Holiday Ready: Post Which HDTV You Have Here (and if you're happy with it)

[Jake Plane]

As the holidays near, many here will consider getting a HDTV. Prices on some sets dropped this week by $500. And you can expect that come the day after Thanksgiving, we'll see another price drop.

But which set to get?

What better way than to know who here has the very HDTV you are considering buying.

So if you have a HDTV, post:

* Which HDTV you have
* Whether you use it for gaming
* If you have had problems
* And if you would recommend it

[Stroker Ace]

My contribution to this thread:

I'm still using a $500 32" CRT from 2001!

[Matt Perkins]

* Which one you have
Samsung HL-S5087W 50" 1080p DLP HDTV (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000F2R5HO/ref=pd_rvi_gw_2/104-8255153-4431919?ie=UTF8)

* Whether you use it for gaming
360 only, currently. Component hook up... AMAZING.

* If you have had problems
Sound is quiet and not that great. Not horrible, but not great. I'd definitely suggest a surround sound system or the like with it.

* And if you would recommend it
Absolutely. It's total love. I've fallen in love with the NFL all over again. And even Madden 07 looks good on it.

[madkevin]

I bought a Vizio 32" L32HDTV10A, because I'm cheap and it's cheap. (~ $880 CDN on tigerdirect.ca - with shipping and tax it came to a little over $1100, which was the absolute upper range of affordability.) Surprisingly, the set is fucking awesome - HD source looks ridiculously good even on component, and the Philips upconversion DVD player I got to go along with it makes DVDs looks almost as good as HD source. SD television sources look like ass, of course, but that's to be expected.

The only real downside is that, like all TVs, the regular picture modes are ludicriously saturated, so you really have to play around with the user picture settings to make it look good. But after a couple of days of tweaking, the picture looked fantastic. It displays everything up to 1080i, although on a 32" screen I personally can't tell the difference between 1080i and 720p.

My friend, who had more money to play with, bought a Sharp 37" LCD (forget the model) and that is one nice looking television, but it's also two thousand dollars more expensive than mine.

Edit: I forgot to mention: No, I'm not using it for gaming at the moment, because I only have a PS2 and, like I said, the SD sources look cruddy. But, I did have a friend bring over his 360 and Dead Rising looked scrumptious, so if I did have a console worthy of the television you can be sure I'd be using it for such.

Would I recommend it? Seeing as how little I spent on it, you bet your sweet bippy. I can't imagine watching Lost without it.

[Michael Fortson]

Sharp Aquous 37" LCD, gaming = yes (gorgeous), CableCard = yes (but the built in TV Guide sucks so no), problems = no, recommended = highly.

Only problem is I want something bigger, so this may end up being a bedroom set at some point. It was much too expensive to retire very soon, though. We've had it for 2 years.

[ARogan]

- Samsung LN-R409D (http://aroganworld.blogspot.com/2006/01/samsung-ln-r409d-40-lcd-hdtv.html) 40" LCD

- X360 and about every other console, PC through vga

- nope, no issues so far (hey I like DNIe). Had it since 1/06

- Sure except it's discontinued. I'm sure the more recent replacement models are better and cheaper.

[steve]

I just bought a Westinghouse 32-inch LCD for like $700. I have an Xbox 360 plugged into it and it looks great. Regular TV looks fine. It's not quite as sharp as the Samsung 23-inch model it replaced, but it's bigger. Which is all I wanted.

(And I'm selling the Samsung to someone for $500, so it really only cost $200.)

I'd totally recommend it to someone looking to save money. Lots of inputs, good picture... but I don't see a ton of differences between HD LCDs.

[Kunikos]

RCA 26" LCD HDTV, was around $800 at Walmart. Compared larger ones and smaller ones and was most pleased with the picture quality of this set among those they had at the store.

I don't use it for gaming, but I have an upscaling progressive scan DVD player hooked into it via HDMI, and a TiVo via the component/RCA.

Has a weird remote issue which you have to hold down the power to repeatedly send signals to the set to turn it on or off-- which makes other programmable remotes to control it less reliable.

It has HDMI, DVI, VGA, Composite, Component, digital and analog tuners (although I don't use them), and does 1080i. I'm not sure, but I don't think it does 1080p. Sound wise it has digital coax (oops, I got a digital spdif cable accidentally) and RCA.

Tends to switch from 16:9 Normal mode to 4:3 standard when you change the channel to Cartoon Network-- I have no idea why, it's the only channel it does this for.

[jeffd]

Samsung HL-S5086W 50" DLP TV.

No game issues. It is awesome.

[stusser]

Westinghouse lvm-42w2 42" 1080p LCD. Amazing screen, tons of inputs supporting 1080p with HDCP everywhere, no problems except for a shitty remote control. But I use my universal MX500 so I don't care. Picked it up for a cool $1500.

[RickH]

Sony XBR 60" SXRD. Hooked up to the 360 w/ components @ 1080i since day one, no noticeable lag. The Xbox looks OK, depending on the game, PS2, Gamecube, and Dreamcast look weak. The picture's too big and no built-in antialiasing, it's essentially a giant monitor.

Antenna + 8 inputs (1 VGA, 2 HDMI, 2 component, 3 composite/S-Vid).

It was the best, sharpest picture I could find with the widest viewing angle for a rear-projection set. No problems so far.

