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I'm looking for a nice HDTV for my moms room. The TV she has now is a cheapass junker tv and it's too heavy, it's bending the shelf its on. She wants a nice LCD screen and she figured while she's at it, upgrade to HDTV. The size of the shelf is 35 inches wide, 24 inches deep (although it wont really matter if it's an LCD), and about 30 inches high (but the shelves are adjustable so that doesn't really matter). Budget is about $500 but will go slightly higher if it's worth it. Thanks.
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| # ? Dec 16, 2025 08:38 |
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GaistHeidegger posted:Best Buy has a 42" Regza for $1799, on sale for $1599. I have a coupon for 12% off, so after tax the whole set would be a little over $1400. Is this a good deal? The TV itself looked amazingly better than the picture quality of all the other display units there, but I'd need to buy a new entertainment center and everything, and I am worried about shooting so dramatically over my original price point. Still, it looked so damned good it is hard to resist! If that's one of the "Cinema Series" - model number LX177 - it's a GREAT deal. If it's only a 42HL167 ( is suspect this ), however, then it's only a so-so deal. Amazon sells them for 1300 with free shipping. It should work well for 360 if you have component, great if you have the HDMI version.
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FlyingCheese posted:I'm looking for a nice HDTV for my moms room. The TV she has now is a cheapass junker tv and it's too heavy, it's bending the shelf its on. She wants a nice LCD screen and she figured while she's at it, upgrade to HDTV. The size of the shelf is 35 inches wide, 24 inches deep (although it wont really matter if it's an LCD), and about 30 inches high (but the shelves are adjustable so that doesn't really matter). You will not get a good HDTV for 500 dollars. You'd be lucky to pick up a lovely Magnavox 26" for that price. The closet I could think of are low-scale Toshiba screens, which are about 620 online. P.S. there is a "Let's buy a non-lovely HDTV for 600!" thread on this board, maybe that could help.
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Faceless Clock posted:If that's one of the "Cinema Series" - model number LX177 - it's a GREAT deal. If it's only a 42HL167 ( is suspect this ), however, then it's only a so-so deal. Amazon sells them for 1300 with free shipping. Hmmmm, it's the latter, yes. When I checked with circuit city though, I discovered that they have it for the $1300. Woo! I suppose I will purchase HDMI cabling for my 360 too, if it makes a good difference with visuals.
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Sorry in advance for adding to the glut of "help me decide" posts. I'm trying to decide between these three. I've chosen three Samsung models to be sure I'm understanding the reason for the price difference. Samsung 42" 1080i(HPT4264) http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0770HDS0010086387&catid= Samsung 40" 1080p (LNT4061) http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0770HDS0010086238&catid= Samsung 40" 1080p (LNT4065) http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0770HDS0010086221&catid= I understand that the first one only supports up to 1080i whereas the other two have 1080p. After that, I'm not sure what the difference between the other two are. Is it just contrast ratio? 10000:1 vs 15000:1? edit: On Cnet they mention that the 65 model has a shiny coating which I guess would be a negative for me in the daytime. The main questions I have if those are the only differences are: 1) Is 1080p worth the extra expense if I don't have a PS3? 2) Is the difference in contrast ratios really visible? The prices are close enough that I suppose in the end I'm just nitpicking, but I'm planning to pick up an Xbox 360 to go with it so even saving a couple hundred would help. Thanks for any input! DrBox fucked around with this message at 00:19 on Sep 1, 2007 |
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Faceless Clock posted:You will not get a good HDTV for 500 dollars. You'd be lucky to pick up a lovely Magnavox 26" for that price. The closet I could think of are low-scale Toshiba screens, which are about 620 online. Well it's only a bedroom so I was thinking something smaller would be cheaper. Basically I'm looking for small but pretty good.
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DrBox posted:Sorry in advance for adding to the glut of "help me decide" posts. The 1080p is probably not worth the price to the casual user. The difference between contrast ratios IS visible. But contrast ratio seems less a way of judging actual contrast, and more a way for a manufacture to say "HEY, THIS TV IS THE BETTER MODEL!" The difference between the 4061F and 4065F is that the 4065F has deeper blacks and someone more vivid color accuracy, also the 4065F has a better video processor, which I besides the black levels is probably the best feature on the TV. I saw some very ugly SD stuff on a 4061F at Best Buy, but my 4065f handles it well enough to be enjoyable. The 4065F was worth the money for me. I bought it mostly because I wanted a good TV to play all the awesome new 360 games on. I doubt everyone would agree, however - you'll have to judge for yourself. Ironically, the more expensive 4065F is the better choice if you can't afford or don't want to afford HD content over your cable or satellite service, or you plan on playing older videogames (though if we're talking pre-PS1 era, you're still hosed). Oh, and what about the Samsung plasma? Also a good set, but I wouldn't recommend it for gaming. Plasmas are mainly a movie set. Games have static images, and while burn-in is no longer an issue, image retention (burn-in that goes away after awhile) still is and it's annoying.
