LCD RPTV's (1 Viewer)

[Bob Graz]

I went to Circuit City tonight to see what they had on display. They had 50" Hitachi, Panasonic and Sony LCD RPTV's. The Hitachi and Panasonic were right next to each other along with the 50" Sammy DLP RPTV. The Sony LCD was quite a distance away from the rest. My opinion based upon what I saw, was the Sony LCD set had a significantly better picture than the rest. This pains me as I'm not a Sony fan. My feeling was that the Panny LCD, Hitachi LCD and Sammy DLP had similar pictures. The Sony had a much more detailed,sharper, smoother look to it. This gave it more of a 3-D image. The picture was beautiful.

The Sony was priced the same as the Panny at about $3300. I didn't notice the price of the Hitachi. Prior to seeing the Sony, I thought the Panny had a pretty good picture. But now I believe the Sony LCD has the best overall picture of the bunch.

I haven't seen the Philips LCOS yet. I also stopped by Best Buy and they are getting the Philips in several days. Circuit City does not carry the Philips. I continue to be amazed at the PQ of the new sets coming out. I look forward to seeing the Philips myself.

I do have the sense though that the days are numbered for the CRT RPTV.

 

[Tom Fynan]

I came to the same conclusion after looking at the Samsung DLP and Hitachi and Panasonic LCDs. I was looking to upgrade my 36" Sony XBR to a widescreen, but the TV needs to sit on top of my audio rack, eliminating the CRT models. I ended up buying a 50" Sony Grand Wega III, which should be delivered next week. I think the Sony had the best picture of the non-plasma TVs I looked at. I think the Sony and Panasonic plasmas had better pictures than the LCD and DLP sets, but I wanted a 50" set, and couldn't justify the price of a plasma that big. I'm looking forward to playing with the new TV at home.

Tom Fynan

 

[Joseph Bolus]

One of my co-workers recently purchased that Samsung DLP RPTV.

Once setup and calibrated in his living room, it looked absolutely phenomenal.

We sampled a variety of High-Def and DVD-sourced material on the set and it made both of those sources appear,as they say, almost 3-D. (I own a three year old Pioneer Elite 55" RPTV, and this Samsung is at least two orders of magnitude better in the area of black levels and tracking.)

It has some "interesting" stretch modes available for conventional 4:3 material as well.

I, quite honestly, would never consider another CRT-based RPTV after having experienced this offering from Samsung.