I'm looking to upgrade from my Sony 50" rear projection which has gotten too small for me and I need some help finding something good for about $2,000.

I'm not a fan of LCD sets since they don't look that great to me. I *think* I'm looking for a plasma, which is probably too much for me, or DLP. If I can mount it, my wife would be happy but it needs to be slimmer than what I have now. I'm also going to be playing games and watching BR on it if that helps.

Stores nearby are Costco(AMEX rebate and extended warranty are nice), Circuit City, Wal-Mart(haha), Target, Office Depot, Office Max, Staples, Fred Meyer. The closest Best Buy is 180 miles away but I will be in the area around the beginning of July, so if I really need to go there I can.

If there's something great I should wait for, I have no problem waiting a month or so.

I promise to post pics of everything once it's set up.

Does it have to be 1080p? You say the 50" RPTV is "too small", yet ask for 50+: Is that "50 and higher", or "more than 50"?

Both Samsung and Panasonic 50'" 720p Plasmas can be had in well within your price range. Both brands come recommended (although, I went with a Panny).

In fact, Costco.com shows a 50" 720p Panasonic for $1300.

It would be nice to get 1080p since I have a PS3.

I'd like to get something bigger than 50". Costco had a 58" Panasonic for $2000, don't know model number, but the only box they had was pretty beat up. I was thinking of asking if I could get a discount because of the box and if it was fine I'd be coming out ahead.

I have a PS3 and a 720p Panny: no complaints.

I swear I read somewhere some PS3 games "claim" to be 1080p, but don't even approach that.

My PS3 is pretty much a BR player. If there's a game on PS3 and the 360, the 360 gets it.

Yeah, most games are 720p or less.

I'd say get whatever Cotsco has. I'm a fan of Costco. I bought my 3 TVs from there. And I also bought my Panny projector from Costco.com.

Oh and that 58'' Panny should be 1080p.

I think this is the one at my costco
Panasonic TH-58PE75U

Anyone know if it's good?

panasonic plasma > everything else
and going with costco gets you the free 2 year upgrade on the warranty.. which is huge

i agree with the others: panasonic plasma + costco = awesome.

You'll want substantially bigger if you had a 4:3 50" and that wasn't big enough (I'm assuming it was 16:9 but eh), but that said the industry has been shifting toward LCD and they have improved immensely (specs wise, they're now on par with Plasma, but I can't argue personal opinions) but they are substantially more expensive than the cheapies you'll see at Walmart.

I bring this up because I also used to take issue with LCD.

That said, your options:

1. Front Projection unit, requires light control but you can get your screen anywhere from 70" to 110" with no loss in quality, and scalable as high as you want with only minor loss in quality depending on how bright your unit is.



2. Plasmas - I actually haven't used Plasmas in a while, but the contrast ratios are getting way up there, and they're already bright as all get out (our office, well, old office, had a 50" Plasma in place for presentations, I got stuck close to it for 3 days and my eyeballs about fell out of my head.) I'm looking up some prices and info now (as my 'rents may go this route as well) Nice set, and yes, it too was a Panasonic from Costco.

3. LCDs - The good ones are expensive, features to look for: High Contrast Ratio (10000:1 and higher), low delay (2ms seems to be becoming the norm), 120Hz.

I recently got a Samsung 61" LED DLP HDTV (full 1080p). It's awesome, and extremely thin for something that's still rear projection. The retail for it is currently down to $2099, but you can find it for around $1800 or less if you shop around (I got mine priced matched at Sears for that).

I've been curious about that lately, how are the LED DLPs working out in comparison to their bulb counterparts? Last I recalled there were still some minor geometry/color issues but that was a long time ago. And I may be thinking the LCoS thins.

Shannon - http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...l/-/B001415FIG is that the one?

I have the model one generation before yours (you know that because we met before in another thread). The LED DLP has to be the best bargain in an HDTV today. You can't get that size for that price with anything else I know of. About the only negative I can think of is that the picture fades as you move too far from the center but I think few people would sit at such a wide angle as to affect it.

That's what I was planning on getting but then my Costco got rid of all the Samsung TVs. They had a really nice picture.

RichC2, it was a 16:9 50". I also already have a projector up in my theater room with a 113" screen. I considered getting another one but I think there'd be some light control issues in the living room.

I also came back to add that I came back from Costco with the Panny I mentioned earlier. Got it all hooked up and tested Revenge of the Sith in HD on it and I'm really happy with it.

Even though I could've gotten a Samsung at CC, the extra warrenty and rebate from Costco was too good to pass up.