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So, apparently there was a bad storm today and it appears lightning must have hit close to our house because our bedroom CRT tv we had has permanent damage to the color guns on it. It's as if someone is holding a magnet right next to it. So we figured ok we wanted a new tv for the bedroom anyways let's see what's on sale. So we found this http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8250144&type=product&id=1169512290376 Westinghouse 32" LCD on sale for $579. Snatched it up and just finished setting it up. Looks real nice, gonna grab an HD cable box for it and be hooked up. Couple questions, anyone have any recommended color/general settings for it? So far we have it set on the movie preset video and it looks pretty good, wondering if there are specific settings to make it look great though. It had 3 aspect ratio settings, standard, fill and overscan. I've got my 360 hooked up to it, if I put in a normal widescren dvd and have the tv set on the standard setting it doesn't fill up the whole screen like it should and i don't mean up/down, i mean left/right, I hafta put it to fill mode, is this right? With my HD drive hooked up it works right on standard mode. Also we have a cheapie apex dvd player and right now it's just hooked up via composite cables, I plan on getting a decent dvd player with at least component outputs if not hdmi as the 360 isn't staying in the bedroom. Same video issue happens with that hooked up as well. Should it be set to fill mode as a default or am I missing something?
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Faceless Clock posted:Oh, and what about the Samsung plasma? Also a good set, but I wouldn't recommend it for gaming. Plasmas are mainly a movie set. Games have static images, and while burn-in is no longer an issue, image retention (burn-in that goes away after awhile) still is and it's annoying. Maybe occationally hooking up my main gaming rig to it for some ridiculously huge Half-Life or Wow action, so I think LCD will allow the versatility I'm looking for. Faceless Clock posted:(though if we're talking pre-PS1 era, you're still hosed). Please explain. Can you not use systems that use the composite or coax connections on newer HD televisions? Edit: I'll probably go for either Samsung 40" 1080p (LNT4065) http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0770HDS0010086221&catid= or Toshiba REGZA 1080p 42" (42HL167) http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0926HDS0010086199&catid=24558 Are either of those clearly superior to the other? The size difference is minimal. DrBox fucked around with this message at 02:47 on Sep 1, 2007 |
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DrBox posted:It'll be mainly for video games (Gamecube/Xbox/360/Ps2) and I plan to set up a media computer with it. Older gaming systems have problems with HDTV due to the strange and unusual resolutions they output. That means the TV had to perform conversions to get things to expand to your screen size, except those gaming systems are so old that your TV probably isn't optimized to handle the conversion of those resolutions. Sometimes the conversions take a longer time, causing lag, sometimes the picture is hosed in the process, sometimes it just doesn't work at all. If it can't at least display 480, then I wouldn't expect it to work well. Out of the two you posted, the Samsung is the clear winner. This shouldn't be surprising. The Samsung --65F series is (or was, there are some new LCDs coming out now or soon from various manufactures, including Samsung and Sony) the best LCD you can buy. Except maybe the --66F series, but I've never even seen the latter for sell in a store.
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Damnit, I got the Regza, it's definitely a 1080p system, but I can't get my 360 to push 1080p through it when I set it to that in the dashboard. I've got the cable itself set to HDTV, and 1080i works, but 1080p just tells me no signal. Argh! I'm sure it's something simple, and I hope it's not for some reason impossible. Ideas?
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GaistHeidegger posted:Damnit, I got the Regza, it's definitely a 1080p system, but I can't get my 360 to push 1080p through it when I set it to that in the dashboard. I've got the cable itself set to HDTV, and 1080i works, but 1080p just tells me no signal. Argh! I'm sure it's something simple, and I hope it's not for some reason impossible. Ideas? If you're doing component, then it won't accept it because that set doesn't take 1080p through component. It does not matter. Don't fret. The difference between 720p and 1080p is difficult enough to notice - the difference between 1080i and 1080p, well, almost impossible.
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Faceless Clock posted:It does not matter. Don't fret. The difference between 720p and 1080p is difficult enough to notice - the difference between 1080i and 1080p, well, almost impossible. I thought a progressive image is noticeably smoother than an interlaced image.
