Lets talk HD

[onesojourner]

I plan to get an LCD tv in the next 8-14 months, after I have all my dept gone other than the house. Size wise I want something in the 37-42 inch range. I want to spend under 1000. I don't know that 1080p is worth the price difference although some of the westinghouse tvs are 1080p and in the price range. then again the syntax olivia is 720p and those can be had for 700-800. all these prices should be lower by the time I am ready to upgrade too. right now I have 15+ year old tv.

I will most likely start out with an upconverting dvd player and I might also set download a few:sneaky: :sneaky: hd movies and play them through a laptop.

I hope sony burns in hell so I am rooting for hd-dvd to win the formatt war. I have a feeling we are all going to end up buying multiformatt players though.

My plan is always changing though so what are your thoughts/setups?

[SuperJETT]

I went through the looking process earlier this year, ended up passing in favor of building a projector for movies and not having to worry about the kids destroying a nice tv.

Olevia is going to be hard to beat IMO if you're at all concerned about price. If price doesn't matter, there are some clear choices that are better.

Keep an eye on slickdeals.net, setup a deal alert and have it trigger on Olevia or the model number, etc. You could probably pick up an Olevia 37" monitor (no tuner) for $600 or with a tuner for $700.

As far as 720p vs 1080p, I tend to not go with the latest/greatest, so 720p would be fine with me, plus about the only true 1080p content you'll see is going to be hd-dvd/blu-ray so why bother.

[Peter123]

When I bought my new TV a little over a month ago, I was torn between getting a 52" Sharp Aquos LCD 1080p and the 60" Vizio Plasma 720p. At that time, the Sharp was $3299 and the Vizio was $2999.

The $300 difference was not the deciding factor at all. The debate for me was whether I wanted the bigger screen and lower resolution or higher resolution and smaller screen.

I ended up going with the 60" Vizio. I made this decision based on the fact that I not only have 300+ DVD's that are neither Blu-ray or HD-DVD but also on the fact that no one plans to broadcast in 1080p.

Now, if you have a specific dollar range (like I did), you'll also need to make the decision of size vs. resolution. I don't regret my decision, because my picture still looks fantastic (and pretty darn big), and all my friends are jealous.

Side note, I also had to keep my wife happy, because she claims she couldn't see the picture difference (the Sharp was playing a Blu-Ray disc and looked fantastic - I could definitely see the difference) and didn't want to pay more for a smaller screen.

[Peter123]

Here's the one I bought:

http://www.vizio.com/products/detail.aspx?pid=21

[onesojourner]

I have thought about the projector rout but this will be upstairs and the screen will be 90 degrees from a 14 foot window. I have actually though about getting one with out a tuner since we never watch tv directly (we download everything) but I think one day I might regret it.

[Mark44]

We also use a projector we have drive in night from time to time all the kids and adults sit around and watch a 12' X 20' garage door screen. Projectors are allot of fun.

Mark44

[tor*p*do]

I wouldnt buy a Harley- get a Honda or a Yamaha-


Oh, you meant HD TV not Harley Davidson . . . . . never mind :biggrin:

[thrllskr]

I bought this TV over the summer - Samsung 42" DLP:
http://shopping.redorbit.com/product.php?productid=8289131&MMCF_froogle_feed&utm_id=1&utm_source=froogle&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Froogle+Feed
(I bought from Best Buy)

I love it - it's got great resolution and looks awesome with the HD channels.

[GPnVB]

I'm in the process of building a home theater pc to include a 1080i 42" LCD. 1080i is the latest and greatest so the 1080p units should be coming down in price. I must say, building a system (even over a couple months time) is hard to do. By the time I've picked out one component the others have become outdated. Hopefully I'll have it ready to go soon.

[Nascency Chris]

I'm in the process of building a home theater pc to include a 1080i 42" LCD. 1080i is the latest and greatest so the 1080p units should be coming down in price. I must say, building a system (even over a couple months time) is hard to do. By the time I've picked out one component the others have become outdated. Hopefully I'll have it ready to go soon.

am i mistaken in thinking 1080i and 1080p are pretty much the same?? i mean, the only difference is in the interlace or progressive functioning right?

[SuperJETT]

1080i is a step down from 1080p.


