HDTV Shopping....

[GrJohnso]

So what seems to be the general consensus on buying low end HDTV's right now? (32" through mid 40") LCD, RPTV, other...

Right now I have an older Mitsubishi 48" RPTV that works just fine, but, well, it's big and oldschool, has minor convergence issues, but totally useable...

My dilema: We're looking to spend some money on furniture for the living room as a long term investment. So, I've got this big ass TV & home made rack for my components taking up some wall space. Need to figure out if I want to buy an enterntainment center to work around my current TV with flexibility for the future, or upgrade the TV now and buy an entertainment center based on that.....

So, the real question is: Is there a good reason to wait a little longer before jumping into HDTV? Save a little more money and getting more for my $ in 6 or 12 months? Or are there some decent deals on a smaller HDTV that would make me stoked to upgrade now?

Current use: Good old DirecTV w/Tivo, DVD's, occasional computer/console gaming
Future use: Upgrade to HD DirecTV? Progressive DVD, xbox360, computer use...

Your thoughts? Opinions?

TIA,

 

[PsychoPsonic]

3 letters: SED

I love my Sony XBR910, and will wait until SED comes closer to earth before I upgrade to an SED set; but I'll know at that point that my new TV has by far the best technology available.

FWIW....

 

[Meuge]

Best HDTV on the market between 35 and 40" is the Spectre 37" from Costco, which is capable of doing native 1080p, due to its amazing native resolution of 1920x1080. My girlfriend just got one, and it's amazing - best contrast I've ever seen on an LCD.

 

[GrJohnso]

Hmmm... SED looks nice, but a bit of a wait before it's a resonable price me thinks...

Think I'll sit on this one a month longer and take a look at the 42" Spectre that should be available at Cosco then... Should be done with taxes by then and might have some extra $ to play with...

Now to buy the furniture... Happy Happy Joy Joy... I'd rather have an empty house with nice toys, but some how the wife isn't in line with that plan... Oh well...

If anyone has any other suggestions in the near term, let me know... Until then, guess I'll stick it out another month and see if I want to pull the trigger on that Spectre...

In the meantime, anyone want to buy a nice 48" older RPTV, non HD?

Thanks......

 

[RobertR1]

Maxent MX-50X3. A 50inch plasma with Panasonic internals that is a steal at the price when combined with the right coupouns. I love mine.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=595430&page=1&pp=30
http://www.fatwallet.com/t/24/539836

I can't recommend this plasma enough! I have a Mits 62725DLP also but I like the Plasma more for HD content.

 

[imported_ST]

Originally posted by: Meuge
Best HDTV on the market between 35 and 40" is the Spectre 37" from Costco, which is capable of doing native 1080p, due to its amazing native resolution of 1920x1080. My girlfriend just got one, and it's amazing - best contrast I've ever seen on an LCD.

It's Sceptre....I have one, works great, but the larger ones are on the horizon:

Sceptre and Westinghouse will be releasing their 42"/47" 1080p LCD TVs in the next month or so at very reasonable prices: ~$2.5K. Only reason to wait.

 

[Kwaipie]

Why wait? There will always be something better right around the corner. You can get a smokin hot 46"ish DLP set that is almost as thin as plasma/lcd without the huge price penalty.

Something to consider though, going from standard def 48" to high def 48" will be a dramatic difference in your viewing experience. You may want to go larger by several inches rather than smaller. A smaller HDTV will seem MUCH smaller than a like-sized standard def picture. I take it your 48" is 4:3?

 

[slash196]

Call me old fashioned, but I really don't see the point of HDTV. I guess it's probably because I've lived my whole life with only 3 broadcast channels that all came in fuzzy. I haven't had cable until this year. A 25 inch diagonal set seems pretty big to me. And in a few years, there'll just be a bigger, better new technology anyway.

 

[Hadsus]

Originally posted by: slash196
Call me old fashioned, but I really don't see the point of HDTV. I guess it's probably because I've lived my whole life with only 3 broadcast channels that all came in fuzzy. I haven't had cable until this year. A 25 inch diagonal set seems pretty big to me. And in a few years, there'll just be a bigger, better new technology anyway.

Lemmie translate......'I have no money for HDTV therefore I must trivialize it.'

Alternate translation......'I have nothing better to do so lemmie see if I can reel some peeps in by stating that picture doesn't matter with a television.'

 

[Wag]

Geez, how much will a 42" SED cost initially? $10k?

 

[GrJohnso]

Yep, 48" is 4:3 but it's a bit overkill for the current viewing distance in this room. Sure, it's always nice to "go big" but I do have some budget constraints to work within as well. Anyway, I'll know more about budget after I finish taxes so I'll wait until i figure that out within the month...

