Guide for Buying Flat Screen TV?

My ten-year-old television's display is mighty snowy much of the time (when receiving local channels), until I give it a good whack and I guess cause some connections to work properly again. It's humongous and so hard to move by myself. I am getting old and do not want to have to move it. Rather than try to repair it, I am thinking of buying a new, lighter, flat screen TV. I have been keeping an eye peeled for specials at Circuit City, Best Buy, and Wal-Mart. I looked at the latest Consumer Reports article on the subject.

Yesterday at Best Buy a clerk there said buying any of the flat screen TVs meant I would have HDTV. Without cable or satellite with HD, the display would have black vertical bars covering something like three inches on both sides. If I wanted to continue using an ordinary antenna, I'd have to go to a conventional TV with a 4:3 aspect ratio.

Can someone please confirm or deny what the clerk said and maybe elaborate? Meanwhile I am googling on the subject.

I do not want cable or satellite or any extra costs. OTOH, I also do not want a huge television to move around.

TIA

Reply to
Elle
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I think it depends on the screen size. I was in Best Buy last night. In the 19-20" screen size, you can still find an LCD SDTV in the 4:3 aspect ratio. They had one on sale for something like $220. We're looking for something to put on the wall of a very small bedroom in our cabin - complicating factor is that we want it with built-in DVD player, those things are still kind of rare and expensive.

Jerry

Reply to
jerry_maple

Stop whacking it and undo and then redo the antenna connections.

Reply to
Charles Schuler

so you're going to ditch an otherwise usable Tv for want of a bit of resoldering on the tuner?? sounds wasteful to me. why don't you just fix it? or get a tech on the case? besides, when fixed up well it will probably outlive any of the crap on sale today, to say nothign of the sharper picture CRT gives over plasma and LCD smear-o-vision.

I'd give it a second chance if I were you!

-B.

Reply to
b
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The SD TV is essentially analog HDTV. Unless you have cable or satellite service it will be useless after the broadcasters switch off analog >Elle wrote:

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Joe Leikhim K4SAT
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**THE-RFI-EMI-GUY**

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Reply to
T Shadow

Thanks for all the suggestions, Jerry, RFI Guy, Charles, B, and T Shadow. I'll keep studying and exploring this.

Reply to
Elle

I don't know how close you are to your local TV transmitters, but I found I can get a beautiful, clear HD picture from all three area network stations on an old pair of UHF rabbit ears. I don't know how well that would work on a VHF signal.

Reply to
KarlB

go by the philips 32mf231d/37 and when you get is set up the aspect to automatice.. and if your using an antenna youe will recieve your local chanels in HD you will love that set..I work on those at a bb service center and go crazy every time i see the picture it is unblieveable

Reply to
David Naylor

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