Help with choices, PLEASE (1 Viewer)

[BillMA]

Hello,
I am new to the world of home theater. I want to purchase a rear proj.TV for $1800 or less. I also need to stay under 50" or right around because of room size. I am hooking up to HDTV through Comcast and I am purchasing a prog.scan DVD and surround to go with the TV. I had narrowed it down to three (tell me if there's better)

1. Hitachi 46F500 (don't want the DVD with the 46W500)

2. Sony 46WT510

3. Mitsubishi WT-42313 or possibly the 48313

Please give me your opinions on these three and which you feel is the best. If there's a better one I missed, I'd look at that one, too. I was reading about the display formats on all three, and I thought that Sony was the most comprehensive, but you folks are the experts. Please help as I am sick of surfing for info and getting nowhere...

Thank you,
Bill

 

[TomWinRichmond]

Toshiba 51H83 should fall well under your budget. I
just purchased the 57" version myself. I went through
some initial tweaking on my father in-law's 57H83 a
few weeks ago and was very impressed with the PQ and
the stretch modes.

--
Tom

 

[Jason Charlton]

I can't offer much insight on the Hitachi or the Mitsubishi, but I have a Sony set (different model) and absolutely love the "wide zoom" stretch mode. For me, it's the perfect combination of croppping, zooming, and stretching. Out of the box, with factory settings, the picture was less than impressive - lots of grain, excessive SVM - but after calibrating it with Avia and disabling all the picture "enhancements", it really shines. Even standard cable looks remarkably good. I think the Sony's are an excellent choice.

Good luck.

-Jason

 

[BillMA]

Thank you Jason and Tom.
I just received an email from a local company offering the Hitachi for $1499. That may make the decision easier