What big screen to buy

Nick2000Gmc · June 5, 2005

I wanna buy a big screen for my new house ( It's a 4 bedroom bungalow) Anyways this will be my first house and I would like a big screen. I have been to several places looking and can't really decide what would be best for me. A lot of the salesmen said I should stick with Hitachi because they make most parts for them. Anyways could someone who sells these things or has one please explain in english what the difference between all these diff types is and what is the best bang for my buck ( I have no problem with the price of the rear projection or Lcd ) Just not sure what is better and wwhat will last longer )

Thanks for your help ( I tried going to consumer reports but you have to pay for it now )

dbcomm · June 5, 2005

Good God, don't buy a Hitachi - like buying an RCA or a Tandy. If you're looking at plasmas, Fujitsu has the best picture and lasts the longest, and actually manufactures the screens for Sony and Panasonic. They're a bit more pricey though. Sony makes the best looking unit overall, as far as hardware appearance. There are really only 2 plasmas I recommend. Fujitsu or Sony.

Personally, if space isn't too big a concern, I would stay away from plasma all together and go with a 60" or 70" rear projection LCD. I have a 70" in my home theater, and the picture (to me) look s better than a plasma. The big plus is that in 3 or 4 years you only have to change a 150.00 bulb instead of taking a $10,000 dollar plasma off the wall and throwing it away.

Just my .02

DB

Nick2000Gmc · June 5, 2005

I was kinda looking more towards a rear projection ( The Lcd is kinda expensive ). But what I guess I am asking is it worth the extra and what brands should I look at for a rear projection or and lcd. I am looking for a 50 or so

BellevueSilvy · June 6, 2005

I personally have a 51" Sony WEGA rear projection TV and I love it. I to was told that Hitachi was the way to go since the internals of most TV's are made by them but I stuck with the Sony purely because I have had a 27" Sony WEGA tv for a while and never have had a problem with it. I love my TV I have watched many an HD show on it and could never complain about picture quality or anything for that matter. I would definitely stick with a Sony rear projection plenty of bang for the buck at only $1700 you won't find a better deal on a quality television.

Elwood 2000 · June 6, 2005

I have just started researching this topic as we are thinking real hard about a new TV.

Plasma: They "may" have the problem fixed by now is what I am told, but they say after a few years the gas "sags" at the top distorting the picture. Warranty won't cover this is what I am told. To me, that is a LOT of money for a "throw away" TV in a few short years.

LCD: Great picture, lightweight and slim profile. Better for smaller area where another peice of furniture is not wanted.

Projection: This is what intrigues me. A couple manufacturers (and the others will have this VERY soon as well) have the technology to make a thinner box (similar in size to a LCD) with BETTER picture quality, even with side viewing! The bonus is that they are still cheaper than a LCD TV. We are still waiting a bit to see if LCD "counters" this move and at what price.

For us right now, Projection is the front runner with the new technology and Sony is the ONLY brand for us. Others may have good products, but I have owned Sony products for many years and they provide excellent quality with trouble free and long life.

Hope this helps!

roden001 · June 7, 2005

Try this link:

http://www.cnet.com/4520-7874_1-5108443-1.html?tag=nav

Wingnut · June 7, 2005

I wanna buy a big screen for my new house ( It's a 4 bedroom bungalow) Anyways this will be my first house and I would like a big screen. I have been to several places looking and can't really decide what would be best for me. A lot of the salesmen said I should stick with Hitachi because they make most parts for them. Anyways could someone who sells these things or has one please explain in english what the difference between all these diff types is and what is the best bang for my buck ( I have no problem with the price of the rear projection or Lcd ) Just not sure what is better and wwhat will last longer )

Thanks for your help ( I tried going to consumer reports but you have to pay for it now )

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I've got a 50" rear projection DLP...And I love it.

It doesn't fade out when you move side to side at all. Beautiful picture.

If you play a lot of games, plasma TV's burn in pretty easily, so I would steer clear of them. CRT projection TV's are also known to suffer from burn-in. LCD projection sets CAN burn it, but apparantly, it's fairly difficult to do it. DLP projection sets do not suffer from burn in at all.

I would stay away from Hitachi as well.

vhato · June 7, 2005

DLP Rear Projections TV's and LCD Rear Projection TV's both have pros and cons.

DLP's are prone to "Rainbows" where you can actually see a rainbow in the screen. Not all people can see this, all DLP's have this possible fault. I cannot see it, but my sister can and she hates it. Due to the moving mirror, many DLP's are slow to react to high speed games. Again, not all people can see this. Texas Instruments manufactures to DLP engine and has some tips for game players using DLP's.

LCD Rear Projection TV's can have the Screen Door affect like Plasmas. Image watching TV through a screen door. This problem occurs when sitting too close to the TV. Also LCD RPTV's have a lack of Black. Black colors appear as Light grey. Very obvious in Science Fiction Movies. Purchasing a 4x4 Filter can solve this problem.

CRT Rear Projection TV's are heavy and have serious long term issues. If you buy one of these PLEASE buy the warranty because you will need to have the convergence issues fixed. Also understand these TV's WILL go the way of the Black and White TV soon.

Now the battle about Sony and Hitachi, blah blah blah. A quick bounce over to:

http://www.avsforum.com

will show the truth about manufacturers. You won't use that forum and Click NEW to see new posts. 1000+ new posts a day is not uncommon. You will find PLENTY of Sony users who expected ALOT more from Sony's GrandWEGA's.

Before making your decision, join that forum and READ, READ, READ. The truth is in there.

