I can’t believe I’m giving Glenn tech advice, but since he’s partially responsible for my buying a Nikon D-70 (which I love), I will go ahead and butt in.
The first thing you have to do is consider how far from the screen you will be when watching. If it’s over eight feet or so, you might think about EDTV instead HDTV. The difference is almost indistinguishable at that distance and the price is better. Sheryl and I were able to buy the highly-rated 42″ inch Panasonic EDTV for only a tiny bit more than the larger of the two models Glenn linked. But we wanted the bigger screen to view movies. LCD vs. plasma was also not such a distinction at distance. We also went for the simple (and more elegant) monitor, because a full-fledged TV wastes space on extra speakers and you don’t need its tuner, which is normally in your cable or satellite box. And you will undoubtedly want to run your audio through a home theatre setup anyway. Why go to such lengths for good picture without great sound? Toward that end we have found this Sony with five small wall-mounted speakers plus a rather impressive base to be more than adequate for a bedroom. As for hanging or mounting, Peerless is a company with more kinds of brackets than you can imagine. We hang our monitor from the ceiling. But the coolest thing I bought is this web-programmable remote. It really works!
Of course all this advice is already outdated. We did this two months ago!
PJM Home
11 Comments
1. richard mcenroe:“flat-panel primer”? I don’t understand.
If you prime it, how do you see the screen?
Mar 5, 2005 - 9:17 am 2. Knucklehead:We’ll just semi-gloss over that one, McEnroe.
Mar 5, 2005 - 9:47 am 3. diane:Yeah, two months is old knowledge, but basics don’t change much. Yes, separate sound is important if you’re going for overall quality, so a monitor still makes sense if you find the right one. That’s been true for years. Same for a tuner, especially for those of us who have given up on broadcast media entirely. Who needs them?
Bigger is better, up to a point, but distance (and old age) negate the need for the highest resolution.
You might look for a monitor with DVI input, so you can hook your computer up as well. A Mac mini, with Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, would be great for bedtime web surfing.
If you’ve got a place where the footprint and weight don’t matter, there are still bargains in glass CRTs, up to and including widescreen HDTV. It sure won’t hang on the wall, though…
Mar 5, 2005 - 9:48 am 4. Percy Dovetonsils:Question for those who’ve taken this step - did you have someone from the store come in and set the whole thing up? How did that work out?
I am not as technically adept as I used to be, and after my last adventure in setting up our DVD system (a three hour cavalcade of swearing and repeated calls to Toshiba’s support line), I am ready and willing to pay some techie to set the damn thing up - particularly if it has to be suspended from the wall or ceiling. I wonder if retailers offer such support, if it is any good, or if I should look for someone else.
Mar 5, 2005 - 10:10 am 5. Jim Bass:Roger,
I think you’re giving bum advice on EDTV vs. HDTV. There is quite a difference. I have a 46-inch Mitsubishi rear projection model (two years old). We watch from about 10 feet away.
With Adelphia’s high-definition service, we get a mix of programming that is true 1080i high-def and a lot more 720p network stuff that is up-sampled. The latter probably equates visually (but not technically) with EDTV. But when you see the 1080 broadcasts, such as Monday Night Football, the Masters Tournament, HBO and anything on ESPN HD, you know the difference.
Bottom line: you might not know what you’re missing.
Jim Bass
Thousand Oaks
Mar 5, 2005 - 10:37 am 6. Roger:Well, HBO looks (and sounds) mighty good on my set. But you might be right.
Mar 5, 2005 - 10:43 am 7. Wallace:When you get the time….how about your own personal review of the Nikon D-70 for the photographers in the crowd. Pro’s and…..especially the con’s of your experience. I’m in the market…..thanks.
Mar 5, 2005 - 11:51 am 8. Roger:Wallace, I will give you a short review right here because I really don’t feel qualified to do more (for a real review check Steve’s Digicams). I bought the D-70 because I wanted a digital SLR and its build felt considerably better than the Canon Digital Rebel, the only other possibility in the $1000 range at the time. Both have great lenses and if I already owned some Canon lenses I might have gone for the Canon. Since then I have been quite satisfied with the following minor exceptions. 1. Occasional under exposure (easily comensated for). 2. Not as good continuous mode as some other cameras (though I rarely take sports photos) and 3. I often forget how to operate all the different dials. This last is my fault (it’s not very hard) and due to the fact I don’t use the camera often enough. Basically, it’s such a good camera that the only weaknesses in the photo will, alas, most likely be yours. I don’t plan on replacing it soon.
Mar 5, 2005 - 12:11 pm 9. Gideon7:Roger’s right about the Harmony Remote. It’s an amazing gizmo. You can download from 50000+ different device IR settings from the web into the remote’s USB port. If you have an oddball device not in the database there is an IR sensor on the bottom of the unit, so you can train it yourself and then upload the new settings to the web database.
It has buttons Watch Movie, Watch TV, Play Music, etc. You can for example program the Watch Movie button to 1) turn on the DVD, 2) turn on the TV to Aux2, and 3) turn on the stereo to 5.1 Dolby.
You can download weekly TV/sat/cable program listings and scroll them on the LCD screen. The main downside is that it sucks battery power (I go through 4 AAAs a month.)
Mar 5, 2005 - 1:11 pm 10. Knucklehead:Well, since digital cameras have been mentioned, do any of y’all have experience with the Canon Powershot SD300?
Mar 5, 2005 - 2:49 pm 11. T J Sawyer:RE: The distance to view HDTV. An image on a standard definition TV will be clear only once you sit 8x the screen height away. With HD you can move in to as close at 3x taking advantage of the greater number of pixels displayed. An interesting phenomenon takes place as you move closer: instead of your eye looking at a point source with no movement, you have eye movement and a completely different experience. If you are the type of person who sits at the back of the theater, HD is not for you. It is an entirely different viewing experience once you move in!
Mar 5, 2005 - 3:09 pm