Why 1080p is theoretically better than 1080i
1080i, the former king of the HDTV hill, actually boasts an identical 1,920x1,080 resolution but conveys the images in an interlaced format (the i in 1080i). In a tube-based television, otherwise known as a CRT, 1080i sources get "painted" on the screen sequentially: the odd-numbered lines of resolution appear on your screen first, followed by the even-numbered lines--all within 1/30 of a second. Progressive-scan (http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6449_7-5020359-1.html?tag=txt) formats such as 480p, 720p, and 1080p convey all of the lines of resolution sequentially in a single pass, which makes for a smoother, cleaner image, especially with sports and other motion-intensive content. As opposed to tubes, microdisplays (http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-7874_1-5107912-14.html?tag=txt#microdisplay) (DLP, LCoS, and LCD rear-projection) and other fixed-pixel (http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-7874_1-5107912-7.html?tag=txt#fixed-pixeldisplay) TVs, including plasma and LCD flat-panel, are inherently progressive in nature, so when the incoming source is interlaced, as 1080i is, they convert it to progressive scan for display.

[GPnVB]

That makes sense to me. This is exactly the type of thing I'm talking about. Everything depends on the latest article or review that you've read. I'm sure I'd be happy with either but, if the above is true (not that I don't believe it) and theres no real benefit to i then I think I'd go with the p.

[SuperJETT]

That makes sense to me. This is exactly the type of thing I'm talking about. Everything depends on the latest article or review that you've read. I'm sure I'd be happy with either but, if the above is true (not that I don't believe it) and theres no real benefit to i then I think I'd go with the p.

I've read some user's opinions saying they prefer 720p over 1080i actually, but that's on upconverted, so it's not like they are seeing more real data.

[guiness92]

I dont know i got a 42" samsung plasma and love it. 720, 1080 i p whatever, dont knwo what it is and dont really care. The picture looks awesome and it was around 1k.

Only thing ive seen with these tv's that actually was noticable to me was the HDMI cable. That made a huge difference. Other than that I couldnt point out which tv had better resolution than the next if they were sitting next to each other with the same program on.

[Nascency Chris]

I've read some user's opinions saying they prefer 720p over 1080i actually, but that's on upconverted, so it's not like they are seeing more real data.

i have seen some true 1080 footage...in an uncompressed format...man oh man...i can't wait till everyone is rockin that as the standard for tvs, etc...then i can film in true hd and it will be sick...:Banane01:

[GPnVB]

I dont know i got a 42" samsung plasma and love it. 720, 1080 i p whatever, dont knwo what it is and dont really care. The picture looks awesome and it was around 1k.

Only thing ive seen with these tv's that actually was noticable to me was the HDMI cable. That made a huge difference. Other than that I couldnt point out which tv had better resolution than the next if they were sitting next to each other with the same program on.

Apparently, with a 42" you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between 1080i or 1080p. I agree with the HDMI cable, it made a huge difference on my brothers 42" Samsung as well.

[Nascency Chris]

I dont know i got a 42" samsung plasma and love it. 720, 1080 i p whatever, dont knwo what it is and dont really care. The picture looks awesome and it was around 1k.

Only thing ive seen with these tv's that actually was noticable to me was the HDMI cable. That made a huge difference. Other than that I couldnt point out which tv had better resolution than the next if they were sitting next to each other with the same program on.

see, im all anal retentive like that and actually sat in best buy for an hour one day until i could pick out the differences...drove the sales people mad cause i would not just plunk down for one...



then went and bought a 32" somewhere else...:biggrin:

[GPnVB]

You mean you actually got a salesperson at best buy to help you?

[guiness92]

Oh and dont forget, the picture on any tv is still only going to be as good as the signal going to it. A regular cable signal will look like hell on a 60" 1080 hdtv.

[Nascency Chris]

You mean you actually got a salesperson at best buy to help you?

its a funny thing, when you don't want to spend money there, just browse...they are all over you like flies to, well, you know the rest...:biggrin:

[onesojourner]

The problem with best buy is they degrade the signal so much that I never can tell what its really going to look like.

[ATS_Aaron]

We bought a 46" Samsung DLP at Best Buy about 4 months ago. I think it was on sale for $1350? I hated the way it looked on our cable and even worse on Tivo, so we rented DVD's every night. Then we decided it was time for a better TV in the bedroom so we bought the 42" Westinghouse LCD monitor (also from BB). We got DirectTV HD for both rooms at the same time (that is the only HD available where I live). Subscribing to DirectTV gave us a few dollars off on the Westinghouse, and I think we ended up paying $950 on a Best Buy card with no interest for 3 years.

