What kind of TV or monitor do you do most of your TV and movie viewing on? These days with DVD and HDTV, many have taken step of upgrading their equipment. Some have not, like me. I still watch everything on my 20" Panasonic TV. We would like a Sony widescreen WEGA, but...
I do most of my watching on a 36" non-digital WEGA. It has the anamorphic squeeze trick to take advantage of 16:9 enhanced DVDs. I'm jealous of how some of the digital sets with line-doublers look compared to mine, though. Regards,
I just got a secondhand Philips 34PW9817. It's a widescreen HDTV with great picture quality. There are a couple of really annoying things about it (it locks into full mode when viewing non-anamorphic signals, and there isn't a way to skip channels you never watch when cycling through with the remote), but 34" is plenty of screen for my purposes, and the price was right.
A television set? Oh - I get it! JVC I'ART 27" TV with BBE (that built in, funky hologram sound thingie). It has several settings - theatre, etc. - and is pretty versatile. Better than my 1978 Sylvania (that's still going!).
Same as Ken, a 32" Sony XBR with anamorphic squeeze for 16:9. One of these days I'll venture into High Def satellite to take full advantage of the set. John K
Only thing I'm able to watch right now is our Sony 27". I had a 36" XBR rear-projection set in the basement, but that POS has gone out on me three times under *light* use, and now the green tube is gassy. Repairman says the tube alone is a $700 part, since it's some funky small size that is hard to find. Now it's just a fuzzy picture, useless. I have barely used it in the past four years. After I move, I'm going to get something with line doubling, widescreen, and NOT with a Sony nameplate on the front. I am NOT pleased with the design quality (or lack thereof) on a projection set that only runs for a couple of years between major repairs. This XBR was just poorly designed...period. After I move, I'll throw it in the basement for the kids to beat on. And when it dies again, it goes out to the curb. I'm just surprised our 27" has lasted as long as it has. Not the greatest picture (the power supply regulation is poor), but it has worked OK. We've had various MGA or Mitsubishi sets in the family for years...those things just run forever. All three my folks had, going back as far as the late 60's, still work today. I would be inclined to get one of theirs, provided their quality hasn't gone downhill. Barring that, are there *any* other good, durable rear projection sets out there these days? I'd really rather have a front projector, but don't want to sell the cars, the kids and the snowblower to buy one. I saw a demo many years ago of a floor-to-ceiling projection picture....oooohyeah!!! I've actually liked watching line-doubled DVDs on the computer monitors. Suprisingly good picture! The ATi brand video card I have isn't very good at line doubling, but the Hercules card (which died) and my Matrox G450 in the basement both have good pictures. For me, reliability is #1, picture quality #2. Especially in a large rear-projection set...by their nature, if they crap out, you've got an expensive repair visit ahead.
After looking at several different models and considering my long history of Sony TV ownership, two weeks ago I bought: ANOTHER SONY!!!! Got a 27" WEGA Flatscreen set. Should hopefully be another decade before I have to go shopping for another one.
OH, I thought the thread title was "What do you watch on TV?" I was then going to discuss the current Survivor and show you guys this large picture that appeared in the Calgary Herald today, surrounded by an article on reality TV. Oh well. I'm gonna show it to anyway, cause you're all so nice. BTW, I have a 1983 RCA 26 inch monitor, one of the first to offer stereo for your VCR or video disc, yes video disc player. I still have the original user guide that shows you how to hook up the video disc player. I'm not going to upgrade until they straighten out this whole HDTV format mess. I'd wash Heidi's hair any day of the week. Enjoy.
Wow miike that's pretty impressive that you have a 20 year old TV that actually works. I wonder Heidi needs some extra shampoo and another pairly of manly hands to give her follicles a good going over?
