What should I be looking for in a new LCD HDTV?

[Hank Kinsley]

I have virtually no experience with these new TV's. I won't have digital cable for the TV for a while so I'll be watching Standard Def on it. I play games and watch Divx movies. What do Divx movie look like on these TV's?

I'm looking in the 23"-26" inch range and I don;t want to spend more than $600. There is a Viewsonic 26" that I have been looking at - http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?catg=535&item=378848&prDeTab=2#A . Is this a decent TV? Is there anyway to tell how a TV will display Standard Def without actually seeing the TV?

I read somewhere that I should try to get a TV that has 2 types of tuners built in. Is that true? I also watch sports alot. I've seen TV's get blurry when players move on the screen. Does that have to do with refresh rate?

Any help someone could give me would be greatly appreciated. BTW, I'm in Canada.

[lordsmurf]

You want a set that filters. But $600 won't buy one.

[victoriabears]

Can you suggest one that does LS?

[pepegot1]

It should have the following besides the usual stuff like HDMI, etc.:
NTSC, ATSC, QAM tuners, upconverter good quality, and a 3/2 pull down.
In the future we will be able to get a TV with all these bells and whistles, but right now it's big bucks and big screen.
You want the ability to play your STD DVDs well on the new tv.

[ranchhand]

I notice that it has an 8 ms response, the same as my LCD Tv and my son plays his PS3/Blue Ray games on it with great results. Far as DIVx movies go, I haven't had a great deal of success, the results are fair to poor. I suspect that it may be that I am doing something wrong also-I'm still studying that problem. I regularly play ripped AVIs burned to DVDs and normal movies rented from Blockbuster; both are totally stunning.

Note that you will not be able to play Blue Ray videos/games on this, you would need much higher resolution of 1080p and HDMI input. But I am sure that it will have beautiful results.

[jman98]

More than worrying about features in such a relatively small and cheap TV, the main thing you need to worry about is the quality of your connections to the TV (this may of interest to you ranchhand).

Rule 1 - ONLY use high quality connections for ALL video sources to the TV. High quality connections include:
component
HDMI
DVI

High quality connections do NOT include:
S-video
composite
old style coax like we use the in USA sometimes for cable TV

Rule 2 - Do NOT just set the TV to display everything in 16:9. Use your remote control to switch between 4:3 and 16:9 as necessary so you watch 4:3 video in 4:3 and ONLY widescreen video in 16:9. Watching 4:3 video stretched to 16:9 all the time is a great way to magnify flaws in the video source and get crap results. Most of the people who bitch about how much standard definition cable TV "sucks" on their HDTVs are watching it in 16:9.

Following these 2 rules will ensure that you get the best standard definition results possible on your new TV.

[jagabo]

Note that you will not be able to play Blue Ray videos/games on this, you would need much higher resolution of 1080p and HDMI input.

He'll be able to watch them. He just won't get the full benefit of the 1920x1080 resolution.

Note:

ATSC tuner is for over the air HD broadcast. You'll need an antenna.

QAM tuner is for most cable systems HD broadcast. This will only work for unencrypted channels (usually limited to local networks). Without a QAM tuner you will need to use the cable box for any HD.

Use an upscaling Divx/DVD player. Connect with an HDMI cable. Divx will look as good as the file is. A crappy Divx file will look crappy. A good Divx file will look good.