Post by: JohnKentucky on February 02, 2007, 12:43:49 PM
Does anyone here have a new LCD or Plasma TV? I'm strongly leaning towards plasma because the picture I have seen on some are really nice! But I'm always concerned how regular TV shows look and DVD's not connected via HDMI.
LCD's look to be gaining ground, but (basing this on my 23" Apple HD display) greys/dark colors tend to have some shifting in them and so they become obvious.
I'm looking at a 42-50" TV, which would be in the basement with only those little windows on one wall. (2 of them)
Post by: dolphin on February 02, 2007, 04:27:25 PM
RHPConsult just got a new Plasma...I'm sure he'll be along shortly and fill you in on it. I know he did a lot of research on them.
Enjoy when you get them!!!
Post by: MamaMoose on February 02, 2007, 09:08:24 PM
We bought a Sony Bravia 42" LCD at Christmas. It has an excellent picture . The choice boiled down to price as I could not see any difference between LCD and plasma. We bought the LCD unit because they were on sale at Best Buy at around $600 below manufacturer's price.
Look for significant price sales as the flat screen market is undersold.
MamaMoose
Post by: Al on February 02, 2007, 09:16:04 PM
This is what my friend said regarding Plasma and LCD monitors. BTW, he is a manager at Circuit City.
Plasmas are newer technology than LCD and are richer in color, but, darker. LCD's are brighter and seem more vivid. It is all up to preference, but, the main thing you should do is always buy an extended warrenty since the technology for both types are so new.
I saw what my friend was talking about and opted for a Sony Bravia 40" LCD and can not be more happy. I am so looking forward to Superbowl Sunday in HD!!!!!
Post by: Texas Mac Man on February 03, 2007, 08:34:39 AM
Post by: Paddy on February 03, 2007, 09:47:45 AM
We did not buy the extended warranty because the extended warranty was absolutely outrageous - $700 or more for 3 years. At that price, we'll take our chances. With the enormous price drops and technological improvements in these units it simply didn't make sense to us.
Post by: JohnKentucky on February 03, 2007, 11:23:23 AM
Last night we ate out and they had 2 42" TV's (don't know if they were plasma or lcd) but one thing I noticed while a basketball game was on was that when the guys were running down the court, the sides looked stretched. Strange but I saw it multiple times.
I agree about going out and looking. The Pioneers looked wonderful but a lot more $$. I would like to find a 1080p one but they aren't as common yet.
Post by: sandbox on February 03, 2007, 01:35:08 PM
http://www.samsung.com/Products/TV/LCDTV/LNS4096DXXAA.asp
http://reviews.cnet.com/4323-6531_7-6509128.html
this one works for me @ 12 feet from the screen.
http://reviews.cnet.com/Samsung_LN_S3251D/...22.html?tag=lst
Post by: kps on February 03, 2007, 01:58:15 PM
During the course of my research I found that the LCD displays are mostly made by Hitachi and supplied to other manufacturers. I don't know who actually makes their own, but I think SHARP is one and perhaps SONY. I too have found SONY expensive and not good value for the money.
The stretched picture you saw was a feature of the TV. There are several options for aspect ratio depending on what you're watching. So if standard TV is 4:3 and you set the aspect ratio to 'panoramic' the sides will have an obvious stretching effect. When set to 4:3 on a wide aspect TV, you'll have black borders on each side.
I found 1080p sets to be too expensive compared to 1080i/720p and as I compared them couldn't perceive any noticeable difference. YMMV.
The key to an LCD monitor is response time (measured in milliseconds) the lower the number the better the display. High response times will cause blurriness when viewing fast action video on the display. (check wikipedia for detailed explanation) So when comparing, check the response time.
The JVC we bought has pretty much all the bells&whistles: HDMI ports, S-video, optical Audio, RGB, VGA, etc. So consider future possibilities such as HDTV, PVRs, home theatre systems and other components you may already have.
Post by: Epaminondas on February 03, 2007, 02:05:09 PM
Consumer Reports March 2007 issue on HD television sets, page 25:
"It's not worth the money to buy an extended warranty for an LCD or plasma TV. Our survey data from thousands of TV buyers show that both types have had a very low rate of repairs for the first two years of use, and most repairs cost less than $200. A warranty often costs as much if not more than that."
