Need some advice on TV

[Yukinara]

Well,I have a MacBook right now,but I think that's not enough,so I decided to buy a MacMini. And I want to hook up my new Mac to a LCD TV,because I wanna turn it into a multimedia center. So, what TV brand should I buy to get the best performance? I don't want to take home a brand-new TV and find out that it can't go smoothly with the Mac.

PS:I think I will buy something from 20-29 inch,because my budget isn't........

thanks

 

[knowledg333]

I think you should reconsider going with LCD, and consider going with plasma. If you do go with plasma, I strongly recommend getting a Philips with Ambilight.

http://www.consumer.philips.com/con...proxybuster=HMOSB5WAC2LWBJ0RMRCSHQFHKFSESI5P#

$1699.99 USD

If you can afford it, you will not regret it.

 

[Yukinara]

yes,but,as I said above,my budget is a little......tight,plus a LCD TV come with HDMI is a good choice

 

[mkrishnan]

Yeah, erm... I don't think a $1700 plasma is in the same budget range as a 20-29" LCD....

Which TVs do and don't work well with PCs is really more of a crapshoot -- some inexpensive TVs (like my $600 32" LCD from Insignia) work excellently with computers. Some much more expensive ones are very picky. But whether it works well as a monitor is a very separate issue from whether the display itself is technically excellent -- mine for instance isn't a *great* LCD -- it has passable but not outstanding black levels and so on. But it works very nicely and it's an immense upgrade from my old CRT.

Probably the best thing is to find some models in your price range (you didn't say what it was, although based on the size range, I'm guessing you're looking for something $350-550?), and then google for experiences with that model and a Mac.

Also HDMI is important, but look if possible for a television that explicitly states that it has a monitor input for computers. Usually, if a TV has DVI or VGA, it will work in one way or another with a PC. If you get one that only has component and HDMI, it might work, but it might also have some goofiness that prevents it from being able to agree on a display resolution and sync rate with the Mac.

 

[shu82]

Screw the whole tv idea. Just get a 20" LCD widescreen for 200 and get a migila hd+ and your watching hdtv and ripping cable. You dont have to worry about dvi to hdmi crap and you will be out a total of 500 bucks.

 

[Yukinara]

@mkrishnan:you're right,I'm looking for a decent LCD TV about 500$ or so. I've set an eye on Samsung and Viewsonic.My room isn't big,and I don't really need a huge TV.just something good enough so that I can use it with my game consoles later,X360,PS3,etc(that's the reason why I didn't choose iMac in the first place,although it's specs ways better than MacMini)

Well,when I search information on this forum,there's a member said VGA is not as good as DVI or HDMI,but people has lived with that for years and not complain about it,so I think,yeah,it's really not that bad.I don't know how good it is with an ACD, but I've done many things with my old crappy CRT monitor (from editing videos to playing games) and VGA.So I think it'll work just fine with a MacMini

@Shu82:If I have to buy a LCD monitor to go with MacMini,I'd prefer iMac

 

[shu82]

I have both an infocus screenplay 4805 projector and a 20" widescreen hooked up to my mini.(not at the same time) I also have an HD OTA tuner hooked up to the projector, which i am trying to cut out of the system. I am still looking for a good hdtv tuner, but I take my time. The HD+ is the top contender right now. I just dont want to push for something that I dont have personal experience with yet.

 

[likeavaliant]

Yeah, erm... I don't think a $1700 plasma is in the same budget range as a 20-29" LCD....

Which TVs do and don't work well with PCs is really more of a crapshoot -- some inexpensive TVs (like my $600 32" LCD from Insignia) work excellently with computers. Some much more expensive ones are very picky. But whether it works well as a monitor is a very separate issue from whether the display itself is technically excellent -- mine for instance isn't a *great* LCD -- it has passable but not outstanding black levels and so on. But it works very nicely and it's an immense upgrade from my old CRT.

I was just looking at this television today and I am highly contemplating buying it. How well does it perform as a television without HD cable? Just like a normal television I'm guessing? Are you happy with it? Im guessing it's the 32incher... Anything you can tell me about that would be awesome, as that is right along my budget, but I also dont want to buy a crap tv.

also, whats the difference between 720p resolution, and whatever the resolution is for that television? Is it that great of a hinderance? I'm not super super concerned about how amazing the pictures are, but i just want a good television for that price, or around that price.


Anybody have any information on Polaroid's 32" plasma?

 

[mkrishnan]

I was just looking at this television today and I am highly contemplating buying it. How well does it perform as a television without HD cable? Just like a normal television I'm guessing? Are you happy with it? Im guessing it's the 32incher... Anything you can tell me about that would be awesome, as that is right along my budget, but I also dont want to buy a crap tv.

also, whats the difference between 720p resolution, and whatever the resolution is for that television? Is it that great of a hinderance? I'm not super super concerned about how amazing the pictures are, but i just want a good television for that price, or around that price.

With respect to the Insignia NS-32LCD that Best Buy has/had...

1) Without HD cable, TV looks very nice as long as the signal quality is clean. When reception for normal analog cable is good, either through my DVR or directly, it looks pretty good. It can stretch / span / etc, so that you can fit 4:3 to the TV and you can also "de-letterbox" letterboxed 16:9 TV shows.

2) I'm very happy with it. It performs well displaying stuff from the Mac, it has adequate inputs, and DVDs look gorgeous on it. I don't have any 1080p sources or anything, though, so I can't comment on that.

3) This TV is 1366x768, which is near ubiquitous in this size class and very common for HDTVs. Some small TVs do 1280x720, or 720p exactly, and then the nicer larger ones (most 40" or larger) do 1080p or better. So the resolution for this TV is slightly better than 720p. The basic upshot for this or any other 1366x768 TV is that most signals will end up getting up or down converted. Your analog / SD devices will give the TV 720x484 or something similar (DVD, DVR, etc), and this will get upconverted. The computer is hooked up as either 1366x768 (native), and does its own upconverting to make widescreen iTunes video play, or at 1024x768 (which stretches to fit) so that 4:3 iTunes videos play full screen. (This is an iMac G5 via VGA).

The sort of short version of that story is that good quality 480p (e.g. DVDs) looks stunning. Most people who go from SD CRTs to LCDs in the 720p-ish range like this one agree on that. I didn't even care to watch them at home, and suddenly I find myself bothering to rent because I enjoy them so much.

Anything at "good" 480i (a good quality cable signal) will look fairly good, particularly from a typical seating distance of ~12 feet). iTunes videos will look very nice. You won't get the max out of high-def sources like HD-DVD, but they will generally look very nice still, and remarkably better than anything you're used to.

I love this TV...I'm very happy with it.

Does that help?

 

[likeavaliant]

it helps tremendously!

thanks for your reply. looks like i have some purchasing to do within a couple weeks

 

[mkrishnan]

Sure. I do have to admit that if the cable quality is not at its best, it does start to look grainy. VHS is pretty frightful too. But egads, stay away from that stuff, and you're going to love it! And the vast majority of sets being sold today are 1366x768....