Ultimate Gaming TV?

[Tempest]

I may be in the market for a new TV for my game room soon since the one in my family room is starting to go. I was wondering what everyone would think the ultimate gaming TV would be? Keep in mind that I play both classic (2600,5200,7800,etc.), Neo Classic (NES, Genesis, Saturn), and modern games so I would need a TV that can handle all three. I'm also not made of money so I was hoping to spend under $1000 (no plasma screen TV's for me!). I'd also like something large (32" or up), but not a big screen TV since I have no room for one.

Anyone want to toss out a few suggestions on what to or not to buy? I currently have a 27" JVC TV which has served my gaming needs just fine.

Tempest

[tynstar]

Toshiba and Panasonic are the best bang for the dollar amount. Sony TVs are over priced. What kind of hook ups do you want to have? How many of each hook up?

[bargora]

If your TV is too big, you will be unable to flip it on its side to play Ikaruga properly.

[Nature Boy]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but can't you make any TV work in reality? Is there not an RF to Composite contraption available? I've got the opposite (Composite to RF) that I use, in conjunction with switchboxes and RF-to-Coax connectors, to get my retro systems connected to one TV.

Of all the TVs I've played on my favourite was the projector my wife borrowed from work. Playing Halo on a wall was just freaking amazing. I think playing Adventure that way might be even cooler.

Back to you again though: I agree that Sony's stuff tends to be overpriced. My newest TV is a 36" Toshiba and the quality is fantastic IMO - so I'd recommend them as a name brand to look for.

[Ruudos]

I have a small TV of Protec, cheap brand but the TV is ok.
We've another TV at home that's only use for just watching TV (duh), while it has 2 SCART ports, and more, that aren't used. Pretty big screen. It's a Philips TV, and best we got it for free from friends of my parents that bought a new TV (I don't see what's wrong with the one we got)

[NEOFREAK9189]

I have a 27" JVC TV just fine
but I was hoping to spend $$ in plasma screen TV's or HDTV

[Gamereviewgod]

I just bought a 32' Samsung HDTV for well under a grand. It's a great set with a flawless picture. Highly recommended. Also, Best Buy always has those open box TV's for great prices.

[Six Switch]

Check out the Best Buy or CCity ads,they have good deals and one of them,I forget which,has a deal that if you buy a tv and the price goes down you get the difference back. :)

[Raedon]

If your looking for a small TV then get one of the 24" Apex $99 flat screen stereo TV's with AV and an S-Video.

As for bang for the buck..

http://www.electronicsnation.com/en/images/products/27PT8320T.JPG
27 Inch Digital HDTV Monitor
Shipping Included
and enough inputs to make you cream your pants
$545.00

http://www.electronicsnation.com/en/products/flypage/prod_id/27PT8320

[davidbrit2]

I've got a Phillips 14" flat CRT that I use in my room for video games. It has composite inputs on the front and back, and an s-video input on the back. There's also a headphone jack on the front near the inputs, and there are stereo speakers built in. It's got plenty of on screen controls, as usual, too. And there's one feature that really stands out: it syncs PAL. I'm sure they make a larger version that probably even has component input. Look around, because that would be the wet dream of game televisions.

[Sylentwulf]

Don't take anyones opinion here. There's your first step. Go to the experts when you're spending this much money.
The BEST place to research this is all three of the following places:
In order:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/ (Big, FRIGGIN HUGE Message Board)

Circuitcity.com (They have ratings and reviews from customers on the site)

Epinions.com (reviews)

[samuraiX]

I am gonna grab a 36" HD Panasonic Tau. Very expensive but hey.. been saving for it for a long ass time.

