simple - I have $3000 which is the best? (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Sun]

Patience, grasshopper.

If you can wait a 6-8 weeks, you'll be seeing some reviews on many of the new 2007 plasma models. We are literally at the very beginning of the new wave of 2007 models.

 

[todd_mars]

This is looking like what I want so bring it on!!

 

[Jean D]

Cnet gave a good rating for the new Panasonic th-50px77u display. Looks promising.

 

[todd_mars]

Thanks guys! I guess I will have to wait but hopefully it will be worth the wait!

 

[todd_mars]

Any word on the new Panny's? When should I be able to buy one at my local stores?

 

[Stephen Orr]

Hey, you can get the 46 inch Sony Bravia KDL46XLRB2 for under $3000 at Amazon. I just had one delivered this weekend and WOW! We love it!

 

[Steve Schaffer]

What's your viewing distance going to be? Do you absolutely have to hang it on a wall? Are any of the normal seating positions going to be extremely off-angle?

Unless you're going to be sitting less than 8 or 10 feet from the set 50" isn't gonna be big enough.

When there are any number of excellent dlp and lcos rear projection sets in the 60-65 inch size range with full 1080p available in your price range I see no reason to even consider a 720p 50" plasma unless you absolutely must hang the set on a wall or normally watch from an extreme side angle.

Sony SXRD, JVC DILA lcos sets or Toshiba or Samsung 1080p dlp models are all excellent choices--bigger screen sizes, better pq (no screen door effect, no nasty clayface effect as on Panny Plasmas) excellent contrast ratio, no potential for burn-in, lower power consumption.

Somehow the public seems to equate HDTV with flat panel, either lcd or plasma, both of which have distinct pq disadvantages and much higher prices at smaller screen sizes than modern microchip based rptv.

 

[SherardP]

Since you have light control, have you considered front projection. I would look into that option and go huge on the screen, 96 inches or larger.

 

[todd_mars]

Hey Steve and SherardP,

My viewing distance will be around 6 feet at the closest and 12-13 feet at the furthest. There will also be some fairly serious angles involved. The two seats that are about 6 feet away are looking at the tv at about a 45 degree angle from the front. The dlp and LCoS tv's I have looked at drove me nutz because of the viewing angle. I am 6'5" and standing 8-10 feet away from the sets I could see different contrasts in the tv screen just by squatting down and standing up. I just can't stand watching the rptv's because of this. That is my opinion. The picture on the plasma's just seem much better to me. I have a blu-ray/PS3 and would really like to view my next tv with full 1080p. The new Panny plasma's should be out within the next few days/weeks and are 1080p. I just need to find out when they are available to the public. It looks like you can buy one on Panasonic's website but they aren't available anywhere else. Anyone know when they will be getting here?

Front projection isn't something I have looked into that much but I haven't really seen anything that has blown me away?

 

[Kieran Coghlan]

To everyone:

The tired argument that "you won't see the resolution benefits of 1080p unless you're less than X feet from the screen and/or the screen is XX inches in size" is all but moot now. Here's why:

1080p has become (not becoming, it is) the new standard. All HD discs (hddvd or brd) are or will be 1080p. MOST (granted not all) TV programming is 1080i/60, and MOST of that is just 1080p/24 converted to 1080i/60 (except for sports and news, which are mostly 1080i/60 native, so they require motion adaptive de-interlacing to 1080p/60).

It's getting harder and harder to find anything that's not flat panel in a 720p resolution. For example (just one example) many stores don't even carry Sony's 720p 3LCD rptv sets any more. The 1080p sxrd A2020 sets are the new standard, ENTRY LEVEL sets for Sony now (for rptv, that is).

Anyway, I digress. The point is, that since MOST of the material we are and will be watching is either 1080i or 1080p, a TV with a native resolution of 1080p will do a better job displaying all that 1080 material out there than a native 768x1366 or 1024x768, or even true 720px1280 set will, simply because displaying 1080i or 1080p on a 1080p native set requires less processing of the image.

So, EVEN IF you can't see the increased resolution with the tv size and seating distance you have, you VERY WELL may see the scaling and processing artifacts that a less-than-stellar video processor often adds to the picture. That "clay face" artifact (if it's what I'm picturing) someone else mentioned is more often than not a result of poor scaling by the TV's internal scaler.

So, take a grain of salt with people who tell you that you don't need a 1080p set. In my experience, they are either a) trying to sell you their 720p stock to make space for new 1080p sets, or b) own a 720p set themselves and need to justify it to themselves.

This is not to say that there aren't FREAKING EXCELLENT 720p flat panels out there. Pioneer makes fantastic plasmas, it's hard to go wrong with any of their products, 1080p or otherwise. However, as the OP noted, the good flat panels are EXPENSIVE. So, for $3000 do you spend that on a good smaller 720p Pioneer, or a larger 1080p set from a "lesser" company? It's a tough call, but you may find that even though the "lesser" company's 1080p set doesn't have Pioneer's famous processing built in, it may not need it since it's a 1080p set displaying 1080 material.

Basically it boils down to this, IMO: if you're going to get a set with a non-standard native resolution (i.e. not precisely 1080x1920 or 720x1280) it better have excellent processing, because every image it shows will need scaling, and maybe de-interlacing, too. With a 1080p set, most of the HD content you watch will require only de-interlacing (not even that for 1080p discs) and de-interlacing 1080i/60 to 1080p/24 is very easy (much easier than it was to deinterlace 480i dvd's to 480p.

Hope this makes sense. I'm sure I'll get lots of flames from owners of 1365x768 plasma sets, though.

 

[marcIs]

I have worked with many different sets as I work @ futureshop. I prefer the plasma to any other display out there. Home theater mag named the Panasonic plasma the best out there three years in a row. There fast, bright in colour. and today I dont see a problem with burn inn. I have a plasma and i hook my computer to it , Xbox 360 and everything else. I do not use white wash. I have a sat hooked up to it, so I just put it to an RF channel to get statiac and that helps with any issues of burn in. The panasonic uses larger blue phosphors then the outher manufactures. BUY PANISONIC you wont be disappointed. I was'nt. LCD to me looks washed and not as vivid, shure they produce a sharp picture but thats about it. Also dont let the responce time fool you thies 4 mill sec sets don't use the black to black refresh rates truely. Plasma also can be viewed on a better angle and 1080p is also over rated.

 

[todd_mars]

Thanks Kieran, that is basically what I am talking about so to get the best of all of my worlds I want a 1080p plasma and other then the Pioneer and the giant Panny there are many options other then the new Panny's which I am now waiting on.

 

[todd_mars]

I went to BB today and they just got in the Panny 700U. I talked them down to the lowest price I have seen on any forum and they matched it. I am having it delivered Thursday but I may go pick it up before then. I can't wait. Had anyone else see this TV yet?

 

[Paul-D]

Hmmmm, JVC HD-07FH97 at costco - 70" of madness!!

 

[todd_mars]

Got my TV and all I can say right now is WOW!!!

 

[Parker Clack]

todd:

So how does Standard Def look on it?

 

[Paul-D]

Not to steal a thread, but I'm in the same boat. I'm moving from my condo to an apt and can't set up my projector. So, it's time to get a new tv. My budget is between $2k-$3k. I would like it to be future proof and be true 1080p. I would use it mainly for watching mostly HD content via HD Cable box, some SD tv, HD-DVD's via XBox 360 with HD-DVD player add-on and of course regular DVD. Also, using it to play xbox 360 games. Any additional opinions on this subject?