The lack of a tuner on the Westinghouse is not an issue because we use the DirectTV box as a tuner. The TV's are both high quality but are certainly different. The DLP needs a darker room. The LCD has no true black, just a really dark gray. A blank black screen actually lights up my bedroom pretty well at night. Also the DLP seems to pixilate when there is a bunch of movement on screen, like when they pan across the audience at a race. But that could be my DirectTV too?

The other feature that I didn't think about until I got home was the picture modes like stretch, fill, 4x3, 16x9 etc.

In an ideal world all of our TV signals would match the size of our TV's. The reality is that many programs are still broadcast in 4x3 format. I have to be careful at the video store and rent 16x9 releases too because often times the place stocks both formats.

Samsung DLP has about 4 or 5 modes: 16x9, 4x3 with blank black bars on the sides, 16x9 zoom (this is used when the show is broadcast in 16x9 but is an analog signal so it is broadcast with the black bars too) it allows you to zoom in and fill the screen, it is not a stretch mode) and 16x9 zoom 2 (a bigger version of zoom 1, you actually miss part of the picture though because it is zoomed in too much, I have not found a use for this yet). I was surprised to find there was no stretch mode. With the DirectTV and an HDMI cable the modes are more limited. I guess the digital signal tells the TV what mode to lock in...sometimes a network broadcasts a picture in 16x9, but they also broadcast the black bars on top and bottom. The digital encoding locks out my zoom mode, and I basically get to watch a 34 inch picture on the 46 inch TV. That sucks. I may try using a component output to the TV to get to an analog signal that I can still manipulate the modes..at least I would get to use the whole screen then.

Westinghouse LCD monitor - Only 2 modes: normal and stretch. Normal has blank bars on the sides (on a 4x3 signal) and with stretch the screen is always full. People look a little fatter, and it is a little annoying. I have to use the stretch mode with the DirectTV or else I get some weird digital encoding crap showing up on the top of the screen.

Check out HD programming in your area, most of mine is pretty lame. The network stuff is cool, but is only HD from about 7:00-11:00 at night. Some of my local news channels are in HD. That's a waste except to point out age spots and skin flaws. The HBO and Showtime HD channels basically suck because they want to shove their own stupid programming down your throat instead of movies (I can't count how many times the Tudors, or some man-ly lesbian show is on DAILY). HDNet is trying, but most of their programming is lame. Like movies from the 1950's in HD. The show some Sci Fi reruns like Star Trek Enterprise, Stargate, Firefly (GREAT SHOW) and Surface (only 14 episodes of that show anyway) too. DirectTV claims ~50 more HD channels by the end of the year. the non-HD stuff is still much higher quality than my analog Charter cable was.

Hope this helps.

Aaron

[surferdude345]

I know nothing about hdtv but this might help you out.. If theres a cosco by you join it and they will let you return a tv for up to 3 years and give you full money back.. My buddies dad buys a new tv every year or two by returning it. That way you always have the latest and greatest.

[onesojourner]

stretch drives me crazy. I hate when I go to peoples house that have nice tvs and then the look all distorted. I want my movies to take advantage of the tv and the news can just have the black bars.

[thrllskr]

I know nothing about hdtv but this might help you out.. If theres a cosco by you join it and they will let you return a tv for up to 3 years and give you full money back.. My buddies dad buys a new tv every year or two by returning it. That way you always have the latest and greatest.

Not anymore, thanks to people like your buddy's dad...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17350641/

[surferdude345]

well that sucks

[yz250fpilot]

I have read over at avsforum dot com about people taking advantage of this for years just to get nicer tvs at no cost. That is totally uncool. It's time costco cut that out.

[Whtbread]

http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/specialBrowse.do?context=outlet&catOid=-12866&N=90000001+20012866&c=1&cm_re=main%20marquee-_-Save%20up%20to%2085%%20on%20a%20wide%20selection%2 0of%20clearance%20items-_-link

[rkymtnrider]

I dont know i got a 42" samsung plasma and love it. 720, 1080 i p whatever, dont knwo what it is and dont really care. The picture looks awesome and it was around 1k.

Only thing ive seen with these tv's that actually was noticable to me was the HDMI cable. That made a huge difference. Other than that I couldnt point out which tv had better resolution than the next if they were sitting next to each other with the same program on.

compared to what.the coax cable, or the red/blue/green video cable(component) or the yellow cable(composite).only diff between HDMI and component is digital audio,picture should be the same.