[wberdan]

id go one further than sylentwulf and say dont listen to anyones opinion at first... shop around, see what appeals to you- check multiple stores for sets. also check specialty home theater and hi-fi shops (and i don't mean Tweeter), they (usually) take the time to set up televisions CORRECTLY- department stores do not.

then when you find a model or models that appeal to you, research them on the internet- some HDTV's have serious issues that salesmen will not bring to your attention... look for people that own the set that you want and ask them if theyve had any problems.

if youre not going to spend a lot of money then i wouldnt go so far as to researching every little detail.
just remember, a little time spent researching now can save you headache in the future.


willie

[wberdan]

Don't take anyones opinion here. There's your first step. Go to the experts when you're spending this much money.
The BEST place to research this is all three of the following places:
In order:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/ (Big, FRIGGIN HUGE Message Board)

Circuitcity.com (They have ratings and reviews from customers on the site)

Epinions.com (reviews)

i would not say that those sites feature exclusively expert advice. a lot of misinformation is available. also, a lot of manufacturers and dealers have people talking their items up on these message boards.
dont take all of their advice to heart.

willie

[Sylentwulf]

That's true, but most of their reviews are pretty obvious (The dealer reviews), since they never say ANYTHING negative. EVERY good review should have SOMETHING negative to say about the product, nothing's perfect :)

If you post a message saying you're looking for X with X amount of money on the AVS board, they should at least narrow it down, if someone is lying about product X, 50 people will jump on the post saying he's lying :)

[wberdan]

That's true, but most of their reviews are pretty obvious (The dealer reviews), since they never say ANYTHING negative. EVERY good review should have SOMETHING negative to say about the product, nothing's perfect :)

If you post a message saying you're looking for X with X amount of money on the AVS board, they should at least narrow it down, if someone is lying about product X, 50 people will jump on the post saying he's lying :)


good point. i agree that the message boards are helpful to weed out the crap products

willie

[CrazyImpmon]

http://www.electronicsnation.com/en/images/products/27PT8320T.JPG
27 Inch Digital HDTV Monitor
Shipping Included
and enough inputs to make you cream your pants
$545.00

http://www.electronicsnation.com/en/products/flypage/prod_id/27PT8320

Does that contain a plain RF input for picking up local HDTV broadcast via antenna? Does it have NTSC to HDTV converter for existing NTSC products? Does it work reliably with any 2600 games? Some 2600 games are known to make even the best quality TV cry.

\Anyway what I currently have is a Sharp 27" TV that came with the N64 display stand I have. It has one RF port and 2 AV ports. It works for me, with the 4x 5 ports AV switch boxes.

[chrisballer]

samsung is the best tv for the money imo. You should be able to find a nice 36" flat screen for what you want to spend.

[Tempest]

Are there any problems when playing older systems on a modern TV? Anything I should avoid or is known to cause problems? Two things I know I want to get are a HDTV and one that has Component Video input. I'll probably go for a 36" flatscreen or something like that.

Tempest

[Raedon]

People who are worried about the $500 HDTV reciever not being included with the HDTV should take to heart that your local Cable providers are going to require you to RENT their HDTV digital receivers for $10 a month per TV..

[Sylentwulf]

Yeah don't bother getting one that includes a HDTV decoder. As long as the set is HDTV capable, you'll be good to go.

You ARE looking for the most important things though, as you said - 36" flatscreen HDTV with component inputs (Try to get at least 2 component, 2 Svideo, 1 RF, and 2 composite)

You shouldn't have ANY problems playing older systems on newer TV's.

[omnedon]

Inputs inputs inputs! The more the better. Multiple ones in the back, and it has to include RGB, multiple RCA's, S-Video, and one RCA input in the front too. You can live without RF in, as long as you have co-ax in (which all do I believe).

Pay attention to the picture, size price and quality of course, but DO NOT short shrift youself on inputs. If you are on this board, you likely will want to have multiple systems hooked up at once, and many inputs are the key to that.

[Tempest]

The number of inputs isn't super important to me since I have two multi-A/V boxes. My current TV only has two RCA inputs (one S-Video) and I have 10 systems hooked up to it.

Tempest

[wberdan]

Inputs inputs inputs! The more the better. Multiple ones in the back, and it has to include RGB, multiple RCA's, S-Video, and one RCA input in the front too. You can live without RF in, as long as you have co-ax in (which all do I believe).

