TV purchasing suggestions needed

[Laura's Babies]

Well, my 15+ year old TV has decided it wants to reprogram itself all the time now and I am needing to get another one. It is the main TV in the living room and actually the only one I have hooked up in my house. I am needing to get another one and with all the choices out here, I have not got a clue as to what to get!

In todays market with all these choices, how do you choose? I will just be using it for TV, no games or stuff. I watch DVD's on the computer so it don't need to be a super TV with all kinds of fancy, complicated stuff.

[Hellow]

LCD TV! Thoes things rock!

[sweetpatata6]

I agree with Reggie, Plasma's go out with in a couple of years. LCDs are the way to go!!

[Sirrahsim]

I love my Sony WEGA Trinitron. It is big and heavy but MUCH less expensive than the fancier LCD or Plasma TVs that have an unknown shelf-life. The picture is crystal clear and the speakers give off really good quality sound.
Here it is on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-KV-27FS12.../dp/B00006HMD8

[Karen]

We have a Sony HDTV and love it - just go to one of the stores, like Best Buy or Circuit City, and see which one's picture and aspect ratio appeals most to you.

[theterrierman]

If you can't afford plasma or LCD, try to get a tube TV with a perfectly flat screen. It's easier on the eyes, with less glare. RCA and Sony make them. Right now, I've got a 20" RCA like that and love it. Very nice picture.

[RICHARD]

RCA make great TVs.

I was looking at a flat screen bells and whistle model.....

With the money for a FS plasma, I bought a flat tube model, a DVD/CD/Photo CD, surround sound player and had money left over for cat food, beer and popcorn!

Happy shopping!


PS
The surround sound unit is great! you can see movies, play music and look at your photo DVDs....and it cost me about 100 dollars!

[Logan]

Laura if you are like me, you don't care about all the bells and whistles. You want to see the programs you like, when you can, and have it on a large enough screen to suffice. I am appalled at the number of televisions we have in this house. Actually, there is one in every room, except the bathrooms. That is scary!

TV sets are so expensive these days with all the fancy stuff. I could care less about HDTV or those widescreen televisions, but I am different than most people!

Good luck, my friend.

Logan

[Freedom]

Make a list of what is important to you.

Do you have the TV inset in an entertainment center so space will dectate size? Then mark down the dimensions.

Do you use cable (believe it or not, not everyone does!) If so you want it cable ready.

ALL TV stations must broadcast in HD by . . . I think it is 2009. Unless you are going to buy another set, make sure you get one that is HD. The HD picture on a non-HD TV will drive you nuts.

How far away is your seating from your TV? That will have an impact on what size you need.

Then go check out Consumer Reports at the library.

CR also has a TV buying guide on line, see here:
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/e.../tvs/index.htm

When we needed to get a new TV last August, I knew Dad needed a larger screen to see everything. But my TV is inset in an entertainment center. To get the largest screen possible, I wanted a model with the speakers ON THE BOTTOM, not on the sides. We got the Sharp Aquos LCD and LOVE it! And I use cable and subscribe to their HD service.

Good luck!

[carole]

We just purchased a sony Wega also about six months ago, and it is great, the sound is awesome, took us a while to get used to that, having had one that did not have the stereo sound, we paid $699 nz dollars with matching cabinet for it, and we are thrilled with our purchase, 29 inch.

[Laura's Babies]

I do have to consider the hole in my entertainment center for the size. I don't need anything any bigger due to the size of my living room also. I went and looked at them in Wal Mart yesterday and they have a RCA that I liked. This old one is a RCA and it has moved with me everywhere, even though it is real large and had never given me a hint of a problem and only recently did I realize just how OLD the thing is! I would really like to get one that I can handle by myself or otherwise, if I buy it and bring it home, I have no clue, when or how I could get it in the house and set up. This old one is so big and heavy.. I will have a problem getting it out and what to do with it, where to put it when the new one gets here?

This RCA at Wal Mart is a 26 inch, flat screen HDTV for around $500. What else caught my eye was a the analog, 26 inch WITH built in DVD & VCR for right around $200-$300. I couldn't get over how cheap!! (Boy! Would that free up a lot of space in the entertainment center!)

I guess how much I have to co pay on the MRI Friday will determine which one I get or I may just decide to wait until I make one more trip out to get it.

Like I said, I don't need fancy or all those complicated bells and whistles that only make it harder to use. I want to be able to just plug it in and watch it!!!

[Cinder & Smoke]

What else caught my eye was a the analog, 26 inch
WITH built in DVD & VCR for right around $200-$300.

AVOID those "combination TV and Other Things" units!!

A basic TV is a somewhat well designed and maintenance-FREE device these days;
but mixing in a DVD and a VCR - both of which are loaded with "Moving Parts" -
is almost asking for a breakdown at some point in time!

And it's a LOT easier to "fix" a VCR if it doesn't have a TV Set "wrapped around it"!

[Hellow]

I do have to consider the hole in my entertainment center for the size. I don't need anything any bigger due to the size of my living room also. I went and looked at them in Wal Mart yesterday and they have a RCA that I liked. This old one is a RCA and it has moved with me everywhere, even though it is real large and had never given me a hint of a problem and only recently did I realize just how OLD the thing is! I would really like to get one that I can handle by myself or otherwise, if I buy it and bring it home, I have no clue, when or how I could get it in the house and set up. This old one is so big and heavy.. I will have a problem getting it out and what to do with it, where to put it when the new one gets here?

This RCA at Wal Mart is a 26 inch, flat screen HDTV for around $500. What else caught my eye was a the analog, 26 inch WITH built in DVD & VCR for right around $200-$300. I couldn't get over how cheap!! (Boy! Would that free up a lot of space in the entertainment center!)

I guess how much I have to co pay on the MRI Friday will determine which one I get or I may just decide to wait until I make one more trip out to get it.

Like I said, I don't need fancy or all those complicated bells and whistles that only make it harder to use. I want to be able to just plug it in and watch it!!!

Well, if you just want to plug in and watch, then you might as well forget about lcd or plasma.Thoes things require some configueration, at least from my experience.

[RICHARD]

http://www.amazon.com/Terk-Technolog.../dp/B0001FV36E


BTW,

You can get HDTV reception with a plain old antenna.

In a few years there will no longer be any TV broadcast in analog..Everything will be digital.


--------

My RCA has two neat features that I like.....One is an on screen 'note pad' and calendar!

You can type little reminders that pop up when you turn on the TV...the other nice features are an programmable on and off time, closed captions and
a favorite channel list


MY old RCA I bought for 250 dollars twenty years ago -

That was with no features. I paid less than that for the new one! With more bells and whistles that I even use.

[Freedom]

This old one is so big and heavy.. I will have a problem getting it out and what to do with it, where to put it when the new one gets here?

Each city is different, make a quick call to City Hall.

Here, we have to go buy a $10 orange sticker. That covers the work for dismantling it and properly disposing of the screen. They take your address when you buy the sticker. You put the item on the front lawn with the sticker clearly visible and within 2 or 3 days POOF it is gone.

Of course, if you put is out on the front lawn the night before trash collection, it may disappear with NO sticker on it, he he he. Did that with 2 old lawn mowers last week. SO glad to be rid of them!