Does anyone have any opinions on these models:

Philips 27" - 27PT9007
Sanyo 27" HT27547
Sanyo 30" HT30547
RCA 24" - 24V414T
Sharp 27" - 27SC370
Sharp 27" - 27SC26B


The new tv will be replacing a 10 y/o Zenith tv with mono sound. I don't need something fancy, anything that provides the same quality and durability as the Zenith will work just fine. I suppose I should note that the picture quality of the Zenith was perfectly fine, no problems. The only thing that was slightly annoying was the slight bowing in the corners of the screen, but that was not a big deal.

I'd really appreciate any help that you can provide. I'm getting exhausted (and irritated) trying to find a decent tv.

I wish I could be of some help here, but I have no first-hand experience with any of these TV's. I'm sure millions are sold in the US each year, but for some reason people that buy these models don't usually post here.

CRT quality has really gotten bad in the past couple of years, especially since Sony quit making them. All the major brands have "outsourced" production to manufacturers whose names few people would recognize. I would be willing to bet many of the competing name brand sets are actually manufactured at the same factory.

So some of the things I would look for would be good screen geometry, solid construction (test the buttons on the front and see how flimsy or solid they feel) and of course, an acceptable picture. Most likely the picture will look similar on all the sets, and keep in mind that manufacturers will turn the contrast up really high and skew the picture to emphasize reds in order to make their TV stand out, so beware of that.

Also, try turning the contrast or "picture" setting up all the way and see if the lines and picture start to distort or bend. If the screen gets bigger or smaller depending on the brightness of the scene being displayed, this is also a sign of a poor quality power supply, which will cause distortion problems and may conk out prematurely.

And do your homework regarding the inputs, outputs and other features you plan on using. Don't just assume the TV will have all the same ones your old one did. For example, I bought a TV about a year ago assuming it would have an S-video jack and an audio out ("all TV's have those") but when I got it home I found out it had neither.

As you start to narrow down your search, go on the internet and try to find legitimate review sites and see people have had a lot of complaints about the set, and disregard any positive reviews since someone affiliated with the manufacturer likely wrote them.

Many specifications are easier to get on the internet, than trying to figure out while you're in the store, so keep this in mind.

Look at the warranty, since a longer warranty usually means that the manufacturer thinks the set will outlast the warranty.

Sorry I can't be of any help regarding specific brands, but as I said, don't get too hung up on a brand name since it means little or nothing these days. Good luck and I hope this helps.

What is screen geometry? I've heard this mentioned before and I've tried looking it up, but I still don't understand what it means.

I've noticed that on some tvs in the stores, the picture quality looks grainy, while others look much better. I'm wondering if this graininess is actually from the tv or is from low/poor signal from what I assume is cable tv. Any ideas?

What is screen geometry? I've heard this mentioned before and I've tried looking it up, but I still don't understand what it means.

I've noticed that on some tvs in the stores, the picture quality looks grainy, while others look much better. I'm wondering if this graininess is actually from the tv or is from low/poor signal from what I assume is cable tv. Any ideas?

Geometry refers to how straight horizontal and vertical lines are when they appear on the screen. I never paid much attention to it previously, but once you become aware of it, things like a news crawler at the bottom of the screen that looks bowed, become very annoying.

Electronics store TV's usually are fed a signal that is split to 20 or 30 TV's, so it never looks very good. About all it's good for is comparing one TV to another, but keep in mind that the brightness/contrast/color settings may be set different on the various TV's.

Graininess might be due to a poor quality TV (these days it probably is) or maybe someone turned the sharpness up all the way or something. So either avoid that TV or play with the settings a bit and see if you can make it look as good as the rest of the TV's.

Any TV's picture is almost guaranteed to look better once you get it home and connect it to a quality signal. It won't look any worse, at least.

And if some TV's look "much better" why worry about the grainy-looking ones?

Does anyone know if there would be any difference between the Sanyo HT27547 and the HT27546? The HT27547 is black and the HT27546 is silver, but I'd like to know if there would be any other differences.

Sanyo's website doesn't provide a manual for the HT27547 but it does for the HT27546. The HT27546 is also for the HT32546. I've tried to contact them by phone without any luck.

If they are both the same price, I would have to conclude that they are most likely the same TV. However, if there is a price difference I would investigate further.

Maybe if you can, look at the back of the two sets and see if they both come from the same country. Also see if they have the same inputs and outputs.

You might want to contact the member in the thread below and see how the Sanyo they bought is doing. It looks like the same model.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=874477

I wouldn't buy a Philips or RCA TV, and I wouldn't buy a curved screen CRT. The Sanyo 30" is a much better deal than the 27" unless you actually watch 4:3 all the time. I haven't seen that 30" Sanyo SDTV yet, but that's probably what I would buy.

I went with the Sanyo 27" and luckily it was on sale so I saved $28. I considered getting the Sanyo 30" which is 16:9 but the picture looked weird to me. I don't why but something just doesn't look right on it. The tv is for my parents so 4:3 is probably better anyway. The 27" does look weird which I suspect is partially due to the fact that it's flat screen. But I think it's a good transitional tv which means that it looks different then older 4:3 CRT tvs and I think it will prepare my parents for when they have no choice but to go to 16:9.

I'll try to give a full review of the tv after I check it out more carefully. I need to watch some DVDs and tv shows I'm familiar with on this tv and compare it to an older tv. There's a definite difference between this tv and older ones, I just can't figure out what it is and if it's good or bad. On the plus side, the picture quality is amazingly good. I was worried that the poor signal from the cable which causes graininess would look horrible on this tv, but it's less noticable then on the 10 y/o tv that was replaced.