Hey, I’m moving into a small apartment for my second year of college and in preparation all summer I’ve been researching into buying an Elgato EyeTv Ez or 250 for my 12” Powerbook 1GHz to save space in my relatively small room. I decided on the 250 a couple of weeks ago despite by 12” screen and my horrid 32mb integrated video card and then began looking for an outlet to purchase. Having a lot of trouble, I began to ponder my purchase further. Today I decided that there would not be feasible to move my laptop and still have the EyeTv hooked up, and it would be highly unlikely that I would want to leave my PB on my desk and still watch it while laying in bed or being elsewhere in the room. So I decided that I should start looking into a second, larger monitor for my laptop. Upon searching I realized the only practical time that I need a second monitor is when I do video editing (which is quite often, it is my major) but resolution isn’t too important. I also began worrying about my video card again, so I started looking for monitors with composite and/or RCA inputs. I realized what would virtually murder two avian creatures with one geological formation would be an LCD TV. I would loose the DVR capabilities of the EyeTv, but pretty much everything else pointed to LCD-TV being the better option. I also read a thread in this section of the forums where people were saying that the line between and LCD TV’s and Monitors is becoming very blurred. I was happy to see that most LCD TV’s have a VGA input, but I’m not sure what resolution that I should be searching for, my computer tells me that my display is running at 1024 x 786, which doesn’t make sense to me because my screen appears to be 4:3. Sorry this has been long but I had to let it all out, it’s like therapy, I’ll cut to the chase.
I went researching; my goal is to spend under 300 dollars with the possibility of splurging a little more. If anyone has experience with the below products or can recommend any others, let me know.
• AOC A17W221 17” 1280 x 768- $299 at Amazon: http://www.nam.aocdisplay.com/aoc/tv_a17w221.html
• Astar LTV-2001 20" 800 x 600- $299 (after $55 rebate) at Amazon:
http://www.astarelectronics.com/page/products/lcdtvs/products-lcdtvs-ltv2001.htm
• Astat LTV-20PW 20" 800 x 600- $299 (after $40 rebate) at TigerDirect:
http://www.astarelectronics.com/page/products/lcdtvs/products-lcdtvs-ltv20pw.htm
*Wouldn't match my decor, but has 2 componet which is a plus
• Niko OTP-2011R 20" 800 x 600- $249 (after $50 rebate) at TigerDirect:
http://www.nikotronics.com/product_detail.asp?id=102
• Syntax Olevia LT20S 20" 800 x 600- $269.99 (after $60 rebate) at TigerDirect:
http://secure.syntaxgroups.com/products/detail.jsp?pid=LT20S
• X2gen MV20T9 20" 1280 x 1024- $299.99 (after $69 rebate) at NewEgg:
http://x2gen.com/index.php?main_page=x2gen_product_info&products_id=26&tab=2
Hope that is enough. I don't know too much about Contrast Ratios or Response Times to base decisions off of them. Planning ahead I really don't think I need an HDTV ready television, EDTV (not the movie) would be a plus along with composite video inputs, seeing as I might be in the market for a Wii (not the war) or if I win the lottery, a PS3 sometime in the near future.
So yeah, what do you think, I would really like to make an educated purchase, especially since I'll most likely be buying form these off-brands. Thanks.
I went researching; my goal is to spend under 300 dollars with the possibility of splurging a little more. If anyone has experience with the below products or can recommend any others, let me know.
• AOC A17W221 17” 1280 x 768- $299 at Amazon: http://www.nam.aocdisplay.com/aoc/tv_a17w221.html
• Astar LTV-2001 20" 800 x 600- $299 (after $55 rebate) at Amazon:
http://www.astarelectronics.com/page/products/lcdtvs/products-lcdtvs-ltv2001.htm
• Astat LTV-20PW 20" 800 x 600- $299 (after $40 rebate) at TigerDirect:
http://www.astarelectronics.com/page/products/lcdtvs/products-lcdtvs-ltv20pw.htm
*Wouldn't match my decor, but has 2 componet which is a plus
• Niko OTP-2011R 20" 800 x 600- $249 (after $50 rebate) at TigerDirect:
http://www.nikotronics.com/product_detail.asp?id=102
• Syntax Olevia LT20S 20" 800 x 600- $269.99 (after $60 rebate) at TigerDirect:
http://secure.syntaxgroups.com/products/detail.jsp?pid=LT20S
• X2gen MV20T9 20" 1280 x 1024- $299.99 (after $69 rebate) at NewEgg:
http://x2gen.com/index.php?main_page=x2gen_product_info&products_id=26&tab=2
Hope that is enough. I don't know too much about Contrast Ratios or Response Times to base decisions off of them. Planning ahead I really don't think I need an HDTV ready television, EDTV (not the movie) would be a plus along with composite video inputs, seeing as I might be in the market for a Wii (not the war) or if I win the lottery, a PS3 sometime in the near future.
So yeah, what do you think, I would really like to make an educated purchase, especially since I'll most likely be buying form these off-brands. Thanks.