMI) look great as well.

SD content looks better than I expected. I can't speak for composite, but cable looked fine via my Tivo via s-video(s-video out from the HD cable box to tivo, s-video out from tivo to HDTV).

As for videogames, i've only tested out my Gamecube(gonna hook up my X-Box later, and the PS2 is dead so oh well). Games vary. F-Zero GX via S-Video looks pretty damn good, even in full screen mode...Resident Evil 4 looked very bleh. Wish I had component cables, but I guess i'll have to wait until I get a Wii and a Wii component cable.

Anyway, as far as i'm concerned, this HDTV performs better than I expected from a so-called "budget, no-name" model.

I'm definitely looking forward to getting an X360 and PS3 and doing some hi-def gaming for the first time.
Click to expand...


Olevia is far from no name budget imo. Glad you like the TV. I love it. I would hook your eventual 360 up via VGA. It looks better than component to me.
 
Treo360 said:
Olevia is far from no name budget imo. Glad you like the TV. I love it. I would hook your eventual 360 up via VGA. It looks better than component to me.
Click to expand...

Thanks man, yep I love it too! I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking to jump in to HD at the entry level price range! :D
 
I'm wondering, would a projector (you know the ones that are hanged on the ceiling of the room) be a decent option instead of an HDTV? The thing is that where I live the HDTV market is still very new with outdated models and insane prices. And if I were to import a big TV then the shipping charges (because of weight) and customs taxes would kill any price advantage of ordering from USA or Europe. So I'm thinking of the possibilty of getting a projector system which might have a much lighter weight than a TV, and yet give comparable image quality and performance... Is there any sense in that?
 
Naked Snake said:
I'm wondering, would a projector (you know the ones that are hanged on the ceiling of the room) be a decent option instead of an HDTV? The thing is that where I live the HDTV market is still very new with outdated models and insane prices. And if I were to import a big TV then the shipping charges (because of weight) and customs taxes would kill any price advantage of ordering from USA or Europe. So I'm thinking of the possibilty of getting a projector system which might have a much lighter weight than a TV, and yet give comparable image quality and performance... Is there any sense in that?
Click to expand...
Yeah, projectors are a pretty good alternative if they're right for you. I mean, you need to be OK with replacing bulbs (when I had one I had to replace it every year-and-a-half or two years), you have to have the space for it, and you have to have a fairly dark room. But the image quality is nice and you can't beat the size.
 
Sorry to bump and older thread....but i just picked up an Olevia 427v from officedepot of all places for $520 on sale and must say im really impressed with the IQ of this set. Im using it in a bedroom mainly for tv/dvd watching but i also have the gamecube hooked up via s-video to it as well. Directv SD via composite actually looks pretty good, dvds look outstanding as well as OTA HD channels. Anyone looking for a cheap lcd set with a built-in hd tuner, definitely check this one out.
 
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