Media Center display

[Kartajan]

Looking to replace my 32" CRT based TV with a flat panel display. I am thinking a 42" LCD or Plasma. I want to have native Digital Cable in the TV.

There is an HTPC in the future of this setup, but I am waiting for the right stuff to be released to the public <or at least to me; i.e. Vista/ OCUR/ Shuttle X100..>

Can anyone point me to a good resource for comparisons of 42" ED Flat Panels that are Digital Cable/ Cable Card (1.0 or better)?

<HD seems still too steep, and what material I found said it doesn't look so good for the non-HD material>

 

[The Boston Dangler]

I recommend saving your pennies for HDTV. You'll pay quite a bit more for CableCard, and lose advanced services like VOD, if that matters to you.

Are you firm on the flat panel? If not, rear projection LCD is a very cost-effective alternative.
Example: I have a Panny 43" RP LCD, 720p, and it's less than 18" deep. HD and SD both look great, with a caveat: mixed content stinks (When ESPNHD shows highlights of a game shot in SD, it's brutal. No fault of the TV.)

 

[jkresh]

Save for HD (prices are dropping prety fast). Ed isint realy useful for an HTPC (unless you are just using the htpc as tivo, if you actualy want to game or browse the web 720 would be minum (1080p would be best depending on how far you plan on sitting from the screen)). 1080p 42inch lcd's are about $2000 now (an ed plasma cost more then that not long ago (and is still fairly close now).

 

[kylebisme]

I'm quite pleased with my ED plasma for my HTPC use consiting of PC gaming, web browsing, PVR of SD, DVD playback, and console gameing and live HD cable as well. Best I can tell, many people assume such a low native resolution would not be practical without actually having experience with doing so and while overlooking what quality scaling hardware can acomplish.

Here are a few shots I took for another thread, the pictures look blurrier than it does in real life and the goofy moire effect on the mostly white desktop pic is just an issue with my camera, but these pics will at least give people who haven't seen such things in person an idea of what an ED can do:

Desktop rendered at 720p

CS:S rendered at 1080p

Granted. I bought my ED back when they cost more than the HD models do today, and the HD models back then cost about 50% extra where as now the price difference is generally more like 33% now. So if I were buying today I'd almost surely spring for a HD plasma; but like I said, my ED suits my HTPC needs nicely, and if the price of the HD plasmas doesn't seem reasonable to you then I say the ED versions are worthy options to consider. However, I can't say I've ever had any interest in Cable Card support so I'm really not sure what models to recomend with that in mind.

 

[Kartajan]

Example: I have a Panny 43" RP LCD, 720p, and it's less than 18" deep. HD and SD both look great, with a caveat: mixed content stinks (When ESPNHD shows highlights of a game shot in SD, it's brutal. No fault of the TV.)

Since the material that I would primarily be viewing is SD and what digital cable I get without getting the premium packages, that is why I am leaning towards the ED resolution. That and the most likely video card that the eventual HTPC will have is a mere ATI x1400, The gaming side will have a severely underpowered card for any "HD Gaming"

As far as a RP set, I need the slim (LCD/Plasma) type for the WAF, as it is her HTPC that will be running it.

Any detailed reviews? I can find ones for individual sets, but no "round-up" type stuff.
... Maybe I just need a couple of good recommendations so I can manually compare reviews between recommended sets...

 

[The Boston Dangler]

http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/
http://www.keohi.com/keohihdtv/index.htm
http://www.avsforum.com/