LDC TV

LOST6200

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I'm looking for about a 20" LCD TV for teh computer area. A fancy high definition or the wide screen unit is no wanted, just a simple TV connected to the standard digital cabale box and sometimes a DVD player. Is ther anythign decnt for around $400? And no, the CRT TV is not vaibel option as it will be on the upper florr. Thanks
 

LOST6200

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Thanks. I think it s too small for use as rergular TV, however. 19 on the HDTV would be only 15.5' dagnoal if memory sergves for the calculations.

B
 

Sol

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Walmart have this which seems like what you want... I'd probably rather ddrueding's suggestion though... I'm pretty suer 19" HD is 19" diagonal... I don't know what else they'd be measuring but if it was actually 19" wide as the link suggests then it would be more than 19" diagonal...
 

CityK

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It is always the diagonal that is taken as the viewing screen size measurement.

Don't make me bust out the right angles on you guys too. I don't want to, but I'm warning ya, I do hold a black belt in Pythagorean....and I will use it if necessary! (just ask Buck -- he found out the hard way, after getting all drunken and uppity in the bar last month. With just one subtle nod of approval from the Bartender, I quickly brought Buck's table dancing ways to an end. And he's been walking a straight line ever since ) :-D
 

Pradeep

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I think what he means is that 19" diaganol in 16*9 is going to end up giving him a 4:3 picture with a diagonal of 15 something.
 

LOST6200

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Woah, it be over 25 years sibnce I did any real math and more sinece the basicos, but I get 19*SQRT((1+(4/3)^2)/(1+(16/9)^2))=15.5" for 43 format on a 16:9 display. Maybe it is completelty wrongo and there is probbalty soem way to simplify that equaition . I don't know for sure.
 

Sol

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I would have assumed that digital cable would be predominantly in 16:9 anyway, DVDs obviously depend on age and what you buy but anything new would typically be 16:9...

I guess if your sure your going to be watching a lot of 4:3 stuff then it's worth it but I haven't watched more than a couple of shows or movies in native 4:3 in years...
 

LOST6200

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I'm nto so hip to the technical stuff, but here the reuglar "digital cable" is just the part in the street and coverter boxen. The outpuy is the compost video. The digital cable box is necesary to receive the premium chanels for past couple of yuears, as a means to jack up the profits fopr the cable monopliests. The local cahnnels are worse nowe than 2-15 years ago wehen cabels wer all analog or if one were able to receive the braodcast from aetna.

Of course HD digital cable is also availiable at extra cost, thouth the number of HD channels is musch leesser. At this point I'm already speding over $1500 anally on teh regulr (low quality) digi cable with the promeim channels and I dont; want to get into all the HD TV and associatd stuff. Id figure at least another $5K in haerdeware for the 3 rooms with tVs and tehn extra cabel bills, HD and BD plaeyrs, etc. getting way ougt of control could be more like $10J.

Often I cant; find anything worht wachting anyway, and sometimes I just listen to the sound as the backgraound noise. So i am stil fine with the 4:3 if only the films wer worth a damn, but only a half dozen I care for in a year.

B
 

Mercutio

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4:3 is a better deal for a lot of content, anyway, but so is just dropping cable completely. It's moronic to have it if you aren't going to watch it. TV shows can be downloaded or legally purchased on DVD or on itunes (usually $2 a show; I could buy an assload of TV shows for the $170 my cable TV bill was).
For that matter, if all you want is noise, you could start listening to regular podcasts or radio programming like "This American Life" instead.
 

LOST6200

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I'm stil on the dialup, so no downloads. Cabel internet is about abnother $50/month and then dealing with all the computer modifiecatuions is a scary hassle. I get your poiint, but have littel time to go searchn for the content. Mostly I program to record some shows late at night, or watch soem of the included OD stuff. I may rethintk a strategy next year, but for now limt the capital costs.

B
 

Pradeep

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I would have assumed that digital cable would be predominantly in 16:9 anyway, DVDs obviously depend on age and what you buy but anything new would typically be 16:9...

I guess if your sure your going to be watching a lot of 4:3 stuff then it's worth it but I haven't watched more than a couple of shows or movies in native 4:3 in years...


In the USA, "digital" cable is usually nothing more than the analog channels, digitised. Still 4:3, low rez junk. The HD channels are 16:9, in 1080i or 720p, but there aren't many of them. ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS and PBS can be received free over-the-air with either an external STB, or the tuner built-in to many newer TVs.

With cable or sat, you can get an assortment of extra HD channels, including InHD1 and 2 (owned by the cable cos), HBO-HD, SHO-HD, DiscoveryHD etc.

The Discovery Atlas series that is currently airing offers fantastic visuals of different countries.
 

Will Rickards

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If you are having problems searching for content, get a tivo.
You can season pass the stuff you actually watch and you won't miss a show (unless the networks pull a change the time at the last minute shit).
It'll automatically record suggestions. Then you can thumbs up or thumbs down the suggestions and they get better. It connects to the tivo service nightly via the phone line (or your home network if you had one). It is $13 a month which gives you the programming guide for your cable service.

I use a tivo 80 HR dual tuner version, with the no cable box needed (analog) cable. This limits my cable bill but gives me all the shows I watch even ones on at the same time. The dual tuner can record two shows at once from analog cable or one analog and one digital channel. For movies I don't think the premium channels are worth it. And like Merc if I wanted to watch one of the premium channel series I would probably buy the dvd rather than shelling out per month for it. A netflix subscription for 5.99 a month might work if you watch lots of movies. I only watch one every 2-3 months so I just rent them from blockbuster or hollywood video.

Did I mention tivo lets you pause live tv or that is has a 30 second skip so you can breeze through commercials of your recorded stuff? You have to program the remote to do this. We here at the Rickards house curse when we are 'live'. We can't stand watching live TV because we have to wait through commercials. Usually we'll end up pausing the show and go do some chores or something and come back so we aren't 'live'.

okay I'll stop the shameless plug for tivo
Could I interest you in a roomba?
 
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