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The Ferret King posted:I thought a progressive image is noticeably smoother than an interlaced image. A progressive image is smoother, but the noticeably is debatable. Much like the difference between 720p vs 1080p, you'll have be sitting fairly close to the TV to have a chance of noticing anything. And here's rub. None of today's TV technologies display an interlaced image. They process the interlaced image and then display it progressively. Here is something from avsforums quote:The truth is this: The Toshiba HD-DVD player outputs 1080i, and the Samsung Blu-ray player outputs both 1080i and 1080p. What they fail to mention is that it makes absolutely no difference which transmission format you use—feeding 1080i or 1080p into your projector or HDTV will give you the exact same picture. Why? Both disc formats encode film material in progressive scan 1080p at 24 frames per second. It does not matter whether you output this data in 1080i or 1080p since all 1080 lines of information on the disc are fed into your video display either way. The only difference is the order in which they are transmitted. If they are fed in progressive order (1080p), the video display will process them i that order. If they are fed in interlaced format (1080i), the video display simply reassembles them into their original progressive scan order. Either way all 1080 lines per frame that are on the disc make it into the projector or TV. The fact is, if you happen to have the Samsung Blu-ray player and a video display that takes both 1080i and 1080p, you can switch the player back and forth between 1080i and 1080p output and see absolutely no difference in the picture. So this notion that the Blu-ray player is worth more money due to 1080p output is nonsense.
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Faceless Clock posted:Out of the two you posted, the Samsung is the clear winner. This shouldn't be surprising. The Samsung --65F series is (or was, there are some new LCDs coming out now or soon from various manufactures, including Samsung and Sony) the best LCD you can buy. Except maybe the --66F series, but I've never even seen the latter for sell in a store. Ok, this should be my last comparison question here. the 65F isn't available anywhere near me and I'm trying to pick one up during the holiday sales this weekend SO: Toshiba REGZA 1080p 42" (42HL167) http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/prodd...amp;catid=24558 or Samsung 40" 1080p (LNT4061) http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/pr...6238&catid= They are the exact same price and from what I can tell, seem to be nearly identical in features. The Rezga is two inches bigger and has a few milliseconds quicker response time, but the Samsung has a higher contrast ratio. I'd take image quality over two more inches. I guess it comes down to which has the better video processor and image quality. Thanks for the help so far Faceless Clock!
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DrBox posted:Ok, this should be my last comparison question here. the 65F isn't available anywhere near me and I'm trying to pick one up during the holiday sales this weekend SO: That's a closer race. Let's see. The Toshiba has the better on-paper processor, a higher refresh rate (less blurring) and Dynalight and Stablesound - the first adjusts the backlight depending on the brightness of the picture displayed, the second attempts to tone down any sudden and constant increase in volume, such as when a commercial comes on. A small number of Toshibas have a issue with green push, or greens becoming too green and taking over the screen. The Samsung has great connectivity. The Toshiba will not accept 1080p through anything but it's HDMI - the Samsung takes 1080p through EVERYTHING. It's not a huge deal, since 1080i and p are nearly the same thing, but still nice since it makes hook-up less of a hassle. The Samsung probably has a better image quality, particularly in the area of color accuracy, but it's not like the difference will killdoze you. The Samsung has no potential problems as of this moment - a former HDMI issue was nixed by updates in June.
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I just purchased the Toshiba 20HL67. I am having problems with the audio in (left and right stereo inputs) that is under the HDMI input. What I am trying to do is connect my XBox 360 with a VGA cable to the TV. Instead of using the stereo audio converter (the 3.5mm audio pin), I decided to plug the red and white audio cable into the audio in. However, I cannot receive any sound from it. However, I do receive sound when I use the 3.5mm converting pin. Is there any way I can use the stereo audio in along with the VGA input, or must I use the 3.5mm pin?
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Moo Moo Bells posted:I just purchased the Toshiba 20HL67. I am having problems with the audio in (left and right stereo inputs) that is under the HDMI input.
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Faceless Clock posted:If you're doing component, then it won't accept it because that set doesn't take 1080p through component. Also remember that is the 1080p set displays properly, the 1080i content will be identical to the 1080p, since the difference is not in resolution, but interlacing. This page describes the problem and lists sets which correctly deinterlace 1080i.
