The TV came from a "Freecycle" ad. Sailor V found the ad and went with me to pick the thing up, which is good, because it weighs a ton. (When was this, 2005? 2006? I can't remember now.)
Anyway, they were getting rid of it because the green gun was cutting out. As it turns out the TV needed a few cents' worth of solder on the CRT board. Apparently this particular model had a problem with cold solder joints, and once I had been directed to check that part, I could see the cracks in the solder. Bing bang boom, TV worked correctly, and I built a TV stand for it and hauled it into my room.
So I've gotten used to a 35" screen; and when it comes time to replace the thing, I want a TV with the same vertical dimension. But the only way I could think of to learn what size (diagonal) screen I needed was to take a tape measure to Best Buy.
Then it hit me: proportions. The typical tube-type TV has a 4:3 aspect ratio; the blab slabs are 16:9. If I were to measure the dimensions of my TV, I could find the required vertical dimension of the blab slab, use the aspect ratio to determine the horizontal dimension, and then use the Pythagorean theorem to find the diagonal size of the blab slab.
The vertical dimension of the TV screen is 22 inches; so, 16/9=x/22. It works out to a horizontal dimension of around 39 inches; and 222+392=2005; the square root of which is around 45.
So a 47" blab slab will give me the same vertical size as my 35" boob tube. And here I thought, when I was in high school, that I'd never use any of that stuff.
...testing the math was going to have to wait until my next trip to a store which stocked TVs, but I happened to see one hanging on the wall at the library today while I was waiting for Mom to finish voting.
If I spread my thumb and little finger as far apart as I can, that makes a handy measuring stick of about 9". (It's actually 8 13/16".) I had tried to measure the TV's vertical dimension at home with my hands that way and failed; but it gave me a yardstick to approximate with when I saw the TV at the library. And sure enough, it was pretty damn close. So 47" diagonal is indeed what I want.
The only problem now is monetary....
To be honest, I don't see myself needing 1080p and 120 Hz frame rate and-and-and. You know? I think 720p and 60 Hz will stand me in good stead. My only real worry is getting a TV with analog inputs, because I'm not going to convert every-goddamned-thing in my entertainment system to run digital.
But it's good that I'm not ready to buy any time soon, because prices are going to drop.
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My dream is to hook the PC to the huge blab slab, then lay in bed and play World of Warcraft with the wireless mouse and keyboard. That would rule.