Hi, guys.

I'm new to this forum. Seems like an appropriate place to vent.

I think the manufacturers are mired in a 20th-century paradigm.

ATSC, NTSC, and QAM tuners, V-chip, closed-captioning, surround sound audio processing and built-in speakers on just about every new FP display: what's the point? I'm not using any of those features that I paid for, are you?

My DVD player and Sat box are feeding the signals to the display, my A/V amplifier is processing the audio. My Sat box provides parental control, closed captioning, and integrates my OTA antenna for local channels.

I think the manufacturers could eliminate those features, cut the price of the units by several hundred dollars, and make a pile of money. Tell me why I'm wrong.

Bobarian:

You aren't wrong. Some manufacturers do that now--the Panasonic commercial series plasma is a popular example. However, there is a marketing drawback: without inclusion of a digital-capable tuner, a manufacturer may not call its device a television set; they would have to call it a monitor. While many members of this forum would be quite happy with a monitor, the mass buying public would be easily confused. The result of such confusion would be lower sales.

The actual component cost of the tuner and speakers is probably a lot less than several hundred dollars. My big complaints with having extraneous parts are size, weight and energy usage.

^ What he said.

Both Panasonic and Pioneer have 'professional' model "monitors" that are what you are looking for... not sure about other brands. Do some research here and you will be all set.