Recommended HDTV?

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Zach

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#11313 15-Jan-2007 21:06

We are considering buying a new TV to put up on the wall :) The price range is around $2000. We were thinking around 32" but that's not definite. Would it be best to go for LCD, Plasma or possibly even wait for the newer TVs to come out? We would mainly use it for digital tv (telstra) and the xbox 360.

Please make any suggestions on value-for-money, quality HDTVs.

geekiegeek

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#58017 16-Jan-2007 09:23

personally I've decided to wait until there is an actual HDTV signal to watch before I upgrade.

Zach

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#58074 16-Jan-2007 14:02

Is that because you currently wouldn't have much use for HD and when HDTV signal comes out, they will be cheaper?

geekiegeek

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#58092 16-Jan-2007 15:29

Pretty much yeah. The TV I have has an exellent picture with the current inputs - DVD, TV and PC - and I'm guessing there will be better models by the time we get HD in NZ.

sbiddle

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#58097 16-Jan-2007 16:53

Even when we do have HD broadcasts in NZ don't expect every program on every channel to suddenly be HD.

OrangeDrink

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#58098 16-Jan-2007 16:53

I'll ditto that, seems like little point having an HDTV if there's nothing to watch on it in HD. I would hope also that by the time HD is available here (and frankly the quality Sky broadcast with I'm looking more at HD when BluRay/HD DVD are here) you'll be able to get a lot more for your $2000. There should be some nice second hand bargains available around then I reckon of current HD ready TV sets...

For $2000 you could probably pick up a right good second hand SD screen...

Super8

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#58117 16-Jan-2007 20:16

I think you'll find that a 32" LCD isn't going to cut it in the world of HD, subject to your viewing distance.

http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/09/1080p-charted-viewing-distance-to-screen-size/

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sbiddle

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#58149 17-Jan-2007 08:01

The other thing to consider is the type of HD material you could be watching. The minimum resolution for a HD display is 720 lines but if you then want to watch HD 1080i/1080p stuff your TV still doesn't have enough lines. A lot of newer HD sets support full 1920*1080 which is what you probably should be aiming for. Most low to mid range LCD's and Plasmas still only support 1366*768 - you have to look at the higher end models or TV's such as the Sony SRD rear projections to get full 1920*1080

Sure HD stuff does look nice but I'd put money on maybe 50% of people not being able to tell the difference between a standard and HD pic. There are people who sit there with a TV at present with ghosting and interference who believe they have perfect TV!

lchiu7

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#58155 17-Jan-2007 09:49

I have had a HDTV for the past 18 months. While I acknowledge that SDTV (especially from TCL!) can look pretty bad on it, it's great having a large TV in the family room to watch TV and DVD's. DVD's upscaled to 720p look quite good on the set and will tide me over until the HD DVD or BluRay become generally available here. I suspect that will occur well before we get OTA HDTV.

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