An audiophile who know NOTHING about TV

When I was shopping for a direct view TV set, I went to best buy on a slow day (wednesday). We looked at a few TVs on display (playing the mega-split coax demo feed) and narrowed it down to a handful of TVs. I grabbed a display VCR, rabbit ears, and a DVD player.

Here's where I became an 'ass.' I started hooking them up to each display TV in turn, disconnecting the split coax feed. I would then try to fiddle with the brightness and contrast controls (turning them down until I got good blacks and close to more appropriate contrast/brightness levels). Most of these TVs are run in what I refer to as 'torch mode.' Of the TVs that had the best picture quality on DVDs, I then compared OTA broadcase TV (thru rabbit ears on the VCR) and also a VHS tape I brought from home. I also watched part of a DVD.

Surprisingly I wasn't bothered by store employees when I was sliding TVs out and unhooking them and autitioning them. I thought for sure I was going to get scolded! Though I figured it out after the second set of couples came by me asking about TVs. (I was like 'WTF?!' Why are customers asking me questions?) I was wearing a bright blue dress shirt, yellow tie, and some tan dress pants. between than and moving display merchandise I probably looked like a manager or someone who belonged there. FYI, this was at Best Buy and the store employees where these blue polo shirts and khaki pants.

In short I would have never made the IMO excellent decision that I did without being able to (somewhat) properly audition the TV sets. Granted the store lighting is nt really appropriate, but at least I was able to get somewhat of an idea. In the end she decided on a Toshiba 27AF41. I went back a week later and I got the Toshiba 36AF61. I was successfully able to negotiate about $100 (c. 10%) by talking with a manager. So yes, if you approach the right person on the right day, you can haggle at Best Buy! I thought these had the best standard def performance out of the flat glass direct view CRTs that also had great DVD performance. Had I not done that I would have ended up with the more expensive Sony WEGA which to be didn't have the nice picture the 'Tos had. YMMV.

Aaron

My $0.02 worth,

Most stores do not provide the same viewing environment as your home. Just because a set does not look fabulous in a store, especially one with glaring overhead fluorescent lights, does not mean it won't look good in your home. A good quality TV with proper ISF calibration would probably be extremely underwhelming on a Best Buy showroom floor.

A DVI/HDMI connection may not show much imporvement over Component connection for a CRT based set. A DVI/HDMI connection can show an improvement with a fixed pixel display, and it does provide improved PQ if a digital signal is fed to the TV at the TV's native resolution, and if the TV does not add additional D/A, A/D, scaling steps. One example where this does work, at least for me, is feeding a Samsung DLP TV a 720p DVI/HDMI signal from an upconverting DVD player.

The statements about each technology having plusses and minuses is right on the mark. There is no ideal answer. Each person will have their own preferences and priorities. For example, some like the blacks and continuous tone PQ of a CRT based set while I prefer what I consider the more detailed images on my Samsung DLPs.

Microdisplay technology continues to evolve while CRT technology is relatively mature. As described at www.avsforum.com, a new crop of 1080p native resolution microdisplay sets were announced at CES, in addition to the Sony 1080p set previously announced, and initial reports indicated very impressive PQ.

My recommendation is to video-audition TVs in as many stores as possible, since impressions of PQ vary from one store to another, and make sure you can exchange any set you buy if you're not happy with it after you get it home.

Bruce

CTE500, visit Best Buy stores that have Magnolia HiFi if you are looking for Pioneer Elite plasma.

Aroc is right. Every thing is negotiable. Besides, Best Buy offers the 10% coupon to its Reward Zone members all the time. If you are not a member, maybe talk to the store manager on Wednesday night. :> )

I had much to say on this subject on another thread. The mods decided to delete lots of the info for whatever reasoning but to get back here I purchased a Samsung 46" dlp from Sears and took it back after a few days. SD was a big disappointment and Progressive scan DVD's were not quite up to snuff in my opinion. Color is great but the images loose detail and clarity. I was replacing a 4x3 Sony
32" wega with the Samsung DLP so imaging and clarity were going to be critical and the Samsung just could not measure up. I wound up with a Sony XBR 34" 16x9 HDTV and I'm really happy with it. It's big, it's bad and it's a sony baby

I know I'm getting into this late, and assume that you've made a decision by this point but reading your original post made me think of where I was last August. Similar situation but I had a little more background with TVs. I've got Dish as a source with an OTA antenna for local HDs. We had a 50" 4:3 Tosh CRT based RPTV, HD ready. I went through everything out there and immediately threw out LCD/Plasma for price and picture quality reasons. Plasma is getting better but I don't need the space savings so I won't sacrifice PQ. So it's up RPTV, stick with CRT? DLP? LCD? LCoS? LCD I didn't like at all, worst picture by far, worse than Plasma. CRT TVs are way too big for the screen size I want (61" means 300+ lbs), although as others have mentioned, very very good PQ, probably still the best. So that leaves DLP and LCoS. I do home theater installs on the side and through distributors can get Samsung and JVC (along with a bunch of Plasma and LCD TVs). So, although I compared all DLPs to the JVC LCoS I really focused on the Sammy DLPs. We bought a JVC 61Z585 and couldn't be happier. SD looks, well, like SD. But, it's very watchable on all channels. I'm sure the Dish and it's all digital broadcast helps in this matter. DVD is stunning. MUCH better than with the Toshiba CRT HD ready set we had and better than the Captain Kirk Sammy's I've seen. Better colors, detail, the picture just jumps off the screen. And HD, well, some channels are doing HD better than others, but when you get a look at ABC or FOX doing football in HD - damn, you know why you bought the set! CBS really does a crappy job with HD, but hopefully they'll come around eventually and it's still better than SD. The JVC gives you a big, bright, colorful picture with no screen door issues, no rainbow issues, and comparatively a great price too.

Good luck!