Any good buys on Rear Projection TV's

[John Weber]

Hey guys,

We are kind of thinking of replacing my 31" tv with a larger rear projection 51"-57" unit. We would like to say in the $1500 price range. Right now my 31" has an awesome picture, but it's not widescreen and we would like something a little larger. We just finished a remodel of the den with a couple upgraded home theater components, new furniture, and now maybe a new TV. Any thoughts?

John

[Jim Becker]

There were a bunch of good buys on the DLP systems ("thin" rear projection) when I was walking through some stores in CA a few weeks ago, especially Fry Electronics. I don't remember the specific price points, however. But given that regular rear projection has been around for a long time, you should be able to find deals on a larger unit that is 16x9 and HD capable. Best Buy and other large retailers would be the first place I'd look as well as local A/V specialty stores. Buy.com sometimes has great deals, too...that's where I got our LCD system.

[John Weber]

Jim,

Thanks, I've been window shopping for weeks, but today my wife said that would be a good Christmas gift. Still not sure about size and technology, it's tough to compare a tube TV to a traditonal PTV, but we just don't have enough $$$ for a LCD or Plasma. Oh well, now at least I can shop. We have HH Gregg, Sears, Wal-Mart and REX in town, so that can get me started.

Thanks - John

[Jim Becker]

This link (http://www.buy.com/cat/Widescreen_TV_HDTV_Plasma_Television_Projection_LC D_flatscreen/18953.html) will get you started online...and if you find something there, remember that buy.com is an EBATES.COM site which gets you some money back, too. They have some great deals from what I can see...

[Chris Padilla]

John,

Consumer Reports put out a good issue talking about the 4 major TV models available: regular, Rear, LCD, and Plasma. If you like and I can remember, (which I won't unless you badger me at my email address...you shoud have it or PM me) I'll try and locate it and help you out.

[Hal Flynt]

I put in my vote for the DLP Technology. I have a Samsung 43 inch that i bought in December for $3K. Weighs 67 pounds and is 15 incehs deep. The 50" model is at Sam's for the same price now.

Toshiba and Mitsubishi also have good one's (RCA not up to par.)

Good link http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=63

[Jamie Buxton]

A PhD-engineer buddy of mine who is big into this stuff was just haranging me about DLP technology for rear-projection TVs. DLP stands for Digital Light Processor. The heart of the system is a Texas Instruments chip with millions of little moveable mirrors on it -- nanotechnology in your home. Light is shown on the chip, moving the mirrors changes where the reflected beams are going, and that's how the image is formed. According to my buddy, this produces a bright high-def image for much lower cost than plasma, and with a lower technology risk. He's got a 46" wide-screen high-def TV which is something like 14" deep. I think he said it was Samsung.

[Dan Mages]

Darn.... a few weeks back Sony had a great rebate deal where you could get up to a $400 stereo system for free with the purchase of a big screen TV.

Dan

[Brian Austin]

If you can wait until after Thanksgiving, do so. I've purchased (2) 50" Zenith plasmas, (1) 50" Samsung plasma, (1) 37" Sharp LCD and (1) 26" Sharp LCD, along with a number of projectors, for our company facilities (videoconferencing across the 'net). I'm purchasing from Ultimate Electronics, who have been pretty good to me on pricing (beating Fry's Electronics every time).

According to the salesman, LCD technologies are in the midst of a big change. Older technology plasmas and LCDs are going to drop in price this Christmas, which (according to him) is going to start a price war for other TV styles. Everything is going to get cheaper around Christmas.

I think he's pretty sure about it because he said that he's giving his family a new TV this Christmas but he's waiting for the price drops himself...even with his discounts.

[John Cole]

I have had two of these in the last 6 weeks. First stopped working in 5 days, was repaired and lasted two more weeks beore going south again. This was replaced with a newer model which lasted two weeks before starting with the same thing ( sound, but no picture) - my advice is to wait a while on this technology.

[Joe Mioux]

For what it is worth.... I have a 32" Sony XBR tube tv (it doesn't get much better than that pic, yea I know what some of you are thinking about plasma, but when you see the little digitized pixels in ppls faces ((which can be annoying at times)) you know you have some good resolution) and a 42" LCD rear projection wide screen TV. The Sony cost me just under 2K back in 2K and the rear LCD cost me (I'm guessing) around $3200 last November. The pictures on both tvs are great. The picture on the rear projection LCD is much better than regular rear projection TV. For the money right now, I would seriously look at both rear projection LCD and the DLP. And like someone said earlier, prices may be going down.

Hope this helps
Joe

[Ken Garlock]

Joe, I agree with you that Sony makes an excellent TV. I have had the 50" rear projection XBR for going on 10 years. The only thing I have done to it is to have it calibrated to 6500 deg kelvin with a Phillips color meter, and converged when it was only a month old. (Most TVs leave the factory with the color cranked up to about 8600 Deg. K, which give a blue tone to the whites. 6500K is the photographic standard for white.)
You might want to look into defeating the scan velocity modulation. The scm causes the scanning electron beam to slow down will it is painting white. The result is exaggerated whites and twinkle when the picture changes to black, like in a mans suit going from white shirt to a black coat. As a result, you see a very fine line at the intersection of the black and white.

My next TV will be a DLP. When I worked at TI I saw a demo of a DLP theater projector, the resolution on an auditorium screen was fantastic.

[Dean Baumgartner]

John,
I've had a JVC rear projection 65" for almost a year. The picture is great works good even in normal light levels. If you want to read up on the different brands check out www.hometheaterspot.com kind of like this place but for home theater equipment. They have forums for home theater in general and for each of the major manufacturers.

Before I bought mine i read back for several months of old posts and got people's opinions both good and bad. One thing to watch out for there is everyone thinks what they have is the best. I found it more helpfull to look for the brands and models that had the fewest complaints. Been happy with my decision so far.


Dean