[JMT]

My wife has finally given me the go ahead to begin the research and ultimately purchase a replacement television for our old 27" Sony. Needless to say, I am quite excited about the prospect of watching some great movies and some HDTV on a large screen. But beginning my research (which, so far, consists of talking to a salesperson at Magnolia Hi-Fi, reading Consumer Reports, perusing the AVS Forum, and reading bit on the Plasma TV Buying Guide site) I think I am more confused than ever. The young man at Magnolia was actually quite helpful but I believe was also trying to upsell me into some newer technology. He mentioned something about High Definition DVD's and the fact that the current plasma/DLP televisions will not play the HD DVD's.

My viewing room is simply my family room. The main seating area is approximately 10 feet from where the television will be. Two of the seats are at a bit of an angle to the television (perhaps 20 degrees or so). My wife and I watch mainly DVD's but do watch the occasional T.V. show.

My budget is in the $2,500 - $3,000 range. I think that 50" is probably the right size as the 42" sets that I looked at seemed a bit small. In fact, they didn't seem too much larger than my 27" set. I looked at a beautiful Mitsubishi 50" DLP that had the newere technology, something about 1080i but it was about $500 over my budget. I also looked at a newer 50" Sony WEGA that had "progressive scan" which the salesperson told my was superior to interlaced (I didn't see THAT much of a difference as the two were side by side). I have read good things about the Toshiba's, as well as the Samsungs, and the Panasonics. I think I know the difference between LCoS and DLP, but I also know there is rear projection plasma sets. I think, for my budget and the size I want I am going to go with microdisplay.

Any recommendations?

 

[Edwood]

Be sure to go and check out the different technologies in person. Each one has it's strength's and weaknesses.

My current top of the list is Samsung's DLP and Sony's SXRD with rear projection.

One thing to consider, is that some of the Rear projections can be rather noisy. They have fans, and some DLP's have noisy color wheels. (well, seems that the newer models are much much quieter than before, and they are eliminating color wheels altogether.)


Otherwise, if you are not an avid video gamer, Plasma offers better overall image quality. But it's pricier. You'll have to do alot of bargain hunting to get a true HDTV one to fit in the upper end of your budget.

-Ed

 

[Edwood]

Oh, yeah. Shopping tip #1.

Bring your own reference material.


Like shopping for headphone gear, you would get a better impression when using your favorite music, and other gear, right?

Bring your own DVD's. Bring your DVD player, Bring a computer, if the TV takes the input (Samung DLP's do.) Bring a video game console, if you are going to be using it with video games, etc.

Request to see true HDTV broadcast, if they are not showing it.

-Ed

 

[Edwood]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JMT The young man at Magnolia was actually quite helpful but I believe was also trying to upsell me into some newer technology. He mentioned something about High Definition DVD's and the fact that the current plasma/DLP televisions will not play the HD DVD's.

Utter BS.

As long as the TV has a DVI (with HDCP) or an HDMI digital input it will play next gen BluRay and HD-DVD just fine.

If it's got one of these in the back, it will play nice with next gen HD video discs.

My 3 year old Samsung HLN-467W DLP HDTV will display BluRay and HD-DVD just fine when they are released.

-Ed

 

[F1GTR]

I'm a bit Sony biased because I love my 34XBR960 but my father has one of these and they are fantastic.

50" Sony Grand WEGA SXRD KDS-R50XBR1

http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTE...0%22to80%22TVs

The MSRP is $3,499.99, a little higher than your budget, but you can find them for sale at $2,999.99 occasionally. March and April are usually great months to purchase televisions. The retailers typically have generous price drops in these months to make way for the newer models.

Progessive is definitely what you want. Preferably something that can display 1080p so you won't have to worry about upgrading or your set becoming obsolete in the next five years.

With HDTV you will see these numbers 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p. The i stands for interlaced and the p is for progressive. Give this a read, it will help to better explain what you should look for.

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6449_7-6361600-1.html

 

[Edwood]

Check Costco, BTW.

Aside from their ridiculously lenient return policy, they often have slightly older models at a large discount.

-Ed

 

[becomethemould]

my family has a 42" HD NEC plasma, i have to agree with Edwood that some units are quite noisy, the NEC is. from reading the cnet link F1GTR posted, to play the next gen discs to their maximum quality, the display needs to be 1080p.. our plasma only does 720p, 1080i i think..

also 10 feet, 3 metres is a bit much, you should sit around 1-2 metres back.. we sit 4 metres back because the living room is quite large haha its a waste really..

