They are soooooooo expensive even the small ones (I don't want wallpaper) When we are forced to HDT V will be price go up or down? People clammering for new TVs and a short supply or More Supply and lower prices? My old 1" panasonic works just fine but the fidelity on the flat screens is so good.

You won't be forced to HDTV, just digital TV. Anything you buy should have an ATSC tuner (digital TV tuner) in it or at least be HD capable as a monitor then you can add a digital tuner later. Soon the NTSC tuner (the one that we've been using) will no longer work when digital TV broadcasts start in 2009.

Expensive? They look like they've gotten pretty reasonable to to me. A 50" HD plasma was $4000 a year ago. You can buy one today for $2000. A 42" HD plasma was $1800 just last November. Today they are $1300. A 26" HD LCD can be had a low as $600.

Seems all of the 720p sets have taken a huge dive, and will continue. Even the newer 1080p sets have come down 20% or so since last fall.

Spoil yourself with a $500 projector. They are great.

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sydric
You won't be forced to HDTV, just digital TV. Anything you buy should have an ATSC tuner (digital TV tuner) in it or at least be HD capable as a monitor then you can add a digital tuner later. Soon the NTSC tuner (the one that we've been using) will no longer work when digital TV broadcasts start in 2009.

And this is only really true for "over-the-air" broadcasts. If you get your TV service from the cable company or a Dish provider, the box the provide "tunes" it, and then sends the video signal to your TV or monitor. So in that case having an ATSC tuner *in* the TV is not necessary as long as it has other ways to input a video signal (RCA, S-Video, Coax).

FWIW prices have dropped ALOT in the last six months, and I expect that will continue. In November I paid $1649 for a 42" LCD... I have recently seen the SAME model for $1299.

32" LCD models are WELL under $1000... some as low as $600. To put it in to perspective, the last time I bought a 32" *CRT* TV was in 1998, and that cost $650.

If prices continue to drop as they have, I'd say wait a year and you will get a great flat display for not much more than you'd have paid for the same size CRT a year ago... Maybe a lot less?

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samintx
My old 1" panasonic works just fine but the fidelity on the flat screens is so good.

You must have to sit mighty close to it, just kidding. I'm quite pleased with our 50" Sony
Grand Wega V A10 LCD Projection. We've had it for a year and it's been great. I tweaked it to
the settings over at AVSForum and it made all the difference in the world. The factory
settings on all sets are way off, too much red, contrast and more. I've looked at newer and
different sets lately and I haven't see anything that looks worth trading up to.

One day I'll have a projector and a theatre room.

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Grateful11

In two years all you will have to do is buy a $40 DVD recorder with an ATSC tuner to get all the new channels.

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In tha 360. MRF User Map

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samintx
They are soooooooo expensive even the small ones

What?

Have you looked on the front page of, for example, Dealmac? LCD TVs going for $500, such as:
[dealmac.com]
Syntax Olevia 32" for $540 shipped A/R
Astar 32" for $480 shipped A/R

If you think $500 for a high-tech piece of equipment that is going to be in DAILY use in your home for several years on end is expensive, you seriously need to get a real job.

The last time I bought a new TV was 11 years ago (caveat: don't expect an LCD TV to last that long), and I think I paid $900 for it -- it was the very very last of the "console" TVs, a whopping 25".

Today I can get at least twice the resolution, double the brightness and sharpness, 1/10th the bulk and a bigger screen for about half what I paid back then. If that ain't progress, raise me a barn and call me Amish.

Quote

My old 1" panasonic works just fine

Ah, I think we've found the problem. Yes, a 1" TV would probably be pretty cheap, but I don't think they make them anymore.

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chas_m




[crawlingfromtheusa.blogspot.com] <-- Moving to Canada blog



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/21/2007 01:00PM by chas_m.

We have three aging CRT TVs in the house, with basic (RCN) cable (no boxes). The only one that gets much use is the small one on the kitchen counter. We don't watch much besides news. Will I be able to keep using these after 2009?


/Mr Lynn

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"Hillbilly at Harvard"
Honky-tonk Country and Bluegrass
Founded in 1948 by Pappy Ben Minnich
Saturdays 9am - 11am Eastern
WHRB-FM, Cambridge, MA
Streaming at [www.WHRB.org]
Be there!
The HAH weblog: [hillbillyatharvard.wordpress.com]

Topical weblog: [walkingcreekworld.wordpress.com]

On the river in Saxonville.

Sam, us old folks had our dollar values set in concrete long ago, so everything seems expensive. All the reponses above are correct, big screen TVs are dead cheap and getting cheaper. In the last 8 months, the wife ande I have replaced two 27" CRT sets with a 50" plasma for $1900, and a 42" LCD for $1300. We are in viewer heaven. No more squinting at a tiny screen with old eyes that can't read the fine print anymore. The sister-in-law and her husband had been watching a 12" set for years. Now they have a 40" LCD that I urged them to get, and after overcoming a lot if internal resistance, they sprang for it and are absolutely delighted they did it. No going back.

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What it is, man, a low-down and funky feelin'

>
>If you think $500 for a high-tech piece of equipment that is going to be in DAILY use
>in your home for several years on end is expensive, you seriously need to get a real job.
>

I think Miss Suzanne much more prefers her numerous exotic trips and dabbling
in the stock market to getting a "real job" - you should be so lucky when you retire

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paying more than $200 for a tv seems like a lot to me, too. I HAVE done that....once. And the projector, once (which is not a TV). Other than that, some small tube TVs for $50 or so, some 27" model for $175 or so, as well. And LCD 5" For $149 a long time ago. etc.

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