About to buy a TV, thoughts??

Post by **mr tibbs** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 9:30 am

37" Toshiba HDTV, 37" because that is what will fit in my entertainment center and it will be plenty big. It's only 720p, but I think that should be enough because it's under 40". It has good reviews and I have seen it in person and really liked it compared to others. Any other thoughts or suggestions? Here is a link to it:

Linky

Me-262 · Post by **Me-262** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 4:07 am

Don't get hung up on the 1080p thing. Its BS for now. Reason: THere is NO programming, I mean NO programming on TV that is transmitted at 1080p yet so there's no point in it as you won't see the difference. The only 1080p capapble devices today are your Xbox and other games.

I have a Pany 50 inch that's 1080i, when I bought it they had the 1080p version right next to it both with a HD demo disk playing. I sat there for 10 minutes trying ot see a difference, barely one if at all. Not worth the extra $1000 IMO.

Toshiba makes a nice tv, notning wrong with them.

Post by **stipud** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 7:18 am

Me-262 wrote:The only 1080p capapble devices today are your Xbox and other games.

And even then, the current consoles have trouble reaching respectable framerates on most 720p content. Going to 1080p requires double the pixels to be rendered, so you can see more detail (assuming there are bigger textures), but the time the console has to render the image drops by half. Because of this, you lose things like anti-aliasing and other special effects, so most games would look better at 720p than 1080p anyways.

1080p also means you have to upscale 720p content, which is most common right now as well. Most TV's in this budget should be able to do that adequately however.

Post by **Eric D** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 9:10 am

I bought a 32” 720p Samsung LCD about 3 months ago, and if I had a chance to do it all over again, it would certainly buy a 40” 1080p Samsung, or maybe even one of the Sharp 32” 1080p LCDs.

For DVDs, or even for HD content such as Blu-Ray, the gains on 1080p with a 37”, or especially a 32” would hardly be worth it. My want or need of 1080p stems from the fact I connected my PC to the TV about 2 weeks ago, and have been hooked ever sense. I am now building a HTPC, and plan to put a Blu-Ray drive in it and scrap my stand alone Blu-Ray unit. For me, 720p is not enough resolution to make effective use of a HTPC. 1080p would be far better. Viewing web pages at only 768 vertical lines is just not enough, and CAD work at this resolution is not all that productive either.

If you ever have even the slightest feeling you will connect a PC to your HDTV, go with 1080p now, so you don’t kick yourself later.

Post by **mr tibbs** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 2:52 pm

I ended up getting the 37" Toshiba 720p that I gave a link to last night. IMHO it looks great, I'm very pleased!! Today I made a ghetto fabulous HDTV antenna using the tutorial I found here. As of right now I'm getting 19 crystal clear and FREE digital channels. I have all the major networks and I will get the HD programming they broadcast for FREE!! Here is a pic:

andy600rr · Post by **andy600rr** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 3:27 pm

Holy crap.... Theres a stick insect crawling up your wall.

Time to bust out the bug spray.

Post by **mr tibbs** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 3:30 pm

andy600rr wrote:Holy crap.... Theres a stick insect crawling up your wall.

Time to bust out the bug spray.

Actually I have now placed it on top of my entertainment center out of sight. I'm diggin it!!

Post by **mr tibbs** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 4:30 pm

BTW, I got this at Circuit City and put it on credit only because they are having a sale right now. The TV was $200 off and there is no interest financing for 36 months. This is the sale I have been waiting for!

Thumper88 · Post by **Thumper88** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 5:10 pm

interesting antenna

Me-262 · Post by **Me-262** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 4:33 am

Sounds like a great TV, I'm gonna try that attenae mod out just for kicks. Cool !

Mackenzie · Post by **Mackenzie** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 2:47 pm

I have still yet to buy a tv from work.. Time to check out the accomidation sheet.

jadenn · Post by **jadenn** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 10:27 am

Nice work with the antenna. Cool!

Thumper88 · Post by **Thumper88** » Fri Nov 13, 2009 12:02 pm

jadenn wrote:Nice work with the antenna. Cool!

Ironic how your signature matches the topic....

bretti_kivi · Post by **bretti_kivi** » Fri Nov 13, 2009 12:17 pm

I spent 20 educational minutes in a store a couple of weeks back.. they had an offer on, a Thomson 32" for €300. Very nice deal. So I went in, they'd sold out.
They were showing some bluray disc on the screens, and yes, I could see the difference between the 32 cheapies and the 50 with all the trimmings - but worth six times the cash? I don't think so.
I think we'll be getting a basic Samsung 32 and running with it for a while. Win7 Media Center, a couple of TV cards and away we go.

