32 in Flat Screen TV - The Hull Truth

LI Sound Grunt · 01-15-2005, 05:49 PM

The Panasonic is 499, Phillips 449 and Sanyo 399 wallyworld proces...

They appear to have basically the same features (conb filter, etc) except the Panasonic has the rca or component jacks in the front (probably back too). The Sanyo looks the cheapest but the picture seems to be the same on all 3. The Phillips appears to me to look the best as it has the largest speaker room on the sides and is wider than it is high. The Sanyo is the opposite with the narrow presentation and speakers on the bottom.

Anyone have any experiences or comments? My beloved Hitachi tuner is shot and it ain't worth fixing. They apparantly don't make TV's anymore - just monitors.

Mist-Rest · 01-15-2005, 08:51 PM

My money (in that price range) would go top the 'sonic'.

In the new house, it is most likely to show.

ReelWork · 01-15-2005, 10:22 PM

Panasonic is the better picture in the ones you mentioned but the Phillips isn't too shabby either. You really do get what you pay for!

I just went through this myself and man, what a nightmare TV shopping is these days.

LI Sound Grunt · 01-16-2005, 09:09 AM

Thanks!!

As it rurns out, unless I remake the shelves, I am probbaly gonna have to go with whatever one has the least depth...

feralcat · 01-16-2005, 10:03 AM

I think it's either a great time to buy a TV, or a terrible time, depending on how you look at it.

IMO, if you DO have to accomodate the form-factor of a flat-screen CRT TV, and are looking at spending about $500, I'd suggest trying to bump it up, a little more, and pick up an HD-capable CRT TV. Chances are, with a simple UHF antenna, you'll be able to pull in a few digital HD broadcasts from the networks.

You can go to "www.antennaweb.org", plug in your street address, and at least see how far the stations are.

OTOH, an HD 32" CRT TV is a *massive* motherf*****.

I just went through something similar -- we have, or had, two TV's in our house -- a 13" RCA in the living room, and a 10 year-old 27" Toshiba upstairs. The idea was, we don't watch TV in our living room, but over time, since our fireplace is there, we found ourselves staring at the tiny 13" screen more and more. Since there was no room -- or in my wife's *opinion* no room (different fact; same result) -- for a CRT TV, we put a 20" Sharp Aquos HD-LCD TV downstairs, that I bought online from J&R in NYC. Hundreds cheaper than the CC/BestBuy/etc.

This isn't necessarily a choice I'd recommend, but for us, moving up from a 13" screen, the 20" was MASSIVE. "Whoa! We're going to have to sit in the kitchen, to watch THIS baby!"

I next went about getting the best feed I could, and ditched TimeWarner cable, which was pissing me off @$50/mo, and went with the basic Dish satellite package for $29/mo, which included most of the same channels, is digital, and came with a free DVR, which I must admit is way-kewel.

Then, I got my "free" HD, by putting up an antenna in my attic, and running coax into the living room. Not so "free" after all, by the time I bought an HD (ATSC) tuner ($130), 100' of RG-6 coax, etc., but sure enough -- I can get CBS/FOX/PBS/NBC in HD (of course only a portion of the broadcast is HD). And this has done nothing to slake my lust for a 42" EDTV NEC plasma, upstairs....Someday.

Anyway, I'm rambling. I guess if you believe the "year 2006 FCC mandate," I'd go ahead and spend on the TV that will be good for the next 10 years. Or, I'd do just the opposite, and buy a cheap 27", and prepare to replace when there is no more NTSC.

LI Sound Grunt · 01-16-2005, 01:43 PM

Thanks for the advice.

I will probbaly not buy either. The Hitachi still works as a monitor and we can use the VCR tuner. I didn't know about the switch over or whatever. I do know we don't get any broidcast signals here worth crap. 2 stations and one comes in fuzzy. HD cable is an extra $50. So forget that. Don't watch enough to justify that. its wierd that the telephone companies HAVE to compete but the cable companies (really not as much a necessity as the phones) have a monopoly. What is that saying that we have just the right balance of free enterprise vs. regulation to screw up both....

So sounds like in some future date the regular non HDs will be obselete ???- oh well Fine with me. As long as they keep making books and newspapers and videos....

feralcat · 01-17-2005, 06:19 AM

Quote:

LI Sound Grunt - 1/16/2005 1:43 PM

Thanks for the advice.

I didn't know about the switch over or whatever. I do know we don't get any broidcast signals here worth crap. 2 stations and one comes in fuzzy. HD cable is an extra $50. So forget that. Don't watch enough to justify that. its wierd that the telephone companies HAVE to compete but the cable companies (really not as much a necessity as the phones) have a monopoly. What is that saying that we have just the right balance of free enterprise vs. regulation to screw up both....

So sounds like in some future date the regular non HDs will be obselete ???- oh well Fine with me. As long as they keep making books and newspapers and videos....

In "theory", after December 30, 2006, all network stations will stop broadcasting an analog signal, and instead broadcast a digital signal, or "DTV," which is processed with an ATSC tuner, instead of NTSC, which is in all the TV's now. The FCC wants the chunk of the public airwaves back -- the chunk currently being used by the networks to broadcast all those snowy, crappy signals -- so they can resell them for somethig else.

Some HDTV's have both tuners, but most people will need some kind of set-top box, or STB, as an ATSC tuner. If you're an HD subscriber on satellite or cable, you already have one. Otherwise, you can do what I did, and buy one -- they range from $100-$400. IMO, it's probably stupid to buy any piece of tuning gear, given how rapidly everything becomes obsolete, but....

Anyway. With a decent UHF antenna, you might amazed at what you can pull in now as a digital signal. I could only get a couple of stations, at best, with rabbit ears, and an analog signal, but for DTV, I can reliably pull in CBS/NBC/PBSx2/FOX/UPN and two Spanish channels. With a better antenna, I could nail ABC, too, I'm sure. That's why it's worth it to actually check the site I listed, in the first post.

Despite all the above, I'm truly not much of a TV person, either, or I'd have a set in my living room bigger than 20".

In fact, now that I *can* tune DTV, I'd drop all pay-for TV subscribtions, except ESPN and CNN and one or two others don't broadcast over the air.