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HDTV Reccomendations

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Amir0x

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I've got some specific criteria, the biggest prohibitive factor being cost.

1. Must be able to support at least 720p.
2. Not projection, no plasma
3. HDTV Ready, Not Compatible
4. Widescreen
5. Must not cost more than $1300
6. At least 30 inches
7. A the very least a DECENT namebrand, no WESTINGBRAND or shit like that. Samsung, Toshiba, etc...

Basically, just find the best you can for these criteria. It's not for me or anything, but I've been searchin' all day for somebody and I can't find anything at those
 
I'm pretty happy with my Samsung SlimLine CRT 30" widescreen. It does have the geometry problems that avsforums talks about, but (at least on my set) they're relatively minor--the corners are rounded. avsforums tends to blow issues way out of proportion. And if I felt like it, I could probably fix the geometry probs with the service menu... but I'm lazy. :)

Price: about $900 + tax.

Doesn't have quite the horizontal resolution of the Sony model the same size, but the sony model costs >$2000. :)

Nathan
 
gblues said:
I'm pretty happy with my Samsung SlimLine CRT 30" widescreen. It does have the geometry problems that avsforums talks about, but (at least on my set) they're relatively minor--the corners are rounded. avsforums tends to blow issues way out of proportion. And if I felt like it, I could probably fix the geometry probs with the service menu... but I'm lazy. :)

Price: about $900 + tax.

Doesn't have quite the horizontal resolution of the Sony model the same size, but the sony model costs >$2000. :)

Nathan
Click to expand...

can you provide a link for this TV? I don't mean to pester you, just tryin' to speed up the process.
 
Amir0x said:
7. A the very least a DECENT namebrand, no WESTINGBRAND or shit like that. Samsung, Toshiba, etc...
Click to expand...

I would like to point out that you're being relatively thick-headed on this point. Most LCD / plasmas use panels from a handful of manufacturers, and the panel manufacturer is the most important point. I've seen good deals on LCD flat-panel HDTVs over the past few weeks at www.hot-deals.org and the panels being used are the same ones in more expensive brands, thus you get the same quality. The days where a "Sony" or "samsung" branded TV might be more reliable than a Zyntax or whatever are gone - nowadays it's the components used to make the TV that are important.

Edit: And do you want it to support 720p input or display 720p input? Because, if it's the latter, you really don't have many options outside flat-panels or rear projection, and those tend to be much more expensive.
 
gblues said:
Manufacturer page:
http://product.samsung.com/cgi-bin/nabc/product/b2c_product_detail.jsp?prod_id=TXR3079WHX%2fXAA

SlimFit thread on avsforum:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=541592

Currently $999 at Best Buy, but I'm sure you can find it for less elsewhere:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...CategoryId=pcmcat31800050030&id=1099396990967

Nathan
Click to expand...

Ah, Danke. I found it earlier, when I realized I was searchin' for "SlimLine" instead of "SlimFit". But much appreciated, especially the link to the avsforum thread.

Nerevar said:
I would like to point out that you're being relatively thick-headed on this point. Most LCD / plasmas use panels from a handful of manufacturers, and the panel manufacturer is the most important point. I've seen good deals on LCD flat-panel HDTVs over the past few weeks at www.hot-deals.org and the panels being used are the same ones in more expensive brands, thus you get the same quality. The days where a "Sony" or "samsung" branded TV might be more reliable than a Zyntax or whatever are gone - nowadays it's the components used to make the TV that are important.

Edit: And do you want it to support 720p input or display 720p input? Because, if it's the latter, you really don't have many options outside flat-panels or rear projection, and those tend to be much more expensive.
Click to expand...

I'm not being thick-headed, it's not for me. These are the criteria the person who wanted it asked for, so I was doin' it for him. However, in my personal experience - which admittedly isn't dramatic or anything - namebrands generally are just more reliable and of (however slightly) superior quality. I think that at the end of the day a person is still probably better of going namebrand if they have the cash.
 
Consider one of the reasons I've held off on buying a new TV thus far.

From the AVSForums:

HDTVs with fixed-pixel displays (such as DLPs, LCDs, and Plasmas) only have ONE "native" resolution, for example 1920x1080. What this means is that all material is scaled to the High Definition resolution of 1920x1080. HDTVs all have an internal, built-in scaler which processes the inputted video, "upscaling" it all to be displayed in the TV's supported resolution. Unfortunately, this takes time depending on the TV's scaler, but all HDTVs experience some lag, ESPECIALLY when processing 480i material. The outputted picture doesn't always look that good, either.

That means that Scaling / aspect ratio conversion (for anything 480p and higher) is ~0.4 frames, while Deinterlacing (the conversion process of converting 480i to 480p) is ~4 frames. 4 frames of lag isn't a lot for most people, but as anyone who plays fighting games seriously knows, 4 frames is a lot! It's enough to mess up difficult combos, and it's enough to feel during gameplay. That's also why we don't feel lag when we play a 480p game. For years the HDTV community has been forced to play non-progressive scan (480i) video games with lag, many without even having realized it.

In a nutshell, almost any game played on a Playstation 2, Dreamcast, or any older console has a lag of almost 100mS when played on an HDTV.
Click to expand...

Link to thread: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=558125

Supposedly the problem can be solved with a decent VGA box, but that will cost another $100 to $200.
 
I have the SlimFit TV, so here's my opinion:

- Picture is high quality. I'm using the component cables for my PS2 and 480i games look great (tested with: Katamari Damashi, MGS3, Hitman 2)
- No discernable lag--I can turn on a dime in Katamari
- Supports 720p and 1080i, but probably upconverts to 1080i internally. Really, you can't tell the difference.
- has 2 component, 1 hdmi input, and a bazillion composite and an RF input.
- geometry issues on avsforum are overblown. I've noticed minor issues in the corners but that's it so far (I've had the set about a month).
Unless you can find the Sony on clearance, it's a very good set. Me likey long time.

Nathan
 
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