hdtv prices

[ibttw23]

hey guys...very basic question. since you guys are the hdtv experts, i have directv with an r15 and i was considering upgrading to hd.

what are some of the best deals i can get on hdtvs? i was looking for something between 20 and 50 inches, ideally with 1080 best picture, but if i can find a very cheap 720 one i'll buy it. thanks for your help.

[jjkoe3]

Just remember that as of now the best receivers can only show 1080i. It is an amazing picture. To me the difference between 1080 and 720 in picture is worth the extra scratch.

As for price, it is hard to beat the prices of Sam's club if you have a membership and it is IMPOSSIBLE to beat their return policy!

[convem24]

hey guys...very basic question. since you guys are the hdtv experts, i have directv with an r15 and i was considering upgrading to hd.

what are some of the best deals i can get on hdtvs? i was looking for something between 20 and 50 inches, ideally with 1080 best picture, but if i can find a very cheap 720 one i'll buy it. thanks for your help.

It really does depends. For middle of the road brands (Not store brand but not Sony/Samsung, etc), you might want to look at Westinghouse (Best Buy carries them), Visio (Costco, Sams, Circuit City), LG (Circuit City and Best Buy), and Phillips (Circuit City, Best Buy, Costco, Sams, and Walmart). Those are the brands.

How much do you want to spend? I would include possible costs for additional cables (if you are hooking your Directv HD receiver to an audio system spend about $20 on an audio cable for instance) and cost of getting an HD receiver or HD-DVR from Directv. If you can get one free from them (which you have to ask obviously for a freebie) you might not have to spend hardly anything more. IMHO I would upgrade to HD since I bought a nice 40 inch samsung and the only HD I have seen in on my Blu-ray and HD-DVD players. I live in an apartment and have little recourse for HD here even though I move in about 7 days into a house where the land lord has consented to Directv being the tv source (basically I am paying). Tell me what you want to spend on a TV and I can give you some good deals but price is important obviously.

[Earl Bonovich]

If you are going 20"

The Vizio 20" for ~ $325 at COSCO is awsome

But "something between 20 and 50" is a MASSIVE MASSIVE range....

Both in performance, features, and price.

[Cholly]

If you are a Costco member, go there first. They will double the manufacturer's warranty, and in addition offer a 90 day return policy, something you won't get from Circuit City or Best Buy. I agree with convem24 concerning brands. Vizio, Westinghouse and Philips all make good sets at reasonable prices. I bought a 37 inch Vizio LCD receiver at Costco and am very pleased with it.
Consider this: a good portion of your TV viewing will in all probability not be HD, and will therefore be in 4:3 format. As a rule of thumb, a 26 inch HDTV is equivalent to a 19 inch CRT TV when viewing 4:3. A 32 inch HDTV is equivalent to a 25 inch 4:3 set and a 37 inch HDTV is equivalent to a 30 inch 4:3 receiver.
My first widescreen HDTV was a 26 inch receiver I bought for my bedroom. I soon found it to be too small for my liking, but waited ove two years before I upgraded to the 37 inch Vizio.
A 1080p receiver would be preferable to 720p. However, it's very difficult to tell the difference between the two on screen sizes less than 40 inches.
As to cables -- don't be sucked in by high priced brands like Monster cable. Even the Philips and GE cables you find in big box stores are grossly overpriced. Instead, go online to monoprice.com or bluejeanscable.com and buy their better quality cables. You'd have to be a video professional to distinguish any difference in picture or sound quality.

[Mike500]

I got this Viewsonic 22 at Newegg.com

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16889107035

It is made by LG and has one of the best OTA tuners I've seen. Bootup is very very fast. Tuning aquisition is absolutely the fastest I've seen. It has the current LG tuner chip, which is the best on the market, I've been told. I wish my Sharp Aquos had this tuner.

The picture is utterly stunning. It has zoom in for OTA, which is missing from my 26" Sharp Aquos.

Newegg delivered it in two days.

[Scott B.]

I Found this on Avs forum. http://www.secondact.com/category/promo?cid=avsgdotd
They have really good deals, but beware the warranty on factory refurbished is usually only 90 days. You can buy a warranty from the web sight to complement the short warranty.