I'd recommend it, the current version is on sale for ~$3200. Always buy the extended warranty for things this new and complex, use the AmEx gold if you have one for an extra warranty year after the contract runs out.

[Reldan]

HP 65" 1080p DLP. Connected to my PC over HDMI at 1080p and my 360 over component at 1080i. I've played Guitar Hero on it at 480p over PS2 component cables and had no noticable lag.

Looks absolutely fantastic and I'd recommend it in a second. The pricing on this set has come down a lot over the past year as well (was ~$4k last year when I got it).

[Kevin Grey]

ISF calibrated Mits 55" Diamond 1080i RPTV. It's from 2002 and RPTVs are hard to come by these days but I have yet to see any TV short of professionally calibrated 1080p sets that can match it's picture. Never had a problem with it, fantastic all around and I have no desire to get anything to replace it, though I will inevitably since it doesn't support HDMI (few TVs in 2002 did). That TV is not used for gaming.

For gaming I have a Panasonic 32" CRT 1080i HDTV. Purchased one year ago, supports HDMI, and strikes a good balance between exceptional looking HD content and good looking SD content, which is important since I still play lots of games from the current generation and before. Again, never had a problem and it's a great TV.

[Justin Fletcher]

* Which HDTV you have
Sony KD34XBR60 34" CRT Direct View Widescreen (2 component, 1 HDMI)

* Whether you use it for gaming
Yep.
PC: 1152x648 (16:9), 1280x960 (4:3)
PS2: 480i, 480p
GC: 480i, 480p
Xbox: 480p, 720p, 1080i
360: 480p, 1080i

* If you have had problems
- Magnetic discoloration in the corners; solved by the Landing setting in the system menu
- Weird, intermittent "won't turn on" problem; a known issue, the known fix is unplugging the set and plugging it back in

* And if you would recommend it
Absolutely. Handles all of the different resolutions of my different components swimmingly (scales all input to 480p or 1080i; looks great). I also use it almost exclusively as my PC monitor (web browsing and most applications are fine, though I wouldn't use it for long bouts of word processing). If you want a jack of all trades screen that's under $2K, I'd highly recommend it.

Unfortunately, it's discontinued. Its successor, the XBR970 goes for $1200. The 970 doesn't have a super fine pitch tube like the 960, but that's only important if you're sitting as close as I am (< 5 feet). However, you don't want to be sitting much further away or 34" may not be large enough. Oh, and the set weighs 200 pounds and has a depth of almost two feet.

[Reldan]

ISF calibrated Mits 55" Diamond 1080i RPTV. It's from 2002 and RPTVs are hard to come by these days but I have yet to see any TV short of professionally calibrated 1080p sets that can match it's picture. Never had a problem with it, fantastic all around and I have no desire to get anything to replace it, though I will inevitably since it doesn't support HDMI (few TVs in 2002 did). That TV is not used for gaming.

For gaming I have a Panasonic 32" CRT 1080i HDTV. Purchased one year ago, supports HDMI, and strikes a good balance between exceptional looking HD content and good looking SD content, which is important since I still play lots of games from the current generation and before. Again, never had a problem and it's a great TV.

I bet that looks amazing. Man, a professionally calibrated Mits CRT with 9" guns is a thing of beauty. Shame that technology is getting tossed aside in favor of "hip" new microdisplay technologies.

[Ben Sones]

* Which HDTV you have
* Whether you use it for gaming
* If you have had problems
* And if you would recommend it

We have one of the Samsung DLPs (HL-R4667W). I do use it for gaming (console only; I've not tried it with PC games), and it works great. No issues there; in fact, no issues at all in the ~1.5 years that we've had it. I would definitely recommend it, especially now that you can sometimes find the 50"+ versions in the $1600 range, if you watch out for sales.

[Qenan]

Samsung HL-S5086W 50" DLP HDTV (http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-HL-S5086W-50-DLP-HDTV/dp/B000F2P35K/sr=8-1/qid=1161456907/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-5202210-8923238?ie=UTF8)

Have had it since May (it was a birthday present). Very happy with it so far.

Whether you use it for gaming
Yes (consoles only). It's been fine for my use, but I don't play a lot of games that require split-second timing.
If you have had problems
None so far.
And if you would recommend it
Yes, but bear in mind that I'm not that picky.

[Desslock]

* Which HDTV you have
50" Panasonic Plasma (commercial model) http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-TH-50PHD8UK-50-Plasma-HDTV/dp/B000B62NPS
(the 42" version is damn cheap now)

* Whether you use it for gaming
Yes, and it's got me console gaming for the first time in years; 360 and GameCube (damn you Dave Long for not telling me that Nintendo's component cables are no longer available)

* If you have had problems
nope
* And if you would recommend it
very highly. It's a vision of beauty for gaming, HDTV and DVDs.

[Ben Sones]

Samsung HL-S5086W 50" DLP HDTV (http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-HL-S5086W-50-DLP-HDTV/dp/B000F2P35K/sr=8-1/qid=1161456907/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-5202210-8923238?ie=UTF8)

Have had it since May (it was a birthday present). Very happy with it so far.

Whether you use it for gaming
Yes (consoles only). It's been fine for my use, but I don't play a lot of games that require split-second timing.

I use my Samsung DLP with rhythm games, and it works fine.

[Shieldwolf]

mits 65 diamond rear hdtv. very happy it doesn't do 720 p but does 1080 and it does blacks better than any other set i've tested that size.