I now have an Apple TV (the little black box) but no TV. We watch netflix on an Apple 27" monitor, and watch DVDs on an old Apple 23" monitor run by a 7-year old tower Power PC that has a digital audio surround sound system attached. The DVD player on it is starting to die.

I could either give away or sell the Apple TV, or buy a 32 inch TV to go with it. There is a neat spot in our living room for a small TV.

Do any of you recommend a good Samsung or Panasonic or Sony or whatever brand + model of a TV? That plays well with Apple TV . . .

I have never seen one in action, and don't even know if I would be disappointed with the quality compared to the Apple 27 inch monitor. Theoretically I could just buy an external DVD player to plug into the Mini running the 27 inch monitor, and watch DVDs that way. We have fairly fast cable but we don't subscribe to the TV programming. We just buy the shows we want on iTunes.

Opinions, recommendations?

thanks



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/02/2013 07:36PM by roshi.

Roshi I'm a fan of Vizio but they seem to change models every couple months so I can't recommend any one
particular model. I did see that Best Buy is now carrying Vizio, they once told me they would never carry Vizio.

---

Grateful11

I use a cheap Spectre (an earlier, just as cheap model as that one) with my 2nd generation 720p AppleTV. It works fine visually. The audio goes to external speakers since the built-in speakers are not very good.

roshi -- modern TVs are very flat, which leaves no room for decent speakers or speaker placement. They *all* sound like crap, even the big TVs now. Don't be surprised if your new TV purchase begets a solution for that.

Don't connect a DVD player to the computer. You can't do it without an eyeTV box of some kind and it'll be a kludge. Better to play DVDs from the Mac's optical drive or add a USB optical drive if desired, unless I've totally misunderstood here.

We're casually on the lookout for a 24-27" TV but will likely just visit the usual places and take a gander when the time comes.

deckeda - sorry, I meant get a USB external drive for the Power PC mac tower, or replace the internal. It is very easy to work on.

I'm amazed to be so clueless - been watching everything on Apple monitors for so long, I don't know what TVs are all about.

Any and all HDMI TVs play well with the ATV. Anything new on the shelves now would work fine. I would look out for a 1080P if you have an ATV3; if you have an ATV2, 720P is all you need.

I like our Vizio because it has audio play-through that converts the HDMI audio into analog surround sound output that let me use my 24 year-old Pioneer receiver for plug-and-play.

I would think a field trip to Best Buy or Sam's Club with an iPhone to check prices would go a long way.

You describe a very computer-centric approach to movie watching. The apple TV is living room friendly, TV-centric, normal viewing device. No special attention to what TV would be good to use with an "Apple TV", anymore than you might with a DVD player or any other entertainment component.

I agree about making sure you have room to include speakers or improved sound, if you can. Even the good flat screen TVs don't have much in the way of built-in sound quality, it's minimal, at best. But they do usually have plenty of ports to externalize sound a number of ways. HDMI, component, optical, are common ports in new TVs.

(I have sort of an audio-centric approach to watching movies, emphasizing the sound system. I'd rather have great sound, and would sacrifice screen size in order to preserve the priority of audio, but that's just my personal fixation)

If you already have a stereo receiver, you can use the AUX to include the TV, so you can enjoy the soundtrack in stereo.

I recommend Samsung LCDs in the size range you mention, good deals can be had. Especially if you look for the ones with fewer bells & whistles. Our home as a few Samsungs, two 50 inch ones, and one 32 inch one. The 50" was around $575, and the 32" was around $250-300, somewhere in that range, about three years ago. Probably even cheaper now, and increasingly good image, refined looking.

Good deals can be had on Panasonic plasma TVs these days. I'm wary of plasma (having owned one from around 2006) because they're power hungry and more prone to repair issues than modern LCDs .

LED LCDs are currently popular, but can cost a little more. According to some fine print I've read, demystifying LEDs, an LED TV is just a variation of LCD, but has more hype associated with it.

In the post-holiday sales, I imagine some really good deals can be found on breathtakingly good flat screen TVs, for a budget shopper. Samsung LCDs are pretty good, I think.

thanks, guitarist. I do have a Logitech surround-sound system - so the sound output from the TV wouldn't matter.

There are currently 4 Macs in the living room/office. Two on my desk, each running Apple 27 inch monitors, one over at my wife's desk running her 27 inch monitor. On the other side of the room is the Power PC machine running an older Apple monitor. The possible TV would replace that.

Logitech is computer audio gear.

You plan to get an adapter to reemploy it for non-computer duty? Or it's a model that's adaptable to TV screens?

This is making me feel old!

Have you ever owned a TV? Or a stereo?

Or come of age in the post-TV era?

(I have a room full of Macs, too, iPad, iPhone, etc., and endless digital gadgets--but when watching movies, strive to avoid any visible connection to computing)