Hello,

My dad is buying (wants to) a HDTV in the near future. He has never been a huge fan of Projection tv's, but knows that he can't get the size he wants in a tube tv.

Anyway, we've gone to Best Buy and checked out what they had and we were both very impressed with the Sony KDP-51WS550 which according to the employee was a new model. It is priced at $2499 and includes a built in HDTV tuner.

We run regular cable, and are purchasing it for movie purposes of course but will still have our standard cable service.

Where can I find out about best value and such for HDTV's? My dad has always been a big Sony fan, so I really think this is the one he will go with. BUT, I want to help insure that he makes the best choice. The fact that this model has a bulit-in tuner really turned him on, so to speak.

I've read the FAQ, and browsed through some of the threads here. But direct opinons and thoughts based on this would be appreciated.

Again, we don't have Satellite or Digital cable and have no desire to get either at this point. Our apt is small, so 51" is the biggest we would like.

Also, are there cheaper places to get TV's online? Or is Best Buy/Circuit City the better option?

Thanks in advance!

Lots of information about different hdtvs at avsforum.com.

If he likes Sony and is willing to spend a little more, the Grand WegaII LCD rptv 50" is an option. The GWIII's are supposedly coming out soon too. The Panasonic LCD is also popular. There are several different technologies that you can learn about.

Sounds like you are going to watch a lot of sdtv on the set. SDTV does look worse on an hdtv set than on a regular 4:3 set. Some think it is unwatchable, others dont mind it at a far enough distance. You may want to consider one of the tecnologies that doesn't have the burn-in problem.

On an expensive tv, I would prefer to buy from a b&m instead of online. If you shop around, you should be able to get a deal for less than any sale or listed price. Don't be shy to ask.

There is a lot you can learn about hdtv. Take the time to do it so you make the right decision. Heck, I am one of those that think the research is half the fun!

Good luck!

CC, BB, Sears or some type of store like them are good to buy from for one main reason. That being the type of return of exchange policy that each of them have. It's much simpler with them than if you bought mail order and need to ship it back across 5 states or more.

Now about that Sony and your dad. People who love the Sony brand are usually fiercely loyal but as far as RPTVs go they're not the front runners or in the top five IMO. There are better brands and models with the same or lower price out there but when one of these sets is properly calibrated you'll be happy with any of them.

The main things to look around for are problems and reliability, feature set that you need and can use and PQ out of the box.

Certain brands have certain models that seem to have common problems and unless you read user reviews you'll never hear about them. The Sony 51WS500 has a history of a flicker problem that requires replacment of the CRTs. People have reported that even after the replacement the flicker can return. Do you trust that the problem is only with this model? I don't.

Some Toshibas have a ghosting problem. Some Hitachis have a green CRT problem. Some brands don't accept a 720p signal from XBox while other brands will accept it but upconvert to 1080i for display. Some brands display 480p from DVDs while other brands upconvert these to 540p which can create artifacts. Some brands or models have really bad stretch modes for 4:3 SD TV shows. Some have really bad line doublers that makes analog cable look really bad. Some brands have DVI connections that might be needed in the future. Remember that all RPTVs need controlled room lighting. A room with bright sunlight or lamps will wash out the picture.

The built in HD tuner is for OTA broadcasts only so if you're not able to get digital signals with an antenna that would be a waste of money.

These are just some of the issues you need to sort through and decide which TV fits your needs. For the size you're looking at I would go with a 48" Panasonic or Mitsubishi. Either of these can be had for less than $2000 if you shop around and they're not known for having design problems.

Okay! Lot to digest here, but keep it coming!

Also lots of acronyms(sp?) to learn!

Would digital cable service look better on a RPTV than standard service or would the difference be marginal at best?

The built in tuner is for OTA broadcasts. What does that mean?

What kind of time-table does burn-in take?

I'm sure that I'll come up with a bunch more questions, but I need to sleep. I'll check back here again tomorrow.

Thanks so much!

Digital cable is usually better than analog but not always. The xception to the rule is when your provider compresses the digital signal so much that the analog noise might be better than the compression artifacts. A lot will depend on your provider.

OTA= Over The Air or Not Cable or Not Satellite.

Satellite signal through sent through the air from satellite to dish is a digital compressed signal that. Started from the originating broadcasting channel suchas ABC. The signal is sent to their satellite or bird and bounced back to earth where Dish Network (E*) or DirectTV (D*) compress the signal and retransmit the signal to thier birds only to be bounced back to your small dish to receiver where it's decoded and decompressed.

The OTA signal is what you get from a standard antenna directly from the broadcaster. For digital channels done this way the signal is not compressed as much and usually looks better and is free except for the built in or extrernal tuner needed to decode the digital signal. The con is that you usually need to be within 50 miles line of sight to the broadcasting tower so not everyone can receive these signals.

Burn in is really uneven phosphor wear and occurs when highly contrasting shades of light and dark colors are shown on the same area of the image at the same time. You'll notice I didn't say screen. That's because the ghosted image is burned into the CRTs and the the actual screen you're watching. These burned in images are usually scrolling news tickers, station logos in the corners or video game scores left on for long periods of time. Another thig that can cause burn in is viewing 4:3 material on a 16:9 TV with black or grey bars on the sides. Over time any of these stationary images that contrast highly with the normal moving images you watch can cause the stationary image to burn in.

