[gdog2004]

I am interested in getting a 30" widescreen for my bedroom. I initially was looking for a 32 inch 4:3 but my tv in the main family room is only 2 years old and its a pretty good jvc. My bedroom tv is a 27" 10 yo magnavox...

I have looked at a number of sets already.


Sony hs420--looks impressive...however costly and HEAVY.

Toshiba 30hfx ---picture looks very good. Also kind of expensive

Phillips 30" --cheap but it doesnt look good to me. I saw one in walmart and sams club. Both looked like crap to me. This was the HD picture too


Sanyo...I only saw the 32 4:3 at walmart. looked decent...not sure about the widescreen.


Panasonic...--I saw the one at walmart. Looked very good to me. cheap...relatively...



My requirements...

In the 800.00 range.

Must have a very good full screen 4:3 picture(converting SD cable to full screen 16:9)

I will watch dvd's, some hdtv but mostly standard digital cable. So it is imperative that it fill the screen well.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[RobZ]

I had the 30HS420 for a week but upgraded to a larger 34" Sony. The 30HS420 is an awesome set with one exception. The appros 1/2" depth of the silver trim surrounding the screen annoyed the hell out of me at night when watching movies. Too reflective. It can, however, be blacked out some how. PQ is great. The set is extremely heavy and not very easy to move considering it's only a 30".

 

[MythTrip]

I had the Toshiba 30HFX84 for about two weeks and returned it

for a full refund. The picture quality using the HDMI input, as well

as component, was one of the best I've ever seen. Even on a

30" you could make out lots of detail. I was sitting within 5 feet

though.


The SD cable on this set was from somewhat decent to pretty bad.

Maybe some more tweaking would have helped.


The deciding factor for me was how bad the geometry was out

of the box. I was initially going to just exchange it for another

Toshiba, but that too suffered from bad geometry. I don't know,

maybe my local B&M just received a bad batch.


At this time I will probably buy the Sony 30" XS955.....but the

MSRP is $1,400.

 

[PikminZeez]

Spend the extra dollars and get the Sony KV-30HS420. It's $1,000, but i assure you it is better than Toshiba or Panasonic's TVs. Sony is the leader in the CRT direct view market. It's heavy, but so what? It's not like you're going to be moving it around all the time, right?

 

[Imperator]

I have a Toshiba 30HF84 and am very happy with it. Others have had problems with these so I started a thread to get feedback from people who have had no problems. I would reccomend checking this set out.

 

[specgeorge]

Imperator,

What kind of hdtvreceiver do you have and whose the cable supplier. How do your analog SD channels look widescreen. Any other comments whould be greatly appreciated

 

[Monce]

Consider getting a WS TV if you plan to whatch mostly DVD's & HD programming.

Consider a 4:3 tv or Normal tv for the opposite.With that in mind your head should not spin

As for HD in the retail stores.Yeah they will look bad you have to keep in mind that they are probably all connected to one source plus they are not calibrated.

Also keep this in your mind make sure that the HDTV can support/down-grade a 720p signal to 1080i.At the top of my head I know that Sanyo & Samsung's 30'' WS HDTV can do this.This is important because you cant play some Xbox games or whatch some HD programs that are broadcasted in 720p.

 

[Imperator]

I do not currently have HD cable, only SD. I watch alot of DVDs as well as console and PC games. I run most PC games at 720p and they look great.

 

[specgeorge]

Monce,

Toshibas 30in 34in 26in hf84s convert 720p signal to 1080i.

 

[stevensteinberg]

Check out the JVC line at Sears. They have a couple widescreens that aren't in the store or online, but they can be ordered. Let your eyes do the judging and you'll see that they have the best picture out there.

 

[Chris_Eff]

I have the Samsung 3071WH 30 inch widescreen. I love it!!. I watch HD over the built in tuner and it looks amazing. I only have DVD hooked up with an S-video because I pushed the WAF getting the TV for the bedroom and 30 dollers in cables might not be worth pushing it. Anyways the set has a built in deinterlacer that I have been very pleased with. Equal picture to a progressive scan Sony downtairs.

SD cable has looked very good. I had to do some adjusting of the brightness but I have a smooth picture with very very little grain.

