New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Need an HDTV on a budget

post #1 of 22
12/19/04 at 7:00pm
Thread Starter 
Hey all,

I'm looking to spend <$1400 on a widescreen CRT HDTV after the holiday season. I went looking today, and I think 46 inches widescreen would be the appropriate size to fit the room. I'm not as concerned with the integrated speakers, as I'll probably use my big-rig for veiwing movies and such.

DVI/HDMI would be nice, but I'm not sure what kind of decoder boxes my digital cable provider will be able to provide. Also, I don' thave a DVD player I'd use with it yet, but am toying with buying a used Exemplar Denon to replace my MuFi. That way I could kill multiple birds with one stone by getting SACD capabilities back, DVD-Audio for the first time, hopefully upgrading redbook to something even more emotionally engaging on top of getting a nice DVD player.

I'm not a videophile by any means, but I like to entertain/have nice things. Any ideas for an HDTV for this low budget student setup?
Reply
post #2 of 22
12/19/04 at 7:19pm
i can tell the little info i know

Mitsubishi - very good darks, nice contrast, and have the closest pure black(so im told), doesnt have the vivid colors
Sony - the around mans tv, decent contraast, nice color, and good darks.

Toshiba - great vivid colors, good crontrast, ok darks.

Panasonic - like the sony hits all round.

well i just realized you said a CRT TV , all that above was about projection.
now i dont know what to tell ya, but my friend has this tv CLICK HERE

and i must say it looks great, but pricey for the size, esp since the room he has it in is a big room.

I have this TV CLICK HERE

i like it alot, fun for movies and video games. but my local HD programming isnt tha great, some is nice and it looks like night and day compared to SD programming.

more of rambling, hope you can find some of that usefull.
Reply
post #3 of 22
12/19/04 at 9:28pm
From what I recall, they don't make CRT HDTVs bigger than 36".
Reply
post #4 of 22
12/19/04 at 10:16pm
Thread Starter 
I was not aware of the <36" CRT requirment. I will consider projection tvs as well. I really am not too knowledgable re: theater stuff, but the strong CRT recommendation came from my father--I was just assuming I could find one that size.

I'm open to all suggestions, but can't afford to go over budget on this one.

Let 'em rip.
Reply
post #5 of 22
12/20/04 at 4:12am

Sony 34" HDTV (KD-34XBR960)

In my opinion, nothing I have seen with the naked eye is better. It is over your budget, but it is worth every penny.

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Sony-...oductDetail.do

I am seriously thinking about picking one of these up for Christmas!
Reply
post #6 of 22
12/20/04 at 5:17am
Quote:
Originally Posted by CRESCENDOPOWER
In my opinion, nothing I have seen with the naked eye is better. It is over your budget, but it is worth every penny.

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Sony-...oductDetail.do

I am seriously thinking about picking one of these up for Christmas!
I've got the Sony KD-34XS955 which basically uses the same fine-pitch tube but is a few hundred cheaper. It has a few less features, none of which I need. I believe I saw it recently at Best Buy for $1700. Gopher, surely you can find an extra $301 of audio gear to sell in order to step up to such a fine video display

Definately one of the finest images out there (if not the finest in the consumer market); vastly superior to any of the digital sets I've seen (DLP/LCD/Plasma).
Reply
post #7 of 22
12/20/04 at 5:23am
If you want a bigger screen with that small a budget, you will have to go with CRT based Rear projection TV's, or small Front Projectors like the InFocus X1.

But keep in mind you are trading quality for quantity. While color and contrast are unsurpassed by direct view sets, there is something special about having a huge screen.

-Ed
Reply
post #8 of 22
12/20/04 at 9:45am
Quote:
If you want a bigger screen with that small a budget, you will have to go with CRT based Rear projection TV's, or small Front Projectors like the InFocus X1.
i can second this. Albeit the x1 is only 800x600res, its faroudja deinterlacer and 2000+:1 contrast make more than up for that. Altho sometimes i'd like 720p... then i'll go visit my cousine and her sanyo plz-2 ^^
Reply
post #9 of 22
12/20/04 at 10:33am
Gopher
It would be unwise to get huge clunky 36" CRT TV now.........just save a little more money till you have $2,000-2,500 for nice 50" LCD/DLP TV. They are slim and elegant looking with great picture quality and newest features, overall they seem same size spatially as 36" CRT because they are so shallow in depth.......they are sweet. There are some 40-42" size LCD/DLP TVs now for under $2,000 if you absolutley must have smaller size.