For now it looks like we've found some pretty flexible entertainment cabinet setups that are adjustable for different width TV's, so I can get the furniture now and and tweak the setup later when I figure out the TV solution...

Thanks agian for the input... Soaking it all up, so I appreciate all the links and reviews that have come in as well... The Maxent 50x3 doesn't look bad if I can afford it... Otherwise the Sceptre's are looking okay too... Decisions, decisions...

 

[Demoth]

I would highly suggest DLP. The Samsung 50" H-LP5063 sells for around $1400 shipped and has excellent picture quality though some production problems are reported but covered by a year warranty. The H-LR 5067 has a slightly better picture, fewer production quality issues and sells for around $1700 shipped. Going with a 43" or 46" in the same models is even cheaper. These are comperably priced to a 37" LCD but not only are they bigger, but the picture quality is much superior (better blacks, no ghosting). Go to best buy or a comperable store and look for yourself, just don't buy in a retail store as they tend to be almost 2X the cost of online.

If you can wait as long as needed, wait for one of the low priced vendors with a good reputation (i.e. amazon or butterfly camera) to offer both one of the lowest prices, a minimum purchase coupon and free shipping. Waiting and searching like this can probably get you a HL-P 5063 for just under $1000 shipped.

These 50" screens weight approx 80 pounds and are only 14" deep. Just make sure you use at least component connections between your dish box and the TV, not S video, and you'll be completely blow away by the difference.

The only flaw with these sets is a easy user done bulb replacement every few to several years for about $200-$300. Personally, that's a better issue for me then plasma which fades over time and can never come back to new quality like DLP when the bulb is replaced.

 

[xtknight]

Plasmas have the highest contrast and most saturated picture (there's no debating that). The Samsung plasma I saw the other day, I would have sworn I was looking through a window the colors (especially skin tones) were so freakin amazing. LCDs are the thinnest, but viewing angle, skin tones, and black level may be a problem for TVs (look for the new AU Optronics A-MVA panels though, they are supposed to be amazing and fix those issues), but response time will be just fine (especially at huge dot pitches like that). DLPs are mediocre from what I've seen, but I only saw one, possibly misadjusted. The new DLP projectors they got at my school look stunning. CRTs, well, they have a good picture (not as good as plasma) and good price still, but they're fat and heavy. LCoS? Too low contrast for my taste.

Personally I'll be waiting for SED (which will first debut at large-esque dot pitches=HDTV at large size) which will be available maybe in a year or two, but I'm not anticipating OLEDs at that size any time soon. You can quote me that OLEDs at 37" TV size won't appear on market until at least 2010, unless they quickly mass-produce an organic material that emits blue long enough, and if they find out how to completely seal the fragile organic material from oxygen and other gases. SEDs and OLEDs will not require any back-lighting and thus produce a perfect black. Another reason I'll be waiting is for the HDCP and what not to "settle in place".

 

[NeezyDeezy]

Are they planning to make SED computer monitors?

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: NeezyDeezy
Are they planning to make SED computer monitors?

Probably not until they get carbon nanotube SEDs working correctly to get dot pitches low enough. I'm not sure how long that'll be. OLEDs will become monitors sooner I'd think.

 

[Hadsus]

The stuff about plasma picture fading is pure fiction these days. The half-life of brightness for the newer plasmas is 60K hours. That's way way into the future. The interesting thing about DLP blub replacement is that in fact people do say things look better after the bulb is replaced....which means that you can expect a gradual decline in PQ until about the second or third year when your bulb does go out. Plasmas have no bulbs. DLPs also have a problem with rainbows that are seen by many customers (a poll in the AVS forum reflected around 50% of customers do see rainbows). There are also picture defects with DLPs......viewing angle, dithering, silk screen effect and crushed blacks. Also some report feeling sick watching the DLP for more than a few minutes (count me as one of those). I guess its cause by the spinning mechanical color wheel. DLP (TI specifically) has been on a full on media blitz for the past year or two. Forget the promos and ads, I found the DLP PQ far inferior to that of plasma....which is why I bought a Panasonic plasma almost a year ago. And I can tell you there is sure as h*ll no 'fade' so far.

 

[Demoth]

Sure, plasma is better when you get up to the $4000+ range. At the sub $2000 level, plasma screens are low res. and EDTV, not HDTV. Low res plasmas look decent enough on a digital and analog signal, but the screen door effect is very noticeable on these units. Only the very expensive plasma units look as crisp as a $1-2K DLP to me, but if I was shopping higher end and spending a lot of money, plasma would be what I would look at.

The point is, the OP is looking to stay within a very low budget and the plasmas in this price range look very poor compared to DLP.