The downs have been that it has some problems with the cable QAM tuner but a fix has been released and it only has a DVI port. Not a big deal to me as sound with always be through a receiver and their are HDMI to DVI cables if needed.

 

[jamesd3rd]

Quote:

Originally posted by Monce Consider getting a WS TV if you plan to whatch mostly DVD's & HD programming. Consider a 4:3 tv or Normal tv for the opposite.With that in mind your head should not spin As for HD in the retail stores.Yeah they will look bad you have to keep in mind that they are probably all connected to one source plus they are not calibrated. Also keep this in your mind make sure that the HDTV can support/down-grade a 720p signal to 1080i.At the top of my head I know that Sanyo & Samsung's 30'' WS HDTV can do this.This is important because you cant play some Xbox games or whatch some HD programs that are broadcasted in 720p.

WS will definitely help you in the DVD area but that does not necessarily apply to HD. Not all HD is broadcasted in widewcreen. Based on information on another thread, most HD is still 4:3 and will continue be for quite some time.


The FCC requires that sets be able to receive digital signals not necessarily widescreen or HD.

 

[ZedX3]

I just bought a Sony KV-30HS420 today on sale and with a 10% of discount in your price range. (are we allowed to mention the price we paid in this forum??)


I will be picking it up in a few hours.

 

[UMDMatt]

Quote:

Originally posted by jamesd3rd WS will definitely help you in the DVD area but that does not necessarily apply to HD. Not all HD is broadcasted in widewcreen. Based on information on another thread, most HD is still 4:3 and will continue be for quite some time. The FCC requires that sets be able to receive digital signals not necessarily widescreen or HD.

If it's HD, it's 16:9.

 

[CrocHunter]

agreed, plain and simple

 

[Joxer]

All HDTV programing is 16:9 only, any 4:3 is an SD upconvert not HD.

 

[PGHammer]

Quote:

Originally posted by Chris_Eff I have the Samsung 3071WH 30 inch widescreen. I love it!!. I watch HD over the built in tuner and it looks amazing. I only have DVD hooked up with an S-video because I pushed the WAF getting the TV for the bedroom and 30 dollers in cables might not be worth pushing it. Anyways the set has a built in deinterlacer that I have been very pleased with. Equal picture to a progressive scan Sony downtairs. SD cable has looked very good. I had to do some adjusting of the brightness but I have a smooth picture with very very little grain. The downs have been that it has some problems with the cable QAM tuner but a fix has been released and it only has a DVI port. Not a big deal to me as sound with always be through a receiver and their are HDMI to DVI cables if needed.

This is the set I was showing my Mom @ the local Sears. The integrated tuner is OTA-only, but even when connected to an STB (Sears was pumping ESPNHD through it) the picture is clean and crisp. Because Sears price-matches, you can get some amazing deals on their tube sets if Wal-Mart has the same model (I got a pricematch on the Philips 30PW840H that I should be getting within the next week; the pricematch from Sears, and that they service what they sell, was the deal-closer). At the price, I may actually be able to persuade my upgrade-averse Mom to get one for the living room...


I'm going with the Philips because it actually has a *lower* price than the Sammy and supports both YPbPr and HDMI (and yes, you can swap between them).

 

[aphex]

I would just to throw in my $.02 from a laymans perspective....


This past weekend i purchased a Panasonic 30WX54 (30" Widescreen) and i couldnt be happier. Right out of the box (with no tweaking as of yet) the picture is phenenomal. The colors are crisp and seem even toned yet vibrant, no geometry issues, everything looks amazing from my perspective...


When i get some time next weekend, i'll start tweaking the settings, but man i LOVE this tv

 

[CrocHunter]

just make sure you keep contrast down.Very rarely do tv's look perfect out of the box, just don't leave it on torch mode.

 

[arich]

You should definitely check out the Toshiba. Granted, there are enough bad sets out there that you should make sure you get the set someplace you can return it if there is a problem. But the Toshiba fits all your criteria. The 30" sells for under a grand. It is excellant at displaying standard def. pictures (despite what you read to the contrary). And its stretch modes are very well done. You use stretch mode 1 for a couple weeks, you may not even notice any distortion. high def pictures look real good too (yeah, I know, its not real high def because its a CRT, and so there are not really 1080i lines there, etc.)