Sloth911

I have thinking about buying a WS RPTV for sometime now to replaced my meager 27" RCA TV.

I have been reading posts here, HTS, and HTF about RPTV's.

I am SCARED out of my mind... and am thinking about buying a flat 36' tube TV and being done with it.

Why?

Red push, guns not working, everything being blue, "having a dead TV for 2 months" and on and on and on...

What should I do?

chipmac

You need to decide for yourself. Let me ask you what makes you think a tube TV doesn't have red push or can't be made and delivered to you and not work in 3 months? All and I do mean all TVs have red push to some extent and any TV can arrive DOA or break in a short period of time. We take our chances every time we buy anything mass produced.

Frank S

Considering the relatively small amount of complaints as opposed to the millions of these RP/HDTV's sold per year I think it's safe to say that these TV's are very low on the QC negative side of things! That is the one problem with these boards is people who are beginning to do research on things on the Internet get scared reading the problems posted but they forget that in the overall picture the amount of complaints are not that bad.

Yes, SOME HDTV's suffer from red push (Mitsubishi being the biggest percentage) but that can be rectified fairly easily (with attenuators). If you are going to invest $1500+ on one of these HDTV's you can always spend a few hundred more (for piece of mind) on a extended warranty that should cover you for 4-5 years. This is the ONLY electronics I would ever suggest buying a warranty for and even then 90% of the failures will occur in the first 90-120 days which is covered under the manufacturer's warranty.

Believe me if you buy a HD tube TV with it's very small size you WILL be disappointed and regret the fact that for the same amount of money you could have had a 57" + HDTV that gives you a much more theater like experience.

Just stay with the good brand names (Pioneer, Mitsubishi, Toshiba, Panasonic, Hitachi) and you will be pleased! STAY AWAY from Sony though! They are great at tube TV's but they have some major quality control problems with their RP/HDTV's.

hoyalawya

You forgot to check out www.avsforum.com. For information on particular manufacturer, check out www.hometheaterspot.com.

Sloth911

HTS = www.hometheaterspot.com

that is the place that put me over the edge, with all the bad reviews

uteotw

Do not be afraid. Find one you like, probably get the extended warranty, then sit back and enjoy.

As far as what jasonr said about HTS, he's right. But I've found you can find horror stories about any model TV/automobile/computer, and great stories about most too. You're just playing the odds.

sicklerice

I bought a 65" 16:9 Toshiba last year OVER THE INTERNET and haven't regretted it for a minute.

I no longer need to go to the theatre to have a cinematic experience. That is what I was looking for.

Tonight, DESECRATION by Dante Tomaselli.

Oh yeah, I got the 5 year extended in home warranty also.

Corky Roxbury

jasonr114, plus most people who post on forums are overly critical of the perfomance of a tv, and most only post in athread, when they have a problem with a tv, if you got a HT site, and post WOW I love x brand of tv, the thread will fade away in a matter of hours, but if you post x brand has banding, and rainbows, and such, their will be 10,000 replys. as long as you don't pause a tv for days at a time you will be fine, a plasma is more sensitive than a rptv, and I have played the same game for more than 9 hours i one sitting w/o problems

Illinois Enema Bandit

I would agree with this. I would take all the stuff you read on the net with just a little grain of salt...not to belittle the issues that folks *do* legitimately experience, but people who post on these HT fora do tend to be a little more critical than the average user, who I suspect does a little research and then goes into BB, CC, or wherever, plunks down some dough, and has an RPTV delivered. And is quite happy with the results, not overly concerned with such things as red push, xx-point convergence, ISF calibration, and all the rest of it.

FWIW, I have a 57" Toshiba, which I've had almost 2 years and has worked flawlessly. And yeah, I've done most of the tweaks recommended on HTS If anything, I'd say the single most important thing with these sets is to turn down the contrast and avoid screen burn

Tsar Chasm

Get off the pot and go get your RPTV. I got my 50" Toshiba 8 months ago and my only regret is not saving a month longer and getting the 57".

The Void

I finally bit the bullet and bought a new RPTV today. I got a 51" Hitachi 51S700. I've done a ton of research and have been wanting a TV like this for about 4 years. Should be a nice step up from the 27" Toshiba I've been using.

Any other 51S700 or S500 owners here? I know this is a very popular TV.

Frank S

A nice step up! Heck it is a HUGE stup up! NOW you have a home theater! Enjoy and let us know what you think after a few weeks of viewing.

shelland

I read The SPOT several times a day, and that's where I did most of my research before I bought my PRTV.

What have you been looking at that you've read so many bad reviews? Maybe you need to look into other brands?

I bought a Pioneer 643, so read the Pioneer forum a lot - I sure don't recall reading much negative there. In fact, the thing that I noticed when I was doing my research about a year ago is that the Pioneer's had a LOT less negative feedback than the other brands.

I don't read the other brand forums to see the feedback, but in the general RPTV forum, there's generally pretty good feedback on Mitsu, Hitachi and Toshiba too.