A Quick Intro, Hello, and of Course Advice (1 Viewer)

[Steven_Lazarus]

Well my first user-name was denied, so I guess you gotta stick with the basics sometimes ; Just a little quick intro, I have been reading through the forums the last couple of days and it's been a very entertaining and at the same time a great learning experience.
First off my name is Steve and I'm currently stationed overseas at Naval Hospital Sigonella on the beautiful, sunny and yes very hot! Island of Sicily (Technically Italy). I've been in the Navy going on ten years and have sailed the seven seas on the USS Carl Vinson and now I'm doing a European tour over here in Italy. It's nice but I do miss the motherland!! Due to the fact that there's only so much wine you can taste and sites to see here on the island; I've decided to upgrade my current A/V setup to make my movie watching the highlight of these hot summer nights. But! Due to the isolated location my choices for wide-screen televisions are very limited. I figured the best way to approach this situation is to do allot of research and ask allot of questions, unfortunately for me it's a difficult task trying to get the Italians to understand one of my questions, let alone answer them in a way I understand. Don't get me wrong I'm trying, but the Italian language and its use of verbs is kicking my American butt.
Anyway, like I said about my limited selection. They do have some new LCD models out over here but in my opinion I like the rear projection models a bit better and it won't hit me in the wallet as hard either. My choices are as follows

Sony KP-65WS510- $2,499

Sony KP-57WS510- $1,999

Samsung SP-55W3HF: $1,999; Must be a European model because I can't find any information on it.

Samsung SP-50L2HX: Same as above. No real good reviews to read.

Has anyone ever owned any of the Samsung models listed above? If so how do they rate? I'm also interested in some opinions of the Sony's I've listed. They're basically the same, just one's a tad bit bigger. There are a couple of smaller 40+" JVC's, but to small for what I want. I've read reviews on the Sony's and it seems to be a safe choice, but would I be passing up a good deal on one of these European Samsung models?? Also due to my location which of these models would need the least messing with to get it to it's top performance? I've read that it's a good idea to have the TV calibrated once you get it to ensure proper color and focus are achieved, unfortunately I don't think I'm going to have that luxury until I get back to the States. Any and all help, advice and information would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks in advance.
Ciao,
Steve

 

[Jack Briggs]

Hi there, Steven.

Since you're asking for input on very specific RPTV models, you need to post your question here in Display Devices, which is why I moved your post.

The Basics area is for general discussion at the beginner level ("What's an RPTV?"), not for specific purchasing advice.

Best of luck on your RPTV selection, and enjoy your stay in Italy!

 

[Steve Schaffer]

Steven,

The 2 Sonys you list have the same model number in the US so I can comment on them. I have a nearly 3 year old Sony KP57HW40 and the current 510 series is pretty similar but has DVI connections and a few features my set lacks. I've been very happy with my set, looked great after calibration with the AVIA disc, and better after a few changes in the service menu. There's lots of tweaking info available on these and they don't need a whole lot in the first place. My set's been dead reliable since I got it, no problems except I had to clean the dust off the crt lenses a coupla months ago, easy to access and easy to do.

The Samsungs you mention aren't available here, don't know if they will work with the US tv system. This may not be a factor if you don't plan to ship the set home to the US after your tour of duty.

At those prices I'd bet they're crt based sets. Samsung's DLP based sets have almost a cult following over here, check out AVS Forum for info on the DLP models.

The crt based Samsungs aren't nearly as well regarded.

As a rule for crt based sets the most favored mfgs seem to be Hitachi, Mitsubishi, Toshiba, Panasonic and Sony, in no particular order. If Sony is the only one of these you can get with a US model number in Italy, I'd go ahead and get one, they are quite good overall.