I have been researching new HDTV's for 6 months now. EVERY store I have been to, the non HD picture (a nonHD DIRECTV signal)looks WORSE than my 16 year old 45" Mitsubishi TV. HD on the new sets is incredible, but non-HD doesn't look that good at all! I get a different story from every salesrep I talk to! HELP! I would appreciate any and all feedback. I'm ready to stick with my 16 year old Mitsubishi.
I've been researching myself for several months and plan on taking the plunge within a month (we're moving). I'd be happy to help clarify any questions you might have... especially since you appear to be so frustrated with the experience. Sales Reps are the worst people to talk to for anything other than whether or not something is in stock. Its best to make your decision outside of the store and simply go into the store when you're ready or to browse.
Since I'm not sure exactly "what" you need help with, let me offer some general comments...
1. Standard Definition picture quality will be poor on all sets. Eating a Happy Meal at McDonalds is fine but you'd realize the lack in quality if you had the same meal in a 5 star restaurant. The HDTV brings out normal television's flaws. Personally, I plan on using my HDTV for DVDs and for computer gaming. I'm not even hooking it up to my cable. I have another TV that will remain in place for casual television watching. But that's just me.
2. Never trust the sales reps. Most don't know what they are talking about and are only interested in selling you the model that they are trying to push. As a result, they often modify the quality of the set's picture in order to make a particular brand/model look better so you'll buy it. I've caught them doing this in my local BB a few times. I even say that I want one set and they actively try to talk me into a different set. From reading this and other forums I know quite a bit about these sets and its fun now to go into BB or CC and talk with the sales reps and watch them make up 50% of what they are saying.
Anyway, thats just a couple thoughts off the top of my head. I'm sure if you ask specific questions many people will try to help you out a bit. Bringing an HDTV into your home is going to be awesome. I hope we can help turn the experience positive for you again. It'd be a shame for you to miss out.
Thanks Jadin - most of our viewing is non-HD programming - we may watch 4-5 DVD's a month. Can't justify the purchase just for that. You're right - Standard Definition signals look like CRAP on these new sets - my 16 year old Mitsubishi beats the new sets hands down. Any idea when HDTV will really make a move so that the majority of programs are in HD? Also, all the DLP sets I looked at (Samsung, Toshiba, etc.) would be momentarily blurry on an HD signal on a local channel - Olympics on NBC. For a split second, a portion of the screen would be blurry - I saw this at 5 different stores - got a different answer from each rep! My 6 month research into HDTV sets has unfortunately concluded with a NO BUY decision. Seems like the hardware (TV's) and the transmission protocols aren't really in sync yet.
Anonymous
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I only read the first message in this thread but it is a complaint I see over and over again. There is something you people need to realize - OF COURSE regular TV is going to look worse on these new HD sets. THEY'RE HD! They show such a good picture that they actually allow you to see how bad a regular signal is (unlike a conventional TV that doesn't show anything very sharply).
It's the same reason Halo looks better on a TV than a computer. Even though a computer gives much better resolution, that resolution allows you to see how bad the graphics really are.