[Jesus]

I am getting ready to buy a new TV and have been doing some research. It seems that Sony and Toshiba have the best picture quality and durability. But they also cost a lot more than the competition.

Is there really that much difference in tv's these days?

I can't afford a plasma or LCD, so that is out of the question. I am looking in the $500 ish range.

 

[jacksonpt]

IMO -

Toshiba is by far they best. Near the best in picture quality, features, performance and reliability.

JVC and Panasonic are next - very high reliability, good picture quality, decent features

Then Sony - near the best picture, more features than anyone else, average reliability

Then everyone else.

I have last year's version of this toshiba. It's an amazing TV. I'd be hard pressed to buy anything but a Toshiba or a Panasonic.

Something to keep in mind though... one picture only looks better than another when they are sitting near each other. It's easy to walk into the local electronics store and see that a few pictures are far better than all the rest. But once you get a TV in your house, you'll have nothing to compare it to, so you won't know how good or bad it looks compared to 50 other televisions just like it. IMO, buy a tube with a decent picture but high reliability. If you buy a tube, then walk into Circuit City and see a better looking picture, you're only going to be annoyed for a short time. If you buy teh best picture you can find, but start having problems with it in month 13 (one month after the waranty runs out), you're going to be pissed for a long time.

 

[Skookum]

Sony makes a damn good t.v.

i've had a Trinitron Vega for years, and owned a smaller trinitron prior. Lesser boob tubes don't last as long, it's better to go quality then you don't have to worry about getting a new one for years.
By the time my Trinitron takes a crap i'm sure prices of HD will be alot more affordable.

 

[golgiaparatus]

Cant ever go wrong with Sony.
I just bought a new trinitron, the pic is great.

 

[narlus]

the TVs i've personally owned are NEC, Zenith, and Sony.

The 20" NEC did its job for about 3-4 yearsn but something weird happened when i moved and it got a purplish hue. into the bin it went.

the zenith was a 27" and i was happy on all accounts. i've still got it (now in my bedroom).

the 35" sony has been the main TV for the last 7 years or so. not a single problem with it (actually, now that i think about it, at one point 2 years or so ago, the image was distorting in one corner, but then it suddenly fixed itself a few weeks later and has never done that again). i hope to get ~2 more years out of it before upgrading to some sort of HDTV/LCD/Plasma thing.

since TVs are a fairly pricy item which definitely have non-zero failure rates, it might make sense to look at an extended warranty.

 

[berkshire_rider]

I am getting ready to buy a new TV and have been doing some research. It seems that Sony and Toshiba have the best picture quality and durability. But they also cost a lot more than the competition.

Is there really that much difference in tv's these days?

I can't afford a plasma or LCD, so that is out of the question. I am looking in the $500 ish range.

I've got the Perfect TV for you. I have been looking at HDTV's for awhile, and this regular tube TV keeps drawing me in. Go down to your local Best Buy or any other store that sells Toshiba's and see what a great picture it has for yourself. (Circuit City doesn't carry Toshiba). I suggest ordering it from the website, though. Free delivery. It weighs in around 160lbs.

 

[pixelninja]

Last week the wife and I were at Best Buy looking at 32-36" flat display tube tv's. They had a 36" Toshiba next to a 36" Sony. The Sony was sharper, the colors looked better and it had better contrast. The Toshiba seemed rather washed out in comparison.

 

[Freddy]

One word: Metz

 

[berkshire_rider]

Last week the wife and I were at Best Buy looking at 32-36" flat display tube tv's. They had a 36" Toshiba next to a 36" Sony. The Sony was sharper, the colors looked better and it had better contrast. The Toshiba seemed rather washed out in comparison.

I agree with you for the flat-display models. It seems with the HDTV's, especially the 34" widescreen models, the Sony's have a better picture in this area as well. Projections and LCD's as well. But for "old style" round tubes, they have about the same picture, with maybe a slight edge to Toshiba, but the real difference is the price. A 35" regular tube Sony will probably be $100 more. So I would say regardless of the type of TV, if Toshiba and Sony are the same price, go with Sony, or what looks better to you in person at the store.

 

[-BB-]

Go to a couple of places and look at the same exact TV's.

This is especially true for the newer TV's (LCD, Plasma, DSP..)
Often they are not set up well, or they set up the higher $$ ones better so that you feel like yo have to drop the extra $$.

 

[jacksonpt]

Last week the wife and I were at Best Buy looking at 32-36" flat display tube tv's. They had a 36" Toshiba next to a 36" Sony. The Sony was sharper, the colors looked better and it had better contrast. The Toshiba seemed rather washed out in comparison.

Keep in mind that color/contrast/brightness are generally set to the manufacturer's defaults. You can control these, and generally speaking, they are WAAAAAAAY off from the manufacturer. IMO, picture sharpness is more important than color, but...

 

[Hawkeye]

A sony 36" tube TV weighs 300 pounds, plan accordingly. Comparing TV's in a store is not too smart as each TV is set up different coming out of the box. My mother has a Sony 35 and I have a 36 in Panasonic, the Panny blows it away in all areas. You may see it different.

 

[berkshire_rider]

Not to mention everything in Best Buy and Circuit City is an HDTV feed.

 

[Hawkeye]

Not to mention everything in Best Buy and Circuit City is an HDTV feed.

Wrong..DVD recorded from a HD channel. it's 420P

 

[Spunger]

We got a sony just maybe 3-4 months ago at Sears. Sears was cheaper than any other place around on the same model TV. It's a 32 flat tube. I think it's the FS320. There are 2 flat tubes, one has better audio than the other and it's like $30 more so we opted for that one.

Circuit city (the tv that I'm talking about)

Then we got the matching stand for $200 for it. Looks nice in our living room, does the goods when playing DVD's, video games are awsome on it. It has loads of inputs and outputs on the rear as well. Very good TV for the money.