Wanted new TV

[Jacques Mersereau]

Hey Gang,

it looks like our trusty 27" Toshiba 600 line tv is about to kick da bucket.
On fire up the image is squished horizontally (pushed up) about 3".
It takes a few minutes before it goes away, so I guess that the tube
is not long for the world. It's been a great TV imo.

So, I'm looking for a replacement. I use both the 27" Toshiba and a Sony 14"
broadcast monitor to see how my videos change (or don't) between two
different flavors of display. That means I don't really want another Sony, but
would rather have something with a good but different look.

I would like composite, svid and component inputs if possible, 600 lines
of resolution or more and at least a 27" screen . . . 32" would be better.
I want to keep the budget to $500, but will go $200 higher for something really sweet.

Any experiences or opinions?

[Tommy Haupfear]

Wal-Mart has 30" Widescreen HDTVs for $750.

Sears has a smaller 26" Widescreen HDTV for $599.


Not sure if 16:9 is what you want but the prices have definitely dropped on these tubes and they will have more than enough resolution for what you need.

Wider is better. :)

[Jacques Mersereau]

Thanks Tommy,

I'll check them out, but I've not been very impressed with
most of the HDTVs out there and that low price has me worried.

I did love the look of the new Panasonic HD plasma screens I saw
all over the place at NAB. About 10X the price of the Walmart special ;)

[Tommy Haupfear]

I'm on my 7th HDTV set since 1998 and they have gotten better every year. I'm currently on a 50" Sony LCD since plasma is overpriced with major burn-in issues.

I don't expect stellar performance out of these sub $800 HDTVs but its hard to deny the resolution benefit along with widescreen. If you want the high resolution but 4:3 then RCA has a $760 32" HD set (also at Wally World).

[Mike Rehmus]

I tried to talk my wife into allowing me to buy us 2 17" production monitors so we could watch great (and even separate) video. Sigh.

Although I have a small HD LCD tv for clients, I'd probably not buy anthing but a CRT for the living room. A 30" HDtv fed progressive scan from a DVD is pretty nice. Real HD television, if you have a source is, of course, nice.

Price-performance has to be with the 30" or so HD tube types.

Orrr. a projector ;-)

[Steve McDonald]

You apparently are intending to find another SDTV to replace your Toshiba.
I just recently concluded my own search for the best SD monitor I could find at a reasonable price, to replace my 16-year old Mitsubishi 35-incher.

After testing dozens of different models, I picked the Toshiba 24AF44. It delivered what was clearly the richest and sharpest picture of all that I tried, from 20 inches to 36 inches in size. I have placed it only about 5 feet away during editing and 7 feet for normal viewing. It is sharp enough that this close range doesn't degrade the viewed picture. The apparent screen size at this distance is equal to that of a 40-inch set, 12 feet away, where I had placed the 35-inch Mitsubishi.

The 20-inch Sony and 32-inch Toshiba I took home were returned, because neither matched the 24-inch Toshiba in image quality. Two review websites picked the Toshiba 24AF44 as one of the 5 best new SD models of the year. I think it's an ideal monitor for both size and performance, as a combination editing and general viewing set. I also use mine as an Internet monitor and all the finest lines are readable. If you have a big room and numerous people would view it, a larger model would probably be better.
Another new and improved 27-inch Toshiba
might be just the thing.

My idea was to use both this 24-inch and the 32-inch Toshiba side-by-side, to have
dual editing monitors and to use the 32-inch for general program viewing. But, next to the excellent 24AF44, the 32-inch looked faded and didn't have as much resolution, even though it was placed farther back. I knew I'd never be happy with the 32-inch with its better relative alongside, so back it went.

I now use the 4-inch viewscreen on my GV-D1000 DV VTR as the 2nd editing monitor. Quality rules over size, as I confirmed by this comparison. All these years, I thought my 35-inch Mitsubishi CRT was the king of TV sets, but the new Toshiba 24AF44 has displaced it to now being my workshop TV.

The key specs of the 24AF44 are: Weight, 73 lbs. Potential display of horizontal resolution, 750 lines. Rear inputs, S-Video, component video, two sets of composite video/audio L&R and RF. One front set of composite video/audio L&R inputs. One rear set of composite video/audio L&R outputs. The MSRP is $350. I got mine at a Video Only store for $290. A 3-year GE extended warranty was $35. Both these reduced prices came after extended negotiations.

When some neighbors saw a 16:9 DVD being played on this set, they assumed they were watching HDTV. When I assured them it was just SDTV and played back some of my VX2100 footage, one of them remarked, "Who needs HDTV?".

Steve McDonald

[Tommy Haupfear]

There is no denying the elegant refinement of analog CRTs over the years. It is a perfected science at a great price.

However, running PC graphics at 1280X720 on a 50" LCD is something to behold. I can only imagine what this will be like on the budding 1080p sets.

Whats really funny is when someone comes over and watches Jay Leno on HD and comments "whats so great about that?". I then switch back to good ol' analog Leno and the discussion ends there.

I picked up a 27" Sony 4:3 non-Wega the other day for $50 and I do have to admit that the picture is amazing (especially for what I paid). I still want to get a 30" HD CRT but I'm trying to get someone's discount and get the price to around $600.

[Jacques Mersereau]

<<<You apparently are intending to find another SDTV to replace your Toshiba.>>>


Thanks so much Mr. McDonald. You gave me exactly the answer I was looking
for and a very affordable choice as well.

This is why I love this forum. Steve spent lots of time trying and testing
most of what's out there, yet he graciously offered his hard earned test results.

That is cool! Thanks again Steve.