hd tv's

[tmh88]

I'm finally going to buy an hd lcd tv after years of watching standard def crt's. I just want to get some sort of hd tv because I've never had one. I don't care if it isn't the most amazing picture ever, and I know i wont get that with my budget. Anyway I finally have money for a cheap one, but I'm not sure which brands are good or bad(other than the big name guys obviously)

Theres a viewsonic that I was looking at for $550. Its a 32" lcd. I know they make decent lcd computer monitors but I havent heard anything about their tv's.

I've also been looking at some olevia's because theyre fairly cheap too. My friend has one and he said the picture quality is amazing for the price, but thats the only thing I've ever heard about them.

The tv that I'm leaning towards is a 32" westinghouse. A friend of mine has this tv and I've watched it and played xbox 360 so I know that its quality is very good for the price ($530).

I know I'm not going to get that crystal clear vibrant display that a sony or samsung would deliver, I just want to get an hdtv. There are a tons of really cheap brands that I saw too like vizio, niko, sceptre, Astar, and some others.

Any other suggestions? I don't want to spend more than $600, which doesn't leave me with a lot of choices, and I'd like to get something around 32". I dont have a ton of money, so I cant spend like $1200 on a tv. I just want to finally have an hdtv :cool2:

[fatcat]

Theres a viewsonic that I was looking at for $550. Its a 32" lcd. I know they make decent lcd computer monitors but I havent heard anything about their tv's.

The tv that I'm leaning towards is a 32" westinghouse. A friend of mine has this tv and I've watched it and played xbox 360 so I know that its quality is very good for the price ($530).

I've owned a 32" Viewsonic 1080i LCDTV & currently own a Westinghouse 42" 1080p LCDTV. Both were/are great HDTV's. You want to make sure the HDTV you get has HDMI, multiple imputs if possible and if you ever might use it as a monitor, DVI imputs(although you could do DVI-HDMI or vice versa). Also you need to consider how long you want to have your LCDTV. 1080p is the new standard, but costs more than 1080i TV's. But nothing right now besides HD-DVD and Blue-ray use 1080p. Built-in ATSC tuners also allow you to recived HDTV over the air with bunny ears or a UHF antenna mounted outside. I've been happy with both brands.

[Sledgehammer70]

olevia's = okay
Viewsonic = Okay
Westinghouse = Awesomesauce

TBH find the TV you like and hit up Cnet as they have massive user reviews and video reviews for almost all current screens on the market...

HDMI is a must for any tv and is pretty standard these days for HDTV LCD's

[tmh88]

Theres an open box 37" viewsonic for the same price as the 32" westinghouse that i found online....hard decision

[fatcat]

Theres an open box 37" viewsonic for the same price as the 32" westinghouse that i found online....hard decision

make sure warranty still applies...cause bigger is always better with HDTV's :bigggrin:

[Sledgehammer70]

Bigger is always better with Gigantor....

[tmh88]

List the order which you think is the best. Olevia, westinghouse, and vizio.

[Thrax]

Westinghouse > Olevia/Vizio

[tmh88]

I ended up getting this sharp aquos 32" http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8246891&st=32%22+sharp+aquos&type=product&id=1168045340036

I payed a lot less than what bestbuy sells it for. I'm pretty excited since this will be my first hd tv. We have a bunch of hd channels that are part of our cable service and I can finally watch them.

edit - i forgot to ask about the hd antenna's. This tv has a built in receiver and I was told that I can get some free hd channels with special hd antennas. How much would a cheap antenna cost and how many channels can you usually pick up? I'm a few miles outside of downtown pittsburgh if that makes any difference.

[fatcat]

I ended up getting this sharp aquos 32" http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8246891&st=32%22+sharp+aquos&type=product&id=1168045340036

I payed a lot less than what bestbuy sells it for. I'm pretty excited since this will be my first hd tv. We have a bunch of hd channels that are part of our cable service and I can finally watch them.

edit - i forgot to ask about the hd antenna's. This tv has a built in receiver and I was told that I can get some free hd channels with special hd antennas. How much would a cheap antenna cost and how many channels can you usually pick up? I'm a few miles outside of downtown pittsburgh if that makes any difference.

I would recommend a channel master UHF outdoor HDTV antenna. either model 4220 or the one I got, model 4228. Both great antennas. I can get 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 8.1, 13.1, 17.1, 17.2, 17.3, 25.1 and 25.2. Which means PBS, CBS, ABC, FOX all in local high def!

[tmh88]

how much does it cost?

[fatcat]

i got mine for $60 online...do some searching. i know of some people who live on hills and they get all the over the air hd with indoor bunny ears...i needed to put mine on the roof to get over 90% signal for the channels

[tmh88]

I think I'll skip the antenna for now. I'm just gonna hook it up in our living room while I'm still home for the summer and use the 12 or however many hd channels we have. I'm sure my parents wont mind having an hdtv instead of the usual p.o.s. crt. I have friends with hdtv's at school and they said that they cant pick up any channels from the receiver. Athens ohio is in the middle of nowhere so theres nothing being broadcasted. The closest "real" city is columbus which is about an hour and 15 mins away.

[TheLostSwede]

It really depends on what you do with your tv the most. Watch movies? Are all TV signals Digital?

Movies is without a doubt much better on a Plasma then on a LCD. On a desent Plasma, Black is Black, on LCD, Black is grey'ish. Also check what inputs on the telly supports 1:1 Pixelmapping. On most tellys, only one input (vga usually) supports 1:1 Pixelmapping. I know you have a budget, but for lets say thousand bucks, you'll get a whole lot more/better TV than for the pricerange you mentioned. I do have a 32 inch lcd in the same range myself, but when i put up a Panasonic 42 inch plasma next to it (should be between 900 and 1000 dollars), there was no choice anymore. DVD and especially, HD materials got to another level. I just watched the last Star Wars in 1080P and the first scene where there are a million vessels fighting alongside the big ships is amazing when black is actually black.

Another part where Plasma is a lot better is when the camera pans. Same goes with sports. My advice is, if you can, save another couple of hundred bucks and get a good Plasma.

http://electronics.pricegrabber.com/plasma-lcd-televisions/panasonic/m/34766378/search=panasonic%20th42

You should expect a sale on these pretty soon. Pioneers 8th generation Plasmas have just been released, meaning their 7th generation drops in price and it is those that these Panasonics is being benchmarked against.

[tmh88]

I already bought a 32" sharp aquos lcd. I don't have the money to spend on a plasma. I need to have money for school, so even if I did spend $1000 on a plasma, that would be $350 less for the school year, which is a lot for a college student. This is my first hdtv so I could care less about having a top of the line model. I'm just glad to finally get an hd tv.

[tmh88]

Heres my shot of my new setup with my brother playing PGR3. Its a 32" sharp aquos hooked up to the stereo that I've had since like 7th grade. Next upgrade will be a sound system for it. I need to rearrange it, kinda messy.