Note that Circuit City (and other electronics supply store) workers are trained to push, push, push extended warranties on their customers - their evaluations and bonuses are based on their success in pushing the extended warranties - it becomes part of their mindset - the extended warranties are almost pure profit for Circuit City, et al.
Buy with certain ("gold" / "platinum") charge cards and your basic included warranties may add a year or be doubled - call your charge card customer support and learn the details before buying.
Check out the store's return policy before buying. For example, Sears has a 15% restocking fee. I believe that Costco has a six-month no-questions-asked return policy on electronics. Night and day.
(2) CABLES:
If you are taking your time wandering through retail stores looking at all this stuff prior to purchasing, also ask about the cable connections that you will need, whether or not the cables are included with the price of the set, and/or the price of said cables. Consider buying those cables separately from a high-quality Internet supplier prior to buying your HDTV.
My eyes (wandering through a retail store yesterday) say that HDMI cables carry a much better image than do component cables. Of course, it could just be how they had things set up.
$5.84 plus shipping - 28AWG HDMI Cables > HDMI Cable male to male - 6ft w/Ferrite Cores
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product....at=2&style=
$17.93 plus shipping - High Quality (overkill, but heck - why not?) HDMI to - HDMI Cable (24AWG) w/ net jacket- 6ft (Gold-Plated)
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product....at=2&style=
The full line:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepar...0240&style=
Monoprice reviews on reselerratings.com:
http://www.resellerratings.com/store/monoprice
Two typical recent resellerratings reviews of Monoprice.com:
<<1/29/07 9:08 AM
I could tell no difference between these HDMI cables and the same ones that sell for $100 more. I received the cables promptly and I appreciated the fact I didn't have to find a power tool to open the package. Thank you.>>
<< 1/25/07 7:43 PM
I first tried Monoprice about 2 months ago when ordering HDMI cables for my Dad. The cables worked great. This time I bought some cables for my new home theater system and again Monoprice has shown they can provide great products at a awesome price. I can't believe that someone would spent 5x the price of a cable at Best Buy when Monoprice is around.>>
I have had nothing but excellent results in dealing with Monoprice.com.
_______________________________________________
The computer and home entertainment manufacturers have largely surrendered to pressure from the retail sellers to not include cables with their products. The retailers then sell the cables separately at astronomical markups.
For example: at one point our local Office Max - with a straight face - was charging $98 for a DVI-D cable for hooking up an LCD monitor to a computer. And - yup - the $200-250 LCD monitors that they were selling (Samsung) only included analogue cables, but did not include the DVI-D cables.
The sales formula: sell the product cheaply - make your profit via overpriced cables.
The DVI-D (male/male) cables needed were available separately online from www.monoprice.com for $6.35-$11.48 plus $5.70 shipping. I went ahead and bought the higher quality cable - 24 gauge/6' - the cable is incredibly thick (halfway to garden hose), has massive ferrite cores and has gold connections. Much higher quality than the DVI-D cables that came with Milady's Dell XPS Ultrasharp stuff. Overkill - but, heck, it works well.
http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepar...0209&style=
Don't buy "Monster Cables" and their ilk - computer, video, audio, whatever - you are paying for retail marketing. Buy Monoprice.
(3) SCREEN SIZE:
Consumer Reports advises (page 20. March 2007):
"Whichever you choose, heed the advice of HDTV owners we've surveyed: Buy the biggest screen your space and budget allow."
A friend tried that. An electrical engineer - no fool, he.
He said that the set was twice as big in his house as it was in the store. It completely overwhelmed his room. He had to send it back (too heavy and bulky for him to transport himself).
Quite the misadventure.
There are guidelines out there as to screen size vs. viewing distance from the screen. Don't push the envelope.
(4) For the true home-theatre experience, surround sound is perhaps 40% of the effect. 5/6/7 speaker - whatever - I have not kept up.
I don't believe that the sound system needs to be of the highest quality - or all that expensive.
You might want to research this as well, prior to buying the set.
(5) I was looking yesterday - brick-and-mortar retail - LCDs, plasmas, rear-projection.
From my reading, I expected the plasmas to have the best picture. But in the store, the plasmas were too dark and their colours were way oversaturated. The picture was just kinda bizarre.
The LCDs looked much more natural.