 

[Canman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edwood Utter BS. As long as the TV has a DVI (with HDCP) or an HDMI digital input it will play next gen BluRay and HD-DVD just fine. If it's got one of these in the back, it will play nice with next gen HD video discs. My 3 year old Samsung HLN-467W DLP HDTV will display BluRay and HD-DVD just fine when they are released. -Ed

Most current fixed pixel displays only have 720 to 768 horizontal lines. Some high def channels are broadcast at 1080i so a flat panel with 720 lines would accept the 1080i input and scale it to 720p. The HD Video will be in full high definition, which is 1080i or 1080p. The current wide xga flat panels (1366x768) will not accept a 1080p input. I don't think the current version of HDMI protocol even supports 1080p.

The market is just starting to turn out flat panel displays with 1080 horizontal lines of resolution. Many of the rear projection DLP sets will display 1080 lines natively; however, in my opinion, the artifacts make DLP unwatchable.

avsforum is pretty good for info on this subject.

 

[AuroraProject]

I have a Sony KDFE-50A10 50" lcd rear projection HDTV. It's 720P and I think it's great, excellent picture, big enough, yet not monstrous. I've had no problems with it (I've only had it 5-6 months though).


You're in Roseville right? If you want you can come over and view it if you'd like. Check out one with out the tv showroom "torch" settings.

 

[pspivak]

We got the Samsung 56in DLP in November. I really think it is one of the better DLP's I have seen. The "wobulated" picture from the TI chip looks great. It has an HDMI input and with the upscaling DVD player it takes the digital signal from the DVD player right to the projector, the DVD picture is pretty amazing.

OK. Regular broadcast TV on the sat. dish ranges from OK (so-so) to crummy. The OTA high def is wonderful. Cartoons are really amazing.

Also, the Samsung is brighter in my opinion than some of the others that I looked at. The contrast ratio on mine is spec'ed at 2500:1. What it really does at about 8 feet, dead on center is really pull you into the picture and give you the feeling of being at the movies. That was worth the price.

 

[MoxMonkey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edwood Utter BS. As long as the TV has a DVI (with HDCP) or an HDMI digital input it will play next gen BluRay and HD-DVD just fine. If it's got one of these in the back, it will play nice with next gen HD video discs. My 3 year old Samsung HLN-467W DLP HDTV will display BluRay and HD-DVD just fine when they are released. -Ed

i thought both hd-dvd and bluray are both going to be 1080p? sure older sets will be able to play them but they will be scaled to 1080i even with hdmi and wont be as great as a true 1080p picture (most likely what they where trying to upsell)

 

[marvin]

They're initially going to be HD, which is 720p or 1080i. 1080p is beyond the original specs for HD, but HDMI will still handle it. However, it is the "new hot thing" that all the manufacturers are pushing, but most likely it'll turn out like the last HD generation did and 1080p content won't be widely available until they have their new Super Duper HD standard or whatever.

Really, what you should do is go out, bring your own stuff, including a fair amount of visually darker and fast moving material, and demo the TVs. As long as the one that you pick out has at least 720p resolution, it's good enough.

Personally, I like HD-ILA sets. They're not as sharp and technically proficent as DLPs, but they have a more natural picture and none of the artifacts that DLPs have. Many people can't see the DLP artifacts though, so it may be a moot point. Just pop something in with white subtitles and if you can't see rainbowing, it won't be an issue for you.

 

[Edwood]

Doesn't matter. BluRay and HD-DVD are fighting to be the next LaserDisc, in the BEST case scenario.

-Ed

 

[Carl]

Have you considered getting a front projector? You can easily go into the 90-120" range with good picture quality for a few thousand.


Quote:

Originally Posted by marvin They're initially going to be HD, which is 720p or 1080i. 1080p is beyond the original specs for HD, but HDMI will still handle it.

Both Blu-ray and HD-DVD will be encoded in 1080p/24. HD-DVD players, and Samsung's BD player will only be able to output 1080i, but the Sony and Pioneer BD players can output 1080p.

 

[JMT]

Front projection is not an option. I am leaning towards a rear projection plasma, or the Sony rear projection LCD. The one I looked at over at Circuit City was the 1080p but was about $500 over my budget, not too sure how my wife would feel about that. I am still going to have to purchase a cabinet/stand for the new television and the one I am contemplating runs around $1,500. I also liked a Samsung DLP that I saw at Magnolia, it was also on sale for $2,400 but was only 46". I kind of have my sights set on a 50" model.