Nytrosfinder Posted October 7, 2009 Share Posted October 7, 2009 (edited) I am thinking about getting a TV for my dorm room. I figure a 100% sure fire way to get a good TV is to buy it new. But on Ebay, from a certified top seller, I can get a refurbished TV for alot cheaper. I heard there are warranties and and other special securities on the product. (Obviously I am going with 1080p just to put that out there ) Edited October 7, 2009 by Nytrosfinder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrimGreg Posted October 7, 2009 Share Posted October 7, 2009 Dunno about the FeEbay thing, but I have a friend who bought a refurbished Panasonic flat screen for a good deal, and it has done him well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowTied Posted October 7, 2009 Share Posted October 7, 2009 my $.01 If you go refurb, get a good name brand. Do you really need 1080p? Do you have/will you get the devices/tv service/movies that are native to this format? Consider this - if you are buying a refurb, how long do you expect it to last? If the answer is 5 years or less, then maybe skip the 1080p as it will be much cheaper in 5yrs. If the answer is 10 years, then maybe you should consider new? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nytrosfinder Posted October 7, 2009 Author Share Posted October 7, 2009 Its probably gonna go until the TV blows up or becomes out dated... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingman Posted October 7, 2009 Share Posted October 7, 2009 (edited) Refurbished. Also 1080p means absolutely NOTHING unless you have every single piece of equipment to go along with it, which can be expensive. Edited October 7, 2009 by Kingman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precise1 Posted October 7, 2009 Share Posted October 7, 2009 Ignoring the 1080 part (I'm not qualified to comment), I know of someone who runs a moderate scale company solely on equipment he purchases refurbished. No real issues that I have heard of... Like was said before. Brand name, and go for it. I plan to do the same in the future... B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tekazgtr1984 Posted October 7, 2009 Share Posted October 7, 2009 Refurbished. Also 1080p means absolutely NOTHING unless you have every single piece of equipment to go along with it, which can be expensive. X2. Without sufficient hardware (i.e., devices, cables, etc.), 1080p is pretty much meaningless. Heck, most HD TV and gaming rarely hits higher than 720p these days. The big thing is Bluray stuff, which requires a solid player (PS3 seems the best based on my experience) and a high-end HDMI cable. Be prepared to spend should you hope to gain as much 1080p usage as possible. If the price is right and a warranty is being offered, I'd say go for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SC88Pathy Posted October 7, 2009 Share Posted October 7, 2009 I'm sorry guys but 1080p is not meaningless. You can currently get 1080p TV service from some cable companies, AT&T fiberoptic (if it's available in your area), and from DirecTV (currently only for some Pay Per View movies but they're expanding 1080p programming). Decent 1080p upscaling DVD players are fairly inexpensive. PS3's just hit the $300 mark. And despite what you will be told, a $5 HDMI cable is going to work just as well as a $50 Monster cable. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16812123144 <- That will handle all of your HDMI needs. You don't need gold plated ends, "extra shielding", "anti power goblin hyperforce coating" or any of the other BS high end cable company's will try to scam you with. The fact is their cables are EXACTLY the same as that $5 cable. Probably made in the exact same factory! Now to answer your refurbished question: what kind of TV is it? If it's a DLP or Plasma I'd say skip it. DLP's get sent back all of the time, having to replace blown bulbs under warrantee is a big problem for DLP TV's, you're going to have to replace the bulbs too (plus they only look good when it's dark). Plasma's generally use too much electricity (big factor for a college student, you don't want to be faced with a huge electricity bill). I'd suggest an LCD TV. Only buy name brand (no Vizio does NOT count as a name brand). Sony, Samsung, LG, Toshiba, Mitsubishi, Sharp, are all pretty good buys. Next make sure that you're dealing with a factory authorized reseller. Otherwise you're just buying a used TV. Finally do your research, google the TV model. Look up reviews on Amazon. If it's no good new, than it's not going to be any better refurbished. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unccpathfinder Posted October 7, 2009 Share Posted October 7, 2009 buy a "@!*%ty" tv for $50 from a friend...use it for 3 years and then give it away or sale it for $50 to another friend it turned out to be a really great tv...I gave it to a buddy of mine for letting me live with them for 6 months it was a tube tv but it was like 28" or something... I still to this day don't have a nice LCD or what most people consider nice tv at all but refurb is alright depending on what kind of warranty they offer..read reviews and do your research...I use dual 22" monitors at work and i know they make LCDs and the brand is Sceptre...we have probably 20 of these monitors and only 1 had a stuck pixle which was fixed by cycling the monitor on and off when we received it. I'm considering buying one of their tvs http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Se...