Advice on Pioneer SD533HD5 or Mitsu WSA48 RPTV? (1 Viewer)

[Jael]

I find myself back in the shopping arena after a mixed experience with a previous model television. They have offered a buy back and I'm now back in the market. I'm a picky consumer with a limited budget (really not a good combination). I've decided I can eek out about $2300 (after tax) and am looking at the following sets.

Pioneer SD533HD5

Mitsubishi WSA48

Does anybody have good or bad things to say about either of these two sets? Are there significant differences I should be aware of before making my purchase? I'm aware of the size difference but If it's a question of image quality vs the 5" I'll take the loss of size.

Thanks for the feedback,

Jael

 

[Jael]

I've just returned from BestBuy where I took a look at the 48" Mits. I think I'm fully leaning toward the Pioneer. It'd be helpful to hear some Pioneer owners experiences before I make the final decision.

 

[Hanson]

I have the same Pioneer set you're looking at.
I wouldn't hesitate to buy. It has, for its price range, the best stretch modes, line doubler, and PQ out of the box. And you can perform 64 point convergence in the user menu (geometery adjustments, however, must be tweaked in the service menu).
I think the only complaint I’ve heard has been the amount of inputs. There are 3 total in the back (any combination of 2 S-Vid, 2 component, 1 SVGA, and 3 composite)and 1 up front (composite and S-Vid).
DVD performance is off the hook. Cable looks OK with tweaking (I have heard you get used to the artifacting after a while), but you will never mistake it for DVD.
I have been nothing but happy since I bought the set back in September. I watch 90% OTA via Tivo and Replay and 10% DVD.

 

[Ted Ross]

A few months ago i narrowed my choices down to Mitsubishi or Pioneer. I went with the 533 because, IMHO, it had better stretch modes & a better line doubler. The store I bought it from only sold Pioneer & Mitsubishi so I was able to judge them side-by-side.

 

[Herman S]

I have the Pioneer also and I love it as well. You can get it for about $2000 on-line. At that price I think it is the best RPTV you can buy. In addition I heard from a variety of reliable sources that the electronics are almost identical as the Elites from a year ago. Use the money you save and get the set ISF calibrated. Although the picture quality was great out of the box, the calibration made it a tremendous difference. Good Luck.

 

[Mifr44]

In addition I heard from a variety of reliable sources that the electronics are almost identical as the Elites from a year ago.

Do you remember if they were talking about the Elite 510 or the Elite 520?

Michael

 

[greg_t]

The line doubler in the SD533 is the Pure cinema I, which was used in the Elite 510. The 520 used the pure cinema II and the new Elite 530's use the pure cinema III. The stretch modes are also the same on all models. I believe the SD533 uses some of the same components as the Elite 510, but not all.

 

[Mifr44]

Greg,

Thanks for the information.

Michael

 

[Jael]

Thanks for the replies! I found it local for $1999 which seems just right. These are hard sets to find!

FWIW These were some of my considerations on eliminating the other options.

Sony - They seem to be having a little flicker issue I'm not willing to gamble on right now (CRT issue).

Tosh&Hitachi - Upconversion (although not very noticable) and a friends bad experience (Tosh).

RCA - Picture softness/company reputation. Hissing from power supply?

JVC - Didn't really research them.

Mits - The mits in the same price range didn't impress me. My friends mits is beautiful (diamond?) but this was BB 48". Perhaps the model that's a reduced gold? Still willing do some last minute considerations on the mits as the future upgrade promise is somewhat comforting and the quality is there although maybe at a higher price. I also felt the brightness and contrast seemed to be a little lacking(could be service level range limits on this particular example however.)


Anyway, thanks again for the input, it's all very helpful!

Jael

 

[Qui-Gon John]

Jael, I have a slightly older model. The SD-582-HD5, which I got in September 2000. I am very happy with it, so I'm pretty sure the newer, smaller brother of it would be a good choice.