So upset, please help.

[Helltech]

So, today I got this at Costco.

http://www.vizio.com/flat-panel-hdtvs/vl370m.html

My old TV was a similar Vizio, also 37 inch HDTV, but it was 1080i. I upgrade becuase mine was 4 years old, and this black bar started poping up on the bottom of the screen all the time, I didn't know what it was. I would have bothered with it, but Costco's return policy is amazing, and I got the full 1500 dollars for my old TV, and this one was 400 (on sale in store here). So I couldn't beat that. I brought it home turned on the (yes I have normal cable) guide that runs through all your cable. Now cable on my old TV wasn't great, I knew it wouldn't be since it wasn't ment to be played in 1080i, however Vizio's scaler or whatever it is that helps convert that signal did a decent job, everything at least looked nice, didn't look AMAZING, but deffinantly watchable. However with this new tv, it's sickening how horrible the picture is. So computerized, and pixilated. Its definantly not the TV, I mean video games, and blue ray look amazing on it. So obviously it just doens't like playing normal cable signals. I knew it would be a little worse then the 1080i, but I didn't think it would be this horrible. I can take it back, but the only TV's that they have in 1080i, are off brands or really tiny ones.

So my question is, what should I do? I can't afford Digital Cable, we have 5 TV's in this house, and as far as I know, and I could be wrong, getting digital from comcast in this house would be horribly overpriced. I heard there are things you can do for middleman, like is there something I can buy that helps the output? Anything at all? I might just take it back, but I've been playing 360 on it all day, and I don't think I can go back to 1080i, it looks SO nice.

 

[vanekl]

If you live near a city you can get free over-the-air (OTA) digital TV. You just need an antenna. If you live within 25 miles of a city then you can get a very good indoor antenna for less than $40 that should be sufficient to pick up all local broadcasts.[1] Make sure you check how close you are to your broadcasting stations.[2] Note that you will only be able to receive unencrypted stations this way. The average American can receive about 19 stations using an OTA antenna, so don't expect to be able to pick up HBO, but you will receive a signal that is approximately twice as good as the signal your cable company sends you. By doing this you will be able to test how well your TV is at decoding ATSC signals. If your TV is unable to give you a good picture with over-the-air broadcasts then I would take it back.

The second thing you should do is look into Boxee and a high-speed internet connection. You can download and view many of your shows with Boxee without having to use a cable signal (but you will need internet service). Boxee is going to be announced at CES [January 7-10], so you may need to wait a few days to download the latest software. It installs on your computer, or, alternately, you could buy a Boxee box.[3]

[1] http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?mc=03&p=SS3000&d=Winegard-SS-3000-Indoor-UHFVHF-Antenna-%28SS3000%29&c=TV%20Antennas%20-%20Indoor%20Only&sku=615798396794
[2] http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx
[3] http://www.boxee.tv/box

 

[captaincharisma]

so you cannot afford digital cable yet you can afford to replace a working TV? problem is you should have done more research on picture quality with certian signals before investing money into something like this.

 

[Helltech]

Are you serious? Afford to replace a working tv? I got 1000 dollars BACK on the tv in my pocket (I guess you didn't read the thread at all), in fact I needed the money to help pay for my car that just went to hell, which is the whole reason I did it in the first place.

Anyway the TV acutally looks fine, it just looked extremely horrible the first night, I turned it on the next day and the quality was amazing, way better then my other TV, I don't know what or how that happened but yeah....