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Lemons posted:Does anyone have an opinion on this TV? $799 down from $999 on a Toshiba 32" LCD seems like a hell of a deal. I may just pick it up and return it if it sucks. In case anyone was wondering, I picked this up at FutureShop, and it's a great TV. The picture looks fantastic. $799 for the 32" and $999 for the 37" is a pretty good deal. A++ would recommend. Only downside is that the tuner is only NTSC, which doesn't matter to me too much. Lemons fucked around with this message at 16:32 on Sep 4, 2007 |
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I bought a Samsung 4061F last weekend, and twice now when I've been watching a DVD (Or media center movies) and paused it for 5 or so minuets, the screen will turn green with white shadows when it starts playing again. Switching sources around has fixed it each time. It's only happened when playing from the Xbox on the HDMI input (That I've noticed, haven't tried it with anything else). Is this a self protection thing, or is something in there hosed up?
Bitter[HATE] fucked around with this message at 17:39 on Sep 4, 2007 |
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Bitter[HATE posted:] You might have gotten one with HDMI handshaking issues. It's an old problem, mostly or entirely fixed on recently made models. Or so I thought. Go to avsforums.com and read the --61/65f owners thread in the LCD forum. This will help you figure out if your problem is the known HDMI issue, or something different. If it is the HDMI issue, you should be able to get it fixed by calling for a Samsung repairman.
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Lemons posted:In case anyone was wondering, I picked this up at FutureShop, and it's a great TV. The picture looks fantastic. $799 for the 32" and $999 for the 37" is a pretty good deal. A++ would recommend. Only downside is that the tuner is only NTSC, which doesn't matter to me too much. Does it do widescreen VGA? I remember reading that the Toshibas, for no logical reason, will not take accept a widescreen resolution through the VGA port, even the native resolution. The 37" seems like a good deal to me, but I'm worried about getting 4:3 for my 360 or if I ever hook up a HTPC, which is functionally the same as not having a VGA input at all.
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WeaselWeaz posted:Does it do widescreen VGA? I remember reading that the Toshibas, for no logical reason, will not take accept a widescreen resolution through the VGA port, even the native resolution. The 37" seems like a good deal to me, but I'm worried about getting 4:3 for my 360 or if I ever hook up a HTPC, which is functionally the same as not having a VGA input at all. Yes, I'm using my 360 through VGA at 1360x768. Looks beautiful.
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Lemons posted:Yes, I'm using my 360 through VGA at 1360x768. Looks beautiful. Any idea how? I can't get my 37HL67 to do anything above 1024x768
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Refresh rates: What do I need playing 360 and watching movies. I've seen 8ms and sets that are "8ms or less", but also some at 12ms for real cheap. Will I notice much of a difference?Utzie posted:Any idea how? I can't get my 37HL67 to do anything above 1024x768 I realized after I read his response that I was thinking of the TV. The L67 is a Regza, his is a L57 and different.
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WeaselWeaz posted:Refresh rates: What do I need playing 360 and watching movies. I've seen 8ms and sets that are "8ms or less", but also some at 12ms for real cheap. Will I notice much of a difference? The OP states 16ms or less. The OP is also sort of dated now, but it gives you an idea - at one point, people were saying 16ms or less was perfect, but as technology advances you now have people claiming 8ms or less. Which probably means 16ms or less is all you need. Still, I would stay with 8m, because that's what just about any modern LCD TV worth it's weight in salt will have.
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Well, a 16ms response time would mean that it'll take slightly less than a 60th of a second to change the image on the screen for the next frame. If it's truly capable of that (and not just in best-case scenarios) then you shouldn't notice any blurring or trails.
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What's everyone's verdict on the Sharp LC42XD1E/LC42XD1EA? I can stretch to about £1100 for the LC42XD1EA if need be, but is there an alternative that would give me more bang for my buck? I could get the LC42XD1E for £900, but i'm loathed to cheap out if it'll prove to be an inferior purchase to the EA. If anyone could recommend another set in the £900-1100 price range that might be superior, then go ahead. I'm after a 42" screen, and 1080p is a must.
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moron posted:What's everyone's verdict on the Sharp LC42XD1E/LC42XD1EA? Since that's a European model, and I'm in the States, I have never seen that screen before - but online reviews suggest it has nice picture. The downside is limited connectivity, it has no component input, which seems like pretty glaring oversight.
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I just got my shipment notification for the Westinghouse LVM-37W3, but I'm pretty much regretting it after reading through this thread. I could have gotten a better 40+" 720p screen for about the same price with better contrast. Oh well, it's still an improvement over my SDTV. If the Westy dies I'll just return it and upgrade. The only upside is that I plan to use it with my iMac so the 1080 res will be nice.
