New TV Help

[craiggiarc]

My Wife's parents are going to buy us a new TV for Christmas but I don't know where to start. Can anyone recommend or point me in the right direction of what I need to consider.

I really don't want to just rely on the people in the store.

Thanks

Craig

[Geekster]

Everyone in the nation has to go to HD TV before too much longer. They are not even going to broadcast "free" over the air broadcasts (The BIG names, Google, MS, etc, are wanting those air waves for their own personal use). There is a difference between HD ready and HD enabled. You do want the "converter box" already built into the tv. Otherwise you will have to buy, or rent one, though sometimes some cable networks are going to let customers have one but that's a hit and miss thing. After that I went with price and size. Find out how much they are willing to spend and try to buy the best tv with what you have to work with. Plasma's are "hot" but they have hidden costs according to a Yahoo news banner the other day. Good luck in the hunt and take your time finding the best deal. The internet is your best friend in this, believe me!

[K3SRK]

Well, broadcast stations aren't required to go HD, just digital. Regardless, any television over $150 right now will at least support HD signals.

Either way, as Geekster said, get a set that has the HD tuner built in. If it does not have a built-in decoder it will be sold as a "monitor."

I would say LCDs are the best buy right now. Rear projections (which I have) are prone to burn-in and plasmas are known to be great when they work properly but there's a fair amount of maintenance and risk with them. LCD screens just look funny to me but they're almost foolproof.

Spend a few hours reading sites like avsforum.com and then go to a few stores and look them over. Get the one you want, not the one a bunch of anonymous Internet fanboys drool over.

[Geekster]

K3SRK is right. My bad! Have had some java so ready to face the day and stop sleep posting.
Here is a sight I bookmarked from my searches and it's all right there. *bangs head on wall*

A little more info for you...
http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pn...105648,00.html

I WISH I could give you names of stores that will give the best or worse deals. But this isn't the forum for that. If you want to get extended warranty then SHOP FOR THAT ONE, also. Not all are created equal.
Again, Good Luck.

[K3SRK]

At stores like Best Buy, if you purchase the protection plan you can get somewhat of a discount on the television. The PSP has a 90-day (?) window to return for refund so if you wanna be sneaky you can buy the television at whatever discount is offered, add on the PSP, decide how fragile the television is and get a refund for the PSP.

And as stated above, watch the terms of the protection plan. Not everything is covered (screens, tubes) equally.