Help with buying a TV

Hey all,


I was just wondering if anyone could recommend a tele-vi-shi-own to me?

I don't know anything about the technical aspects of TVs. What i want to do is buy a TV (preferably a 32") and buy a hard drive media player thingy. Then i can transfer stuff from my PC to watch on the TV. I'll more than likely never actually watch proper TV on it, and I'll use an XBox 360 with it the odd time too.


So with that out of the way, can anyone tell me, with just wanting the TV for that use, is there anything in particular I should look out for on a TV that will affect using it with a media player hard drive thingy?



(Just for reference, this is the media palyer thing im planning to get:


http://cgi.ebay.ie/Sumvision-Cyclone-1000GB-1TB-Media-Player-Hard-Drive_W0QQitemZ110328448454QQihZ001QQcategoryZ16178QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem



but its not really relevant, just to give an idea of what i'll want the TV for)





Also, if there's any generic information that anyone would like to post (if any brand is better than the other, if any store tends to have better prices, etc.) then it'd be great to hear.




Thanks to anyone that can be of any help.


Take it easy, guys

newbie2

I presume you want ot future proof the TV and have it as either HD ready or full HD? If your using the xbox on it it would e a shame not to use the HD function. BTW that media player doesn't support .mkv files (HD) and doesnt seem to have a HDMI out. IMO your bwetter off getting the WD HD media player available from pixmania or komplett. It doesnt have an internal Hard Drive though. What sort of money are you thinking of spending? I'd lean towards an LCD too.

Well i don't really know how much i want to spend. I don't want to spend more than i have to though. It's honestly probably not going to be used a whole lot, so i don't want to spend a fortune on it.


I don't really know much (or anything, if im being honest) about the media player things, but that one just looked pretty good to me. Most of the files i have a AVI, although i do have a few MKV i think (although i could always just convert them).



How does a media player function if it doesn't have an internal hard drive? Doesn't it need to store the files (even temporarily) so they can be watched via TV? (or do you hae to buy a hard drive in order for it to work?)



As for HD as a whole... I don't really know a whole lot about it. I'm the kinda person that doesn't really notice tiny differences. My brother was mocing into his house a whil eback and kicke dup a fuss aboiut not having HD. He had to go and get some wire for his 360 to be in HD (or something to that effect). Apparently it cost him a fair few € and when i went to his house i don't really remember thinking "wow thats amazing". To be honest, i barely even noticed the difference. (although i think thats the only run in i've had with HD).


I know this post is probably a lot of non-sensical rambling, so sorry for that.

newbie2

Deleted User wrote: »

I know this post is probably a lot of non-sensical rambling, so sorry for that.

A little bit, yeah.

Well i don't really know how much i want to spend. I don't want to spend more than i have to though. It's honestly probably not going to be used a whole lot, so i don't want to spend a fortune on it.

For arguements sake - give us a figure €100, €200, €300 etc?????
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=405829

I don't really know much (or anything, if im being honest) about the media player things, but that one just looked pretty good to me. Most of the files i have a AVI, although i do have a few MKV i think (although i could always just convert them).

Why would you convert them? mkv files are much better quality than avi.

How does a media player function if it doesn't have an internal hard drive? Doesn't it need to store the files (even temporarily) so they can be watched via TV? (or do you hae to buy a hard drive in order for it to work?)

Yep and external HD is what you need. A western Digital 1 terrabyte drive is €100 approx
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=363148

As for HD as a whole... I don't really know a whole lot about it. I'm the kinda person that doesn't really notice tiny differences. My brother was mocing into his house a whil eback and kicke dup a fuss aboiut not having HD. He had to go and get some wire for his 360 to be in HD (or something to that effect). Apparently it cost him a fair few € and when i went to his house i don't really remember thinking "wow thats amazing". To be honest, i barely even noticed the difference. (although i think thats the only run in i've had with HD).

There's a huge difference between SD nad HD. Trsut me. Your brother had to get a HDMI cable for his xbox to work. These can range in price form about €10 to €100.
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=340806
An xbox is probably a bad example to use to view HD because all your looking at is video games. Watching a mkv file on HD is the nutz. Once you go HD you'll never go back to SD.

Slutmonkey57b

newbie2 wrote: »

Why would you convert them? mkv files are much better quality than avi.

mkv is a container, the quality of the file has nothing to do with the container it's in.

Jev/N

Slutmonkey57b wrote: »

mkv is a container, the quality of the file has nothing to do with the container it's in.

But they do seem to be the standard for HD files using H.264