I have a 32 inch LCD 1080i 720p TV that I got 2 years ago and its still awesome. I love it and you couldn't beat the price of $479 I got it for on Black Friday. Either way you can't lose KC
Wait, you have a 1080i or 720p? or can it be both? I think I've tried to process too much of this stuff too soon.
i don't know if plasma has caught up, but a year ago, in the larger sizes, the rear projection was FAR superior. In fact, they may not have made Plasmas and LCDs at the larger sizes at all. Every single unbiased tv quality ratings had the (large) rear projections at the top of the list. Every one. At the small sizes, that might not be the case. I will stack my rear projection up against ANY plasma TV--I am guessing that the other posters here who have a Sony rear projection would gladly do the same, also.
Here's a thread from the other board when I first asked about advice on a big-screen HDTV: http://www.basketballforum.com/new-jersey-off-topic-forum/365224-big-screen-tvs.html Here's the thread when I discussed my choice of TV: http://sportstwo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=42271 Maybe that will help some?
It may be confusing, no doubt. When you hook up to cable, your TV will receive SD (regular TV) signals, and HD signals in various formats including 1080i and 720p as well. It depends on the source! HD Sports tends to be broadcast in 720p, while Mark Cuban's HD Net broadcasts in 1080i. The TV, if capable, will show them all. If the TV is 720p, it will resize a 1080 picture on the fly, much like how you can resize an image in a paint program. The signal can be 1080 but the programming can still be SD. This makes sense if you consider that it's the signal that's HD and the signal is what matters. What you will see in this case is vertical bars on the left and right of the SD picture. These bars can damage some TV technologies (projection is one) if you watch lots of hours of TV with those bars on the screen - it's called burn in. The benefit of an HD signal is that the color information for all the dots is sent digitally so you get perfect colors and you don't have to do any adjustments on most TV's (projection you have to adjust convergence). If you're comparing two TV pictures, and you can ask the sales guy to show Discovery HD Theater on both, you will be getting the same source and about the best picture quality available. Something not mentioned yet is the sound. For a long time before HD was available, they've been making advancements in the sound. Many programs have Dolby Digital 5.1 sound tracks; if you have a nice sound system with front and center and rear speakers and a subwoofer, the audio effects are pretty amazing. You'll hear a helicopter fly from the rear to the front, or the music soundtrack from the back and the talking from the front. If you don't have a sound system, then the sound put out by the TVs is something to compare, too. Many of the sets with awesome pictures have horrible sound - the sound isn't an issue if you have a sound system. You mentioned HDMI. If you have XBox and PS3 and a cable/satellite receiver that all do HDMI, the TV needs 3x HDMI in if you want to use the TV to choose between them. Or you can use 1 HDMI for the PS3 and other kinds of video connections for the other sources. The newer sound systems also have HDMI and you can select the sound/picture sent to the TV using the amplifier; then only 1 HDMI on the TV is needed. Going forward, the more HDMI inputs the better! HDMI does nothing for the picture that DVI won't do. The real benefit of HDMI is that it packages the DVI picture signal with the advanced audio signals in one cable. And some of the newest audio signals require the DVI connection. Yeah, I know I'm putting a lot of info out there. Take it all in and use it for whatever benefit you can.
Nuts. No matter what the rear projection technology, it is subject to moving parts that fail or lose alignment. Sony stopped making rear projection in 2007 altogether. Mitsubishi DLP TVs have a horrible reputation for the color wheel and lamp going bad at random times. My choice of TV is plasma or LCD. I was leery of plasma for the longest time because of burn in issues and short lifetime. Any plasma TV made in the past 3 years will have a 60,000 hour lifetime (7 years if you leave it on 24/7), while LCD is 50,000 hours. My current TV is a 58" Plasma Pioneer Viera series. Unless they make some radical change to HD format, it's going to last for me for 20 years (at 8hrs/day), and the picture is amazing. CNET's editor's choice for best picture for screen 50" or better.
You can get a splitter. There won't be many 32 inch LCDs with 3 HDMI, or it'll come at a premium cost. -Petey
I know, but it's something to consider. KC should think about what he wants to hook up (VCR, DVR, DVD, etc.) and how the TV has inputs for those things.
I knew that about the Mitsubishi, and maybe the Toshiba, also. One of those brands received the highest rating from consumer reports, but it later turned out that the lamp was always breaking and it was taken off the market. Sony had by far the best reputation for quality and repair history. I have no idea why they pulled out of the market; I guess they figure that as plasmas and LCD keep dropping in price, the profit margins on the rear projections will continue to fall. Again, I have no complaints with the sony rear projection. I'm thrilled with it. Size/cost/quality are all factors that will come into play, of course. I think there is going to be little difference that a normal person will notice between a similarly sized rear projection, plasma, and LCD TVs with the same resolution. ALWAYS REMEMBER that when you go to the store, they will have adjusted the settings on all the TVs to really pop out the colors. When you get home, you will want to change the settings; it won't look right under normal conditions, under normal lighting. There are about 60 or 70 different settings to adjust. There are sites like CNET that will recommend certain settings for a particular TV to make it look the best. I just recommend looking through the consumer reports ratings and CNET reviews; they're usually pretty good. [I'll disagree with Denny here; if you can get a Sony rear projection on clearance, I would jump all over it. You could possibly get a bigger TV at a much lower cost, and the quality will be comparable. It all depends on the amount of space you have]
The funny thing is at Best Buy, the Vieras all looked like shit and I almost bought a similar Samsung model. I don't think I'd have been unhappy with either choice, but given all the reviews I had read about the Viera, I went on faith in the purchase. If all I relied on was how the picture looked, I'd have told people the TV didn't have a good picture at all. Rear projections do get you a bigger picture for a lower price. There's a reason.
sure, they are based on older, cheaper technology, and lack a "cool" factor. Pricing theory would suggest that newer technology be introduced at a high price, to take advantage of the market segment that will buy it any any cost because it is new. Anyway, there's no need for this to devolve into a mud-slinging contest between Denny and myself on whether rear projection or plasma is best. The question is what is best for KC. Go to the library and get a hold of the March 2008 Consumer Reports; they have an entire section on TVs and it is pretty good, and may help you. They go through the preferences you might have to choose one technology over another. They also say "consider a 1080p TV first, but don't rule out 720p sets." . . . and that "if price is not an issue, we'd recommend a high-scoring 1080p set over a comparable 720p set. But don't asume that all 1080p sets are superior to 720p models; resolution alone doesn't determine picture quality. Some of the top-rated TVs in our Ratings are 720p sets. Also, with typical HD programming, picture quality of a good 720p set can be almost indistinguishable from a 1080p set's, especially if it's smaller than 50 inches."
incidentally, I chose my TV solely based on the consumer reports and CNET reviews (and consumer reviews, which of course you have to take with a grain of salt, but they can flag potential problems or defects).
Yeh my TV is also my Computer. I rag that thing to shit lol. TV obviously with Freeview channels, Then my Xbox, Then my PC, then my Snes when i want to Ghetto it up I paid £400 for mine. Well i paid £200 and my mum paid the other half as a reward. I love it just the right size for my room and brilliant quality. Do you have any consoles or Blu-ray players etc. If so this is a perfect TV. Link Obviously that is British pricing and such but i reckon you could pick up a similar model for about $500.
In regards to the HDMI, I have already thought about that, and would be plugging the cable box and PS3 into it, so I'd want one with at least 2 inputs.