To my surprise, the rear-projections actually had the best picture of all. And they were larger and were not expensive. A far cry from the washed-out blurry rear-projections screens of the past.
I looked for the "rainbow effect" on the DLP technology sets and I just could not see it.
Of all the sets I viewed yesterday, I would buy a rear-projection set over any of the LCD or a plasma sets in the store.
(6) Party last night. CAD draftsman as host - consider how visually oriented such a fellow might be . . .
By golly - a new HDTV set.
And it was a Rear Projection.
I was amused - exactly what I would have chosen from the sets I had seen earlier that same day.
Great surround sound system, too.
The HDTV set was turned off, so I cannot comment on it's quality - this was a people party.
But the music was very rich on the bass (musta been a subwoofer around there somewhere).
(7) Homerama(s) - we have attended two lately in two different cities.
"Parade of Homes" - whatever you wanna call 'em.
Builders struttin' their stuff.
Lotsa "home theatres."
Lots were poorly set up. Sofas situated six-eight feet from huge plasma or rear projection screens in rooms that were much wider than they were long. Your eyes would have to do a lot of horizontal scrolling to try to watch the movie.
Like sitting too close on the front row of a movie theatre.
Also - screens set up with lots of reflections from windows.
All sorts of obvious setup errors.
I mean - if you're gonna do this - you might as well do it right . . .
The best set-ups, by far, were the front projector setups - image projected against a wall screen in a dimmed room.
Image sizes as large as 108" and 120".
Vivid. Beautiful.
And they are just getting better and better.
Yet you do not typically see front projector setups like these on display in stores.
Why not?
Because they would take up too much retail space - retailers care about how much they sell per square foot, and front projector setups take up too many retail square feet. And - many are less expensive than the LCD/plasma/rear-projection sets. That spells a lose-lose situation for brick-and-mortar retailers.
Front projection is what we will probably actually buy when we buy.
Front projection does best in a narrower, deeper, dimmed room - which matches our viewing style pretty well - we favour watching a full DVD movie around twice a week, and do not watch much other television - I think that a front projection home theatre set-up will work out best for us.
Recommendation - bypass the retail brick-and-mortar electronics stores and find someplace that puts together front projection home theatres. Check out the experience. If they charge too much - and they probably will - check out information on the web and do it yourself for much cheaper.
(8) Same party last night. Electronic engineer videophile with three - yes three - HDTV sets in his home.
Apparently you can never have enough HDTVs.
Each of a different technology: LCD, rear projection and front projection.
I decided to pick his brains.
He likes the images from all three just fine but says "front projection is the way to go." His projector only ran $1500.
He is concerned about the possibility of burn-in on the plasma sets.
We discussed the DLP "rainbow effect." He cannot see it, either. He says that it may be improving technology currently, or may just be a matter of better vs. worse quality projectors. Whatever it is, neither of us seem to be able to see it in the DLP technology we have seen.
He noted that the sets in the stores are set to maximum brightness and oversaturation to pull in customers. He advised that, once you get home, you calibrate everything with a DVD designed for that purpose. Brightness gets set way down. Much better picture that way.
He noted that the nomenclature is confusing. That the image on a 720p set is superior to a 1080i set. The hierarchy of images (if I have this right) is 1080p > 720p > 1080i.
However, no one is currently broadcasting in 1080p - the only way you can get 1080p is via Blueray and similar components (I forget the name of the competitor to Bueray). Limited availability of the discs, as well. Broadcasting is done in 720p. "Whether or not anyone will ever broadcast in 1080p is anyone's guess."
And 780p has to be interpolated to show in 1080p sets, which actually degrades the image quality. So, if your interest is broadcast signal, you may actually be better off with a 780p set over a 1080p set. If your interest is in Blueray (and its competitor's) discs, your best choice may be a 1080p set.
I hope that makes sense.
_________________________________________________
My current take - HDTV technology at this point is still in flux and is in no way mature.
Buying an HDTV now is like buying a CDROM back in the 2X and 4X days.
Me? I waited to buy a CDROM until it was at 48X speeds - and cost $50 instead of $250.
We will sit back here and let the early adopters do their early adoption thing while prices continue to drop substantially and wait until the technology has settled out a bit.
We will only make our final decision then - with an eye towards a front projection setup with good surround sound - including a subwoofer.
Your mileage will vary.