Bret

Post by **kg1961** » Sat Nov 21, 2009 1:32 pm

I own the 52" toshiba lcd with 1080i and all my games ps3 and xbox are played on 720p it look great to me
good brand of tv and the right price

Post by **mr tibbs** » Sat Nov 21, 2009 4:33 pm

Well, I have had my Toshiba for almost a few years now and I can happily say that I am very pleased. No problems and everything looks great! My PS3 plays Blu-Rays and I couldn't ask for more from a 37" TV.

jbondox · Post by **jbondox** » Sat Nov 21, 2009 11:27 pm

mr tibbs wrote:I ended up getting the 37" Toshiba 720p that I gave a link to last night. IMHO it looks great, I'm very pleased!! Today I made a ghetto fabulous HDTV antenna using the tutorial I found here. As of right now I'm getting 19 crystal clear and FREE digital channels. I have all the major networks and I will get the HD programming they broadcast for FREE!! Here is a pic:

I am sorry, but you are not serious are you?

Post by **mr tibbs** » Sun Nov 22, 2009 8:33 am

jbondox wrote:
mr tibbs wrote:I ended up getting the 37" Toshiba 720p that I gave a link to last night. IMHO it looks great, I'm very pleased!! Today I made a ghetto fabulous HDTV antenna using the tutorial I found here. As of right now I'm getting 19 crystal clear and FREE digital channels. I have all the major networks and I will get the HD programming they broadcast for FREE!! Here is a pic:

I am sorry, but you are not serious are you?

Yes sir I am. I have even made a second one now for the bedroom HDTV that we recently bought. As silly as it may look it works great!!

HoseHead · Post by **HoseHead** » Fri Nov 27, 2009 8:23 am

It's genuine.

Here in the office (city) we pick up 4 HDTV local broadcasts with just a antenna. The tuner in the TV determines what you can pick up free to air. That's the big push to replace your TV with an HD model. The small print says that is only if you pick up free to air (no cable or sat service). The analogue transmitters will be turning off so any current tuners will be obsolete.

Read the history here:

http://www.atsc.org/

HH

HoseHead · Post by **HoseHead** » Fri Nov 27, 2009 8:56 am

I would challenge anyone to see a difference between 720p and 1080i or 1080p.

The higher these number go, the less significance the changes will be.

720p is more than great for everyday consumer use. Anything beyond that is just attempting to make your pecker look bigger than it needs to be. You know, like short guys driving Corvettes.

1080p is not required unless you are ONLY driving it with the best quality signal available today. And, outside of BluRay, that ain't happening in anyone's house....yet.

Analogue CATV is delivered with maybe 400 lines of resolution (digital package not included)
Digital CATV is only 720p - fabulous picture, but not 1080.
Any HD satellite is delivered in 720p MAXIMUM - there is no 1080 satellite - yet - and many years before it's standard.
BluRay can deliver 1080 to your monitor, but the difference is very negligible.

A 720p unit is going to keep you current for many years yet.
1080 not required, but this industry is driven by the manufacturers, not the consumer. Bigger, faster, better is how they market. Outside of gaming, if that's your vice, do you need more than Pentium 1 technology to do 98% of the work you do on your PC? The PC industry says so.

HH

dedlyjedly · Post by **dedlyjedly** » Fri Nov 27, 2009 12:18 pm

You're right that the law of diminishing returns certainly applies to video displays just as it does to any other high end products. But just as we can develop critical listening skills that allow us to appreciate the nicer audio equipment one can become a critical viewer and easily notice the difference between 720p, 1080i, and 1080p content when displayed at their full potential. A good percentage if not most of the HD broadcasts are in fact 1080i. Even though there isn't a huge jump in the lines of resolution there is a big difference between that interlaced format and the progressive scan implementation of 720p. With an interlaced signal only every other line is scanned onto the display at any given time. That means that there is literally twice the content displayed when considering 1080p and 1080i. It is also for that reason that 720p is typically preferred over 1080i even though they both meet HD specifications. Even though it is prefferd it's more expensive for electronics manufacturers to implement in their equipment and thus less equipment is designed to display 720p.

About to buy a TV, thoughts??

About to buy a TV, thoughts??

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