Which TV would you choose?

[Serpent]

I'm planning on buying a 21" 4:3 60hz TV for a MAME cabinet. I've seen two interesting models with the same price: a Thomson and a Philips. Which one would you chose? I'm looking for picture quality but, even more important, I'd like to know which of them is stronger and more  durable, as I plan to rotate it often. Any experiences with any of these brands?

[Lilwolf]

BestBuy is there for a reason... Look at both of them.... And !@# it... ask if you can rotate it in the store.... the kids don't care

and... consumer reports is worth a quick look.

but take note... SVid inputs are NOT all equal.  

[Stingray]

SVid inputs are NOT all equal.  

How so?

-S

[Jakobud]

SVid inputs are NOT all equal.  

How so?

-S

Different manufacturer's use different types/qualities of parts which all affect performance.

[Stingray]

Is there anything to look out for? An svod tv is what I have in mind for my cabinet project if it ever gets out of the planning stage.

-S

[Serpent]

I don't care about svideo because I'm using SCART. By the way, I've seen a model by White Westinghouse? Anyone knows if that's a good brand? Are their tvs any good?

[Jakobud]

Is there anything to look out for? An svod tv is what I have in mind for my cabinet project if it ever gets out of the planning stage.

-S

Nothing too specific to look out for.  Just look at the picture and decide for yourself if it looks good enough for you.

[Stingray]

Actually, i was wondering about things to look for before I buy one. Brands to avoid etc?

-S

[gprime]

Also watch out for cruddy video cards.
I just got a free video card from my friend (Some ATI card only 16MB of memory ) and the S-Video is weird. Everything looks normal except the screen gets cut off a little on the sides, and theres a big black bar on the bottom of the screen (about an inch high). I got the latest driver update that lets you move the screen, but it only lets you move the screen further up! (make the black bar at the bottom even bigger!). Stay clear of ATI Rage !! (unless this is a defect)

[b3atmania]

I would go for the Philips. Thomson is a B-brand, while Philips is among the best CRT manufactors in the world, both for quality and durability.

If you are using SCART you might want to look into the Csync range the TV can handle. It will probably handle 50Hz (PAL) and 60Hz (NTSC) fine, but will it also do the sync range in between? i.e. 53Hz for Mortal Kombat.

[Zombie]

I would go for the Philips. Thomson is a B-brand, while Philips is among the best CRT manufactors in the world, both for quality and durability.

If you are using SCART you might want to look into the Csync range the TV can handle. It will probably handle 50Hz (PAL) and 60Hz (NTSC) fine, but will it also do the sync range in between? i.e. 53Hz for Mortal Kombat.

my scart TV handles both 50/60hz. Mortal Kombat very well @ 53/53 FPS. im pretty sure its running exactly 53hz. i can see the TV is not running 60hz because there is slightly more flicker and if it was running 50hz, it wouldnt be able to pull 53/53 FPS.
some of my upright games ran by default 50/60FPS and not smooth at all, so i had to change to a 60hz res.
no problems with Mortal Kombat and other 53 hz games.

i had a 28" JVC TV before but found it too big and swapped it to a 21" Grundig ST 55-908/8 (which im using now). Both work fine with ArcadeVGA+Scart and auto power up, even remembers the channel.