GolfHos

Haven't seen one in awhile.   ;D  Well it looks like an HDtv is on my horizon.  The wife said I can get one.  Her kitchen is about to get a modest remodel (new floor, new stove and new paint for now).  We are going to wait on countertops for awhile.  So she is about to be happy with the kitchen.  And I'm getting a nice bonus March 15th almost 1/3 of my salary  [sm_eekdance] [sm_headbang]

First problem is the room has built-in shelves and a custom made TV cabinet for the Sony Trinitron Tube tv that came with the house.  And of course that tv is 4:3 so the tv cabinet must be redone.  And I am no carpenter but hopefully my uncle who is can help. 

Room is quite large and we could be laying on the floor 5 feet away or on a couch 18 feet away and anywhere in between.  So its got to be big of course.  And light isn't much of an issue with the big picture window because we have curtains and lots of shade trees in the yard. 

In a perfect world I'd get a Pioneer plasma because I like the plasmas better in the looks department.  But I don't want to spend that kind of money. 

Would like to keep it around 2-2.5k and at the 60" range I'm looking at DLP realistically.  We watch lots of sports (Football, Golf, Tennis, some baseball, no basketball, no hockey). 

We watch movies every now and then and are starting to watch more as Van gets older.  Our cable company has pretty much every channel we watch in HD so that's good.  I'm just going to get a upconverter DVD player and have no game consoles.  I have a new Sony 5.1 that I'm happy with.  I'm not too picky when it comes to that stuff. 

I've read some stuff on AVSforum and I'm just more scared.  I want to be future proof as much as possible.  Because this TV will be there for a long time hopefully. 

So is LCD still a worry for sports and motion blur?  Should I just stick with DLP?  What about LED?  I like the Samsung DLPs but don't know if I should go with LED.  I like the Sony SXRD picture but don't like that they aren't making them anymore.  So what you guys got and what do you recommend.

Long cables.

Alt+F4

[quote]I want to be future proof as much as possible.  Because this TV will be there for a long time hopefully.
[/quote]no such thing. ;) technology changes at such an incredible rate. but this is as close as your are going to come. :)

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8293376&type=product&id=1173577986348

no such thing. ;) technology changes at such an incredible rate. but this is as close as your are going to come. :)

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8293376&type=product&id=1173577986348
[/quote]

thats a good looking tv

no such thing. ;) technology changes at such an incredible rate. but this is as close as your are going to come. :)

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8293376&type=product&id=1173577986348
[/quote]
Sweet.  That is the exact one I'm looking at.   8)

Sweet.  That is the exact one I'm looking at.   8)
[/quote]

thats the one i have . welcome to the club  [sm_devil]

Is yours LED?  Is that the way to go instead of saving a little $ on regular DLP?

yup.  better whites/blacks , no replacement bulbs

[sm_thumbsup]   [sm_eekdance]   [sm_headbang]

Better get those kitchen floors installed and the walls painted fast. 

I seriously recommend that you re-evaluate the size you are considering.  61" sounds too huge.

It is possible to purchase too big of a TV. 

We have a Sony Bravia LCD that is 48" with the main seating about 10 feet away in a fairly large room (~20x30) and it is just flat out too frigging big  Especially when on SD programming.   

61" here, sitting 8-10 feet away in a 20x15 room.   it isn't big enough.   who watches SD?
 [sm_devil]

There is still too much worthwhile SD programming out there.   Especially on the E! channel.

I haven't settled on the size quite yet.  If it were up to my wife it wouldn't be bigger than 40-50".  She thinks that is plenty.  So we may compromise and go with something in the 56" range. 

 ;D

Cool thanks.

