Sometimes I wonder how retail outlets like Circuit City and Best Buy can stay in business the way they rip people off. I know that's being a bit harsh, but when you look at the prices of LCD High Definition TVs you'll agree with me.
For the past year and a half I considered upgrading my current HDTV. A three and a half year old 27" tube monitor that I bought for about $700 had worked well for me, but I decided it was time for me to go to a larger size screen.
However in getting a larger size I knew I couldn't go with an old fashioned tube. Considering the 27" weighed in at about 100 pounds, if I was going to go to a 36" screen, it would have weighed at least 200 and I know the desk I used as a stand would not be able to support the weight.
It was then that I decided to get myself either a plasma or LCD-based screen. However I remember reading all the bad reports of plasma televisions when used for the Xbox 360, primarily in terms of screen burn in. In addition, they are not well known for having a long life. That, combined with the insanely high price tags, meant that plasma was definitely out of the question.
Thus my only decision was LCD. But for the time being the prices were quite expensive. Last year I sold the Pac-Man machine that I won at E3 and received $1,600 for it. I wanted to get a decent sized LCD screen but the only offer I had that could even be considered affordable was a 32 inch, for about $1,200!
At that time I made the decision to use the money and buy a laptop for the same amount. The LCD HDTV had to wait for a year.
It wasn't until I received my recent tax refund that I decided to once again consider an LCD. With about $1,000 available I started to look around the local retail outlets, including Circuit City and Best Buy. However, the only LCD televisions that were easily affordable to me were about 27" in size. There was a 32" widescreen that I could have purchased for $900, but I held off. And of course the $900 had a subpar quality display, but when I looked at the connections, you could easily tell that the retailers connected lower quality analog component cables as opposed to digital HDMI, an obvious ploy to get customers to buy the more expensive models.
I then decided to check prices online. One online vendor that I started to purchase from earlier this year is called Newegg. On that site I was able to get myself a 300 GB external USB hard drive for only $89. If I went to Best Buy to get the same drive, the price would easily be upwards of $200!
I checked out their LCD television prices, and I was surprised with what I saw. Their 32-inch LCD models sold for about $599, but what I saw next put me on the floor. There was an Olevia 37" LCD HD-ready monitor for only $629! Add shipping to the mix and it only would have been $700. Now since it was an HD-ready monitor I knew there would not have a tuner included, but since I use DIRECTV as my tuner, I could care less.
After reading user reviews from various sites as well as Newegg, and eliminating any obvious bias that fanboys might invoke, I made the decision to buy the Olevia.
The 37" behemoth arrived at my house on Tuesday, and after spending about an hour moving TVs around, I connected the Xbox 360 to my monitor's VGA input. Currently the DIRECTV is set for a lower quality S-Video, but I will be upgrading that to HDMI in the upcoming month. What mattered for the time being was how the Xbox 360 looked, and what better game to use for a benchmark than Gears of War!
Yes we already knew that Gears was a beautiful game, but I never knew just how beautiful it was until I played it on the larger screen. Component video on a 27" screen didn't do it justice! Same can be said when I loaded Fast and Furous: Tokyo Drift HD-DVD. This is truly what high definition is all about!
My experience just shows that you do not need to mortgage your house to find an amazing LCD HDTV. Just go online and purchase from Newegg or a similar online retailer. It's just the shipping and the wait that will kill you.
Currently Playing: MLB 2K7 (XBOX 360), TMNT 1989 Arcade (XBLA)
Waiting For: Crackdown (XBOX 360,) Command and Conquer 3 (XBOX 360)