Advent 27" Flat-Tube HD-Ready TV $399 at Best Buy with 4-Line Comb Filter

[hershon]

Can any of you guys tell me if this is worth it to buy for the price. As far as I know, Time Warner Cable supplies for free the HDTV tuner/receiver or whatever you call it and only charges $7 a month for basic HDTV which includes Showtime/HBO if you're paying for it.
Any other inexpensive HDTV's under $600 you'd recommend?

[Smokey]

You know hershon, I must have gone thru 5 or 6 small TVs during last 12 months to choose a decent inexpensive TV for my computer room. I went thru TVs such as Apex, Sylvania, Samsung, Curtismathes (K-Mart), Toshiba, and what i find out the hard way is that lower priced or no name brand TV always have some shortcomings:

They either are not sharp enough, their picture fluctuate too much due to inadequate power supply (especially on Apex TVs), or their color decoder don't produce true colors and intensity on screen.

So I said hell with it and went with a [more expensive] Panasonic TAU TVs. And difference is noticeable right away..the picture is razor sharp and color quality and intensity is definitely first rate.

So my advice would be to stick with name brand TVs that have been around for while and have proven themselves.

Also this link prove my point somewhat where 27 inch Samsung TV ranked at the bottom of rating (from March "04 issue):

http://forums.audioreview.com/showthread.php?t=2210

[hershon]

Thanks for your advice. Can you tell me the exact model of your Panasonic and how much it cost you? Also if you were getting a 46" or larger HDTV ready TV what would you buy that's cheap and decent?
You know hershon, I must have gone thru 5 or 6 small TVs during last 12 months to choose a decent inexpensive TV for my computer room. I went thru TVs such as Apex, Sylvania, Samsung, Curtismathes (K-Mart), Toshiba, and what i find out the hard way is that lower priced or no name brand TV always have some shortcomings:

They either are not sharp enough, their picture fluctuate too much due to inadequate power supply (especially on Apex TVs), or their color decoder don't produce true colors and intensity on screen.

So I said hell with it and went with a [more expensive] Panasonic TAU TVs. And difference is noticeable right away..the picture is razor sharp and color quality and intensity is definitely first rate.

So my advice would be to stick with name brand TVs that have been around for while and have proven themselves.

Also this link prove my point somewhat where 27 inch Samsung TV ranked at the bottom of rating (from March "04 issue):

http://forums.audioreview.com/showthread.php?t=2210

[Mania]

Hershorn,

I have to agree with Smokey. I bought a little 19 in Apex last december and regret it. I wish I had just spent the extra $$ and bought from a reputable brand, but that low price just sucked me in. The picture quality is not great, and it has a weird hissing sound that I can only hear some of the time, but my wife can hear almost all the time. I will always buy from a good manufacturer from now on, with price only a secondary factor. If its worth buying, its worth buying the right way.

I have a question though that is similar to your first one though. Is there a benefit in HD for relatively small screen such as the 27inchers. At this size TV is there that much benefit to the HD format? My 27 incher recently died (the apex piece of crap is now the main TV) so I obviously need to buy a new one. I hadn't planned on replacing the 27 in until I was ready to physically accomodate a large set. So now that I'm forced to buy something, I can't decide whether it makes the most sense to buy a 27in Toshiba ($350) or just bite the bullet and go HDTV with a 30in Toshiba 16:9 CRT ($900). I would love to go HD, but don't know if the 30 in is a waste of $$. I also don't want to spend $350 on the standard set only to buy a new large screen HD in the next year or two.

[hershon]

I don't know if this will help you but contemplating selling my 46" Sony TV that has served me well the past 10 years, I was looking on Ebay to see what these or similiar sized non HDTV large screen TV's were going for. If you can locate a seller on Ebay that lives in your area, as a stopgap, you can get a pretty good large screen TV with a decent brand name on Ebay for relative pennies. You might want to try that out. I didn't see any great HDTV bargains on Ebay- the problem is the shipping eats up all the potential savings and 95% of the people who sell electronic stuff over $200 on Ebay are greedy bastards with no common sense at all who overprice their products considerably (my definition of overpriced is that with shipping, their products could be bought new at any chain store where you're not going to have any screwups for the most part) & usually never get any legit bids.


