$3000 Bucks for a TV...which one?

[KevinH]

Hey fellas...

My bro-in-law needs help . I know quite a few of you guys are into your big screen TV's and what not. That said, my brother-in-law just remodeled his home and is planning on upgrading his pos 32" TV. Anyhow, he's planning on spending at most 3 grand on a TV. We just went to Fry's today to check out the Mitsubishi 55" HDTV for 2600...I believe the model is the WS-5551. Is this a good deal? Are there better deals out there? As far as we saw from the display models it was the most feature rich one for the price. As of now, the requirements he's looking for are 16:9, 50"+, and HDTV ready (preferably since the model we were looking at was). ARe there better ones for the price out there? Let me know guys! I am currently staying with him so it's in my best interest to get a TV into the house asap ! Thanks!

Kev

 

[Conky]

Just get a Sony. Anything else and you will feel like a tightwad.

 

[NewSc2]

Originally posted by: Crazyfool
Just get a Sony. Anything else and you will feel like a tightwad.

uhh... no not really. Generally in the Rear-projection TV area, Sony isn't one of the more highly regarded brands. Not to say they aren't bad, but Mitsubishi is probably the one of the top two brands, along with Pioneer (but their Elite line goes into the $5000+ range).

You might want to shop around online just to get a good idea of the prices - Crazyeddie.com, onecall.com, and crutchfield.com sell TV's. Compare the same model with the same model - you'll run into various model numbers with the same size.

If you want to do extra research - check out

avsforum.com
hometheaterforum.com

for a more specific A/V community to help you with your needs. Just do a quick search in their TV sections.

 

[VBboy]

Pay $5 for the ConsumerReports.com online membership and read reliability, quality, appearance and other reviews of TVs. Don't take anyone else's word for it...

 

[Amused]

For that price range, the Hitachi 57SWX20B is the hands down winner. ($2799 at Circuit City on sale from $2999)

It can also be found at Sears. Sears offers some of the best service and warranties to be had. Sears has them for $2999, but he could price match with Circuit City.

Now, that said, he'll want to have ANY HDTV he buys professionally ISF calibrated (about $300). In nearly every review, the ISF calibrated SWX series from Hitachi blows away the competition in it's price range.

Mitsubishi makes very fine TVs, but for some reason they look horrid (unusually so) when displaying normal standard definition Sat or cable feeds.

Another possibility is a DLP rear projection. However, he'll have to add another thousand dollars to his budget for the same size. The nice thing about DLP RP TVs is there is absolutely no danger of burn in damage caused by viewing unstretched 4:3 content. That said, I'd like to point out that I have been using CRT based RP TVs for a few years now, and watch quite a bit of my content with grey or black bars and have NO burn in damage whatsoever because my TV has been properly calibrated.

If you need more advice, go to avsforum.com

Hope this helps.

edit: Sony's track record of late with RP TVs has been abysmal. And I'm a strange one to be saying that, because I've been a Sony fanboy for years now. Hell, I own more than one Sony RP TV. However, my latest addition was the TV I recommend to you now.

 

[ROTC1983]

Get a nice Sony HD ready WEGA

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: ROTC1983
Get a nice Sony HD ready WEGA

Wegas are nice, and if I wanted a tube TV, that would be what I'd buy. That said, for a home theater in a moderately sized room, a 40" 4:3 screen just wont cut it. You gotta remember that movies are 1:85-1 or 2:35-1. Showing that on a 40" 4:3 TV makes the image smaller than it would be on a 34" 16:9 TV. That's a HUGE difference from a 57" 16:9 TV. HUGE.

 

[ROTC1983]

Ah, cool, thanks Amused. I learned something new today

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: ROTC1983
Ah, cool, thanks Amused. I learned something new today

That's cool.

BTW, there are LCD rear projection "Grand WEGA" TVs from Sony in 50" and 60" 16:9 sizes. But LCD based RP TVs suffer from really poor black levels. The blacks are washed out and look gray compared to CRT or DLP based TVs.

 

[dfi]

If you are going to buy a mitsubishi tv, make sure you buy an hdtv ready tv, and not one with a built in receiver. The reason I say this is because mitsubishi hdtv ready tvs have 7 picture formats (for stretching images and what not), while the ones with a built in receiver only has 5 picture formats.

dfi

 

[KevinH]

Thanks for everyone's input. I'll check out some of the sites you guys recommended.

