Help With which HDTV to buy

Hi,
I'm trying to decide between these two TVs.
same price.
what do you think?
Phillips 850 30" widescreen

Phillips 830 32" 4:3 Normal Screen

the 30 in is widescreen and has 2 component ins, but the 32in has the same width as the 30in, and is taller, so it will look better for 4:3 shows, but only has one comp in..

thanks for any advice,
David

If you want to watch HD programming, now or in the future, then go with the widescreen.

If you watch a lot of non widescreen programming look into how it stretches or expands the 4:3 picture. See it for yourself to make sure you are happy with it.

Also, if you were to go with the 32" 4:3 TV and watch any widescreen source with a letterbox then you are effectively making the viewable picture smaller. The 30" 16:9 will actually create a larger viewable area when watching widescreen DVD's or HDTV.

Since the price is the same I would go with the widescreen. It really just depends on what the primary use will be and if you like the way 4:3 pictures look when stretched.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wasch_24

Also, if you were to go with the 32" 4:3 TV and watch any widescreen source with a letterbox then you are effectively making the viewable picture smaller. The 30" 16:9 will actually create a larger viewable area when watching widescreen DVD's or HDTV.

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Thanks for the thoughts.
The main reason I'm hesitating is that the width of the 32"in and the 30"in are the same(within .25", so wouldn't any 16:9 HDTV content have the same dimensions on both then?
Thanks,
David

The 4:3 model has a 32" diagonal viewing size which means the screen is approximately 20.96" tall and 27.88" wide. A 16:9 source on this set will be 27.88"wide and 15.66" tall.

The 16:9 model has a 30" diagonal viewing size which means the screen is approximately 18.74" tall and 33.35" wide. A 16:9 source on this set will be identical-18.74" tall and 33.35" wide. A gain of 3+" of width and 5+" of height.

In summary (16:9 source-HDTV and most DVD's):
4:3 TV- 15.66"h X 27.88"w
16:9 TV-18.74"h X 33.35"w

The 16:9 TV will provide a larger "viewing area" than the 4:3 TV.

cool.
thanks, I guess I was confused cause of the dimensions of the TV.
I had wanted the widescreen, but just wanted to verify it made sense.
thanks!

Yeah, the dimensions on those pdf's included the plastic case around the tube.

The widescreen is the way to go then, especially when dealing with HDTV.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wasch_24

The 4:3 model has a 32" diagonal viewing size which means the screen is approximately 20.96" tall and 27.88" wide. A 16:9 source on this set will be 27.88"wide and 15.66" tall.

The 16:9 model has a 30" diagonal viewing size which means the screen is approximately 18.74" tall and 33.35" wide. A 16:9 source on this set will be identical-18.74" tall and 33.35" wide. A gain of 3+" of width and 5+" of height.

In summary (16:9 source-HDTV and most DVD's):
4:3 TV- 15.66"h X 27.88"w
16:9 TV-18.74"h X 33.35"w

The 16:9 TV will provide a larger "viewing area" than the 4:3 TV.

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Sorry to jump in and correct you Wasch, but your numbers are not quite correct here. A 32" 4:3 set will have a screen width of 25.75" ... not 27.88 - and a height of 19.3" ... not 20.96. This translates to a screen area of 497 sq. in.

The 30" 16:9 set will have a screen width of 26.3" ... not 33.35 - and a height of 14.7" ... not 18.74 - this translates to a screen area of 387" which is 110" less of actual screen area than the 32" set has.

The actual image from HDTV or DVD movies on each set:

4:3 set of 32" --- 14.48" high X 25.75" wide = 373 sq. in.
16:9 set of 30" --- 14.7" high X 26.3" wide = 386.6 sq. in.

So, your concluding statement that the widescreen set will provide a larger viewing area than the 4:3 set is correct ... if you qualify it by saying - when watching widescreen images. But when watching "standard TV programming, the 4:3 set will have 211" more viewing area than the 30" widescreen set will have, since the 4:3 image on the widescreen set will only measure 14.7" X 19.6" (unless it's "stretched").

Here's the formula for determining screen dimensions:

4:3 aspect ratio: width is .8% of diagonal ... height is .6% of diagonal
16:9 aspect ratio: width is .876% of diagonal ... height is .494% of diagonal

Just thought you ought to know so that you can avoid giving out wrong information in the future.

Yeah, I was trying to crunch the numbers and work at the same time. I got a little lost in some of my operations so that is why I put 'approximately'.

Would you agree that if the price is the same that the widescreen is the way to go though?

I can't imagine why Phillips would even make a 4:3 HDTV Monitor anyway.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by woodman

Sorry to jump in and correct you Wasch, but your numbers...

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Woodman,

Is it acceptable to add this signature or is this already implied?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dag16

Hi,
I'm trying to decide between these two TVs.
same price.
what do you think?
Phillips 850 30" widescreen

Phillips 830 32" 4:3 Normal Screen

the 30 in is widescreen and has 2 component ins, but the 32in has the same width as the 30in, and is taller, so it will look better for 4:3 shows, but only has one comp in..

thanks for any advice,
David

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Curious about how you came to Phillips. I too am looking at a 30 inch set and that 850 is looking like a good deal, but not sure if it is worth it.