Very few people are bothered by rainbow effects in 3rd gen DLP though most can see it if they are shown how to look for it. Most also don't see it with regular viewing or get use to it. This is one reason everyone should go to a store and look at DLP sets in both bright and dark conditions before even considering buying one. Same goes for LCD and black levels and ghosting. Have also never met anyone who got motion sick viewing a DLP past the first gen though I have read posts from those few who have, again, go to a store and see what is best for your needs.

 

[Hadsus]

Originally posted by: Demoth
Sure, plasma is better when you get up to the $4000+ range. At the sub $2000 level, plasma screens are low res. and EDTV, not HDTV. Low res plasmas look decent enough on a digital and analog signal, but the screen door effect is very noticeable on these units. Only the very expensive plasma units look as crisp as a $1-2K DLP to me, but if I was shopping higher end and spending a lot of money, plasma would be what I would look at.

The point is, the OP is looking to stay within a very low budget and the plasmas in this price range look very poor compared to DLP.

Very few people are bothered by rainbow effects in 3rd gen DLP though most can see it if they are shown how to look for it. Most also don't see it with regular viewing or get use to it. This is one reason everyone should go to a store and look at DLP sets in both bright and dark conditions before even considering buying one. Same goes for LCD and black levels and ghosting. Have also never met anyone who got motion sick viewing a DLP past the first gen though I have read posts from those few who have, again, go to a store and see what is best for your needs.

More than 50% see rainbows, and nearly 20% are bothered by them...here's the link:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/poll.php?do=showresults&pollid=2988

You'll see them in your home, not the stores.

You are right about the screen door effect on EDTV....I see it too.

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: Hadsus
The stuff about plasma picture fading is pure fiction these days.

Plasmas use phosphors just like CRTs, which do exhibit phopshor burn/dim sooner or later. Enough to impact buying decision? Probably not, unless you watch a LOT of TV.

 

[GrJohnso]

I spent a pretty healthy amount of time yesterday checking TV's out... Maybe 40+ of them. Also took a look at the latest Consumer's Reports that gave some intersting info as well, espeically related to DLP's and repairs, etc...

Couple things I took away.

First, DLP's are a higher risk for repairs.. Especially CRT based. Spend the extra money on extended warrantee...

Second, visually, projection is still projection, with blooming, rainbows, etc still there. Noticed in store and that stats quoted in the thread are accurately quoted in mainy places... Newest models minimize this, but it's not gone...

Bang for the buck though, DLP's are pretty nice, especially if ya want something big (50"+)

Anyway, LCD's and Plasma's are looking better. LCD's are getting bigger, and ghosting is less and less, but still there in some of the cheaper models... Current most 37" are kinda suspect, but the newer 42"'s are looking good... Price, well, not cheap, but will drop bya few hundred in the next few months... LCD black levels are definitely improved and in some cases really good with the current generation that is just now shipping...

Plasma are pricier, and no way I would touch EDTV right now. Just not worth it visually as the cost is still similar to a true HDTV DLP setup... There will be a couple more options in the low cost area coming out in the next few months that will need to checked on, as prices should come down a bit more here still..

Anyway, if you are happy with DLP, buy now... LCD and Plasma, maybe sit a month or two, but no longer than that... Best quality still goes to Plasma, but LCD catching up....

CableCard, don't bother... HDMI w/hdcp good... newer models are better.. period...

I'm sitting on it for a month and will revisit... I can milk a bit more out of my old RPTV for now...

Thanks again for the participation in this topic... Helped me catch up pretty quick...

 

[Jon1234]

Originally posted by: PsychoPsonic
3 letters: SED

Haha, they actually state in that article that the 'dark' pictures they have taken don't do the displays justice...How precisely is looking at pictures of a superior display technology using my own inferior display ever going to show it in a good light?

 

[PandaBear]

I am in the same boat, moved to a new apt and need a TV, thinking about size 32" to 37" and spend no more than 1500. Either a CRT HDTV or an LCD HDTV. I don't think my price range will get plasma and I will be giving this TV to my parents in 2-3 years to replace their old 27" 10 year old CRT (by that time 13 year old).

For a couch about 5 ft from the TV and want to watch it in dining room as well, I think 37 would be ideal, but it is about 1.5k right now. Any news about price dropping big any time soon?

 

[justlnluck]

The new 32" Westinghouse looks good:
https://www.westinghousedigital.com/pc-14-2-32-lcd-hdtv.aspx

 

[PandaBear]

Just came back from best buy and I though I would leave a couple feedback here:

Westinghouse has quite a bit of noise in the picture quality. Despite its 3000:1 contrast ratio and integrated tuner it is not as nice any other in the size.

The Insigna is not bad for the money, look almost as good as the Sharp. The one I liked best in terms of quality is Sony Bravia and Samsung, but for their price, they better be good.

Right now I am more incline for the Insigna (Best buy house brand). I will see what else is out there, I heard a lot of good thing about Olivia and Norcent.