Do you own a HDTV?

[Herman Munster]

I'm waiting for my television to die before I get one. Do you have one? Do you like it? Are they worth the money?

[Midlodemocrat]

1. Glad you posted this. I was wondering the same thing.

The TV I watch is actually just too small for my eyes. :eyes: so I have been thinking about a wall mounted guy.

[NC_Nurse]

2. You have to have the digital cable or satellite service.

I don't, so even though my TV is HD-ready or whatever, it isn't in use.
I like the analog cable just fine actually. We had the digital cable for a while but
it was pretty expensive. I honestly was not blown away by it. :shrug:

[fujiyama]

6. You don't necessarily need digital cable for it

Many new HDTVs come with ATSC tuners and by plugging in a normal cable or an antenna, you get several basic cable stations in Hi Def.

[OwnedByFerrets]

7. NO, you dont....you can get HD over the air. I watch all my HD

ball games from an antenna.

[Midlodemocrat]

8. I got an amazing (well, I thought so) deal for two years.

High speed internet, digital cable and digital phone service for $99 a month. Prior to this I was spending $100 on just the internet (which I need for work) and regular cable.

I think that is a pretty good deal. I am thinking in terms of large tvs because I can't see the smaller ones from across the room and at this point, I only need readers. :ugh:

[Viva_La_Revolution]

3. no, and I don't plan on getting one.

our oldest tv doesn't even have a cable input, but it still works fine. :shrug:

[jaysunb]

4. They're wonderful....

no kidding.

[Kagemusha]

5. I have a small one, 27", Panasonic, perfect for one person.

Really excellent picture. Substantial improvement even with regular TV, great with DVD, but extremely nice with high definition content.

It's still expensive. I hope to hold onto this one for quite some time before eventually upgrading to those bigger LCD's that should be a fair bit cheaper in the future. A close friend is about to get a high quality 40" that's all prepped for digital broadcasting. It's not bad to wait until your TV dies first but, it is nice stuff. It's just that content to take advantage of it is still in, if not infancy, then certainly early childhood.

[havocmom]

9. Don't own one. At my age, I don't see the point

of having a TV that shows more than my eyes can actually appreciate.

[Bozita]

10. Got a 30" Toshiba CRT with a high def tuner built in

Bought at KMart about 4 months ago for $399. It's not a plasma or LCD, so you can't mount it on a wall. (It weighs over 100 pounds.)

The nature and sports programming in HD is really something.

Watching the Packers/Bears game now. Nice.

[fujiyama]

11. They are falling in price

If you're looking to get a new TV, I'd definitely look at getting HDTV.

The quality is pretty amazing and more of them include ATSC tuners, so you don't necessarily need to pay for digital cable or satellite. Also, more programming is offered in HD than in the past.

I myself have the equivalent of EDTV, which has lower resolution than HD (480p rather than 720p for HD, regular TV is 480i), but it's a projector and the quality is amazing. I'm considering an LCD for the room though.

[zabet]

12. No,

my TV is a 15 year old Magnavox with 'country vision' (rabbit ears).

[Swamp Rat]

18. 'country vision'

:rofl:

[WillyT]

35. LOL !!! - So... That Would Be Lo-Def Then ???

:rofl::yourock::rofl:

[Cush]

13. we have an HD Ready TV, but we don't subscribe to any channels

its 480p/1080i...the only HD action its getting from my Xbox 360

[TheUniverse]

14. 61 inch HDTV

I like to play Wii and 360 on it!

[Swamp Rat]

20. No wonder you are called "TheUniverse"

That TV set is HUGH!1 :D

[Bozita]

22. Swampy, if you could switch the 'a' in Republican to an 'o' ...

... you'd get more bang for your buck.

[Swamp Rat]

27. That is a GREAT Idea!

:D But, refucklicans might get too confused.

[TheUniverse]

24. Everything else is small though.

Small house, small car, small yard, small family (only cats) but I gotta have a big TV for Halo! I'm a video game fanatic.

[Swamp Rat]

29. I'd like to see my pix on a TV that big.

:D

[The Inquisitive]

15. The TV shows still suck

the problem is you end paying a lot of money to much the same shitty programing, it doesn't fix that! :cry:

[Rosco T.]

16. Have had one about 6 months

absolutely love it, pick up over the air HD broadcasts, the Sat HD and the HD DVD player. Picture quality is outstanding all the way around, even converted the wife after she was watching it and remarked "it's not blurry like the other tv". You can get a very nice 42-47 LCD unit for < $900 if you do a little shopping.

[Mz Pip]

17. We have one

and love it. It's great for movies and sporting events. We get movies on NetFlix and the HDTV nature shows are awesome.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[elocs]

19. I've had a 30" Samsung HDTV for 5 years.

I don't have cable or satellite and get all of my high def stations over the air for free, plus I get subchannels (my local PBS has up to 5 channels). Yes, the picture is much better and the prices of HDTVs are coming down. It is not a waste of money if you watch tv.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

21. yeah and sort of,

I have a little Toshiba HDTV that was $249 on Black Friday - I have HD from Dish Network but there is so little actual HD material that I question its value. I really just watch PBS in HD and the usual stuff on HBO and Showtime but I really get the sense that the HD stuff is oriented towards sports these days.

