High-def TVs

[Luca]

I'm strongly thinking of getting an HDTV pretty soon. Not for watching TV... I hate TV. I wanted to save up and buy one for watching DVDs and gaming. But there are a few things I want to learn first, and unfortunately it's very difficult to find useful information.

First of all, I don't want to spend several thousand on a plasma or anything. I want something that does HD resolution, but I'm fine with "just" a CRT. I know you can get an HDTV with a CRT display for just a few hundred bucks. It's not as cool but it does the job. But just as going to Dell.com and buying an off-the-shelf PC will rarely get you a good deal, dropping into Best Buy and just buying something won't get me a good deal either. So if anyone has experience with which brands are good, their specifications and prices, and where to buy, I'd really appreciate it.

I've noticed that most of the HDTVs listed at Best Buy are listed as not having HD tuners ("HD-ready"). I assume I'll be able to at least hook up the ol' bunny ears and get regular signals? I don't care about getting HD signals or anything as I rarely watch broadcast TV. But it is important that I can at least watch a little TV on it.

Also, there appear to be far more 4:3 CRTs than 16:9 ones. For a CRT, should I even worry about that? 16:9 would be nice but if I'm getting a 27-32" screen, even 4:3 would give me a lot of screen area for DVDs, and I'd probably save a lot of money. The other thing is that I've seen several widescreen HDTVs being used to display 4:3 TV images and everything is squished vertically, like whoever set up the TV didn't bother changing the setting that dictates whether to center or stretch the image or something. I can't stand it when I see this and while I expect there would be a setting on the TV to change the display based on the aspect ratio of the content, I still want to confirm that you can do this. I can't imagine people paying thousands of dollars on a TV only to watch their movies all distorted-like.

Is there any other sage advice that experienced modern TV buyers can give me? Right now I have access to a few pieces of AV equipment... a pretty simple receiver, a DVD player, a VCR, two speakers (connected to the receiver), and a really basic 19" TV. I wonder if I should get an S-video cable or something to connect the TV to the DVD player? I don't know exactly what to do, so that's why I'm asking.

[sunrain]

I think the Samsung TX-R3079WH (http://product.samsung.com/cgi-bin/nabc/product/b2c_product_detail.jsp?prod_id=TXR3079WHX%252fXAA) would probably fit your needs nicely. However DLP televisions have really come down in price and you might find something there. I know you said you didn't want to spend 'thousands' on a plasma, but a couple thousand would get you something really nice.

I'm planning on buying the Samsung HL-R5667W (http://product.samsung.com/cgi-bin/nabc/product/b2c_product_detail.jsp?prod_id=HLR5667WX%252fXAA) 56" TV at the end of the summer and I figure it'll run me about $2,600.

Edit: You mentioned gaming. DLPs are perfect for that since they are immune to 'burn-in'. Also, the Samsung DLPs run in 720p, the native resolution of the upcoming XBox 360.

[BuonRotto]

Gotts run but a few basics: most HD sets are only HD ready, the receivers susually are supplied by your cable/satellite company. Local stations are increasingly broadcasting in HD though, which means that you can buy your own receiver and pick up their HD signals if they're available.

DVD are less than HD quality, so if the TV is for now, you're getting more than you need. EDTV or 480i/p (480 horizontal scan lines, interlaced or progressive scan) is DVD equivalent.

For your DVD player, it's worth picking up component cables to connect to an HD set. Believe me, you will notice a difference if you're in a reasonable distance to the TV.

CRTs still deliver better color, contrast and picture in general, plus they last a long time, so don't feel bad about that. Sony probably makes the best CRT HD sets. Mitsubishi and Samsing make equvalent flat panels as Sony, but Sony rules the roost for CRTs. (I might be wrong about this according to above post.)

Only thing about the proportion thing is less and less content is being delivered in 4:3 proportion. DVDs, HDTV, HD DVDs, etc are all 16:9. All sets should have several options for displaying 16:9 content on a 4:3 screen or vice-versa. Some options squish or stretch stuff, some zoom in and crop stuff, and some leave blank bars. It should be up to you to set it up as you like.

HTH

[sunrain]

Mitsubishi and Samsing make equvalent flat panels as Sony, but Sony rules the roost for CRTs. (I might be wrong about this according to above post.)
No, I think Sony makes fantastic CRTs. I've got a Sony Wega right now and I love it. However, I think other companies have come up in the past few years with regard to price vs. performance. Sony's definitely have a price premium attached to them still. At the price they're doing it, Samsung has made a real fan of me with their last couple years of products. With regard to CRTs in general, I think that the latest group of microdisplay technologies have proven themselves greatly and CRTs are on their last legs.

[k squared]

I checked out the Samsung SlimFit CRT the other day at Best Buy and it was nice: only 16" deep for a CRT! Compared to other HD CRT's, if space is any concern what so ever, this would be the CRT set for me. The Sony next to it appeared huge by comparison.