PrevLDer

I am looking for a big widescreen TV to replace my old 32" regular one. I do not know much about the WS TV product. Does Sony or others have a direct 40" (or bigger) WS TV? I found only the HDTV one which is too expensive for me. Any suggestion is appreciated.
(I forget to mention that I will watch DVD mostly on this TV and have ~4k to spend on it.)

[This message has been edited by PrevLDer (edited May 05, 2000).]

Frank S

The largest direct-view Widescreen is 38" TV from Thompson.

If you have $4K to spend I would highly recommend Pioneers 58" SD582 HDTV. I myself own it and it is absolutely incredible! I did months of research before deciding to go with the Pioneer. I looked at Mitsubishi and Toshiba and thought the Pioneer had the best picture, and without a doubt the best cabinet. The cabinet is squared off on top and has a 2 foot deck on top to accomodate a center speaker and other components as well. The TV has 4 inputs (each having ther own user settings) including a RGB HD(VGA) input. The only TV I saw that was slightly better then the model I have was the Pioneer Elite, but for the nearly $2K difference it didn't justify the slightly better picture and nicer cabinet finish.

Just pay a visit to the Home Theater Forum (www. hometheaterforum.com) and do a search for the Pioneer SD582 and you will see numerous members raving over this TV.

Good luck and do yourself a HUGE favor and take your time and try to demo as many HDTV's as you can as this is a very large purchase and you need to be very careful. Also be sure not to go to the Best Buy, Circuit City type stores as they don't have a clue as to how to setup and present these high-end TV's. Go to specialty Home Theater stores and you should see the TV's presented the way they should be presented. An example of bad presentation is Sam's club. They sell the Pioneer 64" SD642 model but it is (at least at the store by me) on the second level shelf (10 feet off the ground) with bright flouresent lights glaring on the screen. Of course the picture looks horrible as these TV's are made to be viewed at the level of the screen not looking up at or down at the screen. The brightness itself just by standing up when the TV is at ground level is cut in half, so you can imaging the TV 10 feet off the ground.

------------------
------------------
My DVD/LD List
My Home Theater Equipment

PrevLDer

Thanks a lot Frank. I will start shopping around today. You did not mention a Hi-Fi Buy store so I guess it is a decent shop to see the demo. What store (on the net)has the best deal on Pioneer SD582 HDTV?

DivxGuy

quote:<HR>What store (on the net)has the best deal on Pioneer SD582 HDTV?<HR>

Global Mart has a pretty good deal on this one. For comparison's sake, 800.com sells it about 800 more, delivered.

I just took delivery of a 582; it has one drawback, that being that it locks into anamorphic mode with any progressive input. That means non-anamorphic DVD's and laserdisc inputs get messed up. Also, the line doubler in this unit is poor; the image suffers from a lot of artifacting.

If you stick to anamorphic DVD's fed in via progressive scan, though, you will be rewards with an amazing, almost film-like image.

RD

Frank S

DivxGuy
You better have someone look at your set because you must have a bad one because all you complain about does not occur on mine, nor any of the many others who own this TV as well.

Also you forget to mention that all HDTV's except a few Toshibas lock in full mode with a progressive input, not just the SD582.

Non-Anamorphic DVD's and LD's lock into full mode ONLY if you are using an external line doubler or you have a progressive DVD player. If you use a regular DVD or LD player the TV's won't lock into any type mode and will display in their correct aspect ratio.

PrevLDer
Believe me and the many other satified customers who have posted glowing reveiws of this TV on the other Home Theater forums.

------------------
------------------
My DVD/LD List
My Home Theater Equipment


[This message has been edited by Frank S (edited May 07, 2000).]

PrevLDer

DivxGuy and Frank, thanks for your suggestion. I went to HiFi-Buy yesterday and the person whom I talked to was very nice and knew a lot about his stuff, which was very helpful. After I sat down and watched several demo movies on Pioneer SD582 and the Elite PRO-610HD (58") and 510HD (53"), I saw quite a huge difference between the SD582 and the Elite's and I was so impressed with the Elite 53" one. The prices between the two (Elite and non-Elite) were ~$2500 different. What do you think about these 2 models? What convinced you to get the non-Elite one? Does it worth spending more money to get it?

