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HDTV recommendation?

polycounter lvl 15
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Panupat polycounter lvl 15
I haven't followed electronic stuff for a long while now... It's about time I should get a hold of HD TV I think.....
I'm wondering if HD TV can be used as monitor for PC too without any need of converter?
HD DVD, bluerays, all next gen consoles can be played on the same HD TV right?
I want a light waight HD TV I can carry around easily, nothing fancy, just 20-25''ish screen is good enough. (my old sony CRT was 200+ lb, was a night mare to get rid of)

I don't own any next gen consoles currently. But during my part time job interview, they seemed to want me to own at least one shocked.gif So I'm really looking into xbox 360 right now.

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  • almighty_gir
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    almighty_gir ngon master
    only get something that's 1080p (1920x1080 pixels)

    samsung screens are good, and although they build the panels for the new sony range, the sony chipset gives a MUCH better picture.
    if you don't mind going with plasma, which has a higher risk of screen burn if you're not carefull. but will give you a much sharper picture due to its higher contrast ratio, then the panasonic viera range is the tits.

    (used to work in an electronics store, so i got to test them all side by side).

    there are only a handful of brands worth considdering when buying a TV, and that's based on the fact that they are the only ones who either build all their own components, or they build components for other people:

    Sony
    Panasonic
    Pioneer
    Samsung

    although they don't fall into the above catagory, great value for money would be LG.
  • sonic
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    sonic polycounter lvl 18
    You don't need 1080p at all, especially if you're not going over 25". Since you're going so small, just look for deals on dealnews.com or something similar and look up reviews on the set before you purchase. Lots of the generic brands like Westinghouse, Vizio, etc come out of the same plants that the expensive brands but they charge less to compete with the bigger names.
  • notman
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    notman polycounter lvl 18
    He may still want 1080p if developers are going to want him to design for consoles.

    I would stick with Pioneer, Sony, or Sharp. I own a 46" Sharp and it's been pretty good. Other sizes have been rated very well also. I haven't seen anything in the smaller sizes, but I would imagine the ratings would still be good.

    As for connection as a monitor, many HDTVs have some sort of VGA port. If not, like mine, it SHOULD have an HDMI port, which you can use to connect to a computer with a DVI to HDMI cable. They are pretty cheap on Ebay. I got a 15ft cable for $10. Works great.
  • Panupat
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    Panupat polycounter lvl 15
    Thanks laugh.gif I'm getting some idea now.

    I'm applying for a part time job at the moment. I want to be ready for relocation once I get a full time job, which is why I want some TV that is light and easy to carry around. So I think for this reason, 20-25'' 720p LCD should be my best choice. I'll shop around and see what I can find.
  • notman
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    notman polycounter lvl 18
    I just saw some small ones at walmart... I don't know if they were any good, since I wasn't really interested in them, I didn't pay that much attention to them. I was just noticing how small they were.
  • almighty_gir
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    almighty_gir ngon master
    [ QUOTE ]
    You don't need 1080p at all, especially if you're not going over 25". Since you're going so small, just look for deals on dealnews.com or something similar and look up reviews on the set before you purchase. Lots of the generic brands like Westinghouse, Vizio, etc come out of the same plants that the expensive brands but they charge less to compete with the bigger names.

    [/ QUOTE ]


    actually i agree, i should apologise as i didn't read the part about it being such a small panel. in larger tv's the difference between 1366x768 pixels, and 1920x1080 pixels is actually pretty big, the clarity is amazing in 1080p models, although not essential, it brings a whole new level to it.

    you'll usually find that most of those smaller brands belong to the larger ones anyway, and while yes the major component (the screen...) will probably be the same, the rest of the electronics are completely different in terms of quality.
  • thomasp
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    thomasp hero character
    i have an LG 720p in 37 inch myself that i'm quite happy with but if i was to buy today, i'd go with 1080p only, regardless of screen size. they have come down in price significantly since i went shopping - and you could use it as a computer monitor as well if necessary. 720 is too low a resolution for that.

