Video Noob needs advice as to where to spend his ~1600

[Magusigne]

So I'm planning on shooting for a good TV soon and I will have saved up around 1600 around the time black friday hits.

Last black friday was a total bust for me so I'm not really counting on finding anything spectacular.

Right now I'm looking at a Samsung 52" LCD A750 that will be in my price range.


I was also considering splurging and picking up a 5.1 system for an additional ~300 dollars.

Is there perhaps a better bang for the buck that might be comparable price or cheaper?

Thanks!


(TV will be used for PS3 gaming and movies, Not a sunny room and viewing distance approx 15 feet)

 

[mshan]

Maybe punt the 5.1 system, try and accumulate about $2000, and try and pick up a Pioneer Kuro 50 inch plasma on closeout for around $2000?

 

[s44]

Originally posted by: Powernick50
I was also considering splurging and picking up a 5.1 system for an additional ~300 dollars.

:disgust:

I fear to ask what you think you're going to get to fill up a large room for that money. (Not to mention that you don't seem to have a receiver.)

At any rate, the A750 is last year's model so I wouldn't count on it being available by year's end. What's more, 15' is really really far and 52" is just too small for that distance. I would be looking for price drops on the Mitsu 73" DLP, specifically the 73737. Amazon already has it at $1865 now, so the price is about right.

Snark aside, for a good sound system you should budget about as much as you're spending on the TV. Maybe a bit less if you scrape the best deals (obviously you can also go higher, much higher), but that's the starting ballpark.

 

[buck]

Originally posted by: s44

Originally posted by: Powernick50
I was also considering splurging and picking up a 5.1 system for an additional ~300 dollars.

:disgust:

I fear to ask what you think you're going to get to fill up a large room for that money. (Not to mention that you don't seem to have a receiver.)

At any rate, the A750 is last year's model so I wouldn't count on it being available by year's end. What's more, 15' is really really far and 52" is just too small for that distance. I would be looking for price drops on the Mitsu 73" DLP, specifically the 73737. Amazon already has it at $1865 now, so the price is about right.

Snark aside, for a good sound system you should budget about as much as you're spending on the TV. Maybe a bit less if you scrape the best deals (obviously you can also go higher, much higher), but that's the starting ballpark.

My biggest regret so far in my home theater journey is wasting money on a HTIAB, if I had to do it all over again, i would wait to get inexpensive quality pieces one at a time if I had to. Do yourself a favor OP and just continue to save for quality stuff.

 

[kalrith]

Originally posted by: s44
At any rate, the A750 is last year's model so I wouldn't count on it being available by year's end. What's more, 15' is really really far and 52" is just too small for that distance. I would be looking for price drops on the Mitsu 73" DLP, specifically the 73737. Amazon already has it at $1865 now, so the price is about right.

QFT. Regardless of where this thread goes, this is the best and most-important advice you'll receive in this thread.

Unless you can reduce your 15' viewing distance, then the 73" Mitsubishi should be the ONLY tv you're looking at (unless you go fp). You could buy an amazing TV like the 50" Pioneer Kuro but not be able to fully enjoy HD because you'll be so far away that SD DVDs will look almost as good as BD. I sit 9' from a 50" Pioneer Kuro, and I wouldn't want to sit any farther. I used to be 11' from it, but I rearranged some furniture to get closer to the screen.

To compare screens of different sizes, go to tvcalculator.com. You'll see that a 73" screen is DOUBLE the size of a 50" (2276 sq. in. compared to 1068 sq. in.). I'm sure that 73" sounds huge to you, but if you look at any of the viewing-distance charts and calculators (My 1 & 2 favorites), you'll see that 9.5' is the recommended viewing distance to fully resolve 1080p, and you would actually need a 115" screen from 15' away for it to be large enough to fully resolve 1080p. I will point out that these aren't some arbitrary numbers that marketers have come up with. These are scientific numbers based on the ability of the human eye to perceive a given resolution on a given screen size from a given viewing distance. Sitting 15' from a 50", as seen on the first link, is barely enough to resolve the 480p that SD DVDs have.