My RCA TV doesn't put out the best picture, but it's been there for me almost the whole 20 years. I only had 3 or 4 mid-level repairs on it the whole time I've had it. The last 3 repairs that span over a 10 year period have been by the same TV tech. He does house calls. He mentioned to me the last time he was by a couple of years ago, that I should wait until the dust settles on the format wars before buying an digital wide screen TV. I only started dialing up Survivor when the guys at the gym, last week, mentioned some scene in the show where are the girls were bathing each other or something. I guess that is where this photo comes from. But they did nothing of the sort in this last episode. Oh well. Heidi's got me hooked. This woman really likes to get her hair done. Come on girl. Jeff will be your shampoo slave for a day... or two. Just found this in a Google search for Survivor + Heidi.
No Super Bowl parties at my pad! I bet I win the "Lamest TV" award. I own a 19" JVC I bought at the since defunct Monkey Wards on their store credit card. With their outrageous interest charges I probably paid double the $200 it went for. I also bought Wards' house brand HiFi VCR, which is still actually quite a nice unit. I think it's made by Hitachi, looks similar to models of that era (early 90's). Now that the old set is pushing 10, the corners of the picture seem to be spreading out (the little NBC logo in the corner is almost unnoticeable) but the color still looks fine. To round out my awesome "Home Theater" I have an early APEX DVD player which works just fine and dandy with such a monitor, an Optimus brand Radio Shack receiver from the early 90's I found for $5 at a thrift store, and some KLH brand bookshelf speakers (the new kind, real cheap). It all does what I need, and I really don't have room for a bigger set anyway. And no, I don't even have cable. Which is fine since I spend more time listening to music on my main system and reading. Dan C
My old Tv was exactly where I wanted to put my turntable so I bought a panasonic plasma and stuck that on the wall out of the way. All the best - Andrew
Sorry, Dan C., I think I have you beat there! My one and only set is a 9" black and white Panasonic closed circuit TV monitor hooked up to a VCR that I use as the tuner. Needless to say, I like to listen to a music a lot more than I like staring at a screen.
No other "videophiles" here? I enjoy watching DVDs and HDTV on my Mitsubishi Diamond 55" widescreen set. I've had the set ISF calibrated and it looks fantastic on movies and HiDef. So good, in fact, my girlfriend greatly prefers it to going to the movies (...stuffs $20 for tickets back in pocket). The only bad thing? Well, it's so darn big I'm sure it's negatively affecting the soundstage of my stereo speakers. Besides getting a plasma, what's a guy to do?
Sounds like something I'd like to get. I seriously need to go around and look at these when I'm ready to buy. Going out to a movie is a nice way to spend a few hours (especially with the kids), but since I only like classic movies and animated films, there's nothing I want to see. Staying at home watching Hitchcock or Star Wars marathon on a nice widescreen set seems like the best deal to me! Plus....I want to get a larger screen than what my father-in-law has...
I have a panasonic 36" monitor that came from Sears christmas time sale, and a 20 yr. old Zenith 27' maple wood console. I still use the VCR a lot for recording programs.
D-ILA, DLP or CRT Front projection I love watching "films" at home but I think I need an 80" screen to give me the cinema style effect - anything else is just a large TV. All the best - Andrew
Most casual watching on a 27" Toshiba. High Definition broadcasts and DVD movies on a 50" 16:9 Toshiba 50HDX82. It's fabulous on the HD and DVD but lousy on the regular upconverted stuff.
I want to be able to play the Gamecube on a huge screen like that. If I could find a good used projector with a good line doubler and handles HD and DVD properly, I'd get one.
Unfortunately stuck with no choice: BUT... the HD is so damn good it's worth all the hassle. DVDs are great and I really hope that we won't suffer the same type of inane format war for HD DVD that we have with Hi-Rez music but, it looks like the [COLOR=sky blue]blue[/COLOR] vs red laser battle isn't going to be solved anytime soon!
A large widescreen HDTV is what I wish for Christmas this year. I'm tired of watching my dvds on a 27" JVC. So I've started a TV fund for myself. Everytime I get OT I defer the time til the end of the year when my job will cut me a check for the accrued time. Those half hour/hour late calls really add up over a years time. Hopefully by Christmas the prices of HDTV's will continue to fall. JohnG