Best regards,
Epaminondas
Post by: kps on February 03, 2007, 02:28:30 PM
When I bought the LCD HDTV, part of the deal was one free years subscription to HDTV from our local cable provider. I had an option for a PVR for 10-months free and chose it. The PVR is a pleasure to use and has working firewire ports which can be attached to an external hard drive. Recording programmes is incredibly easy. You scroll through the guide and click record. The PVR will then give you options to record all instances of the programme, just this time, all episodes at this time, etc. I haven't figured out all the features yet...lol. Pushing a list button on the remote then gives me a list of all the recorded programmes. Once recorded, I can transfer them to the external drive or a VCR or just delete them. Pausing, rewinding live TV is also a cool feature along with PIP and features I haven't even started to explore.
In this area, the HD programming is quite substantial but after my 10 months of free HD programming I think I'll go back to my regular cable service. The PVR is $25/mo and the extra channels they gave me, is another $6. Combined with my regular cable package, it would bring the total cost close to $100/mo. a price I'm unwilling to pay. We really don't watch that much TV to begin with.
Post by: dakota on February 03, 2007, 02:41:57 PM
Post by: Epaminondas on February 04, 2007, 11:17:03 AM
Bear with me . . .
Walking through Homerama homes, were looking at home theatres and I asked for numbers.
108" image in a dimmed room. Beautiful picture / surround sound - > YOU ARE THERE.
Other HDTV formats pale in comparison.
The effect of dimming the room is actually a good thing. It knocks out all other distractions. We do this now anyway, when we view a DVD on our conventional CRT TV - it makes it a more intimate "at-the-movies" experience.
So this would not be a big change in our viewing style - just better.
The sofas at the good Homerama front projection home theatres were 14-18' back from the image. But, heck - most rooms in most houses are not 14-18' long. So . . . these were in what we used to call "finished basement" "recreation rooms" but which are now called "ground floor" "media rooms."
Everything is marketing these days. ;-)
Now - to actually answer your question -
We were 12-14-16-18' back in a room that was longer than it was wide. The image took up perhaps 1/4-1/3 (I am guessing) of the total area of the wall (there was a screen).
So we never actually viewed the image at much of an off angle.
With an image that large in a room that is narrower than it is long, it is kinda hard to view at an off angle.
Do you worry about "viewing angle" when you go to a movie theatre?
Or do you just look for the best seat?
Not too close, not too far, not too far to one side or the other, not right behind the lady with a feather in her hat . . .
It's kinda like that.
Except with the home theatre, you always have the best seat in the house.
These media rooms were more "cuddle-up-on -the-sofa" carpeted soft indirect lighting set-ups than they were "everyone stand around with the football game going on with the kitchen table here and the sofa over there and the patio over there" set-ups.
In the context that we saw them, the concept of viewing angle just did not come up.
<< I've only seen poor examples in a brightly lit store and rejected it. >>
See it done right and you will be converted.
Either look up installers in the phone book and check out their demonstration / showroom - or splurge ten bucks and attend a Homerama/Parade of Homes when it comes around once a year.
We spoke to a number of installers at the two Homeramas - they were right there at the various Homeramas, proud of their work, drumming up new business.
In the 1.4 million dollar homes, they were putting in $25,000 systems with 18' viewing distances.
A tiny little bit over our budget.
In the more modest homes, the installers were putting in more modest systems.
The gentleman I talked with the other night at the party just put in a $1500 projector for himself. Add $100-200 for a screen and a few hundred - $1000 for an adequate-good surround sound system and you have the makings of a very, very nice home theatre.
All this information is available at help sites on the Internet. And there are now magazines on this in your library or supermarket
If you want the wires embedded in the walls/ceiling, speakers hidden in the walls, special lighting, thick dark curtains on the walls, a remote control stage/screen curtain, acoustic soft sculpture on the walls, laughing and smiling masks, etc. - add a couple of thousand more - hey, the sky's the limit when I am spending your money for you - this is the sort of thing that the high-end installers were doing.
Of course - you do need the appropriate sized (and shaped) room, sofa, sofa-side tables, room-dimming drapes, and some lighting, a blanket and some pillows.
I recommend a bonnie companion, as well.
And maybe even a popcorn machine.
