Newbie Questions - RCA vs Tosh, Comcast vs DirecTV vs OTA

[faceoff]

Folks,

I've been lurking, and contemplating an HDTV purchase for a LONG time. What I'm wondering is, now, with the F31310 at closeout prices, this is the set for me, or not. The other set we're considering is the Toshiba 34HF81 - can anyone compare the 2 sets?

Here's my situation, we want an HD set for our office (a bedroom sized room in our house) because that's where we spend most of our time. So, sizewise, I'm thinking that 34"-38" is a good size.


The concerns that I have are the following:

1) The whole DVI/Firewire issue. If I spend $2,000+ on either set, I want to have it more than a couple of years before it might become obsolete. Is this a concern?

2) The RCA is not a flat tube. Not sure if the flat-screen picture on the Toshiba looks better,or just seems like it should look better. Bottom line, none of our current sets are flat-screens, so, the RCA, even without a flat screen, should be a huge improvement.

3) Then the question of "what will we watch?" Currently, we have COMCAST Cable, and live in King of Prussia PA - so we can get an HD box and service through them. But, the attractiveness of the 38310 is the fact that the DirecTV and OTA boxes are already included. Not sure what the best road to go would be. Can someone in the area compare Comcast HD, OTA, and DirecTV in this area?

Any suggestions, or more questions to help make a decision would be appreciated.

THANKS!

David

[Ratman]

DVI/Firewire issues... IMO, this is a non-issue. It will be quite some time before they iron out all the legal/standardization carp!

Flatscreen/curved screen... that can argured both ways. I've watched a curved screen for 40 years... I have no issues with it.

IMO the F38310 is the way to go. You can get them under $2000, they have a built in HD receiver. Right there you've saved at least $400!!

Comcast has some HD growing pains. From what I've read, you can only get NBC (which basically is only Leno), ABC (this is good for a few movies), and HBO. With DirecTV, you can get HBO and or Showtime (for subscription) and HDNet for free.

So... my recommendation is get the F38310, get WVPI, WCAU, KYW, WHYY, WTXF today OTA. Being close to the x-mitters should be easy for you for reception in KofP. You already the the DirecTV receiver, so if you want HBO or Showtime... no extra boxes to contend with (like ComCrap). And you get HDNet, which is supposedly pretty good!

All you need is an elliptical dish and an antenna. Your OTA's will be great, get all of the same channels via DirecTV, HDNet for free and it will be a cheaper monthly fee than Comcast.

Just my opinion! :D

[freddyfred89]

I just bought the RCA about 4 weeks ago and I'm really happy with it. The above reader was dead-on with his comments. The curved screen is no problem. Receiving HD OTA is GREAT, it drops out occaisionally but it definitely serves the purpose.

A couple of things that might concern you about the RCA:

1) its heavy
2) the menus are slow and block a lot of the screen image
3) the tuner is slow when switching channels.

I've gotten used to all of these things and I can honestly say that I'm really happy I bought the RCA. It has so many features (built-in HD and DirecTV receivers, many S-vid and composite inputs, etc) that its hard to argue any other TV can really stack up if you don't mind the compromises mentioned above.

I guess I'm slightly worried about the DVI thing, but I'm looking at at least 3 years of enjoyment of this TV before I can really get upset w/ DVI. And at that point I'll buy a plasma or something :D

Cheers ...