To summarize, you can't get too big a TV.   ;)

I may be totally off the wall here, but my assumption is that 120 Hz is very important for watching sports and such.

right you are.  [sm_buddies]

not at all
 :o

120hz is important for watching 24fps movies without the need for pulldown cadence (3:2 assymettry)

current broadcasts in north 'merka are 1080i60 .  as long as your tv supports at least 60 hz with complete image processing and associated pixel wipe/replace you'll get no sports motion blur (besides what is passed to you from your network/provider).  now if they would bump broadcast up to 1080i120 ...  :o [sm_devil]  (could be done with 30-40 mpbs  mpeg4)  [sm_devil]


(many cheaper older  lcd sets could not do the above and suffered the motion blur being discussed in sports)

I shoulda copyrighted that phrase.  With licensing fees, I could be retired! [sm_shock]

In theory yes.  But with the stealing that goes on at this joint........?

Ya snooze, ya lose. [sm_disgust]

In spite of the self-proclaimed wizards assertions, I think you should listen to your wife and consider what she says very carefully.  Larger than necessary TV's are not necessarily for everyone.   It takes a bit more thought and analysis than "I'm gonna get the biggust durn screen I canz afford!!"

Yeah her jaw dropped when I mentioned 61".  Even 56" seems too big for her.  And if we go smaller I can get a plasma which is what I think looks best.  So will see, but I think we could both be happy with 50".

just keep in mind high-color  high-contrast kids programming ,  (and later down the road video games?) as well as a lots of 4:3 blackbar SD content  can burn in to plasma , especially if it's not properly broken in.
 :)

definitely think about it. like if you plan to watch lots of 2:35 movies that the viewing height on a 48"  is only about 1 foot.
 :)

That phrase is what we thought it was.

Look, you're only confirming what I've long suspected.  That you were weaned on IMAX.  Your parents, even if they were a wild pack of timberwolves, would bring you to the IMAX theater to trick you into napping, rather then wrassle you into your crib back home.  As a film viewer, you are not happy unless you are riding in the chariot with Ben Hur.  I can understand that.

What you don't seem to understand is that 'Fredo is into pröñ.  Big time.  He's a regulary *fudge*ng connoisseur of the genre.   I can assure you from personal experience, that larger than life crotch shots coupled with a young rug rat in the domicile, are not what we in the industry term antienabling, from a copulatory frequency perspective.

Yeah I could give a *fudge* with the cartoons look like.  Video games is a distinct possibility downt the road, but sports and movies are the main concern.  Plus we would rarely have the tv on for extended periods of time greater than 8 hrs. 

I just simply like the look of plasmas the best. 

You just get me man, you know.  Besides my pröñ machine (apple imac) does a fine job meeting my animal pröñ instincts. 

LOL @ how this thread turned out

i agree, plasmas do look the best in theory (theory being broken when your kid leaves his cartoon dvd on pause for 4 hours and then there's a permanent ghost in the image)
 [sm_devil] :)

Ok how about we digress into a 720p vs 1080p debate.   [sm_devil]

I'm really struggling with this especially considering plasmas in the 50" range.  I know I want to be future proofed as much as possible but at 8-12 feet away I doubt I can tell the difference.  And with BlowRay HDDVD and video games not on the horizon, I have  hard time paying the extra $. 

The Pioneer Kuro 50" 720p is in my price range now and it looks like the baddest ass muther *goshdarn* tv on the planet.  And the pany/sammy 50" 720p plasmas are also much more affordable than the 1080p counterparts.  A 1080p pioneer price tag would make my wife faint.  But the 720p is just such a bargain for how great the PQ is. 

So looking at plasmas gives me another concern, but they just look so damn good I can't resist. 

I'm looking at the Vizio 60, and it full 1080, HD, the whole 9 yards.

1900 bones at Cous Cous.

1080p for sure.  even if you just watch 1080i  sports on it for a while,  the difference in cost is offset by seeing the true glory (like CBS NFL vs  FOX NFL)  as compared to downconverting the signal to a 720p native set

When I got my first HDTv about a year ago, I saw this one small TV in a showroom--maybe a 36 incher-- that was playing some super duper high quality disc of some kind.  I couldn't believe the image.  Unbelieveable. 

Bunch of other dads lugging kids around came by to look at it, and we were all standing there transfixed, as if we'd just witnessed God himself.

Because the price was something like $8K and totally outside of what I wanted to spend, I didn't pay enough attention to catch what it was.  All I caught was that the sales guy said it was a technology that was still a few years off.  I don't think he was talking 1080p, because those were already available and priced much less than this.

