Big-screen MADNESS!
As you may know, I’m not a big fan of spending money. I did buy a 13″ TV in 1984, but have managed to avoid any other such purchases ever since. Dying relatives have proved a boon; we’re now up to a 25″ TV.
But the 25″ we have is not only bottom-of-the-line, it seems to be on the way out. The tube rings whenever bright colors are shown (it sounds like a lightbulb with a loose filament). Besides, Carrie wants something to attract the children and their friends to our house so we can supervise them. So I went shopping for a big-screen TV. I guess there are less-fun things to spend money on.
In my usual (*cough* unemployed *cough*) fashion, I spent a lot of time researching this. Please note that I am not trying to encourage you to waste money on electronics. But if you happen to be thinking of upgrading, here’s a brief synopsis of what I found. Consumer Reports Dec 06 lists $1800 as a low-end price for the models they tested. I went to Costco Home, Best Buy, Circuit City and Sears; plus I checked about 20 places and several shopping services online (including local stores like Video Only, Walmart, and Sams Club). I also checked blackfriday.info, which tells you what the deals will be on the day after Thanksgiving.
The major types of big-screen TVs are:
- Direct CRT. A regular TV, the kind we all know and love. Usually 4:3 format, and very rarely HD compatible (the vast majority of big-screens are 16:9 HD units). I’ve never seen one more than 36″, and even those are rare and challenging the prices of the larger ones below. And because they’re now the low-end, manufacturers aren’t working on image quality, so that’s declining. And they’re VERY heavy. Very reliable, but I’m not sure I’d really call this a big-screen option. To me, it wasn’t worth upgrading from what we have.
- CRT rear projection. A regular TV, but the CRT shoots up, and then is dispersed onto a larger screen by a lens. Usually 51-65″ range. The cheapest of the true big-screens, and I suspect it’s the most reliable to boot. Drawbacks: thick cabinet (24″), heavy (150lbs), not as bright as the other options, and the viewing angle is poor: you need to be almost directly in front of the TV to watch it. If you have a large room with good curtains, and you won’t have many folks, I’d go for this. In fact, cheap-ass that I am, I wanted to go for this. But Carrie got scared by the viewing angle, even though we sat in front of a Hitachi 51F59 at Circuit City and decided it would work for our furniture. Buying tip for those willing to live with the drawbacks after sitting in front of one: On Nov 24 (and 25, I think) you can buy the 51F59 for $699 at Best Buy. CR didn’t think a whole lot of this one, I suspect for brightness reasons, but owners seem very happy. Hitachi is a great name. These need aligning, but the 51F59 has an auto-align feature.
- LCD/DLP/LCOS rear projection. These have a small LCD (or DLP or LCOS) screen that displays the image, and then a bright bulb projects it on to a screen. Usually 42-70″ range. Brighter than CRT rear projection, and better viewing angles (though often still not very good unless you get the expensive ones). Thinner, too (about 14″). But they cost more (I don’t think I found one under $1200), and those bulbs have to be replaced every ~2 years at $200-400 each. Panasonic and Sony are reliable brands; RCA and JVC aren’t.
- Plasma. Really cool thin-screen. Every one I’ve seen is really nice, with good contrast and brightness. Usually 40-65″ range. The cheapest ones (about $1000) are sometimes not HD, but rather ED. If you will never have cable or another HD source, ED is fine for regular DVD input, but definitely not as good as HD if you might have a source. Drawbacks: use more power than LCDs, can suffer burn-in, some cheaper models have glare issues, and while they seem reliable if anything fails it’s probably going to cost as much to fix as to replace. For the 40″ range, the cheap ones cost about the same as LCDs, and I decided I’d prefer an LCD. Nextstepplasma.com has a nice Toshiba with tuner for $1139 delivered. Black Friday ads indicate there will be a few available for around $1000 (some ED, but at least one HD). Fujitsu, Hitachi, Panasonic, Pioneer, Sony and Toshiba seem reliable; Akai, Philips, Magnavox and Vizio aren’t.
- LCD flat-panel. Usually 12″-50″ range (although the 16:9 HD units typically start around 21″). The lightest, thinnest and least power-hungry option. After CRT, probably the most reliable, and there’s more components that could be fixed at a semi-reasonable price. Drawbacks: less contrast and brightness than plasmas, although I would be very happy with all I saw. Some are slower, so check the response time (under 12 is fine; 8 if you want to play games). Some older ones supposedly don’t have great viewing angles, but I didn’t see that problem on any. Bugdig.com has a 42″ Olevia 342i HD monitor for $1039 delivered. Olevia is made in the US; they’re not well-known, but they use LG.Philips panels (which are probably the most reliable) and owners seem very happy. The 342i doesn’t have an HD tuner, but I figure I’d have to get a cable box or special DVD player or something to get an HD signal anyway (the 542i has a tuner). It has 8ms response time and 1600 contrast ratio. This is the unit I got. Most major names are reliable; Dell isn’t.
- Front projection. Usually 80-300″ range. The obvious advantage is the image size. There are some setup, noise and brightness drawbacks, but for me the killer is that such a large image isn’t going to look good at DVD resolution–you’d really want an HD source. Projectors may start for just a few hundred, but for HD resolution and a bright bulb (and a screen!) you’re going to have to pay $2k.
If you’re shopping, you want 16:9 format, at least 550 cd/m2 brightness, at least 1000:1 contrast ratio, and 12ms response time. 720p is the “old” HD resolution, but just fine unless you have a large front projector (some new ones support 1080p). Don’t forget to check the viewing angles, and figure how it would look in your room. And make sure it has all the input types you’ll use (and RCA out for sound); expensive ones have everything, but some cheap units skimp here. Unless you’re SURE you’ll never have an HD source, you want HD-compatible; but HD won’t help if all you watch are regular DVDs. Although a monitor (without tuner) will be cheaper than a TV (with tuner), that’s fine unless you really think you’ll have good enough reception at your house to pull HD signals over the airwaves.