CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[NateTTU]

I'm in the market for a new HD tv. I currently own a very old 27'' RCA crt I got from Wally World over 8 years or so ago. I'm looking for something that can give me an excellent image and was wanting to look for a hd crt, but they simply are too far between and way too heavy. I was wondering what types of tvs you guys have. I'm wanting a screen size of around 46'', anything bigger would probably be too big and expensive. I'm looking for quality over screen size and I'm really wanting to spend around $1k. I'm leaning more towards projection as its cheaper and I can live with the somewhat larger size than the lcd or plasma equivalent. However, the ones I see great reviews on are usually the top of the line and extremely large screen size which is great for most but I simply don't want that big. (such examples as JVC HD-61FN97 and the Mitsubishi WD-65831) Any opinions? I'm also wondering if I should look at a display with 1080 or 720? I realize if at this size the resolution isn't as big a deal then I would like a tv that has a good built in scaler as more and more 1080i/p sources come out I can keep this tv for a long time.

[greg_mitch]

I have a 42" Vizio 768p LCD that i have been more than happy with. It is last gen electronics but great OTA tuner and great w/ my htpc. If you are going to use it as a monitor for close up viewing I would opt for a 1080p version. Sears has a Vizio 1080p model for $1100 in 42".

Olevia makes a nice flat panel as well and I have had good experience.

I can't honestly see myself purchasing RPTV anymore. My hitachi crt put in 6 years of valiant service but the floor space it took up was unforgiving. The cliche flat panel above fireplace frees up soooo much space.

[drice1234]

Check out the Westinghouse 42" LCD on e-cost.com for $799.00 refurbe'd. You can buy an extended warranty for around $150 to go with it if you want. It does 1080p. We have purchased about 6 for projects recently and have been real happy with them.

[Curt Palme]

I wouldn't be to hooked on 1080p (flame suit on). I'll bet a 720p is cheaper and you won't see much if a difference. I didn't at CES, unless you insist on watching from 3" away..


Stick with a major Japanese brand IMHO. THe Westinghouse ones were impressive at CES no doubt, but who knows what kind of support they have? Funny, they just reno'ed a burger place that I went to dinner at tonight. A budget reno, they pulled out the bar that never made them any money and put in more seating, and they put in a number of LG plasmas, maybe 8 of them, all small ones, 20-25" or so. They looked great from 20' away, I figured that they spent big $$ on HD feeds to all of them, but no, get up close, and it was all RF in, they looked like crap close up. But what do you expect from RF?

Do the same checks as you would with a CRT, look at dark scenes, not bright HD sports that will look good on all of the sets, even the WalMart specials. I personally like Panasonic, but the Sharps at CES always looked good, as did Samsung and LG and all of the other major brands. I've heard differing reliability info on the Korean LG and Samsung stuff. One repair shop told me to stick with Samsung not LG, another one said exactly the opposite.

Figure on a 5-7 year lifespan at most regardless of what you buy.

[Curt Palme]

I wouldn't be to hooked on 1080p (flame suit on). I'll bet a 720p is cheaper and you won't see much if a difference. I didn't at CES, unless you insist on watching from 3" away..


Stick with a major Japanese brand IMHO. THe Westinghouse ones were impressive at CES no doubt, but who knows what kind of support they have? Funny, they just reno'ed a burger place that I went to dinner at tonight. A budget reno, they pulled out the bar that never made them any money and put in more seating, and they put in a number of LG plasmas, maybe 8 of them, all small ones, 20-25" or so. They looked great from 20' away, I figured that they spent big $$ on HD feeds to all of them, but no, get up close, and it was all RF in, they looked like crap close up. But what do you expect from RF?

Do the same checks as you would with a CRT, look at dark scenes, not bright HD sports that will look good on all of the sets, even the WalMart specials. I personally like Panasonic, but the Sharps at CES always looked good, as did Samsung and LG and all of the other major brands. I've heard differing reliability info on the Korean LG and Samsung stuff. One repair shop told me to stick with Samsung not LG, another one said exactly the opposite.

Figure on a 5-7 year lifespan at most regardless of what you buy.

[greg_mitch]

By RF do you mean coaxial cable?

I have coax (RF) going to mine and it looks fabulous, of course it is from my OTA antenna.