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From: abeles@mhuxm.UUCP (abeles)
Newsgroups: net.consumers
Subject: Buying a 19 inch color television--naming brands and prices
Message-ID: <293@mhuxm.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 24-Dec-84 10:16:02 EST
Article-I.D.: mhuxm.293
Posted: Mon Dec 24 10:16:02 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 25-Dec-84 02:45:52 EST
Distribution: net
Organization: Bell Communications Research, Murray Hill, NJ
Lines: 104


Shopping for a new color TV I found the following out.  I would like to
read others' comments on the purchase of a new TV.

I shopped in NJ at Crazy Eddie's, Sterns, Arthurs, A&S, Video Concepts.
I understand that Trader Horn's also has very good prices but have not
checked it out, nor have I checked out the discount houses in NY.

The new thing (to me) in color TV's is called "flat-screen."  This
appears to mean that  there is a flat sheet of glass in front of
the CRT.  Accompanying this there are improvements in the clarity of
the picture which may or may not be related to the way the TV is
illuminated ambiently in the room.  A related feature (adding to the
pleasing quality of the picture) is the sharper corners of the screen
particularly found in Toshiba Products such as the C2010M, a 20"
model which CE wants $600 for (slightly negotiable).   JVC models also
have this feature.

Basically, the 19" color TV seems to be quite reduced in price; Arthur's
will sell a GE model for $260.

But there are certain features which command  higher price:

--remote control
--electronic tuning
--remote control unit which when inserted into TV becomes standard control
--square corners
--better sound
--cable ready (this is quite confusing to me)
--sleep timer
--appearance of greater color saturation in the picture (JVC)
--ability to function as RGB monitor
--ability to display 80 columns of text for use as a terminal
--ability to control a sound system (JVC) or at least feed the TV sound
     through your stereo if you want to

From the places I visited, the first three have vastly better prices
(Crazy Eddie's, Arthurs, and Sterns;  Sterns is a department store).
Toshiba and JVC have the most modern and stylish units which can
be quite expensive ($800 for a 20" Toshiba RGB monitor, etc., model
number 2084).  Generally, price for color TV's is directly related to
the screen size, so that when you approach $1000 you get something
like a 25" screen, which is really big; above that are the projection
units.  But we see that the JVC and Toshiba models in particular are
capable of being quite expensive without having bigger screens than
the GE model mentioned above.

A (major?) difference between the GE model and the higher priced
models mentioned is a styling difference.  As viewed, the GE unit
is much larger looking at the front than these particular JVC and
Toshiba models.  That is, a much greater proportion of the unit
is taken up visually by the CRT.  I suspect, but do not know, that
the GE may be heavier, as well.  I find the appearance of the
more expensive models to be an advantage.

The difference in price also includes remote control, which is more
of an objective improvement.  The Toshiba also has something they call
"MSSS" sound.  What is this?  I don't know.  It does sound better,
though.


If you prefer a smaller unit, the Sony KV1357R seems pretty good (and
someone I know has one).  The Arthur's price was $400, but I hear
it can be gotten for maybe $50 less.  It is a 13" model with remote
control and is cable ready.

But, WHAT DOES CABLE READY really mean?  If I were to subscribe to
cable TV, would I pay less each month if my TV were "cable-ready?"
Or does the cable company just charge the same amount for installing
and renting their unit whether or not it has to convert to channel
3?  And what is all this talk about the number of cable channels?
This is really confusing!  Panasonic advertises 94 channels.  JVC
for its C-2065 model ($479 at Sterns) advertises 142 channels.  And
I believe I have seen one which features something over 150 channels.
Where does it stop?  When is it enough?  I surely don't know, but
maybe some enlightened expert reader of the newsgroup could elaborate
on this subject.

When I think about it, at $260 the GE unit (and there are many like
it in that range--this is the least expensive of the 19-20" models
that I found, but Hitachi and others have these models) is about
half the price of the better Toshiba and JVC units.  I could get
a VCR and a TV for about $600 instead of just a better quality TV
for $500.  It wouldn't be cable ready, however, and I just realized
that it also uses the antiquated (and now banned by the FCC) old
fashioned rotary switch tuners which separate VHF and UHF channels.
As an aside, all the cheaper units no matter what price range (i.e.,
last year's models?) seem to have plastic wood-grain exterior.
The exception is Sony which seems to have been more sensitive to
the distasteful falseness of plastic wood in its 15" and smaller
models.  Even Toshiba has (CX-2034) a wood-grain model with the
flat screen at $499 (Stern's).  Did I mention above (I don't think
so) that only Toshiba and the most expensive JVC models have the
square cornered CRT?  This model does too, I think.

What say you?  Are there other quality manufactures besides JVC and
Toshiba?  What about sound (it's hard to judge in a noisy TV
display area with 15 units operating at once, so comments from
those who have units with what they consider to be good sound are
especially welcome)?  And do readers think that the new models
are just deceptively different in style, not function and therefore
not worth the price?

--J. Abeles, consumer