FAKE HDTV's

[Konrad Haskins]

Anyone else seen these? I saw one at Target it's a 16:9 CRT with the HDTV logo. I can only assume they mean it can play an HDTV signal because there is no way it had even a 720 resolution.

[Boyd Ostroff]

I think you would need to give us some specific makes and models for anyone to comment on this. How do you know what the resolution was? It may have been fed a low quality standard definition signal in the store.

[Eric Brown]

Originally Posted by Konrad Haskins

Anyone else seen these? I saw one at Target it's a 16:9 CRT with the HDTV logo. I can only assume they mean it can play an HDTV signal because there is no way it had even a 720 resolution.

No link...

[Kevin Shaw]

If it has an HDTV logo it's probably a 720p display, which are fairly common these days. But you really need to know the specs to know for sure what it is, since it's possible to be "HD capable" and not necessarily have an HD display resolution.

[Chris Hurd]

Beware of course the EDTV, which is "extended" definition but not "high" definition!

[Dylan Couper]

Soon they'll be selling them as overstock out of the back of white vans... :)

[Boyd Ostroff]

Originally Posted by Chris Hurd

Beware of course the EDTV, which is "extended" definition but not "high" definition!

I agree that you should "beware" so that you know what you're getting, but they are not necessarily a bad thing.... I bought a 37" Panasonic Vierra plasma EDTV a year ago and have been really happy with it. Now things may shift a little as the prices come down on HDTV's, but there was a significant gap when I got mine. After looking at a lot of screens I decided there were many factors which affected the overall image quality and resolution was only one of them.

I don't have HDTV cable (except for the over the air channels which are passed through) and the main thing which interested me was being able to watch DVD's and my own widescreen DV footage at high quality. At 854x480 the EDTV does a great job of that... arguably better than an HDTV which would have to scale the image to an odd size (I think DVD's look better on this screen than they do on my 23" Samsung 1280x720 HD screen).

In a few years when prices have settled down a bit and HD content is more widely available I'll get a big HD screen. But for now I have no regrets about the EDTV, and everyone who has seen is has been really impressed. But the bottom line is to understand what you're buying, do comparison shopping and decide what the best price/feature/image quality combination is for your budget.

[Christopher Lefchik]

Originally Posted by Konrad Haskins

Anyone else seen these? I saw one at Target it's a 16:9 CRT with the HDTV logo. I can only assume they mean it can play an HDTV signal because there is no way it had even a 720 resolution.

Is it this Toshiba 26" HD Monitor on special for $500? And Boyd is right - it is possible the television was being fed a standard definition signal.

I was unaware the price of HD televisions had dropped so much - they've got a 27" Philips HD monitor for just $450 (online only).

[Konrad Haskins]

$180 20” Philips 20PT6441 No Mention of HDTV on Philips.com Listed as HDTV on Target.com

$450 27” Philips 27PT8420 “27" HDTV monitor for the highest quality display of HDTV signals” Target.com. No mention of display resolution on Philips.com (they do mention input resolutions from 1080i to 480)

$550 26” Toshiba 26HF85 1080i again no mention of display resolution on Toshiba.com.

I also found a rear projection CRT on Target.com :)

[Christopher Lefchik]

Originally Posted by Konrad Haskins

$450 27” Philips 27PT8420 “27" HDTV monitor for the highest quality display of HDTV signals” Target.com. No mention of display resolution on Philips.com (they do mention input resolutions from 1080i to 480)

According to this page on the Philips site the 27PT8420 is an HDTV. The spec sheet makes references to high definition and lists component and HDMI inputs, so I'd say it is pretty clear that it is an HDTV.

Originally Posted by Konrad Haskins

$550 26” Toshiba 26HF85 1080i again no mention of display resolution on Toshiba.com.

I guess you missed the detailed specs that listed "CrystalScan HDSC (All time 1080i) with User Selectable 520p". I can't link directly to the detailed specs page, but here's the main page. Just click on the "Detailed Specs" tab.

Originally Posted by Konrad Haskins

$180 20” Philips 20PT6441 No Mention of HDTV on Philips.com Listed as HDTV on Target.com

That was probably an honest mistake by some catalog clerk who assumed that since it had component inputs that automatically made it an HDTV (yes, the Philips site does list it as having component inputs).

And you haven't told us which TV it was that you saw in a Target store that had an HDTV logo, but which you thought couldn't be an HDTV.

[Konrad Haskins]

Christopher,

I read those same pages. But the sceptical, sarcastic, pessimist in me did not see an explicit mention of display resolution. I would be amazed if these were doing 1:1 of 1080i for that price. My glass half empty view is they are talking input not 1:1 output of the input.

[Duane Smith]

Here's an interesting exercise:

Step 1: Go to Best Buy and count the number of HDTVs they have for sale.

Step 2: Then count the number of them that display 1:1 1080i....at any price.


Report back your findings. ;-)

[Steven Gotz]

I picked up a nice 32" HDTV at Sears the day after Thanksgiving - on sale for $800 - and it looks good to me. Of course it is not 1080i.

As for Best Buy - I stopped looking after I found the first 1080 HDTV here:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1110265591243

[Konrad Haskins]

Originally Posted by Duane Smith

Here's an interesting exercise:

Step 1: Go to Best Buy and count the number of HDTVs they have for sale.

Step 2: Then count the number of them that display 1:1 1080i....at any price.


Report back your findings. ;-)

More fun is to ask a sales assistant that question. Then ask them to show you 733 in the official FCC HDTV spec :)

[Christopher Lefchik]

Originally Posted by Konrad Haskins

Christopher,
I read those same pages. But the sceptical, sarcastic, pessimist in me did not see an explicit mention of display resolution. I would be amazed if these were doing 1:1 of 1080i for that price. My glass half empty view is they are talking input not 1:1 output of the input.

Okay, gotcha. But if you will not accept the manufacturers' claimed resolution, then how would you determine which HDTVs would you accept as being true 1080i?

By the way, the 27" Philips HDTV spec sheet also mentions "HDTV monitors enable you to view high-definition TV in 1080i or 480p signal format." So it also mentions the resolution.