An HDTV review lab...

.. my dad's living room.
Scenario: Need 'movable' tv. Pick up local 'Air' DTV, HD channels while having good SD Basic Tier picture.

I dropped by my 86 yo dad's a couple months ago and noticed he had pulled his recliner forward a few feet so he could see and hear his ten year old 32'' Toshiba better.

Uh-oh.. time to tv shop for him again. First thought came to mind.. at least a 42" flat panel.

But it's MUCH harder now to shop for TV as you would guess. So I looked first for price/performance THEN did due diligence on the net. Checking all the customer and journal reviews against what was offered on sale.

But I reminded myself to think outside the box on the size and realized what I needed was a set that was highly movable. There is the very good chance it would have to serve in a nursing home at some time in the future and the answer just might be a set we could move closer to him without being an eyesore. A side benefit would be the ability to hook up headphones to the set without cable extensions running across the room. Or dealing with 'remote' type speakers or headsets.. which was my earlier solution to his blasting the audio.

I started with the Vizio VW26 from Walmart at $448. Sat it about 6' away on a side table.
Pro's
SD from basic-plus cable {no box} was good. Not as good visually as the old tv, but it never is.

Tuner excellent - picked up decent DTV and HDTV from local (20 mile distant) stations well with rabbit ears. Note: this depends on tranmitter power which SOME stations increase compared to their old xmitters. Some do not. That's why you can often get decent DTV picture while the orig is really snowy.

Attractive but ordinary housing
very good NFL game picture
Menu system excellent for a low price tv... with reservations

Con's
Flaky, if not crazy, Closed Caption function. No 'CC on Mute' which was a common feature from the beginning on tube sets and cable boxes. Larger TV's in the Vizio VX/VW series have it.
Actually the CC turned out to be the deal killer.. it would return to screen on its own and every time channel was switched.
Mute and 'Last Channel' buttons 'buried' in button cluster.. CC button only somewhat more obvious.

Dad was dissatisfied with the standard broadcast picture {from cable} even after 2 weeks - he had accepted he needed time to get used to it. He couldnt really describe WHY.. just that his friend's 32" picture looked better to him.

Turns out from actually going to BEst Buy to pick up the same set as his friend's {Sharp LC 3243 at $400 more than the Vizio} that the picture didnt have enough PUNCH for him. Meaning he wanted 'brighter color'.. could have done the job with the Vizio's of course but it was just too complicated to explain to him.
While looking at the display, he pointed to the set right above the Sharp and said he liked it even better ..it was the Samsung 3253H {grrr}. Sadly, neither this set OR the Sharp had CC on Mute, either. I dont understand... it wouldnt cost Mfr ANYTHING to do that!

But Dad knows best (and he was paying the additional for any upgrade). He evidently had though about it and decided he wasnt going to compromise based on cost. This was different from the past, obviously.. he washes out ziploc baggies and saves string wire and aluminum foil fucrinoutloud!
The BB guy reduced the price to $909 from the $999 sticker.. found out later the BB web price was reduced to 899.
when we got the set home I found a VERY pleasant surprise .. TWO 'antenna' inputs - labled Ant and Cable - and an 'Antenna' button on the remote, allowing a switch from cable to antenna without going to convolutions. On MOST sets, this is a menu setup item.. imagine teaching an 86'er to do that!
I'd planned using a separate IR controlled switch then a macro programmable remote.

I cannot emphasize enough what a good feature this is!* At any rate, he's happy with it.. because he made the decision, himself. Plus I heaped on the praise what a good decision it was. Now All I have to do is

1 Buy or build the Antennas for off-air pickup*... Dayton 20 miles and Columbus 50 miles... opposite directions, of course.

2 Negotiate best deal with Time Warner, Direct TV* or Dish* based on:
A Ability to watch baseball, primarily the Reds in the upcoming season. FSN Ohio will no longer carry the bulk of the Reds games according to dad.

Ability to watch College Basketball, specifically OSU.. he's also a UDayton fan (arent they doing great!) but that's covered on the local channel.


* Local Channel carriage is a HUGE plus for cable provider, we're in a 'tween zone which means we get TWO cities, and a supposed selling point of the Sat providers but the way they originally did it was stupid.. they actually uplinked the major Metropolitan channels. If I wanted Cincy as well, I'd simply add another Antenna bank.
And I MAY have to do that for the Reds games.

Doing it the way I envision frees me from having to buy or even consider 'buying' local channel coverage {and neither Dayton or Columbus coverage would have been that good} and frees my dad {and me, if I wish} totally from cable. It ALSO lessens the selling point of the HD tier on cable. Add digital tier, THEN HD tier = big bill.
Get that? a 2 antenna input on that set, along with DSL availability frees this sub-burg of Enon TOTALLY from Time Warner!

Not to mention T-W wont carry Big Ten Network, Dish and Direct do.

But silly us in Enon.. we thought we never would need Antennas again. All those towers torn down and sent to scrap metal yards. heh

 

1. You are a very good son

2. When are you coming to Cleveland to set us up?

 

Note: Further research shows that for Ku sat (dish, DirectTV) I dont really need to worry about the second 'Antenna' input. The Lnb switches* currently used can accept input from an 'OTA' {just means 'over the air' antenna}. And supposedly current Sat receiver boxes can handle it. If there is only one feed horn, the switches can still be used.

*These control the multiple pickups (feed horns) you see on the small dishes.

For Metro/Urban use, some Sat suppliers, like Sadoun, carry a limited line of OTA antennas.
{hat-tip to Brent at Sadoun in cols}
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I charge $50 an hour. Next time I'm at my sons house in Canton... Meter starts when I leave his house. heh j/k. I'll talk you through it but I'm just learning too. Difference might be I'm familiar with the basic technology from one of my 'former lives'

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BTW: some posters on AVSforum claim that Vizio and LG units made in Mexico use the Sharp {mfr} tuner and display. I wouldnt be too sure.

 

Programming observation.. Channel 7 in Dayton is very proactive in OTA High Def programming. All their news is in HD, including the recorded remotes.

Downside: Some of us knew years ago that some news anchors actually belong in radio.
It's confirmed. Pancake makeup so thick that Computer animated humans look more natural.
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HDMI {the cables used in HD} explained. this may become quite critical to you in the future, so it's good to get an idea about what the technology does.

Parts One and Two

A money saver, right off the bat, from a commenter on the blog:

S'truth!!!! It's DIGITAL, folks. Quality of the build might be better, but Bulkier/bigger means diddly! Especially 2-3 feet long ones.