<p>Our old tube tv is on its last legs. I went out looking and felt overwhelmed by all the options (and the cost). Any suggestions as to what to look for? Thanks.</p>
<p>zoom, picture size, program guide, program information, functions are often left off of cheaper units. </p>
<p>Some retailers will add an addition year warrenty to the manufacturer’s at no extra cost.</p>
<p>The warranty might be a bit up in the air if you buy from a store that has filed for BK protection.</p>
<p>We just went through this last spring. I remember after learning about the pros and cons of LCD and plasma, we chose LCD.</p>
<p>If you can hold out, I was looking at some of the Black Friday ads (mentioned in another thread), and there will be quite some deals.</p>
<p>OK… I totally wrote post number 4 after post number 5.</p>
<p>btw - too bad you didn’t win one on The Price is Right!</p>
<p>HDTV or not HDTV?</p>
<p>well, it takes some getting used to seeing all the detail on people’s faces with HDTV. Some people I preferred how they looked without HDTV. :eek:</p>
<p>CNET.com is excellent for learning how to choose a tv and for reviews of different models. Plasma is best for offangle viewing and motion. LCDs are good for computer monitors as well as tv viewing (1080p matters for best resolution). Different brands are of obvious differing quality, as well as models within a brand. Then there is size- CNET has info on how to make all sorts of decisions. Some top brands are Panasonic, Samsung and Sony. Consumer’s Reports has some info on comparing types but usually is out of date by the time an issue comes out. There is a ConsumerSearch site that rates reviews of many products. We have both plasma and LCD models for varying reasons (see computer…).</p>
<p>We have an LCD (Samsung), a DLP (Samsung) connected to HD cable box and a flat screen HD integrated projection TV (Mitsubishi) connected to HD satelite dish. My untrained eye thinks they are all great as compared to the old tube tv’s.</p>
<p>A TV shopping guide with references to CNET articles:</p>
<p>[Holiday</a> gift guide: HDTV shopping tips](<a href=“Yahoo Tech | Technology News, Updates, Reviews & Stories”>Yahoo Tech | Technology News, Updates, Reviews & Stories)</p>
<p>If you’re willing to spend the bucks, get an HDTV large flat screen hang-on-the-wall type of TV. Take a look at the pricing and picture for the size you want to get an idea. For TVs under 50" most will be LCD. For larger TVs, there are both plasma and LCD with plasma being more affordable in the larger sizes but LCD is moving into the space and prices working their way down. The projection type TVs are on their way out and tend to have issues with off parallax views.</p>
<p>Unless you’re planning to place it in a very small room, get a larger TV - 50" and above. I replaced a 32" tube TV with a 55" Hitachi plasma TV and it took me about 5 minutes to get used to the larger size screen. Surprisingly, since I have it hanging on the wall it’s less obtrusive in the room than the old 32" tube TV so it’s not an aver-powering size.</p>
<p>HDTV is nice. The detail is much better and the colors are more vivid. The only problem is that there’s a lot of content that isn’t really shot in HD so for those shows it won’t have the detail but some shows look great - shows on the Discovery and NatGeo networks, football games, and some other shows. The ratio of HD content is increasing all the time though as are the HD channels capable of carrying them.</p>
<p>My MO for TV buying: go to <favorite local=“” big=“” box=“” electronic=“” store=“”>; stand around in the area of sets that are in your price range; look for what’s on sale; if you still can’t decide, wait til friendly young salesperson asks if you’d like help. You can spend soooooo much time doing research, and once you narrow it down to your perfect set, chances are that exact model won’t be at the store you were planning to go to. (BTW–my last purchase happened to be HD. We are LOVING it, although we currently only get one channel that is HD. It’s a nice-sized, sleek thing that was $450 on sale.)</favorite></p>
<p>I heard something on the news this morning that said if you wait three more weeks prices will be dropping significantly on televisions.</p>
<p>thank you all for your input. I have been thinking that if I can hold out until Dec 26 I’ll get a really good deal. As for now I still can’t even decide what size to get. I think I will wait as long as I can.</p>