I need some help picking a HDTV

[Kif]

Hey everyone. Not many threads by me in the Media Center, but either way, it's the best place I am already signed up to to ask this.

For my 18th birthday, I will be getting a HDTV. I'm receiving some money left from my grandparents, and I want to get one since my TV is somewhat dated. I plan on spending around £500, but if it's worth going over I suppose I can bend that limit.

I have a 360, so I want it to look good on that. I also don't want it to be too big, about 20-26".

So if you have a HDTV, or know any good recommendations, post them up and I'll take a look at them. I really appreciate this help, since watching TV and playing my 360 on my current one is a little disappointing now.

[Let's Chop Cats!]

I forget the specifics, but supposedly a lot of current HDTV's won't be able to fully support hddvd/bluray, so research that first.

[PepsiMetal]

Just get one that has built-in hdtv tuner and highest contrast ratio. Don't know much about HDTV's in general. srry

[EinzingerIsGod]

I don't know much about HD but I do know to avoid plasma at all costs

[AA-12]

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7345651&type=product&productCategoryId=pcmcat31800050028&id=1122652695728

There's the one I have. Not much, but good enough. :p

Really though, that one is amazing, but you should go with a Sony LCD in my opinion. They make the best i've seen.

[Kif]

I don't know much about HD but I do know to avoid plasma at all costs
Well the cheapest plasma HDTV I've seen is about 42" and £1299, so that won't be a problem

That Sony is far too expensive and big as well. This is going in my room, and it's not too big. 26" is about the biggest I'd like.

Here's one I've seen, looks quite nice and is HDTV ready

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5290781.htm

[C0NFUZ£D]

I just bought a cheap £120 monitor to play my 360 games on. As long as the resolution is atleast 1280x720 (720p), it will be fine.

REINER is right though; if you're buying an HDTV now you need to make sure that it has an HDMI port, because that's going to be the standard for HD-DVD, Blu-Ray and the new Sky set top box (I assume you live in the UK since you're talking in £s).

Problem there is that Xbox 360 doesn't use an HDMI cable; it has the 5-plug component leads. So if you get an HDTV you'll want it to have component inputs for the 360, and an HDMI port for future proofing.

Alternatively you can do what I did - get a cheap PC monitor to play your 360 on now, and wait a while before getting a proper HDTV. If you're thinking about buying a PLAYSTATION 3, you should wait until 1080p TV's are going for a reasonable price.


EDIT: The one in that link seems pretty decent. It doesn't mention component input, but says it has a PC input, which I assume means VGA. You'll need to buy the Xbox 360 VGA cable to use it.

It also mentions it has SCART and HDMI, so you'll be able to use your old consoles with it, and it will be ready for PS3.

Look for a TV with a resolution of atleast 1920x1080 if you want to play your 360 games at the optimum 1080i setting. It must have component inputs to enable this however, since the 360 is locked at lower resolutions when used with the VGA cable.

[Kif]

I heard 360 games can look glitchy at 1080i, but then again it did just come out. But thanks for that advice, I'll be sure to include that when looking

[telemore]

I've seen alot. Not shopped around seen, but actual hands on, in the living room "seen" and with current gen hidef programming (installing DirecTv has some perks, I guess. Watching tv with rich old folks. :))

I like DLP. I don't really know about prices, but I'd think it's pretty cheap on the totem pole. JVC has some pretty nice ones, from what I've seen.

I really don't like plasma. Sure, the HD quality is phenomenal, but everything else looks like crap.

LCD, I'd rate it under DLP but way better than Plasma.

Sorry if I can't offer anything other than general makes and my preferences, but maybe I helped.

:)

[Let's Chop Cats!]

http://www.hdtvexpert.com/pages_b/reality.html

Read it.