Best Deal on direct tube HDTV

[TexasState]

I don't know where it's but someone recently posted a WTB request on TV's. I have been doing comparative shopping on TVs for the past few weeks (or was it the last few years ever since the hoopla wal made about about HDTV.) Wal-Mart have the best deal on direct tube HDTV right now.
$747 - Either a 32" 4:3 Flat Digital High Definition Television (1080i) or 30" 16:9 Flat Widescreen HDTV. These are Sanyo brand and have the tuner built in. http://www.sanyo.com/entertainment/t...?productID=905
Here's a discussion thread on these TV's: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...p;pagenumber=1
These TV's will allow you to capture HDTV signal over the air with the addition of an antena (around $45 for the antena.) You can use this link to estimate whether or not if HDTV signal are available on your street: http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/Welcome.aspx

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$399 Clearance - (Curved Screen) 32" Phillip Digital HDTV Monitor (480P/1080I) 720P is Not Available. Model 32PT740H. These have been on clearance since May so it might be hard to find. I bought this TV recently, and the graphic is pretty good with a progressive scan DVD (480P.) This TV is not the best, but at $399 it will hold me until HDTV are more widely available. I checked with Grande cable in San Marcos today, they only have 4 HDTV channels available (two networks channel, ESPN, and Discovery channel.) The ESPN and Discovery channel cost $10 extra per month, plus $6 to rent the digital box. Of course, more HDTV signal will be available in the future.
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The digital HDTV tuner box for the Phillip Tv is $200 at Wal-mart. Or you should be able to rent the digital box from your Cable provider for about $6 per month (make sure to find out first whether or not your cable provider provide HDTV signal.)

[TexasState]

Do you know if you can rent video calibration DVD from Blockbuster?

[mathias]

let me give you heads up... having the tuner built in is great if you don't have cable and is going to never have cable... but if you have cable save the extra money and just buy a monitor no need for the built in tuner..... except its cool with PIP


and DO NOT SPEND THAT TYPE OF MONEY ON A SANYO...... trust me name brands do make a difference... and I hate to say it but YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR......

[TexasState]

The Phillips HDTV monitor is missing the 720P mode. What's the benefit of having the 720P on the TV? Current mass market DVD player can only put out 480P max right?
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According to the Consumer Report magazine, Sanyo have a good track record. Sanyo has a better track record then some of the more expensive TV brand. You shouldn't have to worry about Sanyo as long as Walmart are around. Walmart have a very close relationship with Sanyo. You can get extended warranty here: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/searc...;Continue=Find

[TexasState]

$160 shipped for a Zenith DVB318 1080i Prog-Scan DVD Player:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...297080-9615148
http://www.zenith.com/sub_prod/produ...=15&id=178

This upconverts to 1080i using a Faroudja video processor, which is top of the line as far as digital video processing. Many people swear it does wonders for DVDs on HDTV. One thing in favor of this over others, is that it also outputs via component (and DVI), so people with the popular X1 projector (which doesn't have DVI) can connect this player.

Many of the slightly older HDTV do not have DVI connection, so this unit is convention for that.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hreadid=400480

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****************************GENERAL FACTS AND FEATURES:*****************************



1.) Best places to buy currently as of May 10, 2004. www.zenith.com or 1-877-9zenith to find authorized dealer near you or there are two known authorized zenith dealers on the Internet: www.wildwestelectronics.com or http://www.gochnauers.com

Both of these Internet retailers are authorized zenith dealerships.

2.) MSRP is $249.99, but unit is easily had at $200 or even as low as $160 if you shop around a little bit.

The unit is expected to filter out to Best Buy, Circuit City, and the like. Amazon also has a listing for it.

3.) Uses Genesis' Faroudja DCDi FLI2301 chip. Only plays 480i over s-video. Plays 480p, or will upconvert to 720p or 1080i via component video or DVI. You can only use one of these formats at a time. See Upconversion steps further down.

For PCM/bitstream audio, has a coax and optical out.

4.) Upconversion is done soley with the unit itself, not with the remote control. It can only be done when a DVD is NOT playing and the lcd on the face of the unit will display which upconversion you are at for each time the button is pressed. Nowhere else.

By pressing "STOP" while a DVD is playing, you can then press the Upscaling button to change resolutions.

Wait a second or two after pressing the button to give give the unit a chance to switch to the newly selected resolution.

Pressing "PLAY" then instantly continues your movie at the point you left off.

5.) Thus far, most of these units, if not all, seem to have a birth month of December 2003. More of them now also have March 2004 so there are newer cycles being released into the marketplace.

6.) There have been no confirmed DVD's identified as of yet that have failed upconversion. There also seems to be, as of this date, no difference in upconversion capability whether one uses DVI or component.

7.)DVD R formats function, as well as MP3's and .JPEG's. JPEG view is a bit slow and can be glitchy. WMA support also. VCD and SVCD also supported.

8.) Using autostart allows you to skip FBI warnings, previews, etc. and takes you straight to the movie. Obviously, you would have to press menu to change options or access special features as you see fit.

9.) DOES NOT SUPPORT SACD OR DVD-A


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[mathias]

only thing its missing is memory card and divx playback