<< In this area, the HD programming is quite substantial but after my 10 months of free HD programming I think I'll go back to my regular cable service. The PVR is $25/mo and the extra channels they gave me, is another $6. Combined with my regular cable package, it would bring the total cost close to $100/mo. a price I'm unwilling to pay. We really don't watch that much TV to begin with. >>
I hear ya.
We have lately been taking inventory of our cable bills and telephone bills and Netflix bills and they have crept way out of control - considering, especially that we are both computer savvy and we do not really watch that much television.
Remember when cable was $12-18 a month? With high speed Internet, is now running us over $100. $1200+/year.
That's ridiculous!
This week we have been changing all that. Cutting way back on cable bills (down to around $20/month), switching from cable Internet ($50/month) to ASDL ($20), dropping long distance calling ($30) (switching over entirely Costco cards preprogrammed into the phones [$0.029 / minute] and to Skype), and dropping Netflix entirely.
This week I will look into rabbit ears and possibly dropping Cable completely.
Cutting back is actually kinda liberating.
Gaining control.
Oh - we hear that local air broadcasting is all in HDTV already.
Most of our current television viewing over the last few months, without even trying, has been from a completely free source, anyway - well, we do pay our taxes - in the form of DVDs from our excellent local library system.
Here you can each take out ten a week - plus five days grace before fines start.
They have perhaps a thousand or so DVDs. Maybe more, maybe less - I haven't counted.
So -
Each week or so Milady checks out 5 DVDs or so and I check out five or so - nothing rigid in the numbers. Then, about twice a week, when we have an evening when we both feel like watching a movie, I choose one from her pile or she chooses one from my pile and we cuddle up on the sofa - sharing one blanket and two glasses of wine - and we watch the movie.
Milady tends towards romantic comedies and other such drivel.
I tend towards documentaries. Serious stuff. Real stuff.
But ya know - her movies are a lot more fun that mine are.
The only improvement in this setup that I really need to make is to turn off the telephones.
The phone rings and everything is undone.
You know how girls talk!
We return the whole batch of DVDs each week and then each choose another five or so each.
Or sometimes three or sometimes seven.
There are enough of these DVDs in the library for us for about ten years.
As HDTV comes in, I expect that the library will get Blueray and/or the other HDTV format, as well.
That would probably be a good time for us to switch over to HDTV.
The viewing hardware will be better/faster/cheaper by then, anyway.
LED sets by then? Who knows?
We had been on NetFlix - 60,000 available movies or so - at $18 a month - great if you like foreign or classic or unusual films! - but with moving to a place now with all these DVDs in the public library, we are letting the Netflix subscription slide for now. If you do not have a good DVD selection at the local library, however, I can recommend Netflix to you highly.
As time passes, I suspect that Netflix will go the Blueray/HDTV route, as well.
It probably already has.
If we were sports nuts - which, thankfully, we are not - it has all been done before, anyway - opium of the masses - it would be a different story.
But then we would be different people.
__________________________________________
One more note - I understand that conventional TV images show better on conventional CRTs than on various HDTV sets.
So paying the considerable premium to buy an HDTV, then going back to watching conventional non-HDTV images on cable seems like a big waste to me.
Probably better not to buy the HDTV set in the first place.
It is not the HDTV that is important - first comes the signal you feed into it.
Probably better to just wait until everything is broadcast in HDTV.
2008? 2009?
I dunno. Something I need to learn and remember.
But with everything still changing - it makes sense to me to just wait out the transition and buy when the whole world comes out on the other side.
Kinda like waiting until the program that you want on MacOSX is finally out on MacOSX before you buy into MacOSX.
That is what a lot of the people using Quark did.
It made a lot of sense to me at the time.
Your mileage will, of course, vary -
Epaminondas
Post by: RHPConsult on February 04, 2007, 12:36:42 PM
We got the 50’ Panasonic plasma about a month ago. It has absolutely transformed the “TV experience” for My Beloved and me. In 4 words: It knocks your socks off. My Secretary of Our Treasury” asked a few days later . . .”Should we have gotten a bigger one?”
For our aging eyes the legibility of text on-screen, alone, makes it worth the investment. Stupendous, dazzling, astonishing . . . are words that come to mind.
I followed the previous Consumer Reports article( from early 2006) that, in fact, rated Panasonic
- best of the plasmas and
- plasmas the best of the competitive systems for sets over 42 inches.