Amused - You bring up a good point about the Mitsu. There were basically 2 TV's they had on display from that same product line. The 48" version was showing a DVD I believe while the 55" version was showing a regular TV broadcast. The 48" was crystal clear. I'll be honest...I don't watch TV much other than to watch Laker games and Sportscenter so I was pretty blown away by how far most of these TV's have come. By the same token I wasn't too impressed by the 55" version's clarity...we assumed it was just the nature of regular TV. I'm glad you mentioned it as he was VERY close to picking one up then and there. Hitachi hmmh...? Fry's doesn't carry that model so I guess I'll do some preemptive research for him at Sear's tomorrow.

Your point about a Tube vs Projection TV was something we also were debating. I agree with your sentiment that 40" is just not big enough for a HT setup. I sat back about 7-8' from the screen and it didn't "feel" like it was a big jump from a 32". That said, a Projection TV is the way to go. The clarity is still breath taking. Like I said, I haven't really been following TV technology for a LONG time. In fact the last Projection TV our family owned was a 53" Sony XBR that my parent's bought a year before the Wega line was introduced. I thought it was incredible but after seeing what's out there, it seems quite primitive.

One more thing...what's DLP?

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: KevinH
Thanks for everyone's input. I'll check out some of the sites you guys recommended.

Amused - You bring up a good point about the Mitsu. There were basically 2 TV's they had on display from that same product line. The 48" version was showing a DVD I believe while the 55" version was showing a regular TV broadcast. The 48" was crystal clear. I'll be honest...I don't watch TV much other than to watch Laker games and Sportscenter so I was pretty blown away by how far most of these TV's have come. By the same token I wasn't too impressed by the 55" version's clarity...we assumed it was just the nature of regular TV. I'm glad you mentioned it as he was VERY close to picking one up then and there. Hitachi hmmh...? Fry's doesn't carry that model so I guess I'll do some preemptive research for him at Sear's tomorrow.

Yeah, it's the one drawback Mits has from being a great TV overall. Hitachi is not without it's flaws too, though. But with the Hitachis, the flaws are easily correctable. Most Hitachis come with a fair amount of red push and must be ISF calibrated to shine. But you'll want to calibrate ANY home theater TV you buy, so that's not really something you should consider a problem. You see, RP TVs don't stay in focus and set up perfectly when moved around a lot. So shipping tends to just slightly skew the settings.

Just break in the TV for 100 hours, then find an experienced ISF calibrator in your area, or one that travels nationally and you'll be in video nirvana. The TVs you saw at Frys were NOT ISF calibrated. So imagine that quality you saw and imagine it IMPROVED dramatically and you'll understand what ISF calibration can do.

 

[Amused]

Here's an explaination of DLP technology

 

[kami]

I wasn't too impressed by the 55" version's clarity

Yeah any 55" will look like that with a regular broadcast. It's like blowing up a cable broadcast on a 55" computer monitor, looks like asbsoute crap. You gotta sit at least 10 feet away to make it look decent.

Hitachi's are good I agree but you got some other options too. Toshiba's are well regarded. Panasonic's are nice TVs, while not that great out of the box they are very nice when calibrated. And I can't believe all the Sony whores on here...frankly they would be my last choice when choosing a HDTV.

You can also do a good portion, if not all (with a lot of tedious work) the work that an ISF guy would do on your own. Guides for the most important stuff, like convergance, can be found all over the 'net.

 

[KevinH]

Thanks Kami. You know, the viewing distance is probably 7' at most. The price on the Mitsubishi set was 2699 at Fry's and it came with an HDTV decoder. The Hitachi set is 2799 at CC but doens't come with a decoder. How much do one of these things cost to upgrade? Anyone?

 

[rudeguy]

IMHO...mitsus are really good sets...if you want an alternative to that check out the toshiba cinema series the cool thing about the toshibas is that only smaller places will sell them, which means your friend will be able to talk the guy down on price...I just happen to sell tv's...so if you need any advice just pm me...i dont like responding on these kind of threads because people always start to flame, even if they dont have a clue

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: KevinH
Thanks Kami. You know, the viewing distance is probably 7' at most. The price on the Mitsubishi set was 2699 at Fry's and it came with an HDTV decoder. The Hitachi set is 2799 at CC but doens't come with a decoder. How much do one of these things cost to upgrade? Anyone?