00Silverado · June 8, 2005

DLP's are prone to "Rainbows" where you can actually see a rainbow in the screen. Not all people can see this, all DLP's have this possible fault. I cannot see it, but my sister can and she hates it. Due to the moving mirror, many DLP's are slow to react to high speed games. Again, not all people can see this. Texas Instruments manufactures to DLP engine and has some tips for game players using DLP's.

Vhato definitely knows what he is talking about. We have a 50" Samsung DLP and I must say that it is an excellent tv. I've played Halo 2 on it in 480P and it had no problems keeping up with the graphics. Whatever you buy, do a lot of research on them and don't try to skimp out when it comes to a tv, or else you wont be truly satisfied. Good luck and keep us informed of your purchase.

Nick2000Gmc · June 9, 2005

vhato so what do you reccomend for me to buy for a brand and what type is it that I should get. Obviosly you have a good idea on some good names in each category. maybe you could say who you liked. i know some might criticize your pick, but I am all ears for your advice. I would like to spend about 2000 canadian ( about 1700 american or so ) I can go higher if it's a big difference, but not a lot. Thansk

Yukon04 · June 9, 2005

Samsung DLP. I have the 50". Costs under $2k. Best overall DLP on the market. Built in cable and HD receiver. This TV rules...don't know how I ever watched the Simpson's before this!! Can't wait for football season. Whatever you decide, do the research.

vhato · June 9, 2005

Recommending a TV is hard for me. They all have their pros and cons.

I own the Panasonic 50" LCD model PT-50LC14.

I chose this model because the colors once calibrated are accurate (all tv's need calibration), the response rate was acceptable for my XBOX and it was rear projection (I used this to my advantage).

What I don't like about it is the side speakers prevent proper placement of front home theater speakers, and the poor black level that comes with LCD. ALL LCD TV's have poor black level. I opened my tv's front panel and placed a 1-Stop, 4x4 Wratten Gel Filter (like on a camera) on top of the projection engine and solved the black level problem. Now the colors are brilliant and black is very acceptable.

However, if I could buy again, I would buy a DLP based display with the Ti HD2+ Projection Engine and Color Wheel (Not Ti HD3). Most DLP TV's use this. Why, great blacks and intense whites. What brand would I buy? Probably another Panasonic or an LG Electronics, Mitsubishi or Sim2. The Samsung DLP's are great (sis has one), but the speed of their scalers are slow so playing PS2 or Xbox games will drag during intense times. The reason the Samsung scaler is slow is they attempt to reproduce an accurate image. It was a trade off, speed for accuracy. I can't see any visual quality difference between the Samsung and the other units because while watching a movie because the scene changes so much. However, the slowness of the scaler is well documented at AVSFORUMS.COM when playing games.

So what is a scaler? Well MOST Widescreen TV's have a resolution of 1280x720 (0.9 Megapixels). Also known as 720p (Progressive). HDTV is "advertised" as 1920x1080 (2.0 Megapixels) or 1080i (Interlaced). For comparison reasons a DVD Movie is 720x480 (0.3 Megapixels) or 480i (Interlaced). Without getting into TOO much depth understand MANY HDTV programs are in 720p like Fox Sports. So that true HD stuff isn't 100% available on HDTV Channels. However, you are not getting ripped off. A huge thread exists on AVSFORUMS.COM about why 720p is better than 1080i, but that is beyond the scope of this thread.

Anyway, if your display can only utilize 1280x720 resolution, then ALL TV Shows and DVD Movies (720x480) must be upconverted to its native 1280x720 screen size and all 1080i HDTV Channels must be downconverted (thats right, deleting picture quality). This conversion results in a loss of visual quality and a loss of speed. Samsung sacrificed speed for quality whereas all the others did the opposite. I can't see the difference, but many others can see the loss of speed in games. My advice is join AVSFORUMS.COM and read the Rear Projection TV Section everyday. You will gain confidence in your TV purchase.

Remember this: Buying a TV based on what you saw on the show room is not a fair comparison if you do not know what you are looking for. Places like Best Buy will adjust the settings to make a specific model out shine the rest. I mentioned all TV's need calibration so it will be impossible to go into a store and look at one LCD or DLP TV and honestly say it is better than another. So don't shop around, until you have researched the differences in TV Brands.

And

If you do buy a TV, don't be fooled by a salesman who says you should spend extra on a TV that can do 1080p (Progressive) because it will be future proof. A sales gimmik to cause you to spend more money. You won't be able to see the visual difference between a 1080i TV and a 1080p TV unless you purchase a 60" or larger set.

I have probably confused you because there is alot of misinformation on HDTV floating around everywhere. Join AVSFORUMS.COM and get educated.

toneman · June 13, 2005

And in the majority of cases, one would be hard-pressed to tell a noticeably-discernable difference between a 720p and 1080i source since the majority of consumer LCD and plasma displays available today typically offer a maximum 768 vertical pixels/lines of resolution anyways...and as you pointed out, an incoming 1080i signal would need to be downconverted in order to display correctly on a 720- or 768-line display.

FWIW--and I'm probably stating the obvious--other than the size limitation and convergence issue, nothing beats a direct-view tube display in general overall picture quality and display performance. A good tube doesn't suffer from any response issues, offers the best black-level performance of any of the available display types (LCD, plasma), has better color performance, and is typically less expensive than their LCD and plasma brethren, display-size wise.

Having said all that, my next near-future display purchase will probably be a plasma...

Nick2000Gmc · July 4, 2005

Thank You for your help

Well I decided to go with the 51 inch Hitachi rear projection crt. I love it the colours are amazing and the picture is very crisp. I am amazed by the picture it offers and I usually watch in 540p although i see no difference between it and 1080 i. Anyways Thanks everyone, especially vhalo I think your comments helped the best. I eventually just picked the one I liked best. Anyways thanks a lot