TV/Electronics Shopping

[spaz-i-mota.livejournal.com]

Anyone have any suggestions for a 'local' electronics store where I can *purchase* a new tv?  As my economic stimulus $ was depositing into my bank account, my television died.  Conspiracy theory, perhaps?

Anyways, I have a car to get around if need be.  I'm curious what's out there besides the big chains.  Any info or personal experiences with these would be appreciated.

Thanks! 

*I clarified this to show that I'm hoping to purchase a TV, and curious what non-chain options are around

Comments

[ron_newman]

At this point, you should make sure that anything you buy can receive digital HDTV signals. Otherwise, you may have nothing but a big doorstop after next February.

maybe not?

[spaz-i-mota.livejournal.com]

I'm planning to do just that. BUT from my research, if you have a cable box you're fine even with an analog tv. Am I misunderstanding this. This is a bit of a tangent, but if you don't mind exploring this for a second, I think this DTV is getting hyped up a bit more than necessary.

Only people using just antenna's will be in trouble. I apologize for not knowing how to make a link in here but this website explained it well to me - http://www.dtvanswers.com/dtv_affected.html

What do you think? Is my comcast dig. cable box not already converting digital to analog (my old tv was only analog)?

Re: maybe not?

[ron_newman]

I don't know much about that, as I don't have a cable box.

Re: maybe not?

[spaz-i-mota.livejournal.com]

I don't think 'they' want us to know so we all go buy new equipment we may not need.
:-)
Either way. I'll be sure to get a non-obsolete tv this time around.

Re: maybe not?

[thebinturong.livejournal.com]

I bought a converter and an indoor HDTV antenna to check it out for fun. Granted I live on the first floor and not on a hill, but my conclusion is, you need a real antenna mounted on the roof and pointed the right way. Analog TV gets snow if you don't have a good signal, but broadcast HDTV just doesn't work. Of course most people in the city typical have cable TV to avoid this kind of thing. I'm kind of surprised that comcast and their ilk aren't trying to make more noise to get people to upgrade their service, but I think the majority of their channels will be standard definition for years to come.

Peersonally I think that standard def signals look pretty bad in hi def monitors. 5.1 surround sound is kind of fun though.

Re: maybe not?

[red-liner.livejournal.com]

I will say, though, that with a decent antenna, broadcast HDTV not only works, but works *extremely* well. Way better than digital cable, with no dropouts or jitter.

Re: maybe not?

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

The DTV transition has nothing to do with cable or satellite.

However, if you do use an antenna there's some extra channels you get ( PBS World, etc), reception is perfect, there's no "ghosts" from signal reflecting off buildings, and you might just forget about cable.

Its true you need a strong signal for DTV to work, and tuners vary in sensitivity. Personally I had no problems with an indoor antenna. Also the digital signals here are all UHF and that penetrates better in urban areas; I couldn't receive the lower channels with an analog TV.