What's new

Looking for the best HDTV I can get for $3000 (1 Viewer)

Lanny_B

Second Unit
Joined
Nov 24, 2001
Messages
280
I'm fixing up a new Home Theater room in my basement, and hopefully by April or May I'll be able to afford my HDTV. The room measures 10' wide, 17' long, and 8' high. I'm thinking I don't want to go smaller than 55".

I want all the obvious things: Great color, long lasting. On top of that though, I want it to be relatively thin (doesn't have to be plasma), and I'd prefer if I could get one that is shaped like this:

I like the look of the big TV on top of a narrow stand. But whatever. I'm not really big on the kind where the stand is just one big block the same width as the screen, but oh well -- it looks like a lot of them are made that way.
 

John S

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2003
Messages
5,460
If it is a dedicated HT room, you may as well go for FP for sure....

Then you can decide on how big, even 100" if ya want. And it is the thinnest technology possible...
 

Lanny_B

Second Unit
Joined
Nov 24, 2001
Messages
280
FP, as in Front Projection?

I'm shying away from that a bit for some reason. Partly because I have no experience with it. I just can't picture it being what I want. For one, doesn't the light have to be just right to even show up? Plus I have to make sure people don't walk in the way. Plus, what about focusing issues? Getting a screen, etc. No, I don't really think that's what I want.

Also, this will be a home theater room, but it will also be just a regular TV room, and what not, and sometimes used for multipurpose stuff.
 

John S

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2003
Messages
5,460
OK, Not really dedicated then... Probably not what you want then, I suppose.

By the shape you gave, it does not look like a Large CRT rear projection will be what you want either.

Your making it tough here really... Because you want a 55" as the smallest size.
 

Mitch_J

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Oct 16, 2003
Messages
129
Lanny, I can only tell you what I've seen and what I like. You might want to try the KF60WE610 by Sony.
I have the 50 inch model and I've seen some HDTV on it so far and it does indeed look amazing. It's relatively light and thin. It's LCD if that makes a difference.
 

Lanny_B

Second Unit
Joined
Nov 24, 2001
Messages
280
I see, so I guess that's why I've had such a hard time deciding on the perfect one. :) That Sony looks pretty dang good. I'll bet that is more the direction I'm looking. Are there any downsides to the LCD screen, though?

Up until now I guess here's what I've gathered:

1. LCD - Good size, picture, and weight. If I go with this, there may be dead pixels that come along that won't be worth the price to fix.
2. RPTV - Good and price and some have good picture. Very thick though, with the big square base I don't really want. Any other cons?
3. DLP - Good picture, size, and weight. For the size I'd want it would be really pricey. Also, not good at black levels?

So, it sounds like what I want is a DLP set that's on sale. Either that, or a RPTV that didn't have that big base. Or a LCD set that didn't have pixels that died.
 

John S

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2003
Messages
5,460
You have a grasp on the differences in the technologies it would seem.

You have to decide now.. Took me more than 2 months to figure out what set I wanted. I will be checking back to see what you decide to go with.
 

Lanny_B

Second Unit
Joined
Nov 24, 2001
Messages
280
What did you decide to go with? Are you happy with it?

After looking at this, I was starting to think maybe I should save my $3000-4000 for next year or the year after when some company can come up with a good solution that would make an overall good choice. Maybe now I should just look for the best looking RPTV I can get for around 1000-1500.

Oh, I forgot, RPTV's have the disadvantage of bad viewing angles. My friend got an RPTV for about 1800, and you have to sit right in front of it, and can't even stand up too high or sit too low. That seems terrible, especially if I expect 6 or 7 people to all be able to watch a show at once. Are there some RPTV's that aren't so bad this way?

Furthermore, if I was to go just browse around for good sales a my local b&m's, any more tips on what to look for? Are there certain brands I should just stick to? No RCA, I'd guess... etc. I have a Circuit City, Ultimate Electronics, and an RCWilley near me, and a Best Buy about an hour away.
 

LewB

Screenwriter
Joined
Feb 11, 2002
Messages
1,282

I was all set to get one of these (KF50WE610), I then did some reading about this line of Sony sets referred to as the Grand Wega III or GW III, check out avsforum.com. Seems they are/were having big problems with these sets making a buzzing noise then they just stop working. Sony had identified a fix for this problem. Most places I've checked (online or B&M) are out of stock on the whole KFxxWE610 line. I can only assume that the next batch of these will be 'fixed'
I love the picture and the viewing angles and the price. One drawback I saw was that the LCD seemed to lag when displaying really fast action stuff.
 

