HD TV question - buy now or save money

[At Large]

I'm in the process of looking for a new home in a new city. I've suggested to my wife after we move and stop commuting (of course) that I'd like to get a nice widescreen TV.

My brother mentioned to me that 32 inches is the largest you can get without going projection TV. I don't want a projection TV because the picture never looks right to me (or nice and clear). Currently, it appears that you can get a 30 to 32 inch widescreen HD TV from $600 to over $1000 (depending on brand and features).

My wife said she would like a plasma TV, which would increase the price by 2000 dollars at least.

I'd wait, but I go to movies in the theaters so little these days and would love to get a mini home theater experience set up. Also, HD supposedly will be the norm in 2009.

Any suggestions on model/features if I was to get one in the next 6 months or should I wait?

[ElvisMonster]

I don't want a projection TV because the picture never looks right to me (or nice and clear).

1998 called and wanted to rack your take.

I've got 62" of DLP that looks sharper than my 32" Aquos. Go big or stay home. And after watching a few games (football, baseball, basketball, or whatever) in HD you'll never want to watch anything else.

[At Large]

OK, let me clarify. Lower priced big screen TVs to me seem to be not as clear as the higher end ones, which is probably obvious, unless you can suggest a excellent clarity HD tv that's at a reasonable price.

Go big or stay home? Where do you work, the No Fear electronics store?

I didn't think I was making a take with my observations about big screen TVs. Also, since when is this the Jim Rome message board? I have long since past moved past having a "take" and "not sucking". It was relevant 5 years ago in my life, but not now. So stop acting like this is an extension of the Rome show and please give me some relevant advice on HD tvs.

A helpful "take" would be to tell me specific brands along with price range. But since you provided neither, I'll just look on my own.

[Rack Fu]

I have a 57" Sony HD Widescreen that is rear projection based. Unless you're sitting at a 70 degree angle from the thing, it looks great.

It was about $2000 (circa April 2004). I was originally going to get a DLP or LCD, which looked marginally better, but not worth the extra $1500.

I do agree with EM. You'll want to go big. A 32" is fine for the secondary TV.

Plasma TVs can be tricky. Some of the prices sound good for plasmas but then you find out that it's ED, not HD, and some shit ass Korean manufacturer that no one ever heard of. If you're going plasma, stick to the big names like Sony, Panasonic, Philips, etc. A good 42" plasma is going to cost $3500. A 50" about $4500-$5000.

[At Large]

Now that was helpful... :idea:

[Justa Heel]

My advice-- check out the following three TVs:

-52'' JVC D-ILA (this is LCOS technology (Liquid Crystal on Silicone)) (last year's model can be had for $1800 if you buy online)
-50'' Samsung DLP (Digital Light Processing)
-50'' Sony Grand-Wega LCD (Liquid Crystal Display)

...and decide which one you like best. These are the three major leading technologies you should look at. Don't go with Plasma-- they have burn-in probs and once they break you're fucked.

Personally I own the JVC and think it's the best. I think DLP is a close second and I like the LCDs the least, although they can look really good too depending on how much you spend. Some LCDs suffer from "screen-door" effect as you can almost see the spaces between the pixels. Also since these actually utilize 'organic' material sometimes you can have pixels die on you. Also can have burn-in. Provides the "sharpest" picture, though.

DLPs have no screen-door effect but give some people problems with seeing rainbows since it operates with a spinning color wheel... most people don't experience this phenomenon but if you're one of the ones who do, you're f'ed. The picture is sharp and extremely clear and detailed but sometimes at least IMO it's almost too much and can look animated/artificial.

LCOS (which JVC refers to under it's proprietary D-ila name) uses inorganic material so pixels won't die. Also no burn in or rainbow problems. In my opinion it also gives the most "natural" look of the three. Also don't have any problems with viewing "sweet-spots" on these and can watch from any angle, unlike DLPs which you need a direct viewing angle.

It's definitely worth checking these three out if you really want HD. The pictures on all three can be amazing. I don't think it's worth paying for High-Def on a 32'' TV. A regular 32'' TV won't look that much worse.

[Louis Cyphre]

Here's a website that you might find helpful.

http://www.audioholics.com/techtips/spe ... sguide.php

I would recommend the DLP or the LCOS, but I am partial to the DLP because I own one. A Mitsubishi DLP WD-52525 cost about $2400 with the prices dropping $100 every two months.

[At Large]

I was looking at Circuit City today and was checking out the TVs. As I mentioned earlier, I noticed that the low end big screens were very dark to see up close and only when you were far away and kind of centered on it that it looked right.

I'm intrigued by the LCD TVs. The Sony 42 inch one was nice and not overly expensive.

[DrDetroit]

At-Large, wifey and are I are also looking at new tv's. I've done some reading at cnet.com which seems to have decent reviews on a lot of tv's, including HD crt's (traditional tv's), plasma, lcd, and dlp. From there you can also get some buyer reviews, though you can go to Amazon and get many more after punching in the specific tv model number there.