My girlfriend actually wears the home theater pants around here, she has a 47" Samsung and a 100" projector setup.

Although if you want to look principled, just say your boycotting HDTV because Donald Rumsfeld was the driving force behind the format.

[DesertRat]

23. We just got one and we love it!

Our tv finally died last month so we bought a 52" Sharp Acquos. The picture is amazing. We especially love it for watching sports.

Go Diamondbacks! :)

[Colorado Progressive]

37. ACK! Go Rockies!!!!! Boohisss nt

[Cheap_Trick]

25. 65" Sony widescreen

wouldn't go back to standard set EVER.

[tkmorris]

26. I do now

Our television finally died enough that we HAD to replace it. We just bought the new one 3 days ago. We did get an HDTV, a 50 inch rear projection type from Sony.

Shopping for a new TV was a decided odd experience. Fully 95% or more of the available models were HDTV, and the few that weren't were all quite small. Our old set was a standard 32 inch model, and we found that we could not have replaced with a similar one for any amount of money from most retailers. That wouldn't have bothered me too much except the new generation of televisions seem to start at around $600, and go up VERY quickly from there to as much as $5000 or more. Trying to get an HDTV that is large enough to be effectively viewed from across the living room is almost impossible for under $1000.

I found the whole process rather disturbing. There were few sets available to those who simply cannot afford HD but will have to replace their existing set soon due to the mandatory changeover to digital signals in the next year. Most existing televisions do not have a digital tuner, and will not work when that happens.

Having said all of that, I can honestly say I am quite happy with our new television. By being extremely industrious about the buying process I was able to find an excellent bargain, and for a very high quality television. The picture is outstanding from the high quality sources I have been able to use (our HD satellite receiver has yet to arrive) and the slimmer profile means more available space in the room.

FWIW, if I didn't need one immediately I would wait for either the Black Friday sales or the post Christmas ones. There will undoubtedly be some real bargains there and considering the sticker prices some of them carry getting the best deal you can find is important. Also, learn all you can about the differences between various models. You need to know the difference between progressive and interlaced scanning, what an HDMI input is and whether you need them and how many, the differences between LCD, Plasma, and Rear Projection, and so on. I have some research bookmarked if you want more information.

[Mojorabbit]

28. I think it is great for nature shows

and hubby likes it for sports but I don't like it for movies. You can see every pore on the actors faces sometimes. Kind of takes away some of the mystery or something from the films. But that is just me.

[MuseRider]

30. Me too

and I am always a little distracted by men with eyeliner! I guess I always knew they had to use it but I was never able to see it before.

Still, all in all I really love ours. The nature shows are amazing in HD.

[Double T]

31. Have one. Rarely bother to watch high def channels.

It's OK BUT certainly NOT worth the extra money.

[W_HAMILTON]

32. Yes.

My old TV broke, and I had just gotten a new job, so I was looking at buying a really nice TV, since I usually spend most of my free time watching TV, or on the computer. So, I did a ton of research, and got one. After being used to a regular "square" TV for most of my life, I wasn't eager to switch to a widescreen, and I didn't believe HD would be that big of a difference...

...boy, was I wrong. I got used to the widescreen in no time, and HD is AMAZING. You can REALLY tell a difference. It's pretty incredible.

[ldf]

33. hd is awesome!

but a reality check.

at this point in time there are only so many hd channels. and it seems that most of them are sports. i don't watch sports. except olympic style sports.

the other thing is that usually when you go hd, you also go larger screen.

if you are watching a non-hd channel on a screen that is a lot larger, it is basically just magnified, NOT clearer. as a result it is actually LESS clear. anytime you blow something up, it gets more blurred.

so that is a trade off.

but the discovery hd theatre channel is fantastic! sunrise earth is amazing.

the premium channels like showtime, hdnet are great.

shows like "rome" and "the tudors" are incredible.

hd is definitely worth it.

just my .02.

[cherokeeprogressive]

34. HDTV is da bomb.

When I watch football, you can see blades of grass. Baseball too. Leaves on trees.

[MindPilot]

36. When I saw the surface of Mars in HiDef 3D

I knew I had spent well.

I can watch anything, hell, I can watch golf if it's in HD.

[MiniMe]

38. All TV's sold now are HD ready at the minimum

If they are HD ready and not integrated HD, you have to get a converter box later to get HD. I think 2009 is the point where everything is supposed to go HD, not sure if congress will grant an extension or not.

My TV died in April, and I got a 42" widescreen LCD HDTV. I have DirecTV, and they have been rolling out more and more HD channels. I agree that the nature shows are fabulous on HD, as well as sports. I was watching a football game today, and the HD feed went out for a few minutes, so they switched the feed to non-HD. I could tell the difference immediately. Also with DirecTV, you can switch back and forth between the HD and non-HD versions of programs, and it does make a difference. I would not have the TV now if my TV hadn't died, but I love it now that I have it. I also like the flat panel, much, much lighter than a tube TV. Mine only weighs about 50lbs, and you can mount it on the wall to save floor space.