Television is kaput :-(

[vsimeone]

We have an old projection screen TV that is a hand-me-down from my parents. It has been on the fritz for about a month or so. I brought it back to life once - HOPING that we could make it until Black Friday and hit a sale - but it's back to being unwatchable again.

NFL football starts Thursday night and DH and I are into Fantasy Football - we're both in two different leagues. Even though we don't normally watch much TV, we don't think we can wait until Black Friday to get a new one.

Does anyone have any idea about any CURRENT sales on TVs? Or any advice as to what we should buy? We are looking at a 42-50 inch but we have no idea about 1080p or 760i or plasma or LCD or any of those pesky details!

Thanks for any help you can give to a couple of TV dummies!

 

[fostrmom2mny]

HSN has some reasonable TVs fitting your specifications at some really decent prices. I've been watching for a large screen for some time! We are diyers (od it yourselfers) and have to complete some remodel before we buy ours. I've been looking for about a year, and know a decent price.

HSN had a 70" last weekend to die for at one of the best prices I could imagine! They sold out, but they still have others on sale. They beat the Best Buy prices.

 

[Purseval]

Labor Day is a big sale time for tvs but you could also get another tv on Craigslist for dirt cheap money if all you want to do is replace your old projection tv.

 

[disneyfan'ole]

try the slickdeals website. They usually have a good chat when a tv deal comes up.

 

[smokeyblue]

Look every day at dealcatcher.com. We have found lots of electronic and non-electronic deals there. I got a TV from one of their suggestions a couple of weeks ago. It was just a 24" for a small room, but it was an absolute steal.

From what I've learned from shopping for my boyfriend's big tv's you want a LCD 1080p and at least 60hertz if you have HD cable/satillite channels or watch blue rays.

 

[polkadotminnie]

Check out Costco for good TV deals.

 

[seashoreCM]

Most folks nowadays get LCD flat panel TV's. Some say that plasmas give a better picture but others say the LCD picture is just as good. Plasmas on average have deeper black which makes the picture look like it has better contrast, particularly in an almost dark room. (All TV's should have the contrast manually lowered if you watch in a really dark room; adjusting the contrast may or may not improve black that comes out grayish.) For the LCD TV, do a little viewing in the store while standing way off to the side to see how good the picture looks from that vantage point. On average, plasmas tend to be heavier and consume more electricity and get warmer than the same size LCD's.

If the TV has a 1080 rating, it should have a 1080p @ 60 HDMI input for the best future flexibility in connecting up DVD players, etc. TV's smaller than 30 inches may come in a maximum of 720 or 768 rating instead of 1080.

It should have a yellow/red/white jack set and an S-video input with its own red/white audio jacks, for VCR's and older equipment that you might want to plug in. It should have red/green/blue/red/white "component" video input for intermediate vintage equipment that you might want to connect.

Both the HDMI and component video inputs should also accept 1080i, 720p, 480p, and 480i source material.

All current vintage TV's allow you to connect an antenna directly and get digital and HD channels over the air. It is possible you will need a "better" antenna than the one you have. For cable TV and satellite TV you will need the same cable box you already have and in some cases you must exchange it for a more up to date cable box (possibly with a higher monthly fee) to get hi-def.

 

[disneymarie]

We have an old projection screen TV that is a hand-me-down from my parents. It has been on the fritz for about a month or so. I brought it back to life once - HOPING that we could make it until Black Friday and hit a sale - but it's back to being unwatchable again.

I know the prices are really coming down on TV's do you have an HHGreg nearby?

If I can ask, our projection TV has been down for a few years now, I just feel there must be something to replace. Pf I remember it was a screen of redish color hue.
WHen you mention you brought it back to life what were they symptoms and how did you fix?

 

[Jaklackus]

We thought that we had finally lost our old Sony rear projection TV....static in the middle, grey bars down either side....did a google search and someone had recommended to unplug it for a few minutes and plug it back in to 'reset' it...and it worked.

It's old and had been sent to our bedroom about 2 years ago...so it wasn't a great loss...just inconvenient not to have 'my TV' when there is a full house..I am glad that I was able to resurrect it..because hubby would have used it as an opportunity to upgrade the living room TV.

 

[Sparx]

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Samsung...HDTV/9791253.p?id=1218175547625&skuId=9791253

I just bought this about a month ago and I love it!

 

[geek]

I would recommend Samsung 1080p with at least 120 MHz refresh rate. Costco may have some good options. Honestly, if you stick with a name brand, Sony, panasonic, samsung etc you can't go wrong. Avoid 720p.