It seems to always be my job to say "It depends." :) On Fri, Nov 12, 2010 at 5:35 PM, Vincent Teachout <[email protected]> wrote: > I'm toying with the idea of surprising the family with one of the > new-fangled flat screen HDTVs this Christmas, even though the 12 year > old RCA is still working perfectly fine.
perfectly fine for what? Are you a football fan? Prefer late night black-and-white movies? Limit the kids to one hour of PBS each week? What source do you use for viewing? If you've got HD, hi-def satellite or fiber, it's a pretty impressive improvement. If you're just replaying your Columbo series, the set probably doesn't matter. If you want to stream Harry Potter over Netflix on your 7.1 stereo, it's pretty cool. > I hesitate because I thought I'd heard that they don't last as long as > the CRTs, or that they develop dead spots on the screens. Finally, when > I look at them in the stores, a lot of them seem to me to be much dimmer > than my old reliable. The CFL-backlights dim over a period of time and are a lot less after 3-5 years. The LEDs won't dim as much. The nature of CRT vs. LCD means that CRT doesn't get failed black spots, while LCD does. Good quality sets fail less and have lower thresholds where they will replace the set. > Are my concerns groundless? Are the newer TVs just fine? Not looking > for brand recommendations, just would appreciate overall impressions > from those that have them. Thanks. You are unlikely to have a new set last for 14 years. Same for your car and your computer. It's the nature of things. 3-D is a fad or it isn't. It's Blue-Ray or it's HD-DVD, Beta or VHS; too early to call. I'd steer away unless you're a media maven with lots of disposable income. Larger is better, but it needs to fit the space. Quality and reliability is really important; I'm a big fan of Consumer Reports. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche & Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[email protected] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