[rkymtnrider]

We bought a 46" Samsung DLP at Best Buy about 4 months ago. I think it was on sale for $1350? I hated the way it looked on our cable and even worse on Tivo, so we rented DVD's every night. Then we decided it was time for a better TV in the bedroom so we bought the 42" Westinghouse LCD monitor (also from BB). We got DirectTV HD for both rooms at the same time (that is the only HD available where I live). Subscribing to DirectTV gave us a few dollars off on the Westinghouse, and I think we ended up paying $950 on a Best Buy card with no interest for 3 years.

The lack of a tuner on the Westinghouse is not an issue because we use the DirectTV box as a tuner. The TV's are both high quality but are certainly different. The DLP needs a darker room. The LCD has no true black, just a really dark gray. A blank black screen actually lights up my bedroom pretty well at night. Also the DLP seems to pixilate when there is a bunch of movement on screen, like when they pan across the audience at a race. But that could be my DirectTV too?

The other feature that I didn't think about until I got home was the picture modes like stretch, fill, 4x3, 16x9 etc.

In an ideal world all of our TV signals would match the size of our TV's. The reality is that many programs are still broadcast in 4x3 format. I have to be careful at the video store and rent 16x9 releases too because often times the place stocks both formats.

Samsung DLP has about 4 or 5 modes: 16x9, 4x3 with blank black bars on the sides, 16x9 zoom (this is used when the show is broadcast in 16x9 but is an analog signal so it is broadcast with the black bars too) it allows you to zoom in and fill the screen, it is not a stretch mode) and 16x9 zoom 2 (a bigger version of zoom 1, you actually miss part of the picture though because it is zoomed in too much, I have not found a use for this yet). I was surprised to find there was no stretch mode. With the DirectTV and an HDMI cable the modes are more limited. I guess the digital signal tells the TV what mode to lock in...sometimes a network broadcasts a picture in 16x9, but they also broadcast the black bars on top and bottom. The digital encoding locks out my zoom mode, and I basically get to watch a 34 inch picture on the 46 inch TV. That sucks. I may try using a component output to the TV to get to an analog signal that I can still manipulate the modes..at least I would get to use the whole screen then.

Westinghouse LCD monitor - Only 2 modes: normal and stretch. Normal has blank bars on the sides (on a 4x3 signal) and with stretch the screen is always full. People look a little fatter, and it is a little annoying. I have to use the stretch mode with the DirectTV or else I get some weird digital encoding crap showing up on the top of the screen.

Check out HD programming in your area, most of mine is pretty lame. The network stuff is cool, but is only HD from about 7:00-11:00 at night. Some of my local news channels are in HD. That's a waste except to point out age spots and skin flaws. The HBO and Showtime HD channels basically suck because they want to shove their own stupid programming down your throat instead of movies (I can't count how many times the Tudors, or some man-ly lesbian show is on DAILY). HDNet is trying, but most of their programming is lame. Like movies from the 1950's in HD. The show some Sci Fi reruns like Star Trek Enterprise, Stargate, Firefly (GREAT SHOW) and Surface (only 14 episodes of that show anyway) too. DirectTV claims ~50 more HD channels by the end of the year. the non-HD stuff is still much higher quality than my analog Charter cable was.

Hope this helps.

Aaron



shoulda went with dish network,25 all hd channels plus locals in HD plus dual tuner DVR. the head of the company has vowed to always provide more HD content and channels than any of the cable or other sat. companies.and theyre working now not "in the distant future" like directv says

[guiness92]

compared to what.the coax cable, or the red/blue/green video cable(component) or the yellow cable(composite).only diff between HDMI and component is digital audio,picture should be the same.

Thats what I thought too, but believe me, the cable makes all the difference in the world. You need an hd tuner though to use it. or if you have a dvd player with the HDMI output on it it will work with that too. Trust me, if you have the option to use the HDMI cable, do it. You wont be disappointed.

the coax and component cables have nothing on the hdmi cable.

[onesojourner]

hdmi is the standard today. I would not get a tv that did not have hdmi. has any one seen a way to run hdmi through the walls with an outlet? I have not found anything yet.

[GPnVB]

hdmi is the standard today. I would not get a tv that did not have hdmi. has any one seen a way to run hdmi through the walls with an outlet? I have not found anything yet.

I haven't found anything either but I'm very interested.

[guiness92]

Fab up your own, it would be very simple to do with a blank wall mount.