My point is, whatever I saw that day is apparently the future, and it blows everything I saw that was 'state of the art' 1080p out of the water.

So I'd save some cash for it and buy the 720p. 

I am, of course, trying to recommend exactly opposite of whatever aske suggests

More opinion....

1)  I love my plasma and do not regret getting it.  Panny, 50", 1080i.  When I got it a few years ago, it was hands down a better picture than anything projected.  Perhaps that gap has narrowed in a few years, but there is a difference.   And pay no nevermind to the burn-in scare - there has been significant improvement in a resistance to this that almost no one is worried about it anymore (the only remaining worries are commercial applications that run the same content/banner 24/7 for years on end).

2)  While it is possible to get a screen too big for a room, I doubt most budgets allow such.  Get as large as you can afford.

3)  I will backup the 1080 argument though.  Not knowing what SOCM saw, and being skeptical of what the sales guy told him - I just have to say that Ultra HDTV is not going to be available for consumers for 15-20 years - not worth biding your time over.  Get 1080 now - its the standard that will live on for a TVs lifetime.

So far I'm leaning towards this baby.  http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8501711&type=product&id=1186004963437

Panasonic 50" 1080p plasma  Model: TH-50PZ77U

It has the anti-reflective coating as well.  I thought this was as good looking as the pioneers.  Went by buttbuy again last night and I just don't like the DLPs as much.  Mainly because of the poor viewing angles and the richness of the plasma PQ. 

All the reviews of the panasonic plasma are great. 

BB has it on sale for 2199.00, but I found it online for 1850.  Does BB do price matching/haggling?  What about shipping those things?  BuyDig ships it free for 1850 but I'm worried about it being handled properly.

I'd definitely haggle.  But I wouldn't worry about shipping.  The *feces* at BB had to be shipped there from somewhere else, didn't it?  shipping is shipping in my book.

Ultimately, I'd have to ask myself is $350 worth having it in time for the superbowl this weekend.

There in lies the dilemma.  Good point about the shipping.  I'll check out Best Buy and see if they'd come down on the price.  But I think saving $350 is worth not having it for the superbowl.  That is a surge protector and upconverting DVD player right there with money leftover.

Every dime saved will be spent.  I mean, don't forget the cost of pending new furniture.  Refering to our little 48 incher I wandered home with one Saturday, Mrs Blader had to go out and spend some serious jack on a new stand/shelf/bookcase thing to, in her words, "try to hide that monstrosity."

I'm sure our local expert and anarchist will chime in with something like, "cinder blocks rule" or some such.

I'm hoping someone already has covered this, but just in case ...

You HAVE assessed the space to determine if any particular technology is/isn't optimal for it, yes?  Ambient light, seating distances and angles (hor. and vert.), etc.?  Aske normally pipes up about that, but I can't remember it being discussed here.

I wouldn't start referring to Aske as "Mr. Feng Shui" just yet.

Yeah I've thought a lot about that.  I briefly touched on it during the original post.  The room has a large picture window but still isn't well lit facing west in our backyard.  Even in the winter our yard and house is well shaded.  The room itself has recessed lighting on wood beams pointing to the fireplace, sitting areas and such all with their own dimmer switches.  This was all done by the previous owner.  So the lighting is a non-issue IMO with dimmer switches and shades over the window.  

The viewing distance will most likely max out at 12-15 feet but mostly be 8-12 feet.  And the viewing angles will vary greatly.  As parents with toddlers, we spend a lot of time watching tv on the floor.  This is the main reason I keep leaning towards plasma.  I can't stand how DLP picture's fade at even the slightest viewing angle change.  And our built-ins can be changed fairly easy by a carpenter and will have to be no matter which tv we get.  

 [sm_thumbsup2]

Cool, another Panny plasma guy  ;D

You'll be very happy.

[sm_beertoast]  The more I read about it, the more confident I am that is the one.  It just seems like the best plasma for the money. 

Well, Aske IS 61" tall.  As for it not being big enough, I'll let him address that one.