The Official PC building thread - 4th Edition

I have the same problems as you, I only ask for the tower and if it is a notebook they normally forget the power adapter. But there is one more snafu, I also ask for any username/passwords needed to login and typically I don't get those either. So I either have to reset their password or wait until they give me login info.

 

Welcome to the club my good sir!

 

I suppose it's good to know every now and again, that I'm not alone. Though I wouldn't wish my condition on anyone.

 

You guys sitting down? We are moving to a bigger house, so I just bought a Sceptre 40" 1080p HDTV for $299. The old 27" TV is fading fast, and there's no sense in not getting one. Decent enough specs for the price

http://reviews.cnet.com/flat-panel-tvs/sceptre-x400bv-fhd/4507-6482_7-33614940.html?tag=mncol;subnav

Should be more than enough for our needs.

Russ

 

Yeah, I'm not a fan of buying the cheapest brand when it comes to stuff like TVs, but the price you can get large 1080p TVs for nowadays is amazing.

 

Sam,

Do the specs look reasonable to you, for the price? I just used the CNet site for the full specs, they have no reviews. I doubt if we watch TV more than 10 hours a week. We saved $42 by using the free shipping on store pick up. The store is on Russell's way home from work. Couldn't be easier.

In case the link won't work, here's the model number to google Sceptre X400BV-FHD

Thanks,
Russ

 

Specs look fine, but unfortunately my experience is that specs for TVs are meaningless. You can get some quite expensive units that really don't look that great even after calibration etc, and you can get some quite cheap ones that look fantastic out of the box. TVs are far from an exact science. Any TV these days will post a low response time, good viewing angles, ridiculous contrast and the likes, but the only way to truly judge is to see one yourself, properly hooked up - so that counts most A/V stores out, as they're usually connected to terrible signals that give you no bearing on what the TV is actually capable of.

 

I agree with Sam, and not only that Sceptre's just don't hold up either. I used to love Sceptre and had tons of them but they all died young so I'm not a fan, plus I don't think their LCD panels, and/or their driving circuitry, is that good as they are just lacking in vibrant color contrast.

You my have been able to fix your old Naga 20's as I just revived my Sammy 24" (16:10) by rebuilding the PS for a minuscule $10 in quality electrolytic's.

I'm thinking of going to 27" LED's but that would be a few months away. Actually a 40-42" might me a better idea but as a monitor they get spendy. If I got a TV then it would be cheaper but the resolution isn't as good for the size so I don't know if I'd go that route.

 

No matter how you set them up though, TVs always handle images totally differently to PC monitors. However the contrast is set, they're really uncomfortable to do detailed work with in a desktop or games environment, yet far superior for displaying TV/film...

 

Sam,

I've seen the model the last time I was at Sceptre, and the picture quality and sound are pretty decent. What I'm interested in is if the features are decent enough for the price.

Thanks again,
Russ

 

Very true, they are not suited for both, a TV panel doesn't work well for a monitor, and a monitor doesn't work well for a TV, but in a pinch you can use them either way these days.

 

Russ I would not worry about any comments or reviews on the TV you got, I'll give you a little bit of advise, I know a lot more about TV's than I do about PC's, and for $299 you stoled it, if you get 2 to 3 years out of it you made out, more than likely you'll get a lot more.

 

Not totally true I can get a Sammy, Panasonic, or possibly a Sony for around the same amount +$50 to $100 dollars at my favorite Costco or Sam's Club. It's worth paying a little extra for a excellent picture, the Sceptre's I've viewed at MicroCenter were not that great.

 

My brother had a cheapy 40" dynex. Excellent viewing angles, and the picture was very good. It even had VGA connection. Unfortunately his kid through a sippy cup at it. It didn't fair too well Now he has a 42" magnavox. He has his HTPC connected via HDMI. It has an overscan issue, but the Nvidia software deals with it ok. It also doesn't like too many HDMI's RUNNING at one time. It'll get stuck on HDMI 1, requiring him to unplug it to reset it. Rather weird...

 

Stevo,

Funny, I got almost 4 years of heavy use out of my Naga III 20" 16x10 monitor. I haven't worked a full time job since right after I bought it, so I used it 14-17 hours a day before any issues popped up. The screen itself was 1 step below the best LCD screens, and 2 steps above TN panels, and I liked the color rendering better than I did with the most expensive ones. I don't quite know how to explain it, but the color was on a par with the 24" high dollar NEC Sort of like comparing pictures shot with 35mm color movie film vs digital photos. To me it's the color texture difference of the two, with the Naga III seeming to have a finer grain to it. Anyway, for a then $247 delivered monitor, in 06, I got much more than my money's worth out of it, so no complaints there. My big mistake was getting it rebuilt, but it all worked out right in the end, when I bought my Asus 1080p, so it's OK!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

Stevo,

The model I bought is a discontinued model, and I compared them at Sceptre, less than a year ago to the then newer models that Sceptre had started making, and the picture quality was better than the newer fancier and more expensive ones. It's a done deal anyway as it was a one day sale. Like I told Sam, we don't watch very much TV, because there isn't anything on much worth watching. Neither of us does stupidity, so that eliminates about 80% of what's on! LOL!! I watch very little mainstream TV as all the programs I used to watch have been replaced with total garbage! LOL!! Have you seen Wipeout? Pure stupid! ROFLMSOAO!!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

While I agree with most of this the local WalMart actually has an amazing AV setup and I find it quite easy to compare brands. In my experience price and brand rarely make a difference. I chose my 32" TV out of several more expensive ones and it had the best image quality, featureset, and interestingly rocking sound when output to my receiver. LG display BTW purchased for $370 at Best Buy last Christmas.

Perfect size for my room and a pleasure for enjoying both newer consoles at 1080p and my PS2, Xbox and Gamecube in composite 480p(incredible). Actually makes old console games fun to play again. Wish I had gotten a 37" for the relative price but quite satisfied with my purchase nonetheless.

I've had an alright time using my TV for a monitor though it isn't recommended for long-term Cannot hold a candle to using the 23.6" 1080p monitor for desktop use. Of course if you want to get nitpicky, both of them are miles behind the Dell 2407WFP. For movies or TV though, the 32" all the way. My sound system is centered around it as well though I have separate 5.1 speakers for my PC.

I have also seen and used several of the 20" 1680 x 1050 monitors and they are fantastic. My 24" 1920 x 1200 is almost overwhelmingly large in comparison though.

 

You would know as you have a good eye and ear so I would trust that if you demo'd it and thought it was good that indeed it would be.

Like you I too do not watch garbage TV and yes I have seen Wipeout! LOL As a society we are being brainwashed by garbage and lies so yes, dumb & dumber....

Let us know how it all works out when you get the new prize,
Stevo