Pioneer or Toshiba Replacement TV (1 Viewer)

[Vern.S]

I am looking for a $2000-$2500 replacement TV.

I already have a Dolby Digital setup for audio. My Charter digital cable comes through a SA 3100HD, but it currently only has two HD channels (HBOHD and DiscoveryHD). I have a JVC DVD player with Progressive Scan and component video outputs. I’m 35 miles from HD broadcast towers, but behind some hills. Antennaweb says I need a directional amplified antenna, but they don’t know about the hills, do they?

I am pretty happy with my current 27” 4:3 RCA TV for Digital Cable broadcasts, but wide-screen DVDs have really unacceptably short looking letterbox displays even from 8 feet away.

So we view mostly 4:3 digital cable (Charter promises more HD channels!), I also watch a lot of analog cable football and NASCAR on Sunday. A few DVDs a week as a family when a very wide viewing angle will be necessary.

Due to the majority of 4:3 viewing – Pioneer and Toshiba get points for good stretch modes.

I like the idea of the integrated tuners in the Hitachi and Mitsu, but they lose points on the stretch modes.

I suspect that my cable will expand their HD lineup greatly over the next couple of years.

So – my current candidates are:

SD533HD5
57H82
50H82

With a Samsung SIR-T151 OTA DTV receiver and an antenna TBD.

Time shifting HD OTA broadcasts would be desirable. I haven’t figured that one out yet. Maybe I should be more concerned with DVI/firewire inputs and outputs.

I haven’t found a Pioneer 533 to check out in person yet, but haven’t found any complaints at all from anyone. The Toshibas are everywhere, but the demo units look bad. Of course the demos have really bad sources and setups.

I want to watch great wide-screen DVDs, but also want acceptable everyday digital and analog cable viewing.

Vern.S

 

[Jan Strnad]

I'd say it'll come down to who has the better deal on which TV, since you're looking at excellent sets. I own a Tosh and love it, but I hear wonderful things about the Pioneer, too.

Jan

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Vern,

Have you considered switching to DirecTV instead of cable since you can't get HD locals via cable? Since you're a sports fan, that's probably the way to go, especially since you're considering HD OTA anyway. Also, you might get a timeshifting solution (outside of getting into DVHS or HTPC) faster w/ DirecTV than your cable provider although DirecTV's CES announcement was for late this year. Dish will likely be sooner, but they are not as sports-friendly as DirecTV. Still, they also offer HBO HD and Discovery HD (and Showtime HD) and might very well offer others like ESPN HD before your cable provider will.

Something to consider in the near future.

BTW, if you haven't actually tried the SA 3100HD yet, I'd say don't expect too much. It seems very limited in capabilities. I use one from Time Warner, and am not thrilled w/ it at all.

_Man_