Pay attention to the picture, size price and quality of course, but DO NOT short shrift youself on inputs. If you are on this board, you likely will want to have multiple systems hooked up at once, and many inputs are the key to that.

youll be hard pressed to find a new *under 1000$* monitor with RGB inputs ;)

[omnedon]

http://64.95.118.51/images/opti/46/67/678808-elec_lg-resized200.jpg

Toshiba 27AX61C

Has 'em all, and it was $540CDN. It's no HDTV monitor though, nor would I call it the ultimate game TV. It does however have RGB. My point being there are cheap TV's with RGB.


The number of inputs isn't super important to me since I have two multi-A/V boxes.

It's your call. I have multiple of those as well. Nevertheless I vastly prefer just hitting a button on my remote over fiddling with my multi-A/V units. In my case, the multi AV units scare the sh*t out of my wife, and drive her nuts. She's more likely to play if she has a simpler time with set up.

None of this may matter to the poster, I'm just sharing experience, with those who are interested. Also, some TV's (like the above) have fewer inputs than they seem. If I have an S-video cable in it's S-video jack, it disables video 1 RCA jacks! >:( Bear that in mind too.

[Nomeaz1]

I tend to think of my TV (http://jp.y42.photos.yahoo.co.jp/bc/bayske13/vwp?.dir=/Collection&.dnm=My+TV.jpg&.src=ph&.view=t&.hires=t) as the "Ultimate gaming TV". :-D

It goes well with my Saturn Collection (http://jp.y42.photos.yahoo.co.jp/bc/bayske13/vwp?.dir=/Collection&.dnm=Saturn+%26+DC+4.11.03.jpg&.src=ph&.view=t&.hires=t) . ;)

[chadtower]

http://www.electronicsnation.com/en/images/products/27PT8320T.JPG
27 Inch Digital HDTV Monitor
Shipping Included
and enough inputs to make you cream your pants
$545.00

http://www.electronicsnation.com/en/products/flypage/prod_id/27PT8320

Does that contain a plain RF input for picking up local HDTV broadcast via antenna? Does it have NTSC to HDTV converter for existing NTSC products? Does it work reliably with any 2600 games? Some 2600 games are known to make even the best quality TV cry.

Even more important, what's the point of 27" hdtv at all?

[chadtower]

I tend to think of my TV (http://jp.y42.photos.yahoo.co.jp/bc/bayske13/vwp?.dir=/Collection&.dnm=My+TV.jpg&.src=ph&.view=t&.hires=t) as the "Ultimate gaming TV". :-D

It goes well with my Saturn Collection (http://jp.y42.photos.yahoo.co.jp/bc/bayske13/vwp?.dir=/Collection&.dnm=Saturn+%26+DC+4.11.03.jpg&.src=ph&.view=t&.hires=t) . ;)

Holy crap. You definitely have no children.

[Tempest]

I saw something like that at my Besy Buy and they wanted $11,000 for it! Holy Crap!

Tempest

[Nomeaz1]

Holy crap. You definitely have no children.

Not yet. LOL

[l_lamb]

http://www.electronicsnation.com/en/images/products/27PT8320T.JPG
27 Inch Digital HDTV Monitor
Shipping Included
and enough inputs to make you cream your pants
$545.00

http://www.electronicsnation.com/en/products/flypage/prod_id/27PT8320

Does that contain a plain RF input for picking up local HDTV broadcast via antenna? Does it have NTSC to HDTV converter for existing NTSC products? Does it work reliably with any 2600 games? Some 2600 games are known to make even the best quality TV cry.

Even more important, what's the point of 27" hdtv at all?

It's described as a monitor, so it doesn't include a tuner. The tuner would add another $200+ and only allow local air broadcasts in HD. Cable and satellite companies have special equipment that you'll need regardless. I just got a 51" Sony WS projection set and was told everywhere I went not to waste the money on the tuner.