Glare has not been a problem (presumably a hit against plasma according to legend) even though the wall on which it hangs is at right angles to 30’ of north-exposure floor-to-ceiling glass wall. Plasma does not require any dimming in our room, even if we could do so!
Some other observations:
- Thin is better than thick.
- Hang it on a wall. It’s not a toy and you'll want to have it secure. (I know, I know, Louisville doesn’t have earthquakes!” But . . .)
- Don’t make the investment until your cable company has a real menu of genuine HD channels to offer. HD is simply hard to believe when you first see it on a BIG screen. Be sure your cable box has an HDMI connection (more than one, if possible) so that you’ll get the best pic and the best sound without a spaghetti-mess of wires.
(One caveat: buying this set did nothing to help Ohio State in the BCS championship!)
Gotta run . . . want to be home for the game later today.
Post by: JohnKentucky on February 04, 2007, 07:17:08 PM
QUOTE(RHPConsult @ Feb 4 2007, 01:36 PM) [snapback]117917[/snapback]
I’ll try to be brief, John . . . unless my enthusiasm gets the better of me. I'm writing this at the airport, but I'll try to be comprehensive.
We got the 50’ Panasonic plasma about a month ago. It has absolutely transformed the “TV experience” for My Beloved and me. In 4 words: It knocks your socks off. My Secretary of Our Treasury” asked a few days later . . .”Should we have gotten a bigger one?”
For our aging eyes the legibility of text on-screen, alone, makes it worth the investment. Stupendous, dazzling, astonishing . . . are words that come to mind.
I followed the previous Consumer Reports article( from early 2006) that, in fact, rated Panasonic
Glare has not been a problem (presumably a hit against plasma according to legend) even though the wall on which it hangs is at right angles to 30’ of north-exposure floor-to-ceiling glass wall. Plasma does not require any dimming in our room, even if we could do so!
Some other observations:
(One caveat: buying this set did nothing to help Ohio State in the BCS championship!)
Gotta run . . . want to be home for the game later today.
We got the 50’ Panasonic plasma about a month ago. It has absolutely transformed the “TV experience” for My Beloved and me. In 4 words: It knocks your socks off. My Secretary of Our Treasury” asked a few days later . . .”Should we have gotten a bigger one?”
For our aging eyes the legibility of text on-screen, alone, makes it worth the investment. Stupendous, dazzling, astonishing . . . are words that come to mind.
I followed the previous Consumer Reports article( from early 2006) that, in fact, rated Panasonic
- best of the plasmas and
- plasmas the best of the competitive systems for sets over 42 inches.
Glare has not been a problem (presumably a hit against plasma according to legend) even though the wall on which it hangs is at right angles to 30’ of north-exposure floor-to-ceiling glass wall. Plasma does not require any dimming in our room, even if we could do so!
Some other observations:
- Thin is better than thick.
- Hang it on a wall. It’s not a toy and you'll want to have it secure. (I know, I know, Louisville doesn’t have earthquakes!” But . . .)
- Don’t make the investment until your cable company has a real menu of genuine HD channels to offer. HD is simply hard to believe when you first see it on a BIG screen. Be sure your cable box has an HDMI connection (more than one, if possible) so that you’ll get the best pic and the best sound without a spaghetti-mess of wires.
(One caveat: buying this set did nothing to help Ohio State in the BCS championship!)
Gotta run . . . want to be home for the game later today.
50' TV?
And your wife asked if you all should have gotten something bigger? Exactly HOW big is your house to be able to hold a 50 foot TV?! 
Thanks for the response. I tried looking up that TV but haven't had luck yet.
Post by: kps on February 04, 2007, 07:34:38 PM
I'm an urban dweller...don't even have a driveway. lol
Nearly...no wait, it actually is impossible to have a "media" room in my house. Call it a trade-off when living where the action is.
But thanks for the info, it's good to know the option is there and worth a second look.
Post by: Paddy on February 04, 2007, 08:16:12 PM
You know...for when you get tired of playing with your THREE microwaves and THREE dishwashers...
Post by: Epaminondas on February 04, 2007, 08:59:14 PM
Not a pistol range, mind you.
A rifle range.