Richard_B

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Oct 14, 2003
Messages
137
Lanny_B,

A buddy of mine has been shopping around and has narrowed his choices down to the New Mitsubishi Diamond WS-55813 and the Pioneer Elite Pro-530HDI. I think he can get the Pioneer for about $2999 now and the Mitsubishi for like $3600. Both of these TVs have a great picture and have decent viewing angles. I think the Pioneer is a 53" and the Mitsubishi is a 55".

These are not quite the thin TVs that you asked about. If you want something thinner I think the Samsung DLPs and the new Phillips LCoS TVs may work for you.

Also this TV looks very identical to your drawing.
http://www.tvauthority.com/DLP-TV-HD...cat=&prod=1453
 

John S

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2003
Messages
5,460
The Vertical angles were sort of traded off very early on in CRT RPTV technology for greater horizontle viewing angles.

On the vertical you get more than enough range, heck even sitting on the floor is fine on my set and only when standing does it degrade on the vertical angle.

You can go as much as 8' off center on most modern CRT RPTV's without degrading the veiw at all.

I went with a bulky 60" CRT RPTV.. Philips 60PP9202 myself.
And I am extremely pleased with it.
 

Bill Briggs

Auditioning
Joined
Nov 24, 1998
Messages
12
I have the 60" LCD Sony Grand Wega (KF-60WE610) and absolutely love it, as well as recommend this product line to you. With the room size you have the 60" or larger would be best, unfortunately the $3K cap would mean you would have to settle for the 50" model.
 

Lanny_B

Second Unit
Joined
Nov 24, 2001
Messages
280
I'm seriously looking into those Sony Grand Wega sets, but, don't they have a 55" or 57" inch one too? Something inbetween the 50 and the 60?

I thought I saw one, but I've been checking around and can't find it.

Also, I've read a comment that some complain those Sony sets you have make some weird noise or something. Any problem with that for you?
 

Bill Briggs

Auditioning
Joined
Nov 24, 1998
Messages
12
The new LCD Grand Wega only comes in 42, 50, and 60 inches. The XBR LCD line comes in 60 + 70" models, but is much more expensive. The noise you are referring to is the buzz sound folks have reported before their bulbs burn out.
 

Lanny_B

Second Unit
Joined
Nov 24, 2001
Messages
280
How long do the bulbs last before they burn out? How much does it cost to fix, because I remember the sales guy saying that wasn't covered.
 

Mitch_J

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Oct 16, 2003
Messages
129
I've not gotten the buzzing sound from mine. I was told the bulb should last 8000 to 10000 hours. Cost was quoted at about $200.00
 

Stephen_Dar

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Feb 8, 2002
Messages
105
What???!! You're crazy, man. No offense, but you can't go more than a couple of feet off axis before CRT projectors I see in stores become very degraded to my eye. I understand they can produce great pictures in the absolute sense, but their positional brightness limitations, hotspotting, and huge size rule them out for me.

I am in the same position as others in this thread (except I haven't put a price cap on yet). Looked closely at the Sony KF50WE610 at Best Buy this past weekend, and also at the higher XBR series of LCD projectors over at Fry's ($5k for the 60" seems tempting, $7k for the 70" is unnecessary:) ).

My questions are simple: 1. how do these LCD projectors stack up against the other options in terms of sheer picture quality (a complicated question, I know), and

2. Is the Sony XBR series (60" to 70") a natural choice over the Wega series? I am willing to go from $3k for the 50" Wega up to $5k to get the larger 60" XBR's size as long as I am also reasonably guaranteed that the XBR is providing some objectively superior picture quality as well. All thoughts welcome!
 

Bill Briggs

Auditioning
Joined
Nov 24, 1998
Messages
12
The lamp that comes in the TV is warrantied by Sony for 1 year. Replacement lamps purchased through them are warrantied for 90 days. My extended warranty from Circuit City covers lamp replacements for the life of the warranty. I usually don't recommend extended warranties, but for a purchase of this amount and considering the price of lamps, I recommend one on the GWIII.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Forum statistics

Threads
356,818
Messages
5,123,893
Members
144,184
Latest member
H-508
Recent bookmarks
0
Top