[timdgibson]

I am getting married in October. My parents are going to get us a new TV as a gift. This is what I'm looking at: 47-53", widescreen, HDTV. It will be used for SDTV, HDTV (not decided from where, that's another thread), and DVDs. I do have a progressive scan player. No games. It should be able to last us several years. I am planning to get it calibrated, once it arrives. Ideally, it should be between $1700-$2000 US.


So the questions are: what brands should I look at, what brands should I avoid, and since we're getting married in October, when is the best time to buy?


Thanks,


tim

 

[ladislav_1969]

43" DLP Sammy will set you back by about $3,000 or so.

 

[timdgibson]

Yea, because of cost, DLP and LCD are not options.


Thanks,


tim

 

[Dave_Van]

Tim,


I suggest you read through the threads, about 2-3 weeks back. You may be wading through many a diatribe, but allow me to attempt to answer your basic question to get you started:


Reccomendations, nobody here should bust your chops with any of these:


- Pioneer: Great, but $$$. Doubt you can find on $3K)


You May Want to Keep Looking: These are cheaper brands, and you get what you pay for.


- JVC

- RCA

- Zenith


Good luck! Remember to do your ergonomic exercises every hour on reading the threads!

 

[dirk1843]

I have had a Toshiba 50h81 50 inch 16:9 widescreen since october of '01.


I am very happy with my set, although I havent had it professionally calibrated, it has a great pic with HD and very good(compared to HD) pic with quailty DVDs, and an acceptable pic with SD.


The quality of the source material varies greatlly with SD and this will affect the PQ of any HDmonitor as they all use some sort of upconversion of 480i. Some are worse than others. Some have better aspect ratio controls to make 4:3 fit 16:9 screen. These things are important, because unfortunatlly unless you live somewhere with an over-abdunace of HD alot of your viewing will be in SD, and most of that 4:3.


Another factor that many forget and to me is impotant is the user interface. If a tv has a great pic, but is a pain in the rear to use how much fun is it going to be.


To me, at the time the Toshiba was the best compromise of all these qualities. I dont know of anything new that has come out in the same price range to compare with it. I would have saved alittle longer and gone for the step-up model, I belive it was the HX series, better remote, better antiglare screen, and I think better connection setup on back.


The best advice I can give is get out and look!! I wouldnt be afraid to take notes on models and brands. Get the remote and play with the menus. Narrow your search down to 2-4 models that you like, and the get serious!!


Good luck, and have fun!!