[drewprops]

Last year my old 13" Sony CRT died and I made an impetuous purchase of a truly shitty Toshiba 19" LCD Television with a DVD player built in. I mean!! Changing channels takes TWO SECONDS!! To go to Over The Air (OTA) channel 11-002 you must press 11 then the hyphen character, then 002. It's absolutely shitty, and with nearly a year passed I'm looking to replace it with another small television that lives in the 19" to 26" range.

With all the Netflix-enabled and web-enabled gear out there I'm curious to know what's considered a really great unit by those who track this stuff.

So... um.... help?



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[Robo]

I adore my 19-inch Sony Bravia KDL-19M4000, which I also use as a monitor of my Mac mini. But it's discontinued, I think. An Amazon seller still has one for $399, but that's a ripoff - I got mine for $299 months ago, and Sony sells their 22-inch Bravia KDL-22L5000 for the same price (J&R on Amazon has it for under $380), and their 26-inch KDL-26L5000 for $50 more.

Samsung also makes some great TVs. Bravias usually aren't worth a big premium over Samsungs, but if you can get them for about the same price it's probably a toss-up.

[drewprops]

I haven't seen a lot of net-enabled small TVs coming out of Sony so far though. Do you know if they're in that hunt?

[Robo]

Originally Posted by drewprops I haven't seen a lot of net-enabled small TVs coming out of Sony so far though. Do you know if they're in that hunt?

Oh, I totally spaced out somewhere between reading your post and writing my reply. No sleep will do that to you, as will staring at a beautiful Sony TV.

None of the TVs I mentioned are web-enabled, to my knowledge. My apologies.

[joveblue]

Originally Posted by drewprops To go to Over The Air (OTA) channel 11-002

Jesus Christ, how many channels do you have / what sort of bizarre ill-conceived numbering system!!??

[Luca]

Originally Posted by joveblue Jesus Christ, how many channels do you have / what sort of bizarre ill-conceived numbering system!!??

Since the digital switch, what was once "channel 11" is now split up into 11-1, 11-2, etc. Some stations have 2-3 (or even more) channels. The first is the "main" one, while the subsequent ones could cover the SD/non-widescreen broadcast, a 24-hour weather channel, or other programs.

The problem is that drewprops' TV is designed to accept 100+ subchannels when that is almost never necessary. On most TVs, all you have to do is hit 11-1, but on his you have to hit 11-001.

An easy way around this is to go into the TV tuner settings and block all the channels you don't want, so you can just cycle using the channel up and down buttons and skip things like SD versions. Of course, that still isn't a good solution for him since his TV takes so long to change channels.

[joveblue]

We just gave our new channels another number. E.g. Channel 10 now runs Channel 1 and 12, Channel 7 run 70 and 72, etc. You just need to type in a number from 1 to 99. Then again we had less channels in the first place I think so it's a bit simpler...

[drewprops]

Oh geez you Hutus, aren't there any television gurus amongst you??

[lightning_bug]

Not sure what is available in the 19-26" range that is net-enabled - really haven't been in the market for a TV since I picked up my 32" Sony last October. I would look at a Sony, Samsung or maybe Panasonic, but beyond that, not certain what is being made that fits what you're looking for.

[Robo]

ELECTRONICS BUYING FLOW CHART

(for when you don't feel like researching individual models)

1. Does Apple Make it?

If yes, buy it.
If no, go to step number two.

2. Does Sony make it?
If yes, go to step number 2A.
If no, go to step number 3.

2A. Is it not much more than the Samsung model?
If yes, buy it.
If no, go to step number 3.

3. Does Samsung make it?
If yes, buy it.
If no, wait until Apple, Sony, or Samsung do make it. If you can't wait, maybe try Philips? But seriously, there's not much that Apple, Sony, and Samsung, taken together, don't make.

[drewprops]

Was reading article in WIRED mentioning that a lot of TV manufacturers are including NETFLIX connectivity, that's part of what I want in a small TV

[drewprops]

Well it took a quarter, but it looks like I may have finally found a contender in the "wired" Small Television category(!!)

The Sony KDL-22EX308 is a 22" Bravia that has "Bravia Internet Video" in it, which according to reports allows it to stream Netflix. It also has a wireless connectivity as well as an ethernet port for LAN.

Here's a link to the specs for the KDL-22EX308.

So far I've been unable to find it on the BestBuy.com website, though it shows up on Amazon. Dell is also stocking it, but is selling the television with an MSRP of $329 for $390 (go figure).

It includes Picture-in-Picture, sleep modes, auto-timers, apps that will run stuff off a USB stick... and volume controls!!

Anyway.

I think it looks pretty good... what you think about dat?



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