I need a new TV -- advise needed

[Reisen]

It has improved a lot, but is still an issue. Specifically, on my set, it has a great horizontal viewing angle. For instance, I can sit really far to the side and still view with great brightness. However, the vertical viewing angle is much poorer, which pretty much cuts out lying on the floor and watching TV.

[jayfrizzo]

-HD capable. Others were wise to say avoid ED. HDTV IS the future, and not buying a set is like buying an 8-track as people moved to CD's.

Except you can watch HD programming on an ED set, and you can't listen to 8-tracks on a CD player.

We've been looking at getting a new boob tube for a while now and are leaning toward ED. Sure, the resolution isn't as good as HD, but it's a huge step up from our current 27" 8-year-old GE, and of the models we're looking at -- Samsung and Panasonic -- the picture is as good as lower-end HDTVs (Vizio, Maxent, etc.).

Supposedly few people can tell a difference between an ED and HD set from 10 feet out on a 42" screen. I can't tell the difference from 6 feet, but my eyes suck. Mrs. Frizzo said they look very similar at 10 feet, and the HD doesn't look $800 better.

Red Baron, is Fox broadcasting HD in Salt Lake? I haven't seen them listed anywhere.

[Red Baron]

yes, we don't originate any HD locally (like news, or anything) but everything that FOX sends down in HD, we show in HD (football, nascar, and most prime time programs) - the signal looks good.

Honestly, I'd stay away from EDTV, even Costco has some great deals on HD sets, if your going to take the plunge, you might as well have something with full resolution, rather than limited.

EDTV, which is 480p, looks great with DVD's, but broadcast HDTV in 720p or 1080i will look much better on a full HD set.

[jayfrizzo]

EDTV, which is 480p, looks great with DVD's, but broadcast HDTV in 720p or 1080i will look much better on a full HD set.

Amen, it looks awesome. But to us right now it doesn't warrant paying 35% more for it. We're not going to buy for a few more weeks, though, so who knows. It sure would be nice to see Florida whup Tennessee in HD.

[SquawMan]

I second the vote for the Samsung DLP sets if you can afford them, and if you can wait, Samsung has indicated that they are going to start ramping production of DLP sets to the point where the price drops by 40% by the end of this year

they want to beat plasma and other technologies to the punch and get the higher installed base

analysts have said that their goal is to get the 50 inch sets down to $1,500 and 40 inch sets down to sub $1000 (this seems really ambitious and aggressive to me)



fyi....DLP vs Plasma


ALTITUDE

DLP technology is not affected by altitude considerations.

Since the plasma display element on a plasma TV is actually a glass substrate envelope containing rare natural gases, thinner air causes increased stress on the gases inside the envelope. This increases the amount of power required to run and cool the plasma, which causes louder buzzing or fan noise (do to the unit's increased self-cooling efforts). These problems usually start to occur at around 6500 feet. Lately, some plasma manufacturers such as NEC and Sony have come out with special models capable of handling altitudes to up to 8500 feet without noticeable increases in unit noise.

Advantage: DLP

LIFESPAN

DLP manufacturers list the backlight bulb hours at around 80,000 hours. What's more, this bulb can be replaced for as little as $200 in some cases. Certain DLP TV displays require a technician to change their bulbs, and this will cost you more than the lamp itself. In other cases, though, the DLP is configured in a way that makes it easy for a layperson to replace burned-out bulbs. It all depends on the make and model of your DLP.

And, since DLP is a mirror and light technology, once the bulb is replaced, the DLP should perform as well as it did when it was brand new.

Plasma, by contrast, uses a small electric pulse for each pixel to excite the rare natural gases argon, neon, and xenon (a k a "phosphors") to produce the color information and light. As electrons excite the phosphors, oxygen atoms dissipate. These rare gases actually have a life and fade over time. Manufacturers of plasma have estimated the life of these phosphors to be about 60,000 hours. The life of the plasma display itself is usually determined by half-life of the phosphors. So at 30,000 hours the phosphors will be at their half-life, and the viewer will be seeing an image that has half the brightness capability that it did when originally purchased. This should be a good point at which to consider its life over. The gases in plasma TVs cannot be replaced. There is no phenomenon of "pumping" new gases into a plasma display.

http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/dlpvsplasmatv.html