Author Topic: HDTV/electronics deals PSA  (Read 961 times)

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Offline Dave B

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HDTV/electronics deals PSA
« Topic Start: January 25, 2008, 10:57:16 AM »
So I took the HDTV plunge and did a pretty good amount of research and surveying of my tecnhophile friends.  Apparently Best Buy and other regular retailers are huge ripoffs.

I got a TV from this site tigerdirect.com.  A 42 inch plasma (720p) Panasonic for 899$ + 29$ shipping and no tax.  I really saved on the shipping which is 50 to 100$ elsewhere. I ordered last night, it is already shipped, and I'm supposed to get it like tuesday.

it would have cost at least 200$ more from Best Buy for the same TV.

Another website I was directed to was newegg.com, which was pretty good, but tigerdirect was 100+$ cheaper than them

Also try something pricegrabber.com. it gets a bunch of prices from no name places.

Maybe all you know about this, but I had to be informed of it by my friends. I also mentioned to a different friend and he said "oh yeah, tiger direct, thats where all the nerds from work order from"

What a great way to due your duty as an American and spend your rebate check

Offline metssuck

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Re: HDTV/electronics deals PSA
« Reply #1: January 25, 2008, 12:15:43 PM »
itss a 42 inch and tha highest tha resoulution it can get is 720p??

Online GburgNatsFan

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Re: HDTV/electronics deals PSA
« Reply #2: January 25, 2008, 12:24:50 PM »
Congrats on taking the plunge!

If I have my specs right, 720p is what most networks are broadcasting at and what upsampling DVD players upsample to.

But the really well broadcast stuff (HDNet, other sources) are doing 1080p. HD DVDs are 1080p, too. That's where I'd want to be. 1080p devices still cost more, though.

My Samsung DLP is 1080i, but it's a few years old. Back then, 1080p was very pricey.

I think a 42" set is still a good size for most  rooms. Much bigger than that is overkill unless you are sitting more than six feet away.

I'm still not in love with Plasma for the long haul. They are still pricey, and I think they still have a shorter life than LCD or DLP, and they use a lot of electricity. But they have the potential for the best picture, resolutions being equal.


Offline CALSGR8

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Re: HDTV/electronics deals PSA
« Reply #3: January 25, 2008, 12:26:53 PM »
Also, check out the Return policy before ordering anything on line from Anyone!  If there are any glitches you'll be charged a certain percentage or amount restocking fee!

I check out Consumers Reports and CNET before buying anything.

Offline metssuck

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Re: HDTV/electronics deals PSA
« Reply #4: January 25, 2008, 12:32:50 PM »
yeah i only question cuz my sister has a 42 inch sony they paid for that has 1080p. i thought all tv that size had 1080p maximum resolution.

my 27-inch has a maximun resolution of 1080i, which imo from playing my ps3 isnt better than 720p.

but yeah if i get a summer job like last summer or better($12 an hour),i'm upgrading!!

Offline Dave B

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Re: HDTV/electronics deals PSA
« Reply #5: January 25, 2008, 01:09:41 PM »
from what i've read and friends have confirmed, nothing is broadcast in 1080p, and wont be for the foreseeable future.  hdnet is 1080i.  the p stands for progessive scan and minimizes the blur in fast moving pictures.  so if you want to minimize the blur, you need a p

considering i am going to get the most benefit out of watching sports (fast motion) i wanted to minimize the blur and got 720p.  if 1080p was going to be broadcastable soon, i would have considered it.

my friend was telling me to get the 1080p because i might want to play video games in the future and get an hddvd player.  i'm probably not going to play video games. didnt even buy the new madden this year for xbox (do they still make xbox games).  i'll probably get as much satisfaction out of watching a regular dvd as i would an hddvd, so i dont care too much about that (also would have to buy an hddvd player).

seeing as 99% of the benefit i would potentially receive would come from broadcast tv, i limited myself to 720p.

also according to my friend, 42 inch is right around the cusp where you may or may not be able to see a difference between 720 and 1080. my eyes arent that great. good, but i could benefit from glasses, so 1080 might actally be better than my eyes will notice, if 720 isnt already

Online GburgNatsFan

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Re: HDTV/electronics deals PSA
« Reply #6: January 25, 2008, 01:18:34 PM »
Just never watch an HD DVD. You'll immediately wish you'd forked over the money for the 1080p. :D

I could be wrong about this, but I think that difference between 1080p and 1080i is that 1080i TVs "paint" the screen in two passes, whereas the 1080p TVs paint it in one pass. That's probably a dramatic simplification.

In any event, the TV will be such an improvement over standard def...