    i chose my screen after seeing it in action next to toshiba's, samsung's, sony's, panasonic's and others ion that price bracket. picture was just plain better and it holds up nicely against the higher end bravia's at work as well.
  • sonic
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    sonic polycounter lvl 18
    thomasp: how is 720p too low of a resolution for a PC monitor? 720p is 1280x720, which is plenty high enough for use on a PC.
  • almighty_gir
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    almighty_gir ngon master
    because it's too damned hard to find the native resolution of the screen. while it is 720p, that isn't the actual amount of pixels.

    when i tried using my old tv as a monitor, i had overhanging edges in all directions, i also found that occasionally some lines appeared thicker than others. purely because although i had my pc set to pump out a 720p signal, that wasn't the tvs native resolution. and finding a card, or driver for that matter, which can output the exact resolution is pretty hard.

    while my new 1080p tv has none of those problems.
  • sonic
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    sonic polycounter lvl 18
    It's not hard at all, it is included in the manual and it is ridiculously easy to find on the internet. Using Powerstrip it is just as easy to change your resolution. How would having a higher resolution change the difficulty in finding the native resolution?

    It seems like you guys are just making shit up to be honest
  • hawken
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    hawken polycounter lvl 19
    you would be unlikely to get a hd tv with a good rez @ 20" or so.

    you would be better off with a Dell or Apple monitor, which can give you a very good rez and be used to run tv off your pc

    720 is fine for reading the internet. Ass for anything else.
  • sonic
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    sonic polycounter lvl 18
    If you're willing to buy a monitor without a tuner, go with something like this:

    http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?...f=10&loc=01

    Apple monitors are way overpriced, and Dell is slightly overpriced
  • notman
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    notman polycounter lvl 18
    yeah, something I hadn't thought about, but if you plan on always using the computer with it, you can get an HD tuner card for the computer which would allow you to watch the TV using your computer for the tuner... especially since monitors are so much cheaper than the TV. And if you have a laptop, they have HD Tuners that plug into USB that are around $99.
  • thomasp
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    thomasp hero character
    [ QUOTE ]
    how is 720p too low of a resolution for a PC monitor? 720p is 1280x720, which is plenty high enough for use on a PC.

    [/ QUOTE ]

    i wonder - do you work in CG at all?
  • EarthQuake
    We have a 720p samsung here and it wont recognize anything over 1024x768, which sucks ass because its not even widescreen.... Anyone care to go into the custom resolution thing a bit more? Would be nice to know what i have to do to get that running correctly.
  • sonic
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    sonic polycounter lvl 18
    [ QUOTE ]
    i wonder - do you work in CG at all?

    [/ QUOTE ]

    Yes, as well as all other forms of graphic design and programming. I've worked on several rigs at several different jobs and I've never needed a resolution higher than 1280x720. I do however, work in 1440x900 at home on my 19" LCD.

    EQ: A lot of TVs are stubborn when it comes to accepting a signal from a computer. If you use a program called Powerstrip you can manually modify the resolutions that your video card is outputting, as well as the refresh rate, etc. Many 720p LCDs use funky native resolutions so you may need to find out what the native is and try using Powerstrip to output that.
  • TelekineticFrog
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    TelekineticFrog polycounter lvl 18
    Not sure if you're still shopping about, but I have a suggestion. I just recently picked up a Sharp Aquos LCD for a second display just for gaming mainly out in the living room. The one I'm suggesting in particular is the Sharp Aquos 32" LCD: Model LC-32GP1U. I had spent quite a bit of time researching a bunch of LCD and DLP setups...even the Sony XSRD and this one ended up coming out on top. It does 1080p native thru all input sources. It has 3 HDMI inputs, DVI input, and 2 Component inputs. It has a 10,000:1 contrast ratio with just slightly under 6ms response time. Most importantly when using the DVI input hooked up to your PC it will do 1920 x 1080 rez with 1:1 pixel mapping accurately. Only weighs about 45lbs with stand attached and comes in a black that is much like the finger print magnet PS3. This LCD was primarily focused on being for use with game consoles and PCs by Sharp in the Aquos line. I'm very happy with it and it does everything they said it would and done well.
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