help with the best 19" hdtv

[selvedgeseam]

I was checking out target today and noticed they have a 19" magnavox lcd/dvd combo on sale for $199 from $299

while this SEEMS like a good deal, I haven't been shopping for LCDs for a while so imagine they have gone down even more in recent months.

It seems like a nice deal but aren't there 26" hdtv's for $299 by now? Is $199 for a 19" good? Is it really a sale, or is it just an overinflated MSRP reduced drastically to make me feel like I'm getting a good deal when i'm not.

I need a small tv, looking to spend $~200, thought I would run it by here before biting the bullet with the target deal.

are there better quality 19" LCDs for less?

TIA!

 

[selvedgeseam]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...A&Item=N82E16824001278

??

why does samsung call it a MONITOR with TV tuner but not call it an HDTV?

 

[krotchy]

Originally posted by: selvedgeseam
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...A&Item=N82E16824001278

??

why does samsung call it a MONITOR with TV tuner but not call it an HDTV?

I have a T260HD which I bought last year and is basically the big brother to the T220HD and I like it quite a bit because I use it 80% of the time as a second PC monitor and 20% of the time to actually watch TV. The reason they call the T2X0HD's monitors and not TV's is they use PC resolutions (and TN panels) instead of TV resolutions. This basically means when you watch TV, either you will stretch the image to 16:10 or you will get black bars on the top/bottom with HD content. Also being TN panels their viewing angles are pretty bad.

A 19" monitor with a tuner usually has the widescreen 16:10 PC resolution of 1440x900 and are also almost always TN panels. A 19" TV's on the other hand, typically has 16:9 aspect ratio, a resolution of 1280x720 or 166x768 and is usually an IPS or PVA panels which have better viewing angles and look much better for TV usage. Still resolution is not a guarantee of panel type, but usually a TN panel has a viewing angle listed of 140-160 degrees while a non-TN will be 178 degrees or so.

For full time TV usage, a TN panel is definitely not something I would recommend due to poor viewing angles, however for full time PC usage you generally sit directly in front of the screen so TN angles are more forgiving. If I was looking at a small size TV which I was planning on using exclusively as a TV my first priority would probably be verifying it is not a TN panel.

 

[selvedgeseam]

THanks for the informative post, I appreciate it.

I don't know what a TN panel is, I plan to get a small tv mostly for last gen gaming and some TV. I want something on a smaller screen because it tends to look better on a 20" screen than a 42" screen, considering I will be playing older games like dreamcast/ps2 era maybe some wii and not HD consoles/games.

Do you think this screen will suit me? Or should I go with the Magnavox @ $199?