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I've managed to almost totally eliminate the lag from my SNES hooked up to my Sharp LC37D43U using composite video. I went through the options on the TV and made sure any setting that does processing/calculation was disabled: - disabled OPC - disabled Black Level Expansion - set image processing to "fast" - disabled Digital Noise Reduction - changed input type from "Auto" to "NTSC" The lag is virtually non-existant; there is still a very slight lag that's almost unnoticeable. My girlfriend, who first noticed the lag when I hooked up the SNES says that it's way better and she can now play Super Mario World without any problems. I was playing F-Zero and didn't notice any problems at all.
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The last TV I purchased, the Toshiba 20HL67, I do not have connected to a set top box. It is directly connected to the coaxial signal from Comcast. Because this TV isn't meant to be used for TV broadcasts, I'm not that upset in video quality. However, after I go over channel 80 or so, I start receiving simultaneously station broadcasts such as channel 80.1, 80.2, and so on. My question is if there is a website that lists which channel is which? Some of them correspond to local channels 1-13, while others are completely new channels.
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I have a 37" Vizo LCD already. I bought it about a month ago, and while the picture is really nice compared to what I was accustomed to previously, the black levels and contrast have really started to grate on my nerves. I've narrowed it down to the Sony KDS-50A2020 SXRD and the Samsung LNT4065/61F LCD. Floor space is not an issue, nor is viewing distance. I can adjust the viewing area to either size television. At this point all I care about is picture quality, mainly black levels and contrast. I'm using an X-Box 360 Elite with the HD-DVD add-on run through HDMI, so I'd like 1080p. I'll probably end up adding a PS3 to the mix for Final Fantasy/Bluray so I can say gently caress the format war. So, if anyone can help me decide here or recommend an even better set for the same amount of cash I'd really appreciate it. Either one will blow away the Vizios PQ, right?
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ChaoticSeven posted:I have a 37" Vizo LCD already. I bought it about a month ago, and while the picture is really nice compared to what I was accustomed to previously, the black levels and contrast have really started to grate on my nerves. If you're crazy about black quality, you should look at plasma. Panasonic's 42PZ700U worth a look, since you want 1080p.
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I'm looking to get an HDTV for my living room in the price range of $500-800: something not too shabby but not overly expensive either. However, I don't know much about HDTV brands to make an informed decision so that's where I will need your help. I'm thinking maybe a 37" tv would be good enough, but I don't know if that size of a TV is in that price range. Any help is appreciated. edit: if it helps any, I have a Sam's Club and Frys nearby which I've heard are good places to buy HDTVs.
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Incest posted:I'm looking to get an HDTV for my living room in the price range of $500-800: something not too shabby but not overly expensive either. However, I don't know much about HDTV brands to make an informed decision so that's where I will need your help. I'm thinking maybe a 37" tv would be good enough, but I don't know if that size of a TV is in that price range. A Vizio would fit the bill. They're not too shabby. 37" or 42" may be affordable depending on the specs of the set. For a high-quality (well, at least decent quality) set, Toshiba's REGZA 37HL67 can probably be found just outside the upper side of your price range. But your price is going to limit you. You cannot afford a high quality set for that money, and you won't be able to find anything except LCD, so I hope you like those!
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Faceless Clock posted:For a high-quality (well, at least decent quality) set, Toshiba's REGZA 37HL67 can probably be found just outside the upper side of your price range. My biggest concern: I won't be missing out on too much by going 720p instead of 1080p, will I? My eventual uses for this TV will be HD movies and antenna TV (HD cable if I win the lottery). EDIT: Nevermind, think I'll wait on jumping into the format war. herr brau fucked around with this message at 04:22 on Sep 6, 2007 |
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I checked out Walmart the other day and they had this TV on sale: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=4840111 899 for a Philips DLP. Unless there' something really lovely about this TV that I'm not aware of, it seems like a decent TV.
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| # ? Dec 16, 2025 08:38 |
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UK buyer here, looking for advice as usual. After picking up my 360 Elite and discovering that my aged 21" CRT was nigh-useless for the task of playing anything, I went on a hunt for a suitable HDTV. Browsed through this thread and the "Under $600" thread, and was annoyed to discover that the 37" Vizio isn't sold over here. Anyway, after a few nights of search and comparison, I've narrowed my choices down to two models. I'd appreciate some feedback or suggestions, and any glaring problems that I'll no doubt have missed in my haste. Sharp LC32AD5E - Dixons - Amazon stocks it for £435, and is probably where I'd get it from Orion TV-3704 - Dixons - Can't find anywhere cheaper Currently I'm leaning more towards the Sharp than the Orion - it's branded and has better features and specs. But the 37" tempts me. My budget is, at a stretch, £500 (not a lot, I know); I'm trying to keep myself under £450 if possible. Any opinions appreciated, or any other models that I should be checking out as well. Thanks.
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