You do not want to be stuck with a HD decoder built into the set. First off, standards are constantly changing. Secondly, you'll still have to buy a satellite HD box, or rent a cable HD box to see anything in HD. The built in box is basically only good for over the air (antenna) broadcasts. But then, with a good sat HD box (dish or DirecTV), you can use it to pull in antenna braodcasts anyways.

To be honest, I have no idea why TVs even have tuners, be they analog OR digital, in them anymore.

And Kami is right, standard definition stuff, especially analog or highly compressed standard definition digital cable or sat stations, will look bad on any big screen HDTV. However, some brands do a better job than others. And you'll quickly find out that the prevailing opinion is Mits does the worst job with SD material.

What is surprising is how good the largely uncompressed SD stations look on my Hitachi. The compressed crap is still crappy, but that's another story.

 

[KevinH]

Thanks for everythiing guys. I think I'm just going to send him the link to this page and have him decide for himself. Hehehe...I want the set in the house soon but this is more work then I originally though.


Btw...good point about the buildt in HDTV Amused...I hadn't thot of that.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: rudeguy5757
Ii dont like responding on these kind of threads because people always start to flame, even if they dont have a clue

Why would anyone flame over a discussion about TVs?

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: KevinH
Thanks for everythiing guys. I think I'm just going to send him the link to this page and have him decide for himself. Hehehe...I want the set in the house soon but this is more work then I originally though.


Btw...good point about the buildt in HDTV Amused...I hadn't thot of that.

Yeah, it's something to consider. Having a decoder built in wont be a bad thing. It will just be rather useless in most cases. I wouldn't let it sway my opinion when considering what TV to get, that's all.

 

[rudeguy]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: rudeguy5757
Ii dont like responding on these kind of threads because people always start to flame, even if they dont have a clue

Why would anyone flame over a discussion about TVs?

just do a search for tv...it always ends up with people who have no clue just repeating what the clerk at best buy told them...take the guy up top that said that if you buy anything but a sony, its crap...thats best buy bullsh!t....people always chime in that have no clue...and then get all mad when they are proven wrong...and I refuse to get worked up over a thread about tv's...car audio threads always end up the same way too

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: rudeguy5757

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: rudeguy5757
Ii dont like responding on these kind of threads because people always start to flame, even if they dont have a clue

Why would anyone flame over a discussion about TVs?

just do a search for tv...it always ends up with people who have no clue just repeating what the clerk at best buy told them...take the guy up top that said that if you buy anything but a sony, its crap...thats best buy bullsh!t....people always chime in that have no clue...and then get all mad when they are proven wrong...and I refuse to get worked up over a thread about tv's...car audio threads always end up the same way too

Heh, just ignore them

Seriously though... that's sad. I guess it's just like the AMD/Intel crap. Why do people argue so hard for a company they have no vested interest in? I could maybe understand if they were heavily invested in the comapany, but they're not.

Anywho, I suggested Hitachi because I just went through this hunt late last year looking for a family room RPTV (my GF surprised me with it for Xmas!). I'm not going to argue with anyone over thier choices, as I understand much of it is subjective. I only wanted to express what *I* found to be the best for the money.

 

[Dari]

What's the difference between the 57UWX20B and the 57SWX20B

 

[conjur]

Dude, get the Mitsubishi. Mitsubishi is well-regarded and not overpriced like Sony. Get it ISF calibrated for a few hundred and you've got yourself one fine dsmn TV!! Plus, the Mits are open to easy customization and simple calibration tools for you to set, as well (just read the posts at the Home Theater Spot

And, Mits has the Promise module: The module incorporates the IEEE-1394 digital interface, a host of analog connectors, an over-the-air ATSC DTV broadcast tuner, and QAM digital cable support. Also added is full support for home networking systems including HAVi Level 2 and DTCP copy protection over 1394 wiring.


And any HDTV set is going to look like crud when watching normal cable or satellite. You're dealing with a compressed NTSC image and putting it on a 55" widescreen.

Take an old CGA game and put it on a 21" computer monitor and tell me what it looks like.

Garbage in...garbage out.

 

[Sepen]

Is he going to be watching mostly cable, satellite or dvd? For cable and sat Toshibas are the best. Mits are the worst for that, but shine on dvd. Go to
here for lots of info.