Which one Mitsubishi or Sony? (1 Viewer)

Edit: This post should appear below the original poster's, which appears below. I don't know how it ended up at the top, don't think it was anything I did. Hopefully a mod can move it? I've had one of those flimsy plastic Sonys for almost 2 years now and love it. Mine's an HW40 model, predecessor to the WS500 line.

I haven't found the plastic cabinet to be a problem, in fact it actually allows for more precise alignment of mirror and screen than a wood-constructed cabinet.
My previous analog Hitachi had a nice solid feeling wood cabinet that made odd cracking noises when the central heat kicked on, the Sony doesn't. I've got a mid-sized center channel speaker and my HD-stb balanced rather precariously on top with no sagging.

As far as picture, I think Sony has a better line doubler and definitely better variable stretch mode. If you're a big fan of pip, the Sony will let you have progressive scan dvd or even and HD scanrate pic as one of the side-by-side images in pip mode.

Both makes are pretty tweakable.

This type of question has been asked a bunch of times before, and although I have run a search, I didn't come up with anything comparing these 2.

Sony KP-51WS500 51 inch
Mitsubishi WS-55311 55 inch

I can get either for about the same price, however the mitsubishi is the low end of the 55" size, but I much prefer its chassis, the cabinet is SOLID, unlike the flimsy plastic of the sony.

Just curious which you would pick and why.

Thanks,

Troy

Things to look into:

1. Does this sony have the flicker problem? You may find more info on this on the SPOT forum. There have been many build problems with Sony's in the last few years (though the ones that work often look great).

2. This Mitsubishi model does not have DVI or firewire. Decide if these are things that concern you about the future (some argue its absolutely necessary, some think it won't be).

My personal opinion is that the Sony's are living off their name and are not as good as they perhaps once were. The Mits are well reputed sets, but I personally won't consider a set without DVI. The Mits internal processing is honestly not the world's best, but then again you aren't looking at the high-price models from either brand anyway.

With that said, if you need a tv soon and these are your two choices, then I suggest you get the Mits for its build quality and good picture (when properly setup). Most stores have absolutely horrible setups for all the tv's, so its pretty worthless. At minimum, play with the contrast and brightness so that they are at equal levels for A/B comparison.

Yeah, I have since ruled em both out, and am now thinking of a Pioneer, I don't want to worry about flicker problems, and the pioneer by most accounts produces a very nice picture and zooms standard 3:4 as well as any, and I can't find anyone experiencing any major bugs or common problems with them. Either the elite 530, or the 533...other than the DVI, what other good reasons would I want to spend the extra on the elite?

I bought myself some time, I had a repair guy, do what he called a picture tube restoration?? He plugged something into the tube, and somehow got it working again. Said it won't last long though. Maybe a day, maybe a month or two.