Entertainment Center: TVs, Stereos, VCRs and DVDs - Can anyone suggest a good tv in 27 or31"

I want to purchase a new tv but can not decide if a 31" is the best idea. Is it better to buy a 27"? Money is a serious factor in this choice, but quality is second on the list. Any suggestions about make/models? TIA!

You need to save some coin and then go buy the set. What’s the old saying? If you have to ask how much you can’t afford it? HDTV is just around the corner, so buy one. Most of the major market broadcasters are running digital TV now. The smaller markets have applied for six month wavers to get into compliance. Panasonic, Samsung, Mitsubishi, Sony is who I would be looking at. Toshiba, Sharp, JVC next. Stay away from off brand name TV’s, hard to deal with when finding a warranty station for LXI, Satung, Kmart brands etc. NO ZENITH! Rotten SOB’s pulled out here in Springfield, Mo. and left over a thousand people without a job! Plus Zenith is absolute without doubt JUNK! Not an opinion but a fact! Started to do warranty for them, got a set in with wire jumpers to jump bad traces etc. really cheap crap coming out of Mexico! 31" plus too! But you have to have room for a set that large.

Oh, my! This all sounds so sinister.

Here's the facts, Dragonfly:
a) a 27" is far cheaper than a 31" TV because there are more 27" TV sets on the market.
b) they all have some problems but dollar-for-dollar and pound-for -pound, the Sony 27" is the set to buy. Smokey has one in his den and it does nice things to a TV signal.

What Big Mike eluded to about HDTV is a reality. Before long, the old TV set we have grown accustomed to will be a thing of the past. But, for a few years, the cable TV folks will provide a converter for HDTV to standard NTSC format.
Also, when HDTV occurs (and it won't be too far in the future), you will no longer get TV pictures off a roof antenna. If you don't have cable, you're dead in the water.

Money-wise and quality-wise, go with the Sony 27". I bought one about 6 months ago for my den and it cost me $349. That's about as inexpensive (we don't say "cheap" on this forum) as it gets and the quality is there. And, I have 78 channels of cable TV and will make the conversion when the time comes. But, what do I know? I've only been in this business for 41 years. LOL!

And, thanks to Big Mike for my Avatar. It is truly "Smokey".


Smokey ;)

Thanks to both of you, I guess I will remain very happy with the sets I currently have, at least for a while..... 8-\ Yes, I do have cable, but only in the Winter months... I shut it off in the Summer so I do not live in front of the tv while every one else is at the beach! Cable people called me about digital. Yikes, it was costly! Me thinks I can wait for that AND a larger tv, but when I do I shall keep your words in mind! Thanks again. BTW, Zenith "made"(?), PC's in Massachusetts for a while but are gone now. I had one and it was great, but it was my first.... in 1991... Good memories ;-)

Good Evening, DragonFly:

Thanks for stopping by DoItYourself.com. I respect your decision on the issue.

As for Zenith PC's, I, too, cut my teeth on an old Zenith 286 many years ago. I had it "souped up". I had a "monster 120 megabyte" hard drive and a whopping 8 megs of RAM with a CGA monitor. Wow! LOL! Had Windows 1.1 and MS-DOS 6.2. Ah, the memories!


Smokey ;)