__________________________________________
Optimal television viewing distance guidelines seem to "officially" be closer for HDTV than for conventional television. Whether or not this is true in real life or is just the work of HDTV salesmen, I do not know:
http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ISSUES/how_viewing_dif.html
http://www.cnet.com/4520-7874_1-5108580-2.html
http://www.crutchfieldadvisor.com/ISEO-rgb...e/tv_faq.html#2
http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/hitech/11...resolution.html
Post by: kps on February 04, 2007, 11:17:23 PM
...and what are you doing checking out million dollar homes in T.O. Thinking of moving?
Post by: RHPConsult on February 05, 2007, 01:50:50 AM
Ooops!
50 inch, 50 INCH! Model Nr: TH50PX600U
Here
Post by: sandbox on February 05, 2007, 03:29:55 AM
http://reviews.cnet.com/Panasonic_TH_50PH9...28.html?tag=pop
three sizes
http://reviews.cnet.com/Panasonic_TH_50PH9...html?tag=series
I like the modular aspect, (shown in the movie)
----------------
Panasonic TH-50PX60U 50" Plasma HDTV
List Price: $2,799.99
Price: $1,899.88
You Save: $900.11 (32%)
http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-TH-50PX60U...p;s=electronics
Post by: beacher on February 08, 2007, 10:17:21 PM
Post by: sandbox on February 08, 2007, 10:56:33 PM
this is the LCD Samsung list
http://www.samsung.com/products/tv/lcdtv/index.asp
32" http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-LNS3252D-Int...e/dp/B000ES98VA
movie http://product.samsung.com/lcdemo/Samsung_LCD.html
for about the same $$$ you can have a 42" Vizio (made by Samsung)
http://www.vizio.com/products/detail.aspx?pid=11
vizio list
http://shopper-search.cnet.com/search?qt=V...art=google-cnet
newer vizio 42" review http://reviews.cnet.com/Vizio_GV42L_HDTV/4..._7-6650929.html
this is a nice size, $$, http://www.hdtvsolutions.com/VIZIO-L37-reviews.htm
I saw one today.
Post by: Paddy on February 09, 2007, 12:18:22 AM
We've been spoiled here - much bigger house than I think we'll end up with in Toronto, for about half of what we'll have to spend in Toronto to get 4 bedrooms, preferably renovated. I don't think we're quite up for the sort of reno you're doing (which is about what you have to do with old houses with knob and tube wiring and all sorts of other lovely attractions!) - but who knows.
Post by: sandbox on February 09, 2007, 02:56:45 AM
QUOTE(Paddy @ Feb 9 2007, 01:18 AM) [snapback]118388[/snapback]
Actually, Karl, yes, we are moving back to TO - at the end of this school year, if all goes according to plan. So we're doing some preliminary house-hunting online and making a trip up there in about 10 days during the kids' February vacation - but no, not looking in the $5M range!! Have to sell this house first - and buying in Toronto in a good high school district, within easy biking distance of Bay & College (husband's office location) is not going to be cheap! We've been spoiled here - much bigger house than I think we'll end up with in Toronto, for about half of what we'll have to spend in Toronto to get 4 bedrooms, preferably renovated. I don't think we're quite up for the sort of reno you're doing (which is about what you have to do with old houses with knob and tube wiring and all sorts of other lovely attractions!) - but who knows.
We've been spoiled here - much bigger house than I think we'll end up with in Toronto, for about half of what we'll have to spend in Toronto to get 4 bedrooms, preferably renovated. I don't think we're quite up for the sort of reno you're doing (which is about what you have to do with old houses with knob and tube wiring and all sorts of other lovely attractions!) - but who knows.biking distance of Bay & College -13º
Post by: Paddy on February 09, 2007, 06:43:12 AM
OK - maybe I should be clearer...biking distance in good weather of Bay and College and accessible to the subway when it's too cold, wet or snowy. Though my husband has been known to bike in some rather ridiculous weather... (I have vivid memories of him arriving in SHORTS with rather red knees, on a winter morning for a regular Saturday brunch a whole lot of us used to attend in what for him was grad school days) Anyway, that was 20 years ago now and I think he's become a little more sensible in the ensuing years!
Parking at Bay and College (once you've managed to actually GET there) is a nightmare, I'm sure. A brief survey of monthly parking rates yielded anything from about $150 to over $400 a month, and if it's anything like I remember, there are waiting lists for some of the reserved lots!