Hershorn,

I have to agree with Smokey. I bought a little 19 in Apex last december and regret it. I wish I had just spent the extra $$ and bought from a reputable brand, but that low price just sucked me in. The picture quality is not great, and it has a weird hissing sound that I can only hear some of the time, but my wife can hear almost all the time. I will always buy from a good manufacturer from now on, with price only a secondary factor. If its worth buying, its worth buying the right way.

I have a question though that is similar to your first one though. Is there a benefit in HD for relatively small screen such as the 27inchers. At this size TV is there that much benefit to the HD format? My 27 incher recently died (the apex piece of crap is now the main TV) so I obviously need to buy a new one. I hadn't planned on replacing the 27 in until I was ready to physically accomodate a large set. So now that I'm forced to buy something, I can't decide whether it makes the most sense to buy a 27in Toshiba ($350) or just bite the bullet and go HDTV with a 30in Toshiba 16:9 CRT ($900). I would love to go HD, but don't know if the 30 in is a waste of $$. I also don't want to spend $350 on the standard set only to buy a new large screen HD in the next year or two.

[ericl]

My buddy wanted a cheap tv, he went to circuit city and came back with - i kid you not - a BROKSONIC television. about a month and a hald later, guess what? It wass BROKen!

http://www.broksonic.com/

that has got to be the worst name ever for a brand of electronics!

eric

[Smokey]

Hershon

The TV I bought was Pansonic 20 inch 20SL13 which was on sale in Circitcity for $179. It also have BBE sound enhancer decoder which make the music audio channels sound so much better when routed thru my mini stereo system. Any time I am watching TV, I am smiling due to picture quality :D

As far as going with large HD TVs, I agree with Woodman that Toshiba might be your best bet. Larger TV such as RPTV require more after the sale follow up such as calibration and maintenance over the years. And you want a manufacture that is there to help if you need it. You said you have a 46 inch Toshiba TV, so I am sure you know about Toshiba. Panasonic would be my second choice :)


I also don't want to spend $350 on the standard set only to buy a new large screen HD in the next year or two.

If you are planing to get a large HD set. then I wouldn't spend too much money on smaller set to get you thru for now. Bestbuy have 32 inch Sharp TV (32C241) for $299 which will get you thru this intermediate period until you buy a large HD TV. Sharp are very reliable and have good picture.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=1076627796894&skuId=6338876&productCategoryId=cat03002&type=product

<img src="http://images.bestbuy.com/BestBuy_US/images/products/6338/6338876_ra.jpg">

[brulaha]

Hershon
If you are planing to get a large HD set. then I wouldn't spend too much money on smaller set to get you thru for now. Bestbuy have 32 inch Sharp TV (32C241) for $299 which will get you thru this intermediate period until you buy a large HD TV. Sharp are very reliable and have good picture.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=1076627796894&skuId=6338876&productCategoryId=cat03002&type=product

<img src="http://images.bestbuy.com/BestBuy_US/images/products/6338/6338876_ra.jpg">

I believe my friend has this TV. I know its a 32" Sharp that was purchased fairly recently. When ever I go over his house, I'm always impressed with the quality of the set. It has a very sharp picture. For that price, I would go for it...

[hershon]

Sorry I didn't make myself clearer. I already have an excellent 27" Sony TV that I've had for 15 years without any problems and great sound but am considering replacing it with an HDTV ready set.
I believe my friend has this TV. I know its a 32" Sharp that was purchased fairly recently. When ever I go over his house, I'm always impressed with the quality of the set. It has a very sharp picture. For that price, I would go for it...

[brulaha]

Sorry I didn't make myself clearer. I already have an excellent 27" Sony TV that I've had for 15 years without any problems and great sound but am considering replacing it with an HDTV ready set.

In my opinion HDTV is not really necessary for CRT sets under 32". 36" CRT sets, regardless of the resolution tend to have geometry problems. HDTV is really for RPG sets 42" and above.