[Nick]

Just some general advice -- buy the largest display you can afford and for
which you have space. When it come to HD, bigger is definitely better! :p

[Milominderbinder2]

Check out your Costco and Fry's if you have them in the area. Best Buy and Circuit City may be able to match them in some cases.

Rear projection typically gives you the largest picture for a given price followed by plasma then LCD.

Go to someplace like Fry's that will have 120 different models side-by-side and see what you like.

- Craig

[n3ntj]

If you are in the market, I would suggest looking at Consumer Reports as well before making a purchase. According to CR, Vizio HDTVs have a higher than normal defect/repair number compared to other brands. Samsung, Panasonic, Sony, LG, and Phillips are at the top of PQ and customer satisfaction. Vizio was at the bottom for customer satisfaction.

[Tom Robertson]

Also remember the size will not be what you are used to. 4:3 seems much larger than 16:9 for the same diagonal if you look at the vertical height.

Cheers,
Tom

[Cholly]

If you are in the market, I would suggest looking at Consumer Reports as well before making a purchase. According to CR, Vizio HDTVs have a higher than normal defect/repair number compared to other brands. Samsung, Panasonic, Sony, LG, and Phillips are at the top of PQ and customer satisfaction. Vizio was at the bottom for customer satisfaction.

You are referring to an old article. The current issue of Consumer Reports doesn't have any info on Vizio customer satisfaction. Early Vizio TV's did not score very well, but the current models are quite good. As a matter of fact, Vizio 32" and 37" LCD's were among the "good values" in those sizes.

The best bang for the buck right now would be the Sony RP LCD's. Sony is discontinuing RP production TV's, and their 50 inch 1080p models can be had for as low as $1400 at BB.

Whatever you do -- buy local. Granted, many people have gotten good receivers online, but warranty service, if needed, is difficult to get from online vendors.

Guys -- the OP is in Connecticut! Fry's doesn't have stores in the East. The farthest East they go are Illinois and Indiana.

[ibttw23]

thanks for your help everybody...much appreciated. yeah here in ct we don't have a sam's club, maybe it's upstate but i'm in southwest ct. people have been raving about vizio lately...do they have a lot of 1080 ones or only 720?

[B Newt]

If you are in the market, I would suggest looking at Consumer Reports as well before making a purchase. According to CR, Vizio HDTVs have a higher than normal defect/repair number compared to other brands. Samsung, Panasonic, Sony, LG, and Phillips are at the top of PQ and customer satisfaction. Vizio was at the bottom for customer satisfaction.

My local bar has 5 37" Vizio HDTV's that run 24/7. They were installed over a year ago. The owner had to replace one that was dead out of the box. The rest look as good as the day he installed them. I like them so much I bought a 42" Vizio last july. Now I am waiting for someone to come out with at least a 58" LCD!

[Cholly]

thanks for your help everybody...much appreciated. yeah here in ct we don't have a sam's club, maybe it's upstate but i'm in southwest ct. people have been raving about vizio lately...do they have a lot of 1080 ones or only 720?

Vizio has several 1080p "FULL HD" LCD TV's, ranging from 42 inch diagonal to 52 inch diagonal. They are referred to as the "Gallevia" series. You can find more information about them on their website --- www.vizio.com

You say you don't have a Sam's club in your area. How about Costco or BJ's? They both stock Vizio. Circuit City also carries several models, but at a higher price.

[Upstream]

Also remember the size will not be what you are used to. 4:3 seems much larger than 16:9 for the same diagonal if you look at the vertical height.

Cheers,
Tom



Take the diagonal size of the HD tv and multiply it by .817 to get the approximate equivalent SD picture diagonal (both diagonals will have the same height, but the HD will obviously have a lot more width).

[racton1]

Just some general advice -- buy the largest display you can afford and for
which you have space. When it come to HD, bigger is definitely better! :p

I agree totally with your statement. I bought a Toshiba 32" and I wished I had gotten a bigger one. That was the only size that would fit in my entertainment center. Bigger really is better in HD.