Al Padrino

Well, it took a couple years, but it finally happened. A HD TV looks to be in my future. And why? Because of The Phantom of the Opera. My mom is one of the people who was obsessed with the movie, seeing it in theaters multiple times (I believe in her case it was close to 20).

Anyway, she never wanted to help throw down any money to get a HD TV, but now that the movie's on DVD, she is actually willing to put a large chunk of the funds towards getting a good HD TV so she can have a ton of people over that were equally as obsessed with the movie, and watch the DVD on a really nice TV. Obviously she's been interested in getting one, too, but I guess it just took this movie's release on DVD to be what got her to pony up for it.

We've made an agreement that if I put some money into it, I can just take it for myself when I move out within the next year or two. Since this is a major purchase, I wanted to get some recommendations. Price is somewhat of a factor, but not a dealbreaker. A name brand, high-quality set is what we're going for. So if you would all list some recommendations and also possible pros and cons on certain brands, models, etc., that'd be fantastic. Thanks in advance.

slcsnkman

Well I have a 55 in WS Mistsubishi HD and love it. One awesome product on the market..still kind of steep are DLP tvs. These are amazing. Whatever you do make sure the HD is integrated. Good Luck

Premise

I'd second Samsung DLP's.You might also want to check out check out Jvc's HD-ILA.Both will give an amazing picture.Just make sure you have a comparable quality dvd player.

shelland

A lot depends on your situation - maybe mention your budget (even though you say price is not a dealbreaker), any size restrictions, how far you'd be sitting from the screen, viewing habits (% cable/satellite/DVD), etc. If you way you'd prefer to spend $1000 vs $5000, there's obviously a big difference in your options. If you're going to watch mostly HD, recommendations will be different than if you'll watch 75% SD. You get the drift...

Unlike the previous recommendation I personally would not buy an integrated tuner (for my situation). But, it depends greatly on what source you plan on using for your HD. If you're going to get it from cable, which doesn't offer all the locals, I'd probably spend for the built in tuner. But if you're going to get DirecTV or Dish Network, I would definitely not get the integrated, because then you're spending twice for an OTA tuner, as they both require you buy an HD receiver to get their programming.

drmoze

There are lots of previous discussions here that a search will turn up. In a nutshell, bigger IS better! If cabinet size is not a problem, a crt rptv gives you the best pq and bang for the buck, hands down. Brand=wise, I'd recommend a mitsubishi, 55" for about $1500 or a 65" for a bit more.

My friend just got a Panasonic 42" plasma for under $2k that looks reeeeeally nice. Very smooth and natural pq.

I don't know if dlp's have a setup isssue, but EVERY one I looked at in CC (different makes/models) looked like total crap next to the other bigscreens--crt, plasma, lcd. I was helping my friend shop and we both agreed on how bad all the dlp's looked in side-by-side comparisons. lcd rptv's didn't look a whole lot better. (CRT rptv's didn't look great, but trust me--they do when properly set up.) For good pq these days, it's pretty much a choice between lcd, plasma, or crt rp. Definitely go to a store and look at some models side by side.

slcsnkman

Ya know the funny thing about this. I lived in AZ and had the HD package through the cable company...I had to use hd rabbit ears to get my locals in HD...well I have since moved and my new cable company gives me locals on HD without rabbit ears. Weird. I guess they are slowly catching up not sure

B.A.

Do you want a CRT HDTV, Rear-Projection CRT, Rear-Projection DLP, LCD, Plasma...?

shelland

One of the worst things about shopping for TVs is that virtually none of them will look the same in your house. None of the TVs are set up 'correctly' in stores - first off, they have to contrast cranked to make them look bright in the bright showrooms. With an RPTV, leaving the levels like that is really hard on the TV.

When I was shopping, it took a while of reading that same point for it to sink in. I started doing my homework online at HT sites. I decided that the people on these sites would be able to give great advice from experience with the actual TVs. If you've done any shopping, you've probably already discovered that most of the sales people know next to nothing.

I know it's a concept that goes against our nature, but don't go strictly off what it looks like in the store, because it will most likely not look the same in your home.

Do your homework, and you'll be happy with your purchase. There are obviously lots of sites out there, but the one I frequented the most before my purchase was http://www.hometheaterspot.com.

drmoze

Good advice, of which I'm well aware. I'm particularly aware of the more significant issues with crt rptv's, which are rarely well-converged or calibrated in stores. WHich is why I always point out (as above) that crt rptv's, *when adjusted*, will have the best pq. (Although some plasmas are getting very good.)

And, I did play around with settings onthe display models. CC has the remotes available and I am a tweaker by nature. In spite of making adjustments, I still observed that the dlp sets were markedly inferior in pq (clarity, sharpness, brightness) than the other formats. Again,this was true for the 3-4 brands on display.

For plasmas, Samsung, Sony, and Panasonic appeared to have the best pq. Samsung and Sharp lcd's stood out in that format.

And I've been a member of HT Spot for quite a while now. $^) Great site. It's where I learned the service menu tweaks for my Mitsu rp hdtv.

Spiky

Well, it isn't fully calibrated yet, but my DLP looks absolutely gorgeous on the Incredibles as I type this. I've even got DirecTV looking, uh, watchable. Old sitcoms on a 720p HDTV is not great.

Looking at ANY TV in a store is pointless. Unless the store has set rooms up properly, which virtually zero have. Even high-end stores. This is why I purchased mine based off other consumers' comments mostly, and only partly on what I see in stores. The Spot, AVS, and others is the best place to learn about this stuff, IMO.