help me, dear friends. help me to find a new picture box, a boob tube, a television.

[Verthanthi]

Apparently you don't say 'telly' in America?

Only when making fun of the British.

[ZeUs!!]

Cue international stereotypes:

[Jason]

i apologize for leaving all of the following information out of my original post. i was excited to have my new entertainment center and looking a bit too hastily forward to getting a new tv to throw in it.

it turns out the tv cavity i have to work with is a bit smaller than i anticipated. the sales guy at the furniture store gave me the wrong dimensions. i've got roughly 35" of width, 30.375" of height and 20" of depth to work with. well actually, i suppose i could gain a few extra inches of depth just by pulling the whole unit out from the wall as needed.

my living room isn't big enough to accomodate anything much larger than a 36 - 40" television anyway. anything bigger than that and i wouldn't be able to sit far enough away to enjoy it. i get serious headaches when sitting too close to huge tvs.

the entertainment center has set me back a bit, so it looks like my budget is only going to allow for a direct view (tube) tv. i've done some reading and am under the impression that, despite the age of the technology, these types of tvs have the best overall picture quality and great color, most especially when it comes to any dark hues or black. my biggest concern is longevity. i've read a few of the articles discussing the fcc's push for high def becoming the new norm by 2009 or so. i don't want to drop $700 or so on a tv now and have to replace it inside of 5 years, so hd capability is a big deal. some other articles also mentioned that a tube tv can easily last up to a decade. that's a huge plus for me.

thanks for the heads up on the hdmi, conc. that's a major issue, and it reminded me that i need a new dvd player at some point. mine's only got component out. and going beyond dvd players, i want a tv that can really take advantage of next gen consoles like the xbox 360 and ps3 and so on and so forth.

does anyone know of any good review sites that might have done up a few articles on some direct view tvs? it seems like these types of tvs are looked over these days because of all the flashier newer technology on the market. i've found a ton of information on lcds and plasmas and dlp and rear projection and blah blah blah, but where the hell are all the direct view write-ups?

[Jason]

sorry for not answering the thread, but what the fuck is there to watch, anyway?

i missed this the first time around.

i don't watch any actual programming, save for the occasional sporting event. i do watch a lot of shows and movies via dvd or download-and-burn though.

mr. show
curb your enthusiasm
twin peaks
rome
deadwood
family guy
futurama
weeds
older simpsons

there are just a few of the series i've spent time on. and i couldn't even begin to list the countless movies i've watched over the past several months. i've just about finished building an htpc that i'll be able to hook up to the tv, cutting out all the burning and making it incredibly easy to watch just about anything i can think of whenever i want.

so yeah, i guess my point here is that owning a tv doesn't mean you have to use it to watch the awful programming 99.9% of all networks pump out.

[Kolar]

Cue international stereotypes:

[Liquid Blue]

Cue international stereotypes:

[DoTheFandango]

[Superted]

Thanks zeus.

[Jason]

stop cluttering up my thread with useless, off-topic stuff, you dicks.

i blame you, zeus. you opened the door. close it by deleting all of these posts relating to stereotypes, and let's get back to talking about tvs.

[DoTheFandango]

How about a stereotype having to do with TVs.

Fat Americans Watching Football? Anyone?

[Displaced]

since you have roughly 35 inches to work with i would HIGHLY recommend stretching your budget to a 32 inch LCD TV, there are lots of "decent" LCD's that can be had for around a grand.

DiBoss, LG, Samsung, Videoseven, Sharp all have products in that pricerange, they will probably not however have HDMI inputs, and youd be "stuck" with components and DVI.

as for "normal" TV's ive personally looked at the Samsung WS-32Z308P, and the Philips 32PW9520, both are HDTV ready the Samsung is (1080i and I think the Philips was 720p), and are around the 800usd mark.
Picture is really good on both, but neither is perfect, the Samsung has some scaling problems upper left (some sort of model defect) and the Philips does suffer quite badly from overscan and some geometry problems.

As for "reviews" etc, just go to a store, look at Tv's till you find one you like or would consider purchasing, and check it out on google.com.

[Subjugation]

does anyone know of any good review sites that might have done up a few articles on some direct view tvs??

I think consumer reports is what you're looking for. However, some of their stuff is free and some of their stuff they charge for. But if you just get a one month subscription for $5 bucks, just use it for the TV purchase period and immediately cancel it...$5 bucks would be an affordable investment if you consider it as part of the cost for the TV.

Also, I think Epinions and Newegg.com offers user reviews, and I think Cnet might have some actual reviews.

[ZeUs!!]

A boob tube is an item of clothing

[Troll King]

And Telly is Kojak.

[ZeUs!!]

Telly Savalas in a boob tube, Conc? Guru?