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Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 10:23 am
by Kieran Huggins
oh.. and to answer your questions, both gaming and movies are awesome on my LCD. It has a super-low refresh rate and the blacks are very black.

All HD & Sat service in Canada (and most TV service for that matter) comes with a box that has DVI out - That's what I use to connect up my Rogers box.

I've also connected a cheap-o tigerdirect.ca built PC via the VGA connector for computer-based content and BIG games. I also use it when meeting clients and discussing websites, it's a fantastic help with a wireless mouse & keyboard... really helps show off my work to happy clients in my living room. Nothing impresses a client more than seeing their website on a BIG screen ;-)

I also have a gamecube and a ps2 connected to it. I removed the DVD player in favour of watching DVD's through the PC - better picture IMO and better controls (mouse).

Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 12:08 pm
by alex.barylski
Thanks for the feedback guys...Ya'll should work at futureshop...I'd much rather walk in and say:

"here's my budget, here are my requirements...what is best for me..."

The last time I did that I ended up buying an expensive car stero which I barely use...home electronics has never been a strong point of mine...so I must scream sucker when I walk into these places :P

Kieran

BestBuy eh? They own futureshop now...wonder why the price difference :?

If I bring in an old CRT they give me $100 off eh??? Interesting...does it depend on size? My parents have a 42" CRT I wonder if they'd get more??? Where did you hear about this? Links on the site???

Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 12:35 pm
by Kieran Huggins
If you look in the left column they list all the deals that are applicable to that product. When I bought my 42" in the summer I got a free 5.1 + dvd system that is still in the box, waiting for an opportunity to be re-gifted I guess. You'll likely get the same $100 off no matter what TV you bring in - get an old busted one from a curb somewhere and use that.

The Westinghouse LCD TV's are cheaper because they don't have an "HDTV Tuner" built-in - but in North America we don't use the HDTV broadcast standard, so each HD service comes with it's own HDTV tuner (like your rogers box, or your DirectTV Box or whatever). So the westinghouse is essentially a big, fancy monitor... which IMO is the way it should be.

The quality of the LCD panel is as good or better than current LCD monitors - one of the reasons why they're not as expensive as an equivalently sized LCD monitor is because the pixel density is much lower (and therefore easier to fabricate). In fact, a 24" 1920x1080 LCD is about $800 on average now... sizing up to 37" is only $300 more for the same resolution! And you get WAYYY more inputs, plus a remote!

I did a lot of research into HD and TV's before I bought this one, and I still have yet to find a better deal anywhere (and I still look!).

Best Buy and Future Shop, although owned by the same company, are managed separately. This is nice, since if one brokers a great deal one something, has a massive sale and clears out, you can get the other to price match :-) I've also gotten Future Shop to take a Best Buy gift card before!

Best purchase I've made in the last several years - I can barely look at old TV's now! And it uses less power than my old one too ;-)

As for size: sit where you watch TV and make a fist and the end of your arm like you're holding a milk jug at arm's length. The perfect size for a TV is about as tall as your fist (give or take) if you get too much bigger you won't be able to focus on the whole screen. If you're within 15' of your TV, 55" is too big for comfort. At 8'-10' a 37"-42" is about right.

Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 12:43 pm
by alex.barylski
thing is...the screen i linked to is 55" 8O

i guess i'm like a little kid in a candy shop...all i see is bigger = better... :roll:

Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 1:10 pm
by Kieran Huggins
Go to best buy and see the two side by side - the 1920x1080 LCD will blow the 55" 1280x720 out of the water completely. And it's FLAT, has more inputs, and has a MTBF of something like 25 years! AND you'll save $2000... that buys a lot of different candy! Like a brand new kick-ass computer? Or a mediabox and a PS3 and a Wii?

Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 2:38 pm
by John Cartwright
Hockey wrote:BestBuy eh? They own futureshop now...wonder why the price difference :?
Slightly off topic here, but this is actually a concept we look at in my Retail Geographic Analysis class. In a nutshell they basically do this to build their image. Some people, at least some of us Canadians, wouldn't prefer an American based company over a Canadian company -- so they throw up a new banner, alas "Best Buy". Even though they sell similar products, it realistically doesn't matter where the best deal is considering they own two big players in the home electronics market. Doing this, research has shown makes people more loyal to a specific company banner.

This concept can actually go pretty in depth, but it is interesting indeed.