I've already crossed off plasma, too new and too expensive for me. I don't if think there is a significant difference between dlp and lcd, at least in terms of picture quality and price. HD crt's offer the best deals, imo, though, they're big boxes.

I agree with you in that I'm not a fan of the bigscreen rear-projection tv's. Like you said, they just never look right, plus, asthetically, they look like shit, imo.

By buddy bought a 50" Sony Grand Wega about 18 months ago. Beautiful tv, absolutely gorgeous picture, can't beat it. But it is hella expensive. If you got the $4000+ for it, buy it.

And we've been looking at a 36" Sony hd crt television at Best Buy. I think that one is a little over a grand??

I certainly won't be getting a grand wega, too big and too expensive. I've been looking hard at a medium-sized screen hd crt tv. Sony, Samsung, and Phillips are the ones I am looking at, probably 36" (which I think is the largest you can go in crt) and looking at something like a $1000.

However, because we have only a moderately-sized living room for the tv we might go with a 30" - 36" lcd tv that we can mount on the wall. Those appear to be a little more $$ at $1200 to $1500.

It looks like you get a lot of bang for the buck with the biggest hd crt's with the real exception being the size and weight of those monsters.

[Justa Heel]

By buddy bought a 50" Sony Grand Wega about 18 months ago. Beautiful tv, absolutely gorgeous picture, can't beat it. But it is hella expensive. If you got the $4000+ for it, buy it.

You can get one for a lot less now, especially if you don't buy at some high markup brick & mortar joint like Circuit City....

http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_getp ... d%2520wega

[Justa Heel]

I was looking at Circuit City today and was checking out the TVs. As I mentioned earlier, I noticed that the low end big screens were very dark to see up close and only when you were far away and kind of centered on it that it looked right.

I'm intrigued by the LCD TVs. The Sony 42 inch one was nice and not overly expensive.

Whatever you do, make sure you check out the TVs in a number of different stores. The picture quality can vary a lot between stores depending on how they have them set up. Sometimes they're not calibrated properly, sometimes a particular unit might be getting a weak signal, etc.

[DrDetroit]

I was looking at Circuit City today and was checking out the TVs. As I mentioned earlier, I noticed that the low end big screens were very dark to see up close and only when you were far away and kind of centered on it that it looked right.

I'm intrigued by the LCD TVs. The Sony 42 inch one was nice and not overly expensive.

Whatever you do, make sure you check out the TVs in a number of different stores. The picture quality can vary a lot between stores depending on how they have them set up. Sometimes they're not calibrated properly, sometimes a particular unit might be getting a weak signal, etc.

RACK!!!

I understand that many stores crank up the brightness and fuck around with other display settings that will show something totaslly different once out of the box and in your house.

[ElTaco]

LCDs are probably the best out there. I'm looking at them for work regularly and you should expect to spend around $2500 for a decent 30" lcd or a little over $5k for a 40" one. Sony will always kick ass when it comes to video because they always build in some great features. Everyone else usually plays catchup. On the other hand, Sony is always a few hundred more expensive then everything else.

Plasma and Projection and LCD are in a big price race. LCD manufactuer's are losing the price war but their price has dropped a lot. Most Plasma TV's have built in protection now so you shouldn't have any burnin. LCD's don't have that problem. Problem with LCD's is that they tend to be a little darker and slower then Plasma and Projection TVs. High end LCD TV's fix this problem and you won't notice it anyway unless you have a 2nd TV next to it. LCOS is projected to be the next big thing. Intel and other chip companies are working hard to help bring down the price of these screens. Within the next few years, LCOS will probably kill LCD because of price and quality. For now its still playing catchup.

[Justa Heel]

LCDs are probably the best out there. I'm looking at them for work regularly and you should expect to spend around $2500 for a decent 30" lcd or a little over $5k for a 40" one. Sony will always kick ass when it comes to video because they always build in some great features. Everyone else usually plays catchup. On the other hand, Sony is always a few hundred more expensive then everything else.

Plasma and Projection and LCD are in a big price race. LCD manufactuer's are losing the price war but their price has dropped a lot. Most Plasma TV's have built in protection now so you shouldn't have any burnin. LCD's don't have that problem. Problem with LCD's is that they tend to be a little darker and slower then Plasma and Projection TVs. High end LCD TV's fix this problem and you won't notice it anyway unless you have a 2nd TV next to it. LCOS is projected to be the next big thing. Intel and other chip companies are working hard to help bring down the price of these screens. Within the next few years, LCOS will probably kill LCD because of price and quality. For now its still playing catchup.

Check out the JVC LCOS. Thery've caught up.

Also, when I bought my TV back in March you could buy a Sony Grand Wega LCD rear-projection (are there non rear-prohection LCDs over 50''?) at Sam's Club for $2600. My JVC cost $2240 shipped through Internet merchant (risky, but it paid off), and can now be had for less than two grand.