Buying HDTV Need Help!

[Unreal030]

Hello Everyone.

I am having a little trouble deciding what would be a good HDTV to buy and I would very much appreciate your help in this matter.

This is my situation:

-American University student living a good sized dorm room (its a 2 person but its pretty much double the size of normal 2 persons but for the same price lol) Probably will be living in a friends house next year.

-I am willing to spend $1,200 total. (For the tv, this doesn't include cables and other extra costs)

-I can deal with a 32" however I would prefer a 37" or something. You know, closer to 40".

-My main uses for this tv will be for regular tv watching, movies, and video games.

-I plan on getting a Playstation 3 in a few months, so that I can play videogames on the tv and watch BluRay movies.

-I want a 720P tv. 1080 means a large price jump and it is not necessary for a tv within the size range I am looking for, according to what has been said by all the sources I have used when looking up general info on HDTV's.

-I would like a good amount of features. I want the most bang for my buck after all.

-I plan on having this TV for a long time. TV's last quite a while in my family and I hope to keep it that way.

-I am wanting a Sony Bravia. At the moment I am not currently interested in any other brands. If you can give me a good reason to go with another brand, other than the price factor, I am all ears however it seems like Bravia is quite consistent with their picture quality and feature sets, their tv's are aesthetically pleasing, reliable, and the Sony TV+ Sony PS3 duality I am sure has some benefits, and so on and so forth. This I feel is worth the extra bit in price.


These are the two current HDTV's I have been looking at. If you could give me your opinion on these, and/or offer other HDTV ideas that in your opinion are better than these (please tell me why you think this) that would be great.


This is my #1 choice at the moment:

Sony KDL-37N4000

(I LOVE the feature list for this TV, I would prefer to have all of these features in any tv suggestions anyone gives me)


#2 Choice at the moment:

Sony Bravia M-Series KDL-37M4000 37-Inch 720p LCD HDTV


I really need some help with this because it seems most of the tv's I am interested in (that I can find) have very few if any reviews by people on the internet, I am guessing the reason for the 2 above is because they are fairly new/2008 models??

I hope to get one by September/October.

I will probably end up purchasing it through Crutchfield.com

They have free shipping on all of their TV's. (I think that saves me anywhere from $50-$100, which is very nice) and they seem to be a well known company with good service.

I am basically able to pay for this stuff because I have been working hard all summer to save money up so that I can buy some nice stuff. An HDTV+PS3 are what I am saving up for (along with the accesories/games/movies of course).

I am hoping to get the PS3 later this year. In September the 80GB will go down to the $399 price to replace the 40GB but since I will probably be a bit low on money after this purchase I will probably wait until Christmas to buy it because I can probably get a good deal through some "buy a blue ray player/ps3 and get $100 bluray movie gift card" thing like Walmart did a few months ago.

[kevinw]

-I am wanting a Sony Bravia. At the moment I am not currently interested in any other brands.
You have made your choice, no need for opinions because many people are going to offer options of different brands.
If your set on Sony go for it. You could shop arounf to Bestbuy, Walmart and Costco for possibly better savings

[Knicks4973]

You should go to cnet.com and read the reviews on those TV's. That'll give you a good idea on what you will be getting as far as picture quality and controls.

I have a 32" Sony Bravia HDTV that I absolutely love. So going with a Sony is a very good choice. Beware though that Sony's are priced more than other brands, so you really need to compare the Sony's with say Samsungs, Vizio's, etc.

[skylolow]

Sony's are excellent but I won't completely limit my self only to them. Remember with Sony you are paying a little more for the name. I own a Sony 60". But Samsung for example offers one hell of a TV for the money. Chances are you can get more features and bigger picture compared to the Sony and not lose any quality in picture.

C.C. right now has the Sony 40" (KDL-40S4100) for $1199. Its a 1080P. They also have a Samsung 40" for $1250 with a few extra inputs over the Sony. They even have a 50" Plasma Samsung 720P currently for $1300.

Your going to get the biggest picture for you dollar by buying a model that is discontinued and the new models are out. You'll save hundreds over the orginal price.

[Just Ask]

All have offered good advice. But, as kevinw stated, it seems like you have keyed in on the Sony. So, I would go for it too. Don't forget Amazon and buy.com as options for the purchase.

But, I have had very good experiences with Crutchfield. And after all, good customer service from Crutchfield could be worth a few dollars more.