What source will you be using? I loved DishNetwork until I couldn't get it through the trees anymore (once the pole I had it mounted on hit 16', I knew I should give up). Comcast is pretty okay, too.

from what i've read and friends have confirmed, nothing is broadcast in 1080p, and wont be for the foreseeable future.  hdnet is 1080i.  the p stands for progessive scan and minimizes the blur in fast moving pictures.  so if you want to minimize the blur, you need a p

considering i am going to get the most benefit out of watching sports (fast motion) i wanted to minimize the blur and got 720p.  if 1080p was going to be broadcastable soon, i would have considered it.

my friend was telling me to get the 1080p because i might want to play video games in the future and get an hddvd player.  i'm probably not going to play video games. didnt even buy the new madden this year for xbox (do they still make xbox games).  i'll probably get as much satisfaction out of watching a regular dvd as i would an hddvd, so i dont care too much about that (also would have to buy an hddvd player).

seeing as 99% of the benefit i would potentially receive would come from broadcast tv, i limited myself to 720p.

also according to my friend, 42 inch is right around the cusp where you may or may not be able to see a difference between 720 and 1080. my eyes arent that great. good, but i could benefit from glasses, so 1080 might actally be better than my eyes will notice, if 720 isnt already

Offline Dave B

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Re: HDTV/electronics deals PSA
« Reply #7: January 25, 2008, 01:19:52 PM »
Just never watch an HD DVD. You'll immediately wish you'd forked over the money for the 1080p. :D


ok

Offline metssuck

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Re: HDTV/electronics deals PSA
« Reply #8: January 25, 2008, 01:21:36 PM »
HD DVD's wont be around for long anyway. tha future is bluray dvd's. blurays dvds far outsell hd dvd's

Online GburgNatsFan

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Re: HDTV/electronics deals PSA
« Reply #9: January 25, 2008, 01:22:25 PM »
Same resolution.

HD DVD's wont be around for long anyway. tha future is bluray dvd's. blurays dvds far outsell hd dvd's

Offline metssuck

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Re: HDTV/electronics deals PSA
« Reply #10: January 25, 2008, 01:26:26 PM »

Offline Dave B

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Re: HDTV/electronics deals PSA
« Reply #11: January 25, 2008, 01:46:25 PM »
HD DVD's wont be around for long anyway. tha future is bluray dvd's. blurays dvds far outsell hd dvd's

i was lumping HDDVDs and BluRay in the same category, whichever wins.  I woulndt buy either one right now

Offline CALSGR8

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Re: HDTV/electronics deals PSA
« Reply #12: January 25, 2008, 02:12:34 PM »
i was lumping HDDVDs and BluRay in the same category, whichever wins.  I woulndt buy either one right now

And you can't say the better quality one will win out because I heard by videophiles a long time ago that BETA was better than VHS.  Its whichever gets the most TV studio companies probably will win. 

Offline Obed_Marsh

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Re: HDTV/electronics deals PSA
« Reply #13: February 01, 2008, 06:18:57 PM »
Y'all are forgetting they up convert standard DVDs. Look at improvement just from a standard player and you'd probably want one just for that feature alone. While HD-DVD will likely lose (unless their price dumping approach overcomes studios moving away from their standard), at $129/$179 with five free movies, it's not a bad time for a HD-DVD player.

Toshiba HD-A3 720p/1080i HD DVD Player
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000U62N1S/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Toshiba HD-A30 1080p HD DVD Player
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000U6AHYS/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Offline KyleScha

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Re: HDTV/electronics deals PSA
« Reply #14: February 02, 2008, 01:54:48 PM »
Congrats on taking the plunge!

If I have my specs right, 720p is what most networks are broadcasting at and what upsampling DVD players upsample to.

But the really well broadcast stuff (HDNet, other sources) are doing 1080p. HD DVDs are 1080p, too. That's where I'd want to be. 1080p devices still cost more, though.

My Samsung DLP is 1080i, but it's a few years old. Back then, 1080p was very pricey.

I think a 42" set is still a good size for most  rooms. Much bigger than that is overkill unless you are sitting more than six feet away.

I'm still not in love with Plasma for the long haul. They are still pricey, and I think they still have a shorter life than LCD or DLP, and they use a lot of electricity. But they have the potential for the best picture, resolutions being equal.



I hardly ever post here but I want to make one comment, I'm kinda a home theater freak so I thought I'd say something.

 Any non-CRT HDTV (plasma, lcd, dlp, etc) cannot produce interlaced signals. There is no such thing as a 1080i DLP, however what you have is a 1080i Compatible DLP. This basically means its 720p but will accept a 1080i input and convert it to 720p.

BTW, I happen to like DLPs if only for their size to cost ratio. While plasma and LCD have better picture quality, if what you want is a large TV (>50 inch) I think DLP is the way to go. Especially with the new LED DLPs which don't have the color wheel which are known to break and aren't cheap to replace.

I do believe investing the extra money in a 1080p television is worth it however, since it will become the standard.

Offline saltydad

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Re: HDTV/electronics deals PSA
« Reply #15: February 02, 2008, 02:20:30 PM »
You all are definitely right that eventually 1080o will be standard, at least until the next tech jump ahead occurs. My brother and I just went through a one year shopping period for his HDTV (he REALLY takes his time). After tons of research, it boiled down to what we actually saw, especially with HD broadcasts as opposed to BluRay discs. (Everything looks good with BluRay!) He finally decided on a 50" Pioneer 720p plasma. We could not see a visual benefit to the 1080p sets by Panasonic, Samsung, etc. over the Pioneer. Indeed, the Pioneer subjectively had the better picture. This was so no matter which store we were at, some in DC, Maryland and in LA! The kicker is that he had a $1000 gift card for Best Buy that he won in a sales contest at his job, and they dropped the price for the Pioneer from $2700 to $2000. For using his credit card on a promotion for the balance he saved another $200,  so he ended up paying $800 out-of-pocket for a beautiful set with an absolutly gorgeous picture! :)