HD Televison

[Pony]

Well, I went out and bought an HDTV the other day. My previous TV's coax connection went bad and I needed a new set. With my price range, I could only afford a tube tv, but wanted the bells and whistles of the newer plasmas and lcds with built in ATSC & QAM tuners. I settled on the Toshiba 30HF66.<br />

<br /><br />So far I love the picture on this TV, the 1080i I get from my upconvert dvd player is outstanding. Anyone else have an HD tube tv? have any problems with the built in tuners? I know that last year's Samsung Slimfits had lots of tuner issues and even with this years new model suffer from horrible screen geometry. This screens geometry is nearly perfect. Its not the Sony SXRD that I want so badly or the new Samsung DLP's that look insanely good, but it is a really nice set. I know tubes are supposed to be obsolete within a few years, but I have a hard time believing that still.

 

[tommays]

Re: HD Televison

I have had the 27 in samsung for 3 years the only down side is NO 720P support only 480P and 1080i. <br /><br />I dont worry about the tuner because are cable company rents HD boxes for the same price as a standard box.<br /><br />I like TV but the big sets but they only seem to give you a 1 year which is crazy for something that costly<br /><br /><br />tommays

 

[Pony]

Re: HD Televison

Yeah, thats a big issue with the bigger sets........bulb life ranges from 1 to 4 years.....$200-400 a piece, pretty much forces you to buy a service plan with the tv. The idea being one bulb replacement pays for the plan.........yet I still wish the manufactures warranty was more than a year.

 

[Gone]

Re: HD Televison

Originally posted by P.O.N.Y.:<br /> Yeah, thats a big issue with the bigger sets........bulb life ranges from 1 to 4 years.....$200-400 a piece, pretty much forces you to buy a service plan with the tv. The idea being one bulb replacement pays for the plan.........yet I still wish the manufactures warranty was more than a year.

And if you have a plasma, the bulb is 90% of the cost of the whole TV and you remember what you paid, right? Kiss that baby goodby in 5 years.

 

[SlowlySinking]

Re: HD Televison

If you buy your expensive TV with a major credit card in most cases you get the warranty doubled for free up to one additional year. It's one of those freebies that most of us don't know about, check with your credit card company or check the tissue paper small print information phamplet they send with the statement once a year. It beats paying for the extended warranty.

 

[mattttt25]

Re: HD Televison

i went with the Sony XBR1 50". Absolutely love it.

 

[imported_bjs]

Re: HD Televison

toshiba 42 hd love it!!!!!!!! we have digital cable box do you have cox cable?

 

[Drybo]

Re: HD Televison

P.O.N.Y said:<br />

P.O.N.Y said:<br />"Anyone else have an HD tube tv? have any problems with the built in tuners?"<br />

I got a Toshiba HF 34. they are good tv's, some geometry issues on newer models.Tuner works great so far. I read that toshiba hired Orion to make all of the tube Tvs so Toshiba could concentrate on flat screens. Anyhow I chose the Tosh over a Sony Xbr960. Liked the tosh pic better. Tubes still have best pic quality in this price range.

 

[Major Woods]

Re: HD Televison

Crusty Dude<br /><br />Plasmas don't have bulbs

 

[KaGee]

Re: HD Televison

I have a Zenith 27" HDTV ready. I upgraded Directv to HD, got the new box that has a built in terrstrial tuner. The neat thing is using their box, all the local digital channels pop up on the main Directv channel menu. Like Tommays, I only get 480 and 1080I, but the Zenith somehow converts the 720p to the 1080 screen. <br /><br />You really notice the picture difference when you switch back and forth between analog and digital local channels.

 

[Gone]

Re: HD Televison

Originally posted by Major Woods:<br /> Crusty Dude<br /><br />Plasmas don't have bulbs

As opposed to an LCD Panel, the plasma tube is a glass bulb (not necessarily with a filament like an incandescent lightbulb or CRT), a glass enclosure housing the ionizing gas and phosphors. As the phosphor becomes dimmer and dimmer, the "bulb" needs to be replaced which is impractical, making the TV a throw away.<br />Yes, it is a sealed glass bulb! ie: a flourescent light bulb in the context of this thread.

 

[tommays]

Re: HD Televison

I gotta wonder with the level of competion in the big screen market at this point EVERYBODY is sticking with 1 year <br /><br /><br />They dont seem to have much faith in there products long term life<br /><br /><br />tommays

 

[Pony]

Re: HD Televison

tommays, I feel the 1 yr is a result of the new technology. While DLP is loking to be pretty dependable, its still fairly new. The biggest reason for the manufactures to limit a warranty is the addition of HD tuners in the tv's. I know in some tubes they have been a liability. LCD's and Plasmas still seem to have issues with pixels or a line of them going bad........its a necesity to get a service plan with them pretty much.<br /><br />

KaGee:<br />You really notice the picture difference when you switch back and forth between analog and digital local channels.

I agree. We do this at work as a demo for customers. We run an anolog channel through direct tv as channel 4, then have the same channel run through digital channel 5.1. That way if someone asks what a digital tuner will do for them, its easy to just but the anolog right next to the igital channel as see the difference.........or better yet, flip between them on the same set.