Widescreen TV

[braddo]

I have been thinking of getting a widescreen TV
during the post-Christmas sales.

Unfortunately I am on a limited budget and
can't afford a high quality one like Sony.

I have seen a couple of sets in the price range
I can afford which is below $1700 or so
and I wasn't really impressed by the tube quality,
it didn't seem much better than my 20 year old AWA
that I'm running my DVD player through at the moment.

Is there a decent set out there at a budget price?

Or will I have to wait another few years for
the price to come down?
I've got my heart set on getting a new TV
and I really want to watch my DVD's in 16:9
fullscreen.

Or should I give up and get a good quality
4:3 set for my money?

Thoughts anyone?

[millsy]

I'd be a little patient, and save up to the 3k mark. You can pick up a great Metz or Loewe WS TV for around that price.

If you settle for less, you'll be living with a sub standard picture for sometime . . .

[antman]

;) hi, u didnt say which tv u looked at.. but have a look at the Teac 66cm model ctw2850s or the Grundig 66cm model mw702101, grundig has a better pic IMO, but costs more then the Teac.. I know people will say Teac shit brand, but most tv tubes are all made buy phillips, so its features that are the most different , but tubes are pretty much equal, and you get a 3 yr warranty on the teac, just letting u know ..:p

[scorezero]

While it's possible that the tubes may be Philips in widescreen sets, that certainly doesn't apply to 4.3 sets.

However, it's definitely a good idea to avoid a cheap set, as most of the Teac, Samsung, Masuda sets I've serviced all suffered from design faults, mainly in their power supplies.

Putting a heat sensitive electrolytic capacitor nest to a ceramic (heat generating) resistor is never a good idea, and yet just about every asian set I service seems to have this.

So while the tube may be ok, I can't guarantee the rest of the set, as things like flyback tranformers are expensive, yet they use cheap grade ones in cheap sets, that will often fail prematurely.

BE CAREFUL, and save for a better set!

[braddo]

Antman,
I checked out the TEAC's and I thought the
quality was pretty average. Hopefully it isn't
my imagination and I thought the Orion's looked better.
The word is that the Orions use Grundig tubes.
I have a few more Hi-Fi stores to check out and see what
else turns up.
One thing for sure - I'm not wasting money on 100Hz models.

:cool:

Brad

[chris denyer]

:confused: And what is wrong with 100Hz models.?
I own a Loewe Cantus widescreen and would not go back to a 50Hz TV.:cool:

[miklos koncsek]

To Braddo,

I would like to second that question posed above by Chris, and that is -what's wrong with 100 Hz?

I was at Harvey Norman's the other day and saw this 90 cm(?) 16x9 Philips set (which had a price-tag of about $7500) which used 100Hz circuitry. It had a virtually flicker-free picture, and made most of the other TV's in the store look like cheap junk! It was just like being in front of a cinema screen, only smaller...

As some say stay away from 100Hz, I asked the salesman nearby about this set and asked him if there is anything wrong with 100Hz technology, and he said 'Nothing! What could be wrong with it?' Help me out here.

Miklos

[braddo]

Happy to.
While the still picture is excellent - there are a lot of
problems with processing fast moving images, as I have
read. They leave trails and "judder".

Philips quite happily admit to it (albeit to sell their
sets that have their "Natural Motion" estimator processor.
http://www.research.philips.com/pressmedia/background/natmot/judderfree.html

There is also a nice discussion here:
http://pub36.ezboard.com/fdvdepotcustomerforumfrm9.showMessage?topicID=82.t opic
which has both very good arguments for and against 100Hz.
For me, I'm not sure I want to buy a set that I have to turn 100Hz scan rate OFF to watch sport, action flicks etc.

Now, I haven't watched ENOUGH 100Hz sets to make a final
decision, but I would imagine the problems would not
be as noticable on smaller tube sets?
Or maybe because I will be buying a cheaper set, the
signal processing will be poorer?

Now, Miklos, I'm not having a go at you but
do you really think a salesman from
Harvey Norman would mention anything at all about
possible problems with a feature that adds a few
hundred dollars to his sale and thus his resulting commission???
Or do you think he would risk a customer walking out
when hearing about poor motion processing??
I am assuming that the Harvey Norman salesman
knows what he is talking about, which is assuming an awful lot.

:D

Oh, I'm not buying a $7500 set, I'm looking at entry
level 16:9 sets, $2000 mark or less. I am assuming
$7500 sets have the problem licked!

Oh, Chris, can you notice any motion blur/trails
on your Cantus? The Cantus is more than my budget
will strech, but I need all the opinions I can get!
Do you change the different processing settings?

Cheers guys!

Braddo

[chris denyer]

:) Hi braddo
No mate, I have had no problems with my Cantus, and after initial set up I have not touched it.
My line of thinking when I purchased my TV was to buy from a retailer that more or less specialize in one or two brands.I did go to Harvey Norman and all the other large retailers but the reps at those places have to sell heaps of different brands and I do not think that they are as knowledgable as some of them make out.
I chose Loewe because I thought that the picture on offer was better than everything else i looked at in that price range($2100) and,after comparison tests (50HZ v 100Hz)I liked the 100Hz sets.
I purchased from Stereo Supplies in Brisbane and cannot say enough about the professional service I received.
Anyway, good luck with your hunting, hope you find what you are after.
cheers
Chris
:) :) :) :)

[braddo]

A Loewe for $2100?
Hmm, maybe I can get my budget to
strech that far!
Thanks for your advice, maybe motion trails
is not as harsh as some make out and
it is more to do with how people set their TV up.
I will investigate further!

Cheers,

Brad
;)

[miklos koncsek]

To Braddo,

I'd hate to go far off subject, but yes, it was stupid of me to;-

a) ask a salesperson about any undesirable truths about a product he's trying to sell, and to expect the truth, and

b) tell you about a $7500 set when you were requesting info on $2000 sets.

I myself am looking for a 16x9 TV, but don't want something that will conk out in 2 years' time. I want something in a decent size too. It's amazing how these TV's have dropped in price.

What is a decent size for a set? I looked at a 66cm 16x9 telly and it looked pathetically small...

Miklos.

[braddo]

That's cool Miklos!
Yeah the 66cm looks small!
I have a small main room and
I'm only 2.5 metres from the screen so it doesn't
have to be that big for me.
Sure, the 76cm is much much better, but
as you well know, increase in screen size
equals almost an exponential increase
in cost :mad:

Now being I'm currently DVD's on a 48cm 4:3
AWA from the stone ages,through the RF port,
I'm probably going to get an improvement enough
from a 66cm 16:9 to wet myself :D

Oh, to totally backflip and make myself look
like a total arse, I saw the 100Hz Orions
and I didn't notice any trail artifacts and
I quite liked the 100Hz picture!
Looks like I'll leave it to the videophiles
to complain about it!


So guess, what, I'll probably get a 68cm 100Hz Orion :)

I hope you find a good set Miklos!

All the best,

Brad