So off topic it will make you sick.

Knuckles

Maybe this will take some heat away from the poor guy with the post about snipeing

I've recently moved from a crappy old apartment into a nice new condo and want to buy a new TV. (Resisting the urge to buy more pieces of cardboard for now to do so)

I don't know much about TV's we're looking at either getting this ONE or this ONE

To make it a little more on topic which one would look better with replica goalie masks of Terry Sawchuk and Jacques Plante beside it? *jokeing*


I would appreciate any input from those of you who are knowlegeable in this area.

1977topps

I don't think you could go wrong with either! Do you have a home theater setup? I ask because my TV is the last thing I want to upgrade for mine.

Love of the Game

I don't know a WHOLE lot about TVs, but as far as widescreens are concerned, I prefer plasma or DLP. The pictures are sharp from any angle, as opposed to many other widescreen TVs, which can be tough to view when you're not looking at the TV head on, or in anything other than dim light. Additionally, the plasma and DLP TVs are much thinner than the others, which are sometimes more than two feet deep, and eat up a lot of your room.

I have a 42" Panasonic plasma TV that I love. It's about three inches thick. I've had it about a year, and I've never been happier with an electronics purchase.

However, they're expensive - mine was $3000. I think the Samsung DLP TVs are about a foot and a half deep, and cost a little bit less.

If you're sold on one of these two, I've always felt that the highest quality mainstream consumer TVs are always made by Sony. A few friends of mine swear by Sony TVs and will never buy anything else.

-Al

Knuckles

I won't have a home theatre setup. I would love to have a plasma but I can't afford it. $2,000 Canadian is the absolute most I can spend.

ajmoeller81

Knuckles, TVs are something I know about so I'd be glad to try and help you out with this. I own 2 expensive TVs - a 51" Sony HD widescreen projection (much like the 2nd option you showed) and a 36" Panasonic HD widscreen LCD. I bought the 51" first and basically was just going for a large screen to watch sports. The 36" I bought for the bedroom.

Anyways, as to the 2 tvs you're interested in.

Panasonic 53"

Not sure if you're planning on going HD but this TV is only capable of displaying HD in 480p and 1080i. There are 4 standard HD formats - 480i,480p,720p,1080i. Some stations such as FOX and ESPN display HD only in 720p. You'd still be able to view these feeds but you'd either be forced to downgrade them to 480 or upgrade them to 1080...

Sony 51"

In contrast to the Panasonic this TV is capable of displaying all HD types. The speakers on this model are also twice as powerful as the Panasonic.

I don't like the design of the Panasonic very much because it looks so top heavy. It looks like it'd be pretty easy to knock over. The Sony however has a full base which makes it easier to slide around than you'd think.

I would go with the Sony if I were you.

The most important thing when purchasing a TV this expensive is to get it with 0% interest financing. Both Best Buy and Circuit City offer like 2 year no interest financing which really makes buying a nice TV affordable.

Knuckles

Thanks for takeing the time to help me out aj.. I really appreciate it! I'll go with the Sony!

SAHDofTwins

I have the sony in a 57 inch. I am very happy with it. DVD's display much nicer on it than my directv signal. I think i would have had the same issue if i had gotten another brand. I guess it is time to upgrade to directv HD.

Nathan

goudeygold

After a year of intense research I decided on a 50 inch Sony LCD rear projection (sonys DLP). Incredible brightness, user changable bulb, only weighs 80 lbs, etc... Really good plasmas are better (6 grand and up) BUT what nobody will tell you is that 1. plasma tvs are power consumption whores and create a lot of heat. 2. when a plasma TV reaches half its life expectancy (usually 8-10,000 hours) it will start to gradually dim. 3. Plasma TV sets are "disposable" they essentially cannot be repaired. standard rear projection is dying off, CRT tvs are the ultimate for true picture quality but weigh a ton and only go to 40 inches. The only drawback to DLP is the blacks are not truely black, they are gray. Not really an issue unless your watching a really dark movie. But man the brights are eye piercing with explosions and such in HD. Got a direct tv HD tuner, witha an HD over the air antenna. True 1080i HDTV with a monster power grid filter and a DVI input is absolutely unreal. UNREAL. Well worth the 2700 + 300 + 250 + 150 +100 + etc....

If you go DLP/lcd rear projection, stick with SONY or SAMSUNG. Sony of course is the mack daddy for a reason. Everything we have is either sony or samsung... Can't wait til the HD-DVDs hit the market!!!!!!!!!

Good luck,

GG

A761506

Side note from TV's, but along the same lines... When you hook up a DVD player to the tv, usually the DVD player comes with one or two crappy hook up wires, one plugs directly into the A/V inputs, the other is s-video... anyways, both of these connections will hurt the quality of your picture... buy a color stream cable (make sure your DVD player has color stream outputs as well)... the quality of the picture will be amazingly better, even on older projection screens. I have my PS2 hooked up with a color stream also... makes a huge difference.

ajmoeller81

Color Stream?

You talking about Component Inputs?