Hey all, I was wondering on your thoughts, since you're probably a LOT more experienced than me on this stuff. For my room, I am looking to purchase a setup to play games, watch movies, watch TV etc. I am intending to buy: + a Monitor/TV (duh) with HDMI input/output. + ... yet another DivX player or a Blu-ray Disc player My biggest concerns are these: 1) Should I purchase a television or a monitor? Monitors perhaps have smaller pixels (I'm assuming) and will give me a better contrast ratio, however a television will give me a much bigger size with a slight drop in quality; that's OK. My next decision is to purchase a LCD or a Plasma if I'm going to buy a television. Apparently, Plasmas are the best for creating pure black (My friend who sells TV's says that they produce the best black when they're off! ... he's a supporter of LCD) and LCD's give a higher contrast ratio and I'm not sure which one to buy. It'll be mostly used for gaming and watching movies, and it doesn't need to have the fastest response time in the world, but something reasonable, I guess. I'm looking to purchase a screen that's quite small in size, due to my room, which lacks space. I'm looking for something in the 20"-30" inch spectrum, and I was wondering if they make Plasma TV's that small? I was having a look around and they didn't sell a display of that size. That brings me to my next point- I will probably not get around to buying a 20"-30" monitor with HDMI input for around $200-300 dollars, which is what I'm willing to spend on the monitor. If that's too shy a price for what I want to get, please tell me. In that scenario, the most plausible option is a LCD TV. I live in Australia, so HI to all of you from Aussie. I was wondering if you'd know anyone that sells TV's for a reputable price or anywhere where you'd recommend I look. I had a look on eBay at brands like 'Palsonic' and 'Telefunken' and they look kind of dodgy, but I wouldn't know anything about it. I'm assuming they don't look the greatest and don't perform as well as Sony or Panasonic but they do the job. So yes, please advise me on what I should do regarding that matter. 2) HDMI upscaling With a DivX player, I'm quite sure I won't appreciate the benefits of my HDMI screen. Most of the files I'll be playing will be low-resolution (about 500x500) and I'm not sure if I should be playing them or wasting my money on a HD monitor when the picture quality won't be that great. Also on that note, a PS3 is financially, out of my grasp. As a Year 12 student, I don't have that sort of money, and Christmas is a long way away. I'd like to work on this project throughout the year, so perhaps it's a viable avenue. Having said that, a PS3 would be the cheapest and (for me) most logical choice, as it doubles as a Blu-ray player (since HD-DVD is in it's coffin) and as a gaming console. I have speakers already, so sound isn't an option, but I'd like to hear your opinions on the matter. Thanks for reading (if you got this far) and I'd like to hear from you. Thanks in advance, Chris
If you're going to only spend 200-300 dollars, you're going to have to roll with a computer monitor. I've yet to see a decent tv at the size your looking at, for less then 400. When you get the money, get a PS3. I think that would be the most logical answer for your situation. I know a member on here that goes by the nick name Ryu, maybe he will jump in here. He's from Australia(I know it's a big place but who knows, right?), so maybe he can inform you. G'day Mate!
