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An audiophile who know NOTHING about TV

Well, I've been thinking of buying a new TV and holy crap, is this one confusing subject! First, what technology should I get: Plasma, DLP, LCD, etc. 16:9, 1080. I don't know what any of this stuff means. The funny thing is that i'm scanning consumer reports and others like it to see what is the "best" LOL. I don't think I found my SME 30 or Aesthetix IO there! I would be aghast at anyone who told me they were buying a high end piece of audio equipment like that, but here I was doing the same thing. Looking to see which had the best specs. I stopped by a best buy today and actually found someone who seemed to know what he was talking about. He asked the right questions (from what I read): What do you watch, how far do you sit, etc. I answered his questions. Not interested in surround sound at all. Mostly watch broadcast TV and lots of sports (I use dish network as my source), sit about 10 feet from the screen (need to measure, i'm just guessing), watch an occasional DVD.

So, we're moving along and he seemd to be steering me towards DLP (Samsung) but there was a Pioneer Plasma that looked great. Then he mentions that "regular" TV broadcasts look terrible!!?? You won't be able to use the whole screen? What the hell, I can't have that. Isn't most TV non High-Def? Why would you buy Plasma/DLP if this is the case? I know we are headed to high-def, but unless i'm missing something I would think I should wait before I buy. I guess I can go RP CRT but isn't that "old" technology? That's funny, coming from a guy who listens to records and has an all tube-based system LOL.

I just want the best picture and biggest picture that makes sense in my room.

Oh, the room has a lot of natural light during the day, but most watching is done at night.
cte500

Showing 1 response by byteme

byteme
7 posts
 
I know I'm getting into this late, and assume that you've made a decision by this point but reading your original post made me think of where I was last August. Similar situation but I had a little more background with TVs. I've got Dish as a source with an OTA antenna for local HDs. We had a 50" 4:3 Tosh CRT based RPTV, HD ready. I went through everything out there and immediately threw out LCD/Plasma for price and picture quality reasons. Plasma is getting better but I don't need the space savings so I won't sacrifice PQ. So it's up RPTV, stick with CRT? DLP? LCD? LCoS? LCD I didn't like at all, worst picture by far, worse than Plasma. CRT TVs are way too big for the screen size I want (61" means 300+ lbs), although as others have mentioned, very very good PQ, probably still the best. So that leaves DLP and LCoS. I do home theater installs on the side and through distributors can get Samsung and JVC (along with a bunch of Plasma and LCD TVs). So, although I compared all DLPs to the JVC LCoS I really focused on the Sammy DLPs. We bought a JVC 61Z585 and couldn't be happier. SD looks, well, like SD. But, it's very watchable on all channels. I'm sure the Dish and it's all digital broadcast helps in this matter. DVD is stunning. MUCH better than with the Toshiba CRT HD ready set we had and better than the Captain Kirk Sammy's I've seen. Better colors, detail, the picture just jumps off the screen. And HD, well, some channels are doing HD better than others, but when you get a look at ABC or FOX doing football in HD - damn, you know why you bought the set! CBS really does a crappy job with HD, but hopefully they'll come around eventually and it's still better than SD. The JVC gives you a big, bright, colorful picture with no screen door issues, no rainbow issues, and comparatively a great price too.

Good luck!
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