[Discuss] Totally off topic - TVs

[Adam Parkin]

Deryk Barker wrote:
> As this list is a hotbed of technophiles, I thought I'd see what advice 
> I can glean...

LOL

> My wife and I are in the market for a new tv - probably 26-32". We don't 
> want another CRT - our 20" is quite big enough.

I hear ya...

> Clearly the only plasma and/or lcd sets this size are a) widescreen and 
> b) mostly HDTV.
> 
> So, here come the questions (and yes I have done some research on the web):
> 
>    1. Does anyone have a set they particularly recommend and why?

Well, from the sounds of things your demands aren't particularly 
special, so I think you'd *probably* be happy with a more economical LCD 
set from the likes of Sharp.  Personally I have a Samsung 32" LCD and I 
am *extremely* happy with it, but Samsung TV's are very expensive 
compared to other brands (they're regarded as being among the best, if 
not the best for quality though).  For myself I was willing to pay the 
extra for a Samsung because I'm a big gamer and Samsung TV's have many 
perks that lend themeselves to gaming (enhanced contrast, DNIe, etc).

Some of the Sharp TV's I've seen are very nice (although admittedly I 
don't have much to compare them against) and they are mid-range priced. 
  My father in law has a Panasonic and he seems quite happy with it as 
well.  I think we are approaching a point where LCD qualities are 
levelling off, and most of the mid-range vendors are about the same in 
terms of image quality (at least from what I've seen).

I would definitely avoid Sony LCD TV's, while their CRTs were among the 
best back in the day, I have yet to see a Sony TV that has a picture 
quality that warrants the prices they charge (in fact, many Sony TV's 
panels are made by Samsung, but typically cost considerably more and 
IMHO don't look nearly as good as the Samsung models).

>    2. We have no intention of going either digital or HD for some time 
> (you can guild a turd but it's still a turd)                  which 
> means that for the foreseeable future we'll be either watching cable or 
> DVDs. Anyone any insight                   into which is a good tv for 
> 'letterboxing' 4:3 content - we do NOT want it stretched and frankly 
> can't                        understand  how anyone can watch that.

Actually you'd be surprised how fast you get used to it, and now when I 
look at a "regular" 4:3 aspect TV I think it looks "squished". ;)

Personally I think regular TV looks fine stretched to fit a 16:9 
widescreen ratio, but most LCD TV's have options to view the picture in 
the regular 4:3 ratio (you just get black bars on the left and right).

>    3. Does anyone have a local retailer they'd particularly recommend - 
> i.e. knowledgeable staff, good selection                and  reasonable 
> prices (don't want much do I?)

I would *HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY* recommend Atlas Audio Visual on Fort 
Street.  They have simply excellent service.  They will also match 
prices from other retailers.  I bought my Samsung from them and got $100 
off their price because at the time FutureShop was having a sale on the 
same model.

Their staff is great, when my wife & I bought our TV the salesperson sat 
down with us for a good 15-20 minutes patiently answering all our 
questions about TV's and HD service.  I never felt "pushed" or rushed at 
all the whole time I was there.

In addition they have a great extended warranty policy.  Most retailers 
have an extended policy where you pay X amount of dollars for Y more 
years of coverage.  Of course more often than not that warranty never 
gets used and the money is wasted.  At Atlas what happens is that if 
after the 5 years (or whatever the warranty is for) if you haven't used 
the extended warranty than the value of the warranty is given to you in 
store credit.  So 5 years from now if my TV is still going strong (which 
in all likelihood it will be) I will have a store credit for about $150 
(IIRC give or take about $50).

I would defintely avoid the big box retailers like FutureShop.  Aside 
from the fact that many of their salespeople simply don't know their 
TV's very well, their return policies are becoming absolutely horrible 
(I had a terrible experience with my Xbox 360 and them back in November).

As well, while I'm sure many on here will recommend buying online, I'd 
advise against that for a couple reasons:

1) Shipping charges for TV's aren't cheap.
2) If you get a TV with a dead pixel, you probably won't be able to 
return it to an online retailer, and even if you can, then you're likely 
looking at more shipping charges.
3) You can't sit down with a salesperson and ask questions with an 
online retailer.
4) MOST IMPORTANTLY you can't see what the picture looks like until it's 
in your home and you've paid for it.

One of the unfortunate things about buying an LCD tv is that when you 
see it in the store the picture will almost always be an HDTV signal, so 
it will look better than it will when you get it home and hook it up to 
your SDTV signal.

Good luck!

-- 
--
Adam Parkin
E-mail: pzelnip at gmail.com
Blog: http://pzelnip.blogspot.com/
----------------------
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