Jericho

Okay, let me explain my situation. My roomate has a 61" Sony and is moving out soon. Did some TV shopping today to see what was avaliable and what I can afford. I'm a year removed from college so expenses are short, but my birthday is coming up and my generous parents are willing to split the cost 50/50 on the TV.

So I went to a few places in the area to see what was avaliable. I went to Best Buy, Tweeter, and a local Big Screen Store. Basically saw a lot of options, but my biggest options are a 55" Mitsubishi or a smaller HDTV. First off, I was looking to see if anyone had any opinions on these kinds of TVs. Second I was lookg for any sites that rate TVS pretty well. and third I ws looking for any other possible TV suggestions. I don't have a definite budget, but we're probably talking about 2000 dollars max.

To HDTV or not HDTV? That's my biggest question

Movie_Man

I haven't shopped lately (bought mine a year ago), but I still don't think the 55" screens are under $2000 yet. I absolutely love my Mitsubishi, but I've never heard anybody complain about any particular brand, so get one and enjoy! Don't forget the progressive scan DVD player to go with it!

Jericho

The quote I got today was $1899 for the 55" Mitsubishi Gold TV. The salesman was telling me how great Mitsubishi TVs are, how they use glass mirrors, etc.. Sounded great, but of course any salesman will tell you that. Ironically, they only carry Mitsubishi TVs in that store.

The bonus of the 55" screen is that it fills the space pretty well. The 61" was obviously bigger, but getting a smaller HDTV would look very small in the space even if I move the furntiure around

skar

What model number on the Mits gold? And are you looking at Widescreen or 4:3 or either one?

Jericho

It's a 4:3, I think the model is VS-55707

skar

1 minute for a reply. Wow that's fast, especially for the Home Theater Hardware. My question was more like are you only considering 4:3's or would you consider a Widescreen HDTV-ready TV?

skar

The VS-55707 isn't in my 2002 Mits Catalog so it must be last year's model. It is not a HDTV-ready set, right? I strongly urge you to consider a HDTV-ready set.

Jericho

You're pretty quick to reply yourself
Actually you just caught me at the right time. I'm considering everything really. But cost wise, if I went for a widescreen HDTV, I'm assuming I'd have to go smaller. With Mitsubishis I guess I'm looking more into the 4:3 due to price. but I'm open to most anything

Jericho

You're right it's not HDTV ready. But how much more expensive is an HDTV Mitsubishi?

skar

To give you better advice I need to know more about your viewing habits.

I assume that you watch DVD's. What percentage of the time? Is your TV cable, digital cable, DSS, or OTA? What percentage of the time do you watch TV? Do you play video games? What system and what percentage of the time? Any complains about your roommate's 61" that you want improved for your own TV?

Sorry about all the questions, but otherwise it is hard to give good advice.

Jericho

No problem. I do watch plenty of DVDs, many movies a week in fact, thoug it can vary from week to week. I have digital cable and I'd say I watch TV a fair amount of time, usually sports. Video game wise, I do play a little. My roommate has a dreamcast.

As for my roommates TV. It is a 61" Sony. I know it's the low end of Sony projections, nothing fancy, but I do enjoy it. I figure a non HDTV is great, and HDTV one is even better. But I have grown accustomed to a larger TV for my movies, so that factors in.

duckdogger

I am a big Mitsu fan and have been for about 10 years. I would nod to the higher quality versus a larger size. I saw a 47", 16:9, HD in Sunday's paper from Best Buy for $2000. Don't recall if it was a Toshiba or Panasonic. Mistsu will be more but what the heck, you don't buy one of these things every month.

Just make sure you have the features such as component video in, and at least a Toslink out. My friend has a Hitachi 65", 16:9, HD, with integrated Direct Tv AND HD decoder. Very large price but no component in for the DVD. Also, no output period to allow recording off the satelite.

Movie_Man

It would almost be silly today to buy a non-HD big screen. If you're going to buy a big screen, do it right!
Even for watching standard-definition television, the image is so much better. I find watching a traditional TV distracting now, since the scan lines are so apparent after being used to the line doubler in a digital TV.

Kakkarat

I got a Mitsubishi widescreen 65908 (Diamond line) a few weeks ago. It is absolutely STUNNING!!!!
If you're interested in Mits, check out www.hometheaterspot.com - they have a Mits forum there that is really active and very helpful.

Jericho

Thanks for all the input. I guess the biggest problem about Mitsubishi Widescreen TVs is the price, although the 65" Platinum series is just $2999 (2001 model). I may go for a different brand like Toshiba which seems to be well received

Kakkarat

If I remember right, that's a pretty good price for a 2001 65". I got this year's model for an ok deal, but it was much more than $3000.
I didn't do much research on the Toshiba's, but I believe that they are also generally recommended. Again, check out the Home Theater Spot, they also have a Toshiba forum.

Cornfed

Just thought I'd revive an old thread rather than start a new one.

I'm very close to buying a Mitsubishi 55411. It looked great in the store and I've read lots of good things. I've also come across several tweaks for the set on hometheaterspot.com. A lot of the tweaks look like things I wouldn't want to try myself on my TV. My question is, would this TV still run great for a good duration if I didn't perform any of the tweaks that require me to open up the television set?

X

From what I understand about Mitsubishi and how they can be greatly improved by having a good calibration, I think you should strongly consider budgeting in the approximately $500 for an ISF calibration.

joshd2012

I love the 55" WS Mitsubishi my dad. Has had it for 3 years, and no complaints. I would recommend Mitsubishi to anyone.

On a side note, we purchased it at the Big Screen Store. Good people. Their installers aren't too good (I had to go back and change the wiring to optimize the setup) but they were straight forward with me and have no complaints about the service I received.

Cornfed

Would I need to have this calibration performed on this set multiple times throughout my ownership? And how do I go about finding an ISF?

X

I think once you break in your set, maybe a couple hundred hours, you'd be ready for it. And it should last a very long time if your set isn't having some other major problem.

Try here for a start to finding someone. You might want to make sure they know your particular set very well and check some of their references.

http://www.imagingscience.com/

bigE

Right on X. Mits are notorious for their red push out of the box. Out of the factory reds are REAL hot, with contrast & brightness levels peaked (to dazzle consumers, I guess). Great way to burn a screen if you ask me. Initially color & brightness should be about 5 or 6 clicks below center, contrast & sharpness lowered to about 30-35%, & color temp set to LOW. Calibrate after the first 100 hours, color, contrast & convergence set, you should be golden (or platinum, or diamond!).

JimRochester

55" Diamond Series owner here. You can check out the pics in my sig for my setup. Very happy with the TV and haven't had any issues. Had it about 2 years now.

Cheddarmuff

Anybody have any comments on thier 50" plasma TV (16:9)?? Looking into making a big purchase..

I saw their 73" 16:9 at The Great Indoors last week...all I can say is WOW!! I was in a trance..

drmoze

The Mitsu prices here are too high. We picked up the WS65819 65" HD-ready (Platinum Plus series) a few months back for $2700. More recently I've seen them for $2500. Shop around. And IMO Mitsu makes the best rp tv's in terms of quality and longevity. (My 1991 50" model still looks beautiful, and it's been used a *lot*!)

As for plasmas, I'd hold off. They are in the "getting better and cheaper" stage still. The lower-priced ones still don't have very black blacks, nor steady uniform color saturation.