New TV purchase, help needed.

[SunKing]

I'm looking to buy a 27" Television with built in DVD/VHS. I have no idea what is a good brand to price. I have around $600 to spend on this. Any ideas?

Is the option of a  built in DVD/VHS player a bad Idea?

I found this link but not much more.

http://www.dmartstores.com/panct27tvcom.html

TIA.

[Pfunk]

Well after 8 plus years selling electronics, all i can say is DO NOT BUY ANYTHING THAT IS A COMBO.  If one thing breaks your screwed, usually you cannot operate the other functions if say for instance the vcr breaks.  Not only that but if something does break say, just the vcr, your labor and parts are going to be far more expensive to fix than if you had just bought each item seperatly.

[SunKing]

thanks for the inside info... got a brand you would recomend for the 27" tv alone?

[Raubvogel]

I bought a 27" Phillips Magnavox last year and I love it. Great picture, smart sound, and PIP.

[Pfunk]

http://www.dmartstores.com/panct27coltv.html           TV

http://store.yahoo.com/dmart/pandvdvplayw.html         DVD

http://store.yahoo.com/dmart/panpv4headvh.html        VCR

Go with the same brand if you would like to cut down on the # of remotes as well, usually the TV remote will function with all the others
panasonic makes a good tv...

1.  You MUST have at least a 2 line comb filter or a 3 line comb filter....this gets rid of the jaggedness you see on some tv's also cuts down on "screen crawl" this is where the colors dont blend right and you see blurs around the edges..
2.  This TV also has a "component video input" this is absolutely the best way to hook a DVD player up to the tv...the principal is simple...a DVD player and a TV that has a component video single seperates all the colors...red,blue,green.  They are seperated out the signal coming out of the DVD player and then compressed within the tv.  This is how all normal tv pictures are made, so effectively the red is going to the red, blue to the blue, etc etc.  
3.  DVD players...these are pretty much an even keel....get one that has the component video on it to match the tv, also go and get a COMPONENT VIDEO CABLE....dont use the crappy ones that come with it.....not nearly as sharp as a picture with those.  Also you might want to look into DVD players that are capable of playing CR-R/CD-RW/MP3 if you have music that you would like to play thru it....not only for that but for VCD's etc......Panasonic makes a good DVD player as does Pioneer...I dont like the Sony players as they seem to be real finaky with fingerprints etc on the disk
4.  VCR...not much to say...just get one with 4 heads
the VCR plus thing is ok...it helps you simplfy programming, just punch in the #s for the show that are in the TV guide/newpaper and it sets it up for you....worth the extra $10...you decide

[Airscrew]

SunKing,  Zenith makes a pretty good tv.   I have a 27" we bought in 89, moved it from Idaho to Germany then to Texas.
used it for 13 years up till about 3 months ago when it started to act up.  Good excuse to buy a 36" JVC,...Couldn't find a Zenith,.

AirScrew

[Pfunk]

Originally posted by MajTom
SunKing,  Zenith makes a pretty good tv.   I have a 27" we bought in 89, moved it from Idaho to Germany then to Texas.
used it for 13 years up till about 3 months ago when it started to act up.  Good excuse to buy a 36" JVC,...Couldn't find a Zenith,.

AirScrew

NO NO NO NO NO NO....Zeniths are the biggest POS made nowadays.  MajTom Zenith were VERY good TV's when you bought yours in 1989, so where RCA's for that matter, hell I still have a little 20 " rca that my parents bought me 15 yrs ago that has NEVER broke and still works the same as the day I got it.  Yes RCA and ZENITH were fantastic sets in the late 80's early 90's ,  but within the past 8 years or so they have gone to hell.  Those brands were the #1 and #2 tv's that came back broken and needed repairs where I worked, not to mention neither one is made in the USA like they were earlier  (mexico now).  RCA in particular has so many different parts from so many different places, that 80% of them that broke could not be fixed, because (get this) RCA couldnt find the parts to fix them.  STAY STAY STAY away from RCA,Zenith,GE,Sanyo all are piss poor.

[Pfunk]

JVC is the best TV $ for $ in my opinion, they have more features than they Sony tv's do and for cheaper, JVC's also have fewer repairs than the Sony's do.  basically top 3 sets are IMHO

1. JVC
2. Sony
3. Panasonic
4. Toshiba (forgot about them...good set)
hitachi used to be the best......however they no longer make tubes...strictly big screens

[SOB]

I've got a 27" Toshiba Cinema Series that I purchased about 3 or 4 years ago.  Great picture and composite inputs for DVD.  Definitely go with a separate DVD player.  I'd make sure that both the TV and DVD player do composite inputs, and expect to spend a bit on the cable.  And if you can, get a DVD like Video Essentials or the like to set up your TV colors.


SOB

[Eagler]

Sony

[SunKing]

Hey guys thanks alot of the input.. Using your advice I've narrowed my search down to two televisions..

1) Panasonic 32" TV With 2-Tuner PIP
Brand/Model: PAN CT32D32
 
2) JVC 32" Stereo TV
Brand/Model: JVC AV32D303


The only question I have left in deciding which model to buy is the "PIP" feature on the Panasonic. What I'd like to know is...
will "PIP" work with analog cable? Can I watch two channels on cable or does the PIP only work with two channels on the TV?

[Eagler]

the cable signal will need to be split to view PIP of the cable channels

PIP just switches your inputs which could be cable, cable box, vcr, dvd, video game, etc

depending on your cable system, "straight" cable will give you the analog channels without the need for another set top box. Here anything above 80 is digital.

I like the flat screen type tvs over the rounded older style

This is what I'd get instead of the HDTV set I got if I had to do it over again:


http://www.bestbuy.com/detail.asp?e=11169471&m=208&cat=215

[Manedew]

if your looking to save money you can buy a cheap DVD player for you computer (ATI is best for video)   .. my only DVD player is in my computer .. but then agin my monitar is bigger than my TV (BTW ATI cards have video out to TV, unless you bought a VE or something){I think the VE is the cheapo ati model without it .. tho don't hold me too it}


an idea to consider anyway.