KP57WS520 or WS-65315 ? (1 Viewer)

[Richard_A]

Hi everyone,

I susbscribed to this forum at the suggestion of a friend, I'm glad to be online.

I have a large family room that we recently replaced the furniture and moved my desk out from the back of the room, so now our viewing area is much further away. I'm talking 18' here, so I'm looking at replacing the current 32 Sony Wega HDTV with a large projection set.

My budget max is $1900, and I've done a lot of reading on the web, as well as several trips to the local Best Buy and Circuit City. I've really put the 57" Sony at the top of my wish list, but I saw a 55" Mits at Best Buy and was really impressed with its color (65" wasn't on display). I realize the other 2 sets next to it may not have been calibrated properly, but I still liked the picture.

Right now the 65" can be had for $1899 at Best Buy this weekend, and the 57" Sony is $1799 at Circuit City. These 2 are in my price range and I've liked the features and picture quality of each. With such a big room I'd love to go for the most inches with the Mits, but I've heard of reliability issues with some Mitsubishi models. Are there any known issues to be wary of? Are the warranty repair policies pretty much the same for both models, assuming we aren't talking about any extended service contracts, just what comes with the TV from the manufacturer?

I wondered if anyone could share some experiences with either model and offer opinions on the pros/cons of each?

I've seen comments too about the Mits display being 'too low' and you can see from product images that it is noticeably lower than the Sony. Is that really a big deal? My current 32" Sony is in an entertainment unit that is going to move to another room, so we are used to watching the image at about 30" off the floor right now.

Thanks in advance.

Richard

 

[Shane Martin]

No problems with the same arrangement here.

The biggest issue you will have to deal with is how SD looks that big. Standard Definition(SD) looks crappy blown up that big. Depending on your tolerance it can go from "Unwatchable" to just not very good.

1 tip: have the screen removed or remove it yourself(screen protector). On the 3 Mits I've seen it done on(including mine) its been a huge difference.

If you buy the Sony I would watch this thread very closely..
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...hreadid=229646

I am biased I'll admit that but when I compared the 2 in the same room I preferred the Mits. Also size is a big difference. 55/57" is great for 10 feet away but 18' away it will be small. The 65 would be the easy choice for me.

 

[Richard_A]

Thanks, I saw the thread you posted shortly after I started this thread. I agree that the larger display area would indeed be great to have.

I was dismayed at my first experience watching HD content on my Wega tube tv and then seeing just how crappy SD was. The new sets sure can reveal all the flaws in the older video feed that's for sure.

I noticed that both models tout an upconversion feature for making SD look better. Does your current set offer this feature?

R

 

[John S]

Most displays offer it these days. They will line double (Progressive scan) every SD source. A must when going much over the 46" size.

Oh yeah, and I'm all about screen size, go for the 65"....

 

[Jerome Grate]

I have the 51 inch model of the Sony and love it. However, size was the issue with me and anything larger wasn't acceptable. I compared the Mits up against the Sony and personal preference was the Sony. The two was so close in quality it could have been a toss up, but the Sony seemed a bit more natural as far as color is concern. If you can go with the larger set, the price is darn good one and with a good calibration probably would rival the Sony.

 

[Shane Martin]

Yes but crappy SD blown up to 55" or in your case 65 is still crappy SD.

Given its Directv SD, It should be OK but now that I have HD I barely if ever watch SD.

 

[Kevin_Breeze]

I am also interested in these two sets. I have a question though. We have I/O thorugh my cable company Cablevision and what I understand is it is 100% digitial. So does this mean no stations are SD? (I'm assuming SD means standard definition).

We do watch a lot of TV and I don't want all the normal channels to look really if I get a 57" or 65" set. My girlfriend in particular watches a lot of TV shows. Would the 65" set not be a good idea for a lot of TV viewing even if the signal is a digital one?

 

[Jerome Grate]

If I remember correctly, not all channels are digital. The higher number channels are usually digital.

 

[ScottHH]

Kevin_Breeze,

Digital means the signal is sent digitally instead of analog. All high definition (HD) is digital, but standard definition (SD) can be sent both via an analog or a digital signal.

The SD digital channels do look marginally better than the low number SD channels with Cablevision. There are only a few hi-definition (HD) channels, see their website to see which ones you get in your area. I get 13 HD channels, and these don’t always run HD programming. I have a 60” HDTV. The HD looks spectacular. But when watching SD material it is equivalent to a 49” 4:3 picture, and the limitations of the standard are clearly visible (i.e. the picture isn’t great).

When I first got the set, I’d watch anything if it was in HD. Although I’ll still give something a try just because it’s in HD, if there’s something I want to watch that’s only in SD, it’s still quite watchable. To me, however, the quality of HD and DVD is much more important that the relative quality of SD.

 

[Corey-Reid]

I currently own a 60" mitsubishi, non HD set. It is about 5 years old. I have direct tv and use super VHS cables to send the signal to the tv.

Even SD looks very good on this TV. Now compared to HD??? But that is an entirely different animal. After having a 60" tv for 5 years, I dont think I could go go down.

I am also looking at a new tv in the next 6 months or so, and i will definately be looking at the 65" HD mistubishis. The 65 inch with built in tuner is on sale right now for 1899.00, cheaper than the HD ready version.


If you are using direct tv, dont let the larger screen size scare you off.

 

[Gregg Loewen]

I really like the sony RPTVs.

Regards

Gregg

 

[Ted Lee]

i had the mits 65313 model for a while and loved it.

while i never had true hd, all my dvd's (upconverted) looked very nice. as you mention sd material, i will also say it looked quite nice ... not very jaggedy, etc. the protective screen is a killer though -- remove it unless you want to go glare-crazy.

personally, i think either one is a solid choice.