[This message has been edited by PrevLDer (edited May 07, 2000).]

[This message has been edited by PrevLDer (edited May 07, 2000).]

DivxGuy

quote:<HR>You better have someone look at your set because you must have a bad one because all you complain about does not occur on mine, nor any of the many others who own this TV as well.<HR>

The set in the boutique showroom exhibited the exact same artifacting problems as mine does - in fact, the salesmen used it to convince me to buy an SD5109 progressive-scan DVD player. Progressive vs. interlaced on this set is like night and day. I only wish an iScan unit would be made available that would simulate an anamorphic image; I'd be in video heaven!

I plan on getting this set ISF-calibrated, but I'm going to wait until it's been burned in for at least a hundred hours.

quote:<HR>Also you forget to mention that all HDTV's except a few Toshibas lock in full mode with a progressive input, not just the SD582.<HR>

According to the iScan compatibility list, models from numerous manufacturers can accept the progressive signals properly, including the Pioneer SD-641-HD5.

quote:<HR>Non-Anamorphic DVD's and LD's lock into full mode ONLY if you are using an external line doubler or you have a progressive DVD player. If you use a regular DVD or LD player the TV's won't lock into any type mode and will display in their correct aspect ratio.<HR>

That's true, but the line doublers in these units are poor, causing a lot of artifacting in the image when interlaced inputs are used. I'm not alone in find this; check out this thread on Home Theater Forum for some other experiences like mine.

Cheers, RD


[This message has been edited by DivxGuy (edited May 07, 2000).]

Frank S

PrevLDer
You must remember the dealers make quite a bit more on the Elites and they almost always will setup the Elites more completly and leave the non-Elites pretty much the way they were out of the box. Other tricks they like to use is different inputs to the different TV's (such as Componenet input to Elite and S-Video to non-Elite). To be sure you should insist on seeing the rear to see what hookups they are using and also use the same source with the same cables to be sure. Cables being messed with is another trick they use. I will admit the Elites are nicer but they don't justify the 50% cost premium.

DivxGuy

It's very puzzling why you bother keeping your Pioneer if it sucks so bad. It seems more like you are just a Pioneer basher trying to sway a potential customer away from Pioneer.

"The set in the boutique showroom exhibited the exact same artifacting problems as mine does - in fact, the salesmen used it to convince me to buy an SD5109 progressive-scan DVD player."
Sounds like the dealer had all the incentive in the world to mal-adjust the TV for further sales! Just proves my previous point all the more.


------------------
------------------
My DVD/LD List
My Home Theater Equipment

[This message has been edited by Frank S (edited May 08, 2000).]

DivxGuy

quote:<HR>It's very puzzling why you bother keeping your Pioneer if it sucks so bad. It seems more like you are just a Pioneer basher trying to sway a potential customer away from Pioneer.<HR>

I'm keeping the Pioneer because the image is excellent with progressive scan; it's just the interlaced that could use substantial improvement.

quote:<HR>Sounds like the dealer had all the incentive in the world to mal-adjust the TV for further sales!<HR>

Actually, they only connected a progressive scan DVD player to the unit at my request. The artifacting they pointed out shows up on my factory-adjusted unit just the same as it did on the display model.

I hope you're right, and that the ISF calibration eliminates or minimizes the problems I'm getting.

Cheers, RD

PrevLDer

Thanks, Frank. I (and particularly my wife ) agree with you. Now we are looking for the best deal of this model on the net. I tried Global Mart and onecall.com. The former does not have it in stock and the latter does not have it at all. (I thought I saw someone posted that onecall had this model.) Any suggestion!!

[This message has been edited by PrevLDer (edited May 08, 2000).]

DivxGuy

quote:<HR>I tried Global Mart and onecall.com. The former does not have it in stock and the latter does not have it at all. (I thought I saw someone posted that onecall had this model.) Any suggestion!!<HR>

I bought mine from a brick&mortar - price was only $50 more than Global Mart. You might want to try looking around locally, if that's possible?

RD