my 12 years old sony tv had heart attack last night! there's no picture on the screen only sound came out. i think it's the picture tubing. instead of fixing it i think i'm getting new tv. went to walmart today and i was looking at the 32" philip and samsung. my question are: the higher the contrast ratio # does that mean the picture will better? what are the spec i need to look for when buying flat screen other than brand name?

Check the number of inputs if you plan on hooking alot of stuff up to it. (DVD, VCR, Blu-Ray, Game Consoles) Just compare the TVs side by side and see what picture you like the best for your price range.

You might want to check out LG and Toshiba TV's. They are both good quality and well priced. I work in an Appliance and Electronics store and I am not on the sales floor but I notice what goes out of the door and those two are our biggest sellers and we don't have that many of them come back in for repair.

I would look at going to a smaller "hometown" store. Even if you have to pay a bit more it is worth it for the service you get. At Walmart you will have to send in your tv to get it fixed and you will be out of a TV for a while. The smaller stores usually have a service center and they will be able to get it fixed much quicker.

with out question pick the samsung.

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We can’t help ourselves. We see a line, we want to cross it. Maybe it’s the thrill for trading the familiar for the unfamliliar. A personal dare. The only problem is once you’ve crossed it’s almost impossible to go back. But if you do manage to make it back across that line you find safety in numbers.

look for these "qualities"
1. 1080p display provides the highest quality progressive-scan picture possible from a high-definition source
2. DNIe (Digital Natural Image engine) dramatically improves picture by enhancing contrast, detail and white balance

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i'm not planning to hook any other stuff on, maybe a dvd player and that's about it. i was looking at a 19" toshiba and the price and pic quality was not bad at all. it's under $500 comparing to $700 for the other 32". i'll probably end up with toshiba.

the philips has a bit better picture (sammy finishes last among the major lcd's for picture quality) philips is one of 2 companies making the whole lcd set (sharp is the only other all others use one of their panels, and some like sony just rebadge the whole set) toshiba is another very good brand, avoid the korean based companies they have lower quality (lg is a pos on the best day) I have been selling and repairing lcd sets for a long time now (we sold them before they were really for home use)

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Steve
'97 GTP VS cam, ZZP PCM, and not much else yet

In Truth LG is actually the used to be largest LCD and Plasma Panel maker. In which they do supply philips for there panels. They were surpassed by samsung on the lcd side.

Hitachi, Samsung, LG, Pioneer make there own panels.

Not to say in a crunch some places will buy external.

And as far as samsung coming in last....what ratings are you reading buddy.

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We can’t help ourselves. We see a line, we want to cross it. Maybe it’s the thrill for trading the familiar for the unfamliliar. A personal dare. The only problem is once you’ve crossed it’s almost impossible to go back. But if you do manage to make it back across that line you find safety in numbers.

You could go on all day about which are better, but basically it comes down to 2 things.

1. What are you going to use it for? (If your not going to watch HD programing, why buy an HDTV?)

2. What can you afford. You can spend thousands on a top of the line set, but if you dont have the equipment to support it, or dont plan to upgrade, then its pointless.

Vizio is the set that I bought for the bedroom and it has a nice picture, but I dont use it HD programing and dont plan to, but DVD's look great on it and the quality is very good.

For the price, you cant beat Vizio if all your going to do is replace a tube TV. If you have thousands into a home entertainment system, then I would go with the Samsung.

Best HDTVs (32 inches or less) - CNET Reviews

webracin

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2001 Grand Prix GTP
ZZP HUB 3.2 3.4, ZZP 8 Rib conversion, JC 3" DP Gen 2 cat & U-bend Delete, Accel Super Stock 8mm wires, DHP 1.5, 180* Thermo, Throttle Spacer, SS Intercooler, ZZP Fuel Rails, SLP CAI w/K&N Cone, Dynomax cat back, ZZP Tranny.

2000 Grand Prix GTP Daytona K&N, Flowmasters

Vizio is a brand i would watch out for.

Great picture and cheap.

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We can’t help ourselves. We see a line, we want to cross it. Maybe it’s the thrill for trading the familiar for the unfamliliar. A personal dare. The only problem is once you’ve crossed it’s almost impossible to go back. But if you do manage to make it back across that line you find safety in numbers.

LG used to be pretty bad but they have gotten much better in the past couple years. Our repair numbers on the LG is more then any other brand but we also sell about three times more sets then any other brand. I would say that out LG sale/repair ratio is much lower then the other brands. We get TV's in from 10+ stores for repair and if you look at the number that we sell to the number we get back it is pretty low.

If you are looking for a cheap but still good quality TV check out the LG's.