Looking to purchase a HDTV. Cheap.

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Blade

Veteran
Hey guys!

Does anybody have any experience with the Sony KD-30XS955 30" HDTV? It was released over a year ago and seems like a logical choice.

My budget is about $400 and somebody is selling their unit locally for that price. It has everything I need, such as 780p, 16:9 ratio, and mostly "great" user reviews. The low price (retails for about $850-950) is probably due to it being a 150LB CRT.

Any suggestions/warnings are welcome. If I'm not persuaded otherwise, I'll be grabbing this guy's HDTV. :)

If anybody in the New England area is selling something better or cheaper, that'd probably be my best second option.
 
What I can't decide is whether to move this to the new HDTV subforum of 3D Graphics cards, or the new Purchase Decisions Help forum. :smile:
 
Aye, I was questioning whether or not this should go into Purchase Decisions.

I didn't even know we had an HDTV forum. :)
 
Okey doke, here we are.

I'm a bit curious too. Some times really good threads can come out of that kind of thing, yet it'd be here and amongst quite a hodge podge of items probably.
 
Hmm, up to you Geo, in the long term. I was thinking that it'd make more sense to only handle hardware components here so that the Software and HDTV forums aren't desert. IMO, the purchase decision of a HDTV is a lot more of a niche question than that of hardware components, and most people that might browse this forum won't be able to answer it, unlike the HDTV crowd. All in theory, of course.

Anyway, for maximum visibility, I'm moving this thread to HDTV with a permanent redirect. Feel free to revert that decision if you feel it should stay in Purchase Decisions or doesn't need a permanent redirect - that's up to you, and I don't really care, just doing what felt logical to me since nobody seemed to be able to decide. I figured higher temporary visibility for both forums couldn't hurt anyway :)


Uttar
 
Blade said:
Any suggestions/warnings are welcome. If I'm not persuaded otherwise, I'll be grabbing this guy's HDTV. :)
Click to expand...
I dont have this specific TV but I have experience with Trinitrons tubes (two SDTVs and two PC monitors :) ) and the image quality is second to none in the main market.

Read a few reviews (all goods) and looks like all images are upscalled to 1080i (native resolution ? ) before presentation by the DRC circuit. This should work very well.
 
At that price I don't see how you can go wrong. I'd just ask you how big your current TV is. . . because this one is going to show SD content smaller than a 27" TV. . . so long as you're cool with that, and have a stand that will handle the weight, then go for it.
 
A pretty picture, of course! :smile: That being a CRT brings several pluses to the table that way, and the absence of several minuses (which is nearly as good as a plus). Personally, I wouldn't be interested in one that small, but that's a personal decision, and if you've already made that then a CRT like this brings more advantages than disadvantages.
 
Well, the TV that this one would be replacing is a 19" SDTV. Hooked up to it are my VCR, DC, Xbox 360 (which functions as my DVD player) and soon the Wii will join them.

So I'll be playing Wii at 480p+, X360 at 720p, and everything else (except HDTV channels) at SDTV resolution.

Overall, it's an upgrade in every department. Most of my concerns lie in longevity and good picture tuning.
 
Well, it's a Sony WEGA, which pretty much does it for me on longevity. You won't have burn-in to deal with (traditional RPTV, Plasma). You won't have $200+ bulbs to replace every two years (DLP). Did the original owner buy an extended warranty at the time, and is it transferable?

I'm less sure what you mean by "picture tuning". You mean bringing in signals from broadcast HDTV sources? That's going to be down to getting a decent (and probably powered) antenna. Otherwise it'd be down to the cable company.

Or you mean futzing with settings to optimize IQ? That's not something you do as much with real CRTs is it? (compared to traditional RPTV, DLP, etc).
 
Blade said:
Overall, it's an upgrade in every department. Most of my concerns lie in longevity and good picture tuning.
Click to expand...
All trinitrons I have are working 8+ years no problem.

I only changed one PC monitor for an LCD in my home desk for space savings reasons but the monitor is working great.
 
Pascal: Thanks for your words of optimism. I'm pretty much 95% sure I want this TV now.

Geo: Optimizing IQ. I've read that people have had problems with adjusting the color settings.
 
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