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I think I'm finally taking the HD plunge, help with accessories?

T

Turin39789

Lifer
I think we're going to try to pick up a Pany 50s1 tonight from sears.
http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1791749

Stil a little concerned about it because it felt a little grainy in the store but I'm expecting some adjustments to help. Also going into a somewhat bright room(cathedral ceiling with two skylights, and the top 3rd of one end wall is windows.

I know i'm going to need to grab some HDMI cables from monoprice.

Need a dvd player. not sold on blu ray yet, but I know I need an upconverter. Any leads on a decently priced upconvert dvd, or should I get a bluray while I'm at it? What models for affordable but good?

Audio - I'm not an audiophile. Heck I have two large speakers left over that were placed to be setup for a surround system at the last place with our CRT tv and just never hooked them up. So I'm looking for a budget option, possible even a HTITB, and wireless could be nice for the rears.

Need to dig up a tv stand as well, but probably on my own for that. Wife likes wood, maybe even a new silver one but nothing with lots of glossy black(afraid it will be a dog hair magnet).
 
Blu Ray players are getting affordable. Sam's Club has a decent JVC one for around $125. It's quick loading and has a good picture for BR and DVD's.

I've even seen Memorex ones at Walmart for like $80.
 
Turin39789 said:
Am I ridiculous for buying a 50 inch but not having cable?
Click to expand...

Not crazy at all. I have a 50" plasma, and I just use free OTA (looks way better than compressed cable); some internet streaming (doesn't look that good, but it's good for watching things like the History Channel, Food Network, and ESPN); and the PS3 for games, BDs, and DVDs. I was paying $80/month for a great DirecTV HD package, but I found that 70-80% of what I watched was on local channels. I stopped wasting that money and built a $400 HTPC with a dual-tuner card, which I've already paid for by money saved from not having DirecTV.
 
Turin39789 said:
Am I ridiculous for buying a 50 inch but not having cable?
Click to expand...

imo i would say no !

cable and satelite providers havnt caught up with HDTV tech, still providing SD quality streams and attempting to milk the cow with HD ad-on packages that push the price overboard, even then its mostly poor programming, many users are canceling thier service and switching to OTA HD antennas, i also went OTA and receive most of my stations in 720p & 1080i, using HTPC for BD, recording and streaming video from the internet.

the milking of the cows is coming to an end !
 
I don't think you are crazy for not wanting full blown cable. If you don't get the best OTA reception, maybe you could do what I do and just get limited basic cable which is only 13 a month and gives me channels 1 - 23, but because they don't encrypt the hd locals I also get those as well on my plasma.

Just curious, but to build on rcpratt's question, where do you get to stream those other channels from? On hulu I only see short clips of like 1 or 4 minutes for things like History Channel.
 
Hope this picture doesn't mess up the page, if so I'll try to figure otu how to link it instead.

Two things that have me hesitant about picking it up(already pulled the trigger last night) -

It really did look grainy in the store yesterday, I was surprised after all the good things I have heard about Panny plasmas.

This is the very bright room it will go into -
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/turin39789/DSC02175.JPG
 
that room isnt TV Room friendly with all the windows, even so i dont think you will be any worse off by using plasma, todays plasma's are alot more friendly and glare tech is well improved, but any glass will have some reflection/glare.
 
rcpratt said:
How do you stream ESPN, Kalrith?
Click to expand...

ESPN360.com. It only works with certain ISPs (I'm assuming those ISPs pay ESPN for the service). The first time you try to watch something on there it will see if your ISP is compatible. I've watched several college football games on there that I wouldn't have gotten to see otherwise (well, without going to someone's house who had ESPN). I watched all the games live, but it has a nice replay feature as well.
 
ChaoZ said:
If it's a really bright room I think you're better off with a LCD. I really hate glare problems.
Click to expand...

we pulled the trigger on the plasma and liking it so far.

But its dark when we leave and come home, so the weekend will be the real test if I can find any couch time
 
I prefer any TV viewed in darkened conditions, but I like my plasma just fine as long as light isn't shining directly on the screen. I've never viewed an LCD TV with light shining directly on the screen, so I might feel the exact same way about that. I know it's loads better than my old CRT and my FIL's rptv in bright settings.
 
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