Porno movies, sexy videos, xxx. Adult DVD Talk at your service. 6409 Posts 11/99
Posted - Mar 16 2004 : 5:43PM
OK, someone as TV-illiterate as me should not be running a DVD site... (I've only bought one cheap little TV in my life.)
Someday when we finish building our house I want to get one of those hang on the wall flat TVs. It would look cool against the barn wall (and our current TV would take up too much space.) I briefly looked around and got confused because some are just monitors? It doesn't need to be very large (we'd be watching from ten feet away.) I don't want to spend a lot. I want it to be as minimal as possible (in terms of plastic around the screen) so it looks like a window against the wall.
At the moment there are two types of 'flat' TVs that I'm aware of ; Plasma sets , and Liquid Crystal Displays . There are plusses and minuses to each .
Plasma sets can be manufactured larger and offer a slightly better picture , especially when viewed at an angle to the screen than LCD . On the other hand they are very expensive ( in England anyway ) and also very heavy . Those adverts showing one hanging on a wall are a con , the sets used for the photo shoots often use reinforced concrete ! More often than not people use a specially provided table or frame to support their new set .
LCD sets , on the other hand , while being far lighter and cheaper , suffer by comparison in terms of size and picture quality ( which I now realise I've already said :) ) .
Of course there's always something better , larger , and cheaper just down the line . What does it all mean ? I'll be damned if I know . Bill's probably your man on this one .
Monitor means there is no on-board tuner...you'll need a satellite/cable box, HDTV tuner, or something to tune in channels.
The biggest problem with plasma sets is that they will decrease in brightness over time. How much and how long is a matter of heated debate...some say that you won't really be able to tell for years, and by then, you'll probably want to upgrade.
If you're looking for cheap, there are 42" EDTV (enhanced definition, up to 480 lines (about twice the resolution of current TV's) plasma monitors available around $3,000 that you can hang on your wall. They're not HDTV resolution (at least 720 lines), but most casual viewers can't tell the difference. They'll be fine for satellite/cable and DVDs.
LCD sets are fairly expensive too...it's hard and costly to make large enough panels. Just think how expensive the dinky LCD TV's or flat panel monitors < 20" are. The least expensive LCD TV's are the projection variety, which you can't hang.
Keep in mind that since sets are measured diagonally, the larger widescreens aren't going to be as large as the same measurement in 4:3 (traditional) TV's. In other words, 42" seems like a big TV, but it's closer to a 32" conventional TV in vertical size. Not a big deal, but if you are sitting 10' away, the actual picture may not look as big as you're imagining.
Porno movies, sexy videos, xxx. Adult DVD Talk at your service. 6409 Posts 11/99
Posted - Mar 17 2004 : 3:17PM
Thanks, guys. The EDTV plasma one seems the way to go. Hopefully they'll come down a lot in price by the time we're ready for one. Just looking now so that we can plan the wiring and wall support accordingly.
Steph, What are you planning to use as a source? Satellite or Cable? If you're going with Satellite, it makes sense to get the dish(es) that will allow you to go to HD without upgrading the dish. HD stations are on different satellites than most SD programming is. For DirecTV, you just need an oval dish to receive all 3 satellites. For Dish, you need 2 separate dishes.
If you go with DirecTV, you just need to tell them that you need to be able to receive the spanish stations. They will give you the oval dish for free. If you tell them that you want the dish for HD, they will charge you for the same dish that they would have given you for Para Todos.
Discriminatory anti-discriminatory practices , huh ? Nice little loophole Bill , wonder if the same thing would work with an Englishman wanting to receive Italian TV stations ?! Nah , probably not .
If you're only gonna be sitting about 10 feet away , the 42inch set is probably the one to go for . Put it this way , if I could afford one it'd be on my wall right now .
Porno movies, sexy videos, xxx. Adult DVD Talk at your service. 6409 Posts 11/99
Posted - Mar 18 2004 : 5:53PM
we already have directv (with tivo!!! :) someday i'll run the spanish loophole and get the oval dish - thanks, bill.
at gateway, for instance, the 46" isn't much more than the 42". we'll see what prices are like when we're closer to purchase time. while the tv-watching couch will only be 10 feet away, we can see the tv from anywhere on our first floor (it's all one big room.) it's totally unlike me to splurge on something like this, but it's going to look so damn cool on the wall and be such an efficient use of space.
i just finished nailing up the electric boxes. wiring tomorrow... (very exciting :)
That's even better. If you have been a DirecTV customer for 2 or more consecutive years and have an average bill of $45 or more, you can currently upgrade to HD for net cost of $99. That includes an HD receiver, an oval dish and installation (HD Tivo is not available yet, but soon). If you call the Customer Service number 1-800-DIRECTV and ask for the Customer Retention department, they will sell you the HD setup for $399 plus tax and then give you a programming credit for the entire amount (including the sales tax) less $99. So, for example, if the tax was $45, they would charge you $444 and give you a programming credit of $345. You wouldn't see any DirecTV bills until that credit is used up.
Although the Gateway Plasma sets can't display in High Definition, they can accept an HD signal and downconvert it to 480p. Since the plasma sets are 16:9, it makes sense to get some widescreen programming onto it.
I think that the DirecTV offer is a great deal and that anyone who is eligible for it and has a TV capable of accepting an HD signal, should certainly consider it.
As of the beginning of March they only have 1,627 customers. For comparison, both DirecTV and Dish each add 300,000 new customers per quarter.
Voom is owned by Cablevision, who is regularly ranked last by JD Power among cable and satellite providers in customer satisfaction (this year tied for last with Adelphia). IMO, Cablevision is to cable companies as Leisure Time is to Adult video companies.
Cablevision is the local cable company on Long Island and they are the reason that I was willing to pay $1,200 in 1995 for DirecTV equipment. This is a company who has failed in every venture that they have entered in which the do not have a monopoly. They recently drove the "Wiz" electronics chain and "Clearview Cinemas" chain into bankruptcy.
Unless Voom is sold to someone else, there is no way that I would ever consider being a customer of theirs.
Now, taking away the emotional side of me that hates Cablevision with a passion, they currently have a pretty good deal. They are now allowing people to rent the receivers for $9.95 for the first receiver and $14.95 for each additional receiver, per month. Programming fees are reasonable. However, they are still missing a lot of SD channels that people want.
Now that they have gone with the rental strategy, I know that a lot of people now have the attitude that they have nothing to lose if Voom goes belly up because they haven't purchased any equipment. If you want to purchase, I think that the prices are $500 for the first receiver (including a dish and antenna, for receiving local HD) and $200 for each additional receiver. I'm pretty sure that those prices are accurate. Initially they were $750 and $500, but they have recently dropped the prices.
I have some the same TV questions/issues as Steph. Thanks Lee, Saki, and Bill for clear explanations. (I'm on a digital cable box with built in DVR, but wondering if a switch to satellite might be cheaper and just as good.)
