Help Me Buy A $3000 TV ....

[cegerer]

Can there be any more confusing purchase today than a new TV? Holy crap! Somebody make it simple for me. I'd like to stay in the $2000-$3000 range. The Gateway plasma is tempting, but I've read quite a few negatives about it, seeing it is at the very bottom end of the plasma range. Any suggestions? -- Curt

[tabs]

Go to Costco.......

[island911]

Confusing? -yes! . .. never has the word "standards" been so bastardized.

Anyway. . .I'll suggest you stay away from plasmas. The contrast ratios are great, but the cost, and masking (black space between pixels) sucks.

There are LCD driven rear projection set that have great picture, and minimal depth (12-16" for a 40-60" screen) AND in that price range.
Sony and Panasonic are the players for this technology.
The downsides to these is they use a projector lamp (read: $200 every few years) and a fan.(read: slight noise potential) Also some complain the blacks aren't black enough (contrast ratio). . . though the color mixing is superior. The panasonic is native 720p and has vga in. . . in case you want to plug your cmptr in.

If size isn't to big a deal you can pick up an LCD. Sharp has a 30" that has a superb picture (handles DVD's better than anything I've seen) Though they are closer to $4000

If you go with either plasma or LCD, keep in mind that 720p will produce a better picture than 1080i, for anything with motion. (1080i is better for still images. . .but a poster will still out perform that, and for a lot les$)

[cegerer]

Hmmm, wasn't aware of the LCD thing. Thanks. I'll be checking them out this week. Does LCD offer any better 'angle of view' than normal projection TV's?? -- Curt

[island911]

They seem to run brighter . .. though they do exibit some view angle dependency.

What to look for;
sony monitor

Pano PT45LC . . .45"

Sorry, Panasonic link re-reoutes. Search for Panasonic PT40LC12 and/or Panasonic PT45LC12

[Reg]

I've had great luck with Toshiba products. I'd buy one of them again in a heartbeat, once my still great picture 1992 model dies...knock on wood!

[Wine Red 82 911]

Are there any CIRCUIT CITY or BEST BUYS near you? Shop on a weekday when the salespeople are not so busy so you get good service. I just bought a SONY 46 inch wide screen. (KP-46WT500) ( I did not want a 51,57, or 65 inch monster) The 46 inch comes with an optional stand that holds my VCR, DVD player,Satellite Reciever, Stereo Amp, ETC. This is a 2003 model and was easy to hook up and operate. The price of the TV and stand should be under $2400.....Hope this helps, cause the more you look the more confused you get.

[Bill Douglas]

The great thing about a Sony is many years down the track when you do need a spare part, the parts guy doesn't say "A what *#%*&! brand TV, sorry never heard of it".

[Targa Dude]

What ever you decide to purcahse I would make sure it's HIGH DEFINITION TV, It's only a matter of a short time all Broadcasters will be transmitting High definition signals. Either way the old sets, tuners and monitors can still recieve and braodcast that signal but you wont have no where near the picture quality.

Jorge (Targa Dude)

[bell]

you also need to look into the mitsubishi rear projection tv's, the nice thing with the mitsu's is that you can converge (align the 3 guns) at 40+ points on the screen. most other mfg's only use 9-16 points of convergance. this will give you accurate color balance to the edge of the screen and will also increase it's brightness.
and the newer models are hd ready (the mitsu tuner also converts 6+ different HDTV signals)

[cegerer]

Thanks guys. I've been to Cir City and B. Buy many times and walk out more confused each time .... They've got some good sales gong on those Mitsi's right now. MOst of my electronics are Sony and I'm leaning that way. Reg: I've also got a Toshiba right now that is very good. One brand I'll never buy again is Phillips/Magnavox! -- Curt

[motion]

I just picked up a Sony 57" HDTV ready 16:9. This thing rocks!!! Very bright, very crispy with the progressive scan DVD player. Viewing angle is not a problem, as long as you are sitting in a chair in front of the screen and not at some crazy angle to the side. Most stores get full list, $2500 for it, but you can get it at goodguys.com right now for 10% off, no sales tax and free shipping.

[Brian993]

I have owned a Mitsu 60 "Diamond" for two years now.The diamond is exclusive to certain dealers, it wont be found at BB or CC, I bought mine at Twetter etc. Dollar for dollar it is the best buy. Price hase dropped 1k from when I bought it. It is the one IMHO. Check it out I am not disappointed.

The only thing I can say with all these sets is BUY THE EXTENDED WARRANTY these can be much $$$$ to repair.

Good luck.

[cegerer]

Island, I went and checked out the Panasonic LCD today. That is one awesome looking setup - particularly with the optional stand!!! B&H has it for about $350 less than Best Buy/Cir. City.



The kid at Best Buy (who actually sounded like he knew what he was talking about!) was big on Mitsubishi and Toshiba.

motion- is the DVD built into the TV or what?

Brian - I'll take a trip to the high-end shop in town and check out the Diamond tomorrow. Thanks.

[island911]

Yeah, I thought you might appreciate the B&H link. (good price & they don't jerk you around)

The big plus of the LCD technology is it's all solidstate. . .no worries of burn-in. Considering the transitional needs as we go between old and new aspect ratio's (4:3NTSC & 16:9HDTV) any LCD technology has the edge.
Also, because LCD pixels are like shutters, they don't have that constant pixel pulsing of the tube type (read: no flicker . . ..though most people don't see it anyway) The bottom line is the panasonic is perfectly suited for displaying 720p. (it's very crisp. . even the motion)

[jyl]

For a different approach, a friend of mine has a high-quality video projector ($1,500-$3,000, the kind you'd connect to a laptop computer to give a presentation) mounted to his wall, projecting onto the opposite wall. I was there in the daytime, a Southern California afternoon, light cotton curtains drawn, the room was not particularly dark. The picture was big, decent contrast, good resolution. Not as impressive as a $10,000 plasma or LCD screen, but better than many rear-projection TVs I've seen. And when we were done watching TV, flip the switch and it's gone - no monster box dominating the room. Solves a lot of interior decor problems. Easy to hook up to the computer to play video games or surf too. If you decide to investigate this route, note different models vary widely in lumens and contrast ratio.

[cegerer]

Well, I pulled the trigger on a TV yesterday. After 4 weeks or so of searching. Of course, I couldn't stay within my $3000 limit! But this TV is so incredible, I had to do it. It's a 50" Samsung "DLP". Better picture than a plasma, particularly the colors. Don't believe me? Go do a side-by-side comparsion. To my eyes (and several others who were in the store), it's noticeably better. Got it for just under $4K. Can't wait for the next F1 race and the LeMans DVD! -- Curt

http://www.samsung.com/Products/TV/ProjectionTV/TV_ProjectionTV_HLM507W.htm

[nostatic]

sure, you can get Panaphonics, Magnetbox or Sorny. Listen, I'm not going to lie to you. Those are all superior machines. But if you like to watch your TV, and I mean _really_ watch it, you want the Carnivale'. It features two-pronged wall plug, pre-molded hand grip well, durable outer casing to prevent fallapart...

[island911]

. .. "for just under $4k" ! Wow Curt, that *is* the deal. (The last DLP I looked at was ~12k.)

w/ the D-sub RGB input, that would make one nice cmptr monitor!

[cegerer]

Yup. I'll be surfing Pelican from my Lazy-boy on the other side of the room! The price has really dropped on the DLP's.