Andy writes:

My wife wants a big screen TV, about 52 inches or so,
and we see a lot of them at Walmart, Circuit City, Frye's,
etc.

Prices range from $998 to $5000. All I want is a
HDTV monitor, as I can use a VCR for the tuner now, and
add a HD tuner when it gets more common in my area.

So, does anyone here have direct experience with what is
good and what is not ? Also, any recommendations about
warranties would be appreciated..

Andy

Easy. If you want the most for your money, get a Mitsubishi, Hitachi, Sony,
or Toshiba CRT based RPTV. Decide which one based on which has the best
servicer in your area who is very familiar with the product, preferably a
self servicing dealer. All sets will have at least the NTSC tuner in them,
so you won't have to use the VCR for a tuner. Don't waste the $ on an
extended warranty. Get the Digital Video Essentials disc and learn how to
adjust the set properly and get HD signals as soon as possible. You will
love it.

Leonard

"Andy" wrote in message
ups.com...
Andy writes:

My wife wants a big screen TV, about 52 inches or so,
and we see a lot of them at Walmart, Circuit City, Frye's,
etc.

Prices range from $998 to $5000. All I want is a
HDTV monitor, as I can use a VCR for the tuner now, and
add a HD tuner when it gets more common in my area.

So, does anyone here have direct experience with what is
good and what is not ? Also, any recommendations about
warranties would be appreciated..

Andy

Stay with the main brand names. You will not go wrong with Sony, Panasonic,
and Hitachi. Most all of them come with a standard NTSC tuner. When it is
time to go with the HDTV option in your set, you just have to add a
converter to the set. In most cases you will need one for any of the cable
or satellite services anyways.

Some people say to not get an extended warranty. I have the philosophy where
I like my expensive to repair things to be insured. If you get an HDTV set,
and the CRT fails after one year, which I have seen happen, then the cost of
the service will be about the same as replacing the set. For the CRT type
sets, the extended warranty is not very expensive.

I personally would be looking at the Plasma sets, or at least the LCD flat
panel sets. The days of CRT's are at their end. I do not like the rear
screen sets. Their viewing angle is too critical, and they are not nearly as
sharp as the direct view flat panel sets.

--

Jerry G.
=====

"Andy" wrote in message
ups.com...
Andy writes:

My wife wants a big screen TV, about 52 inches or so,
and we see a lot of them at Walmart, Circuit City, Frye's,
etc.

Prices range from $998 to $5000. All I want is a
HDTV monitor, as I can use a VCR for the tuner now, and
add a HD tuner when it gets more common in my area.

So, does anyone here have direct experience with what is
good and what is not ? Also, any recommendations about
warranties would be appreciated..

Andy

You might want to look more carefully at CRT based RPTV, Jerry. In recent
years they have become very good. You might still like the look of PDPs
better, but don't assume RPTV is bad. A properly calibrated set will have
better blacks and better dark area detail than a PDP. They have about the
same off axis viewing angles and LCD direct view sets. And they can be had
for less than half the price. Also, CRT based sets typically end up doing
less scan conversion since they display 1080i and 480p without scaling and
resampling. Mitsubishi, BTW, sells PDP, CRT RPTV, LCD direct view, DLP
RPTV, and LCOS sets. Their products are among the best in each category.

Leonard

"Jerry G." wrote in message
...
Stay with the main brand names. You will not go wrong with Sony,
Panasonic,
and Hitachi. Most all of them come with a standard NTSC tuner. When it is
time to go with the HDTV option in your set, you just have to add a
converter to the set. In most cases you will need one for any of the cable
or satellite services anyways.

Some people say to not get an extended warranty. I have the philosophy
where
I like my expensive to repair things to be insured. If you get an HDTV
set,
and the CRT fails after one year, which I have seen happen, then the cost
of
the service will be about the same as replacing the set. For the CRT type
sets, the extended warranty is not very expensive.

I personally would be looking at the Plasma sets, or at least the LCD flat
panel sets. The days of CRT's are at their end. I do not like the rear
screen sets. Their viewing angle is too critical, and they are not nearly
as
sharp as the direct view flat panel sets.

--

Jerry G.
=====

"Andy" wrote in message
ups.com...
Andy writes:

My wife wants a big screen TV, about 52 inches or so,
and we see a lot of them at Walmart, Circuit City, Frye's,
etc.

Prices range from $998 to $5000. All I want is a
HDTV monitor, as I can use a VCR for the tuner now, and
add a HD tuner when it gets more common in my area.

So, does anyone here have direct experience with what is
good and what is not ? Also, any recommendations about
warranties would be appreciated..

Andy

Panasonic makes a 50" plasma TV that, in my opinion, has the best looking
picture. Damned expensive, though!

Andy writes:

My wife wants a big screen TV, about 52 inches or so,
and we see a lot of them at Walmart, Circuit City, Frye's,
etc.

Prices range from $998 to $5000. All I want is a
HDTV monitor, as I can use a VCR for the tuner now, and
add a HD tuner when it gets more common in my area.

Well, if you have no qualms about buying stuff from Wal-Mart:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=1978033

I still wished Pioneer kept their blue logo (the one with the tuning fork in
the omega) instead of going with that stupid red logo in the late 1990s. -
Reinhart

Panasonic makes a 50" plasma TV that, in my opinion, has the best looking
picture. Damned expensive, though!

Probably from one of their "Viera" series. They are very good!

I also like the Toshiba plasma displays.

Pioneer makes very good plasma displays and should bear consideration.

Hitachi also makes a very fine plasma display. One particular model in their
UltraVision line has a motorized swivel controllable by remote which is high on
the coolness factor.

However, I'm very partial to Sony. Having nothing but great luck with their
displays, it's hard, at least for me, to hate them.

As for displays I don't like. Wal-Mart's "I-Lo." I'm still in amusement with
a little slogan I made up about them:

"I-Lo, the new low in electronics!" - Reinhart

"LASERandDVDfan" wrote in message
...
Panasonic makes a 50" plasma TV that, in my opinion, has the best looking
picture. Damned expensive, though!

Probably from one of their "Viera" series. They are very good!

I also like the Toshiba plasma displays.

Pioneer makes very good plasma displays and should bear consideration.

Hitachi also makes a very fine plasma display. One particular model in
their
UltraVision line has a motorized swivel controllable by remote which is
high on
the coolness factor.


Why would you want a motorized swivel? Sounds like one more thing to break.
The nice thing about plasmas is they can be wall mounted, no sense in the
swivel then.