To help prevent and avoid burn in there are some very simple things you can do. First is to properly set you contrast and brightness to their proper levels using a test DVD like Avia or Video Essentials. Contrast is the most important one here as it sets the white level and that's the one that does the damage if it's set too high. Next is to just vary your viewing. Don't only watch a month of CNN with a news ticker scrolling across the bottom of the screen. Don't only watch 4:3 with bars on the sides of a widescreen TV although the grey bars are better than the black bars. Don't have marathon video games sessions of the same game with the same score window on the screen for 12 hours. Don't watch only 2.35:1 DVDs that have bars top and bottom without also mixing it up with DVDs or TV that fills your screen. If you follow this advise I'm sure you won't have to worry about burn in. If you don't follow this advice you can start looking for it in 6 months.

I would agree that Sony is NOT one of the better rear projection HDTV makers. They have a history of annoying bugs that keeps me from considering a Sony at this time. I prefer Pioneer and others like Mitusbishi, Toshiba and Panasonic are also good choices. Stay away from LCD HDTV's as they have very bad black levels which come nowhere near the quality of CRT based HDTV's. CRT based HDTV's still have the best quality picture at the lowest cost at this time so it is a no brainer unless you are buying for a extremely small area or are buying for a conversation piece.

When you get the HDTV put the contrast down to about the 40% level until you can get a AVIA or other calibration DVD. When set properly you really do not have to worry about burn in at all unless you have very unusual viewing habits (like watch channels with running banners etc..) or play games on it all the time.

From most people Analog Cable tends to have better PQ (picture quality) the Digital except for the premium channels. Digital cable for the most part is a very deceptive name since other then the premium channels all that digital cable is, is analog channels compressed to digital and sent out. Digital cable is trying to compete with Satellite and they are adding broadband Internet, phone service, and recently High Def and in doing so they are plagued with having to over compress their channels to fit them in the available bandwidth.

A rare few HDTV's come with High Def decoders built-in which allows you to tune in any OTA (your local Over The Air) Digital channels. This really is not a good choice because you are locked into that decoder instead of getting one as a stand alone or included with a satellite receiver. Better decoders are coming out all the time and you don;t have to worry about the HDTV when wanting to upgrade your HD decoder.

Having done a good bit of research on this of late, my choices are below, in order of expense (most costly to least costly):

Pioneer Elite series - considered the very best in the industry. Very expensive, I believe there are some rebates ($700-$1000) available until the end of September, but they're still expensive.

Mitsubishi -- choice of several different series. Supposedly, the 2004 series rivals the Pioneer Elites, for much less money.

Hitachi - Best value for the money, IMO. The new s500 and S700 series are really nice, and the stretch mode problems with past series have been largely resolved.

I had my sites set on Toshiba, but reading the many issues on various online HT forums has turned me off going with them.

Sony is definitely middle-of-the-road in the RPTV arena. They're not terrible, by any means. Many issues have been addressed with this year's line, so be sure and buy this year's models with model numbers ending in 510 (51"), 550 (55"), 630 (63"). Avoid RCA, Sharp, Philips, Magnavox, Apex, and Daewoo.

RPTV is subjective, and many opinions abound. Things to keep in mind:

* Do YOU like the picture?

* Make sure the stretch mode is acceptable if you watch a lot of non-HDTV broadcast shows. This is the method that the RPTV uses to stretch a 4:3 broadcast show (that fits a "normal" TV screen shape) to fit into a 16:9 aspect ratio screen (widescreen). Some manufacturers do this better than others, with Pioneer being the current king of them all.

* What inputs do you need, and how many?

* Visit the showroom and check them out. Have the salesperson play you a DVD and some broadcast TV in stretch mode. Try various viewing angles -- is glare a consideration?. Remember that most showrooms don't have the TV's settings properly adjusted because of the showroom's brightness.

I've pretty much settled on Hitachi for myself, but am still thinking about going with this Pioneer. It's last year's model, isn't part of the Elite series, and lacks a DVI input, but is also an outstanding value for the money. It has fantastic picture with a great stretch mode. However, if CC or Sears has a 10% off (or more) sales (or coupon) anytime soon, I'm Hitachi-bound. After all my research, the 51S500 seems to have the best mix of features and performance at my price point (2k or less, if possible).

Bottom line is: you have to find a good balance between what you like, and what you can afford. All RPTV's have issues of some sort, most can be fixed with tweaks. All of the above have gorgeous pictures when properly tweaked.

I have to concur with Frank's post above, also. Try and avoid buying one with the built-in tuner, unless his heart is set on it. Most cable/satellite companies are going to require their own tuner anyway, so why waste the extra money? Hell, use it to get a bigger set, if it must be spent. Right now, we get next-to-nothing in the way of High Def in this area (Chittenden County, VT, for those who care) anyway.

Also, be sure and buy from a manufacturer-authorized dealer. Try and budget for the extended warranty, as RPTV's can certainly have problems which are expensive to fix on your own. Buy decent cables. They don't have to be overpriced Monster cables -- there are many comparable quality cables available from online dealers for much less.

If you want to talk about this more, call me (db27 is my nephew).

-JB

Thanks for the additional info, should help with our decision.

What's wrong with RCA or Philips? I've looked at a Philips that looked pretty good even through the regular A/V cables, and had a pretty good, relatively distortion-free 4:3 'stretch' mode.

This is based on research I've done at a lot of Web-based HTForums. In most cases, these brands aren't even in the running, simply because picture quality tends to be so-so, components tend to be less than first-rate, and/or support is a nightmare.

But again, it's subjective. Sharp, Philips, and RCA tend to be brands I avoid anyway--and I'm sure we all have our own "pet-peeve" brands. I've had bad experiences with their products in the past, and it's left a sour taste.

As always, YMMV.

-JB