Topic: Need Television Recomendations... LCD, Projection, etc..

[Cactus]

hey now

ssia.. i find it quite insane but i was flipping through the satellite stations and came across a qvc type elctronics show where they were selling a nice lcd tv.  the soon to be wife was really into it and was like man we need 1 of those.. :0)  uh uh  baby yea that sounds great. (she was more into the wall mount idea) so that leads me to this. what are the biggest recomendations as far as size, brand etc .and styles lcd, projections etc.  im def. steering clear of plasma . the idea was to have something nice and big in the basement along with a surround sound system, or something smaller but mounted on the wall upstairs with a smaller surround system. she's into the projection idea (sams club had a 52" for like $999) but im not to clear on quality and if there good with gaming systems ala ps2 etc. after the wedding we're shotting for something in the 1500 range.. soo if your willing fire away.. i appreciate all input..

[scervin]

You can probably find a 32" LCD for $1700 or so (this is of decent quality).  A front projection system at $999 will not have the best picture, it will look good from a great distance though.  The larger flat panel tv's are coming in at $4-6K (50" and greater).  A good front projector will run $2500-5K plus another $1k for the screen.

sc

[pfife]

FWIW, I think there are numerous threads about this if you do a search.  I know I learned quite a bit from a couple threads a while back.  Not sure which forum they are in though.

[bkirby]

I have the Sony KD-34XBR960, and I must say it is unbelieveable! It is rated to have the best picture out there, but it is a 34" tube TV and weighs over 200lbs! There are also two models down from the XBR model that are nearly as good! HDTV football is unbelieveable!!!

[scervin]

I have the Sony KD-34XBR960, and I must say it is unbelieveable! It is rated to have the best picture out there, but it is a 34" tube TV and weighs over 200lbs! There are also two models down from the XBR model that are nearly as good! HDTV football is unbelieveable!!!

I thought he wanted to wall mount?  not sure wall mounting that 200lb tv is an option??    It sure is a great tv though!

[bkirby]

Oops... I guess I missed that part...

[Weirdness]

You should be able to get a real nice set for your budget.  I am a sales rep for LG and hence spend my days around flat panel TV's, so I can likely offer some decent suggestions.  Panasonic seems to be one of your better bets right now far as things go, Sony are just introducing some nice new sets but bear in mind that they are in a joint venture right now with Samsung so you are in effect getting a Korean TV if you buy a Sony.  Hitachi, Toshiba and Sony all outsource their panels, so it's not like there is any major advantage to buying from one of the biggies necessarily.  In fact, it'll cost you more for the same deal in many cases.  Far as the LG offering goes, the higher up panels are much better than the others--32LX1D or a 37LP1D would be your best bets from that line. 

The current leading technology that will give you the best picture on an LCD panel is called "Super IPS", these sets will blow away your traditional LCD set in terms of brightness/sharpness/contrast and will provide a much better viewing angle off axis which to me is a very important issue.  It'll cost you more, but the better sets are rated at 60,000 hours so may as well get exactly what you want as your panel will last a long time.  I'd stronly recommend having a look at a number of sets before you buy as there is a huge difference between the cheapies and the better units. 

Regardless, you should consider waiting around 3-5 weeks before you buy as the pricing on LCD panels and Plasma is about to drop for the fall selling season.  Probably save you around 20% or so. 

[Cactus]

WOW!!.. thanks for the great advice..the wedding is in late sept. so we were def. shooting for early oct. (of course im stoked and want it now , but hey $$ is $$) . the wall mount idea was just if we used it upstairs, in the basement, it didnt matter. i dont think im very good with words but in a nutshell i was trying to find the best bang for the buck persay. if i dont go too overboard more can be invested in a surround system down the road. im not a huge tv nut, but love to sit back with a nice movie and chill or like to play games for a few hours. i just heard in the past that gaming systems destroyed projection tv's and wasnt sure if that was bs or maybe just a fact of the old and or still affects them today.

thanks again

[Weirdness]

LCD and DLP technology has no residual memory effects whatsoever unlike Plasma/CRT rear projection.  Given the fact that an LCD/DLP rear projection style TV needs a bulb change every 10 000 hours or so, LCD panels are a much better bet for the long haul.  With the new pricing, the gap between the rear projection style and panel TV's will be closer as well which means that the panels will soon start to take over alot of that business.  Plus,  there is alot more to go wrong with a rear projection style TV and there is alot more that does go wrong.  Panels were not 100% reliable at first, but most of the bugs have been worked out at this point...

[scervin]

If you are serious about front projection let me know.  There is nothing better than a 106" screen, trust me!

[pfife]

If you are serious about front projection let me know.  There is nothing better than a 106" screen, trust me!

I might be really soon....  I know I have a local expert.  Let me ask you a quick question - I scored up about a 100" screen at a church garage sale a few weeks ago (for $1    ) - anyways, the screen is a silver-ish color, as opposed to typical white - do you think that would be detrimental to the video quality at all?

One other question - how much to get into an HD projector.... that would be super tite for sports?  That's 99% of what would be watched on it.

[scervin]

Is the screen really silver or is it a light gray with a sheen to it?  You need to be careful with the silver screens, but many people like them as the picture is so bright.  Is it a 1.78:1 ratio screen?  Try and find out what gain the screen material is so you can calculate the foot-lambert number (you want to be about 12)  This number depends on the area of you screen, screen gain, and light output of the projector.  I have seen sparklies on some silver screens and the projector offset plays a part as well (distance above the screen) as the angle the pic hits the screen varies.  Long story short, it is my experience that care must be taken when setting up a silver screen system.  Most go to the silvers because light output wasn't enough, but that is becoming less and less of a problem.

A good HD projector that recenly hit the market is the Sharp xxx-2000 and runs around $2500.  I believe it has the HD2+ chip and is 720P (btw most are and it will take about $20K to get 1080P) and most sports are broadcast in 720P except CBS.  The 1080i does not work well with the fast movement of sporting events.  Other reasonably priced HD projectors are the Infocus 7205 (what I have) @ $4K, Optoma, and Benq.  These are all DLP technology which I much prefer over LCD.  The Sony HS51 is getting good press as is the Panasonic AE700, both are LCD.  Again, I prefer DLP by a large margin.

[nickgregory]

The 1080i does not work well with the fast movement of sporting events.

Agreed..I believe the olympics were broadcast in 1080i and there was significant pixelization on the diving and quick motion type sports

[Ed.]

...must get widescreen for football season....must get widescreen for football season...must get widescreen for football season...

thats good to know about panels coming down - i might have to splurge instead of getting one of the flat tubes.