Once upon a time, Plasmas and LCD TVs used to be ultra thin but had an external tuner box. Over time, the tuner box got built into the TV making the TV slightly thicker. Now it seems that consumers want something thin and light to hang on the walls so many TVs are being made with the tuner separate again. Do you prefer to have a thin TV with a separate tuner or an all-in-one but thicker TV? BTW, This is a new TV from Hitachi - more pics at Impress.
I much prefer to have the tuner built in. Though my TV is far from thin. It's a 40 inch Sony CRT tube HDTV. The thing is a tank, that weighs in at about 304 pounds. Amazing picture though.
my family is still using CRT TV. :-(
same here. T.T
Cathode Ray Oscilloscope TVs are still quite acceptable, I see no reason to upgrade. Plus, the living room one is even HD-ready.
haha...my crt TV is now 'wide screen'... the display shrunk =x
Our CRT just threw in the towel a while ago... time to upgrade.
All in one, I would never mount one on a wall, because the comfortable viewing level angle is quite low (or eyelevel when you on a sofa).
I agree. I think maybe people who mount their Plasma's on the wall could be saving space, or just for the fact that it looks kinda cool. I have a Plasma screen as well, but I don't ever plan on mounting it. Anything too high gives me a headache and puts a strain on my neck.
Just what the heck is a tuner? Something that you use to change the channels? My plasma is connected to an AV receiver which receives image from cable, dvd and consoles and although its a 5 year old plasma it's really good and thin.
I would prefer built-in tuner if it doesn't add much cost, otherwise I would prefer one without a tuner so that I can use my existing one or I can choose between specific tuners for features that I want.
Over here, standard analog TV is still prodominate choice. Thus people like to have their tv tuners incased. However, as we move to digital HD signal as a standard in a near future those tv tuners will become obsolete. High end flat panels (like Pioneer Elite, Kuro series) tend to leave them out as you probably won't be using it to watch analog tv anyways.
my TV is Samsung LCD and the tuner is built in, it's hanged on the wall and i don't have any troubles at all (i wanna get a plasma though -.-)
Wait, if you have an LCD, why would you want a Plasma instead??
Plasma is known for a better display of colours
Surely you would get the same color quality with a decent LCD..? Plasma looks like it's all but dying out.... every electronics store I go to always has a "DISCOUNT HD-TV" section which is full of, surprise, surprise - Plasmas.
Dillithium's right more quality in colours and brighter
As well, a big thing right now is true black. Only Plasma's are capable of this true dark colors. But Plasma's and LCD's also have different comparisons based on the condition of the room. For example; lighting condition.
"High end flat panels (like Pioneer Elite, Kuro series) tend to leave them out as you probably won't be using it to watch analog tv anyways." The built in tuner that we're talking about is a digital TV tuner. Not an analog one (all TVs have analog tuners). With my TV (which has a built in digital tuner), all I have to do is plug in a generic set of rabbit ears into the RF input, and I can pick up all the high definition digital stations for free from my area (Milwaukee, Wisconsin). Many older HDTVs don't have the digital tuner built into it, so you need a separate tuner box to pick up those free over-the-air stations.
Apperently you misunderstood my post. Analog TV by way of your coaxial cable connected to your VHF/UHF plug is still most widely used method for TV reception. When flat panels first came out (as this post refers) it was basically just a screen, and to view even basic TV you needed an external box tuner. At that time, HDTV was just a concept which was not immediately accepted or adopted. When prices for these sets began to drop, manufacturers purposely incorporated cable input to appeal to the mass market of analog cable users. Thus you see it available in most panels today. However, not all TV's have analog as you stated. Just check out the back panel of the TV above. Non-existant. At present, HDTV has become an affordable option for most, and analog signals are set to cease by 2010. Since the market has now readily accepting HDTV, manufactures have started omitting the analog feature. Starting at the high end (since HD enthusiast are willing to pay top tier). Result: you're gonna see thinner screens and need a HDTV tuner that allow for broader channel subscriptions, and not just simple local free air broadcast. Nuff said.
Thinner of course. I would want as much room as possible in my house.
I would prefer the tuner outside...it would be more cost effective when I send it in for repairs, and I don't have to carry the whole plasma tv to the shop. :)
Hmm.. Having the tuner outside might be a little bit inconvenient, you have to provide extra space for the tuner and more cable means more hassle.. But what guarayakha said is also true, it might be better to leave the tuner outside..
just an option but truth be told having it seperate gives you more options. one you can stick it behind your tv if you dont want to deal with it so it would be like a thicker tv or you could mount your tv(not sure how much the tuner box weighs but shaving extra weight never hurts when dealing with any kind of mount) and conceal your tuner where ever you want like a game console, dvd player, etc...
i use LCD, with tuner built in, quite heavy, butit's nice
I'd prefer to not have the tuner at all.
What tuner? This is the age of the Internet TeeVee!
I'd say inside, saves room and prevents from having to hide extra cables throughout the room.
I've neither a plasma nor LCD T.T
i have neither LCD nor a Plasma TV 'coz it's still too expensive but i would like to have at least a small LCD monitor ^^;;;
I don't have a plasma nor LCD TV at the moment. But if I'm going to buy one, I rather buy a slightly thicker all-in-one. I'm waiting till a 66cm Full HD 1080p TV gets on the market, can't go any bigger unfortunetly.
There ARE some pretty nice monitors at that size. I have a 27" Samsung 275T and up until I bought my 46" Sharp Aquos 92u (model #) LCD this week, I used that for playing videogames, watching movies (DVD or HD), watching satellite TV. My ONLY complaint about it is that if you're watching a really dark scene, the black doesn't get *really* black, and you can see some uneven backlighting in those scenes. That's something that I only saw once every week or two, so it really wasn't an annoying issue. For inputs the 275T has component, composite, VGA, DVI, s-video, and it acts as a USB hub (I think), supports HDCP, the height, swivel, and tilt can be adjusted... looking at the specs now, it has a fairly low contrast ratio (dynamic 3000:1) and only a 6ms response time, but nevertheless... I personally love this monitor. /end rant about his monitor
I prefer the separate setto