&CatId=3649 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nytrosfinder Posted October 7, 2009 Author Share Posted October 7, 2009 I'm sorry guys but 1080p is not meaningless. You can currently get 1080p TV service from some cable companies, AT&T fiberoptic (if it's available in your area), and from DirecTV (currently only for some Pay Per View movies but they're expanding 1080p programming). Decent 1080p upscaling DVD players are fairly inexpensive. PS3's just hit the $300 mark. And despite what you will be told, a $5 HDMI cable is going to work just as well as a $50 Monster cable. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16812123144 <- That will handle all of your HDMI needs. You don't need gold plated ends, "extra shielding", "anti power goblin hyperforce coating" or any of the other BS high end cable company's will try to scam you with. The fact is their cables are EXACTLY the same as that $5 cable. Probably made in the exact same factory! Now to answer your refurbished question: what kind of TV is it? If it's a DLP or Plasma I'd say skip it. DLP's get sent back all of the time, having to replace blown bulbs under warrantee is a big problem for DLP TV's, you're going to have to replace the bulbs too (plus they only look good when it's dark). Plasma's generally use too much electricity (big factor for a college student, you don't want to be faced with a huge electricity bill). I'd suggest an LCD TV. Only buy name brand (no Vizio does NOT count as a name brand). Sony, Samsung, LG, Toshiba, Mitsubishi, Sharp, are all pretty good buys. Next make sure that you're dealing with a factory authorized reseller. Otherwise you're just buying a used TV. Finally do your research, google the TV model. Look up reviews on Amazon. If it's no good new, than it's not going to be any better refurbished. Actually the only one that is an excessive amount on ebay is Vizio... What brand would you recommend? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowTied Posted October 7, 2009 Share Posted October 7, 2009 I was skeptical of the brand name ViewSonic initially as I had not heard of it, turns out they have been making monitors for some time. I bought the 37" LCD almost 3 years ago and it has been great. It however imo is a not a high end unit. Controls are limited for example, but the remote is nice, 3 HDMIs, VGA, 1080i and a built in tuner which is great if you decide to ditch cable and use an atenna. More and more HD channels are being broadcast to air lately.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SC88Pathy Posted October 7, 2009 Share Posted October 7, 2009 Actually the only one that is an excessive amount on ebay is Vizio... What brand would you recommend? My parents have a Samsung and it is really nice. Sharp's Aquos line is also very good. Sony LCDs are great, but only if they were manufactured within the past couple of years. They were resistant to LCD technology and had to play catch up. Other name brands are so-so. If you find a deal on one make sure to do some research on the TV model. There are some non-name brand LCD tv's that make good TV's. Viewsonic is one of those (they are well known for making computer monitors). I would NOT recommend a Westinghouse TV. I bought one and it worked great for almost a year. But then it developed some major problems (displaying certain shades of black as red, won't turn on half of the time, etc). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
02silverpathy Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 .02 I got a Samsung 720p...not 1080p. It looked as good as the 1080 with all sorts of adjustments done to both in the showroom---the only downer was the black level on the 720 just aren't as black...save $$ where you can on a TV they are worse invesments than cars! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tungsten Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 AFAIK Sharp has the best Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamzan Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 buy a "@!*%ty" tv for $50 from a friend...use it for 3 years and then give it away or sale it for $50 to another friend it turned out to be a really great tv...I gave it to a buddy of mine for letting me live with them for 6 months it was a tube tv but it was like 28" or something... I still to this day don't have a nice LCD or what most people consider nice tv at all but refurb is alright depending on what kind of warranty they offer..read reviews and do your research...I use dual 22" monitors at work and i know they make LCDs and the brand is Sceptre...we have probably 20 of these monitors and only 1 had a stuck pixle which was fixed by cycling the monitor on and off when we received it. I'm considering buying one of their tvs http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Se...&CatId=3649 Or go on craigslist and get one for free/cheap. You don't "need" an lcd. Sure everyone in my family has a nice flat screen, but I don't watch enough tv to care. So that 27 inch 20 year old tube tv in the rec room is good enough for me I was skeptical of the brand name ViewSonic initially as I had not heard of it, turns out they have been making monitors for some time. I bought the 37" LCD almost 3 years ago and it has been great. It however imo is a not a high end unit. Controls are limited for example, but the remote is nice, 3 HDMIs, VGA, 1080i and a built in tuner which is great if you decide to ditch cable and use an atenna. More and more HD channels are being broadcast to air lately.... Viewsonic is only what my dad will buy at his office. And he still has some of the monitors that they had when they were running windows nt4...if you remember that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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