Unfortunately the sinking value of US dollar has kept prices higher than usual, but what is more important than your TV man?
Reply
post #10 of 22
12/20/04 at 1:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkAngel
Gopher
It would be unwise to get huge clunky 36" CRT TV now.........just save a little more money till you have $2,000-2,500 for nice 50" LCD/DLP TV. They are slim and elegant looking with great picture quality and newest features, overall they seem same size spatially as 36" CRT because they are so shallow in depth.......they are sweet. There are some 40-42" size LCD/DLP TVs now for under $2,000 if you absolutley must have smaller size.
I second this. If you absolutely want CRT TV I go with a cheaper 30-32" widescreen HD. Perhaps Panasonic and Philips. With more savings you can look into LCD TV in near future.

Or save more now and get LCD/DLP TV. Only thing holding me back on this new technology is rapid progression in product development. This type of hybrid LCD projection with DLP is still relatively new. I recall seeing super thin and big LCD/DLP TV two years ago at CES. RCA TV had a prototype with only 7-8" depth. That's comparable to LCD/plasma! If you go down this road LG and Samsung are very competitive.
Reply
post #11 of 22
12/20/04 at 2:44pm
I don't know of any high def CRT TVs larger than 34 inches. However, Sony's KD-34XBR960 is widely considered to be one of the best HD TVs on the market. It's 34 inches and about $2K.

I don't own one yet, but I've done a lot of research of HD TVs and from what I've seen, CRTs are still the way to go and this is the CRT to get.

Check out http://www.avsforum.com/
Reply
post #12 of 22
12/20/04 at 3:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jpr703
That's where I hung out before Head-Fi and wound up getting a set here... http://www.uecweb.com/ Hitachi official refurb site. These are sets that are tried out and returned for the most part, mine was brand new as far as I could tell. As with most HDTV's, there are tweaks galore to make them really perform at their peak, search the model on avsforum...
Reply
post #13 of 22
12/20/04 at 10:31pm
Not to hijack this thread, but is there anyway to get a monitor in the sizes talked about here?
Us guys that have sattelite TV and even some cable companies, don't need a tuner in the TV. The tuner is useless to me, as are the speakers. I would think that without these items the set would cost a lot less.
I saw a 36" widescreen HDTV ready CRT flat screen at Circuit City the other day. I can't remember how much, but I think it was more than Gopher's budget. I haven't seen anything bigger in CRT.
Reply
post #14 of 22
12/20/04 at 10:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by CRESCENDOPOWER
In my opinion, nothing I have seen with the naked eye is better. It is over your budget, but it is worth every penny.

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Sony-...oductDetail.do

I am seriously thinking about picking one of these up for Christmas!
I second that. I've read far and wide about HDTVs, and this one always comes up as being THE benchmark for HD performance. You can't go wrong here. Rear Projection, LCD, Plasma, DLP, etc. simply can't match the black levels and detail of this CRT.
Reply
post #15 of 22
12/20/04 at 11:29pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by mulveling
I've got the Sony KD-34XS955 which basically uses the same fine-pitch tube but is a few hundred cheaper. It has a few less features, none of which I need. I believe I saw it recently at Best Buy for $1700. Gopher, surely you can find an extra $301 of audio gear to sell in order to step up to such a fine video display

Definately one of the finest images out there (if not the finest in the consumer market); vastly superior to any of the digital sets I've seen (DLP/LCD/Plasma).

This is very interesting to me. I've been doing a bit of reading on it on AVS and so far it is very intriguing/seems like something I might be able to get into my budget utilizing some of my fathers connections.

I think I definitely want to go with widescreen. Also, I'm willing to sacrifice those extra few inches for a really nice CRT setup.

Sigh... now I've gotta worry about working a new stand into my budget (an advantage of a rear projection tv would have been that it stands next to the stereo on the floor).

Also, to address the input on LCD/Plasma--I know they're niffy, and I've got a pretty big plasma (52) in my parents home theather for day time watching (we use a projector & 100 inch screen at night), and they're shopping for an ~40inch LCD for the master bedroom. They're definitely nice but wouldn't really fit MY apartment. I'd still have my stand speakers and sub jutting out and it would actually make the room look kind of akward to mount a tv against the wall. I'd rather go with a better display then impractical coolness factor.

Thanks guys. Keep the info flowing.
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home