[douglee25]

Join www.avsforum.com They have a wealth of info. With that said, I bought the Samsung HP-5053 plasma (50") over Black Friday 2006. I absolutely love it. I would strongly look into the Samsung line. They seem to have just about the best picture quality (PQ) out there besides maybe Pioneer (at 2 - 3 times the price).

Doug

[onesojourner]

plasmas are pretty heavy aren't they?

[douglee25]

plasmas are pretty heavy aren't they?

Define heavy? I would assume it's all relative. Mine is around 100 lbs but it is 50" in size. I have it positions on a stand but they can be wall mounted as well.

Doug

[Starvin48]

Did you check out the wall mount thread? $25 for up to a 46". Pretty awesome!

[vitaly]

1. You won't be able to tell the difference between 1080p and 1080i on a 37-42" LCD.
2. As far as electronics, Costco never carried anything "latest and greatest".
3. It should not matter if you use HDMI, DVI or component with digital audio since the signal is digital. The cables must be extremely poor quality to see any signal degradation.
4. Plasma is still the king (especially Panasonic), although LCD is catching up (Sharp, etc).

[onesojourner]

I used to work with a guy who worked at CC and he said the plasmas were much more fragile and they weighed a ton more than a comparative lcd.

[douglee25]

I used to work with a guy who worked at CC and he said the plasmas were much more fragile and they weighed a ton more than a comparative lcd.

I'd have to disagree. There is no way an LCD is harder to damage than a Plasma.

Doug

[onesojourner]

what is the current status on the life span of plasmas?

[vitaly]

what is the current status on the life span of plasmas?
Over 60,000 hours or 20 years of real-life use.

[douglee25]

what is the current status on the life span of plasmas?

A long time is the short answer. Read this http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/plasmatv/plasmatv-lifespan.html

There are multiple threads about plasma vs. lcd that would help you make a decision over at avsforum. The short answer is that plasma's tend to show better blacks in dark scenes while lcd's tend to have a soft, super bright picture. The picture on a plasma also tends to be 3D and have depth vs. a 2D lcd picture. The viewing angle on an LCD is also low. LCD's tend to have higher viewing resolution as compared to Plasma's. Other things like viewing distance, size of the room, etc are also going to dictate which option will be better suited towards you.

Doug

[onesojourner]

the pixel casing is also much larger and noticeable on the plasmas.

[Peter123]

Not anymore, thanks to people like your buddy's dad...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17350641/

That is why I bought mine before March 19th (any electronics, excluding computers, purchased before then falls under the return it for any reason for ever policy). So if mine goes out in 8 years, it gets returned. :arms: :arms:

plasmas are pretty heavy aren't they?

My 60" plasma weighs in at around 180 lbs. I bought a wall mount for it at Costco for $99.99.

2. As far as electronics, Costco never carried anything "latest and greatest".

They carry the new Sony Bravia 46" 1080P LCD's, the Sharp 52' Aquos 1080P LCD and the new Panasonic 65" 1080P Plasma for $7,699.99. I think that those can be considered the "latest and greatest", especially that 65" Panasonic.

edit: I just checked Best Buy, and they don't even carry a 65" Plasma. :rolleyes:

[vitaly]

the pixel casing is also much larger and noticeable on the plasmas.
WTF is "pixel casing" and how do you notice it?

[vitaly]

They carry the new Sony Bravia 46" 1080P LCD's, the Sharp 52' Aquos 1080P LCD and the new Panasonic 65" 1080P Plasma for $7,699.99. I think that those can be considered the "latest and greatest", especially that 65" Panasonic.

They must've changed after tightening down the return policy. Their prices are not competitive though.

[onesojourner]

WTF is "pixel casing" and how do you notice it?

get up close to a plasma in a store and notice the black box around the pixels, then do that same to a lcd and it is almost unnoticeable.

[vitaly]

get up close to a plasma in a store and notice the black box around the pixels, then do that same to a lcd and it is almost unnoticeable.
I don't have to go to the store I have a 50" plasma in my living room and 32" LCD in the bedroom.
Never noticed any "pixel casings", neither heard of the term. :dunno:

[Peter123]

They must've changed after tightening down the return policy. Their prices are not competitive though.


Costco Sharp Aquos 52" LCD 1080P $3299 ($2999 with $300 coupon)
Bestbuy Sharp Aquos 52" LCD 1080P $3699

Same TV. (The model number is slightly different, which happens sometimes depending upon reseller, but if you look at specs, they are 100% identical)

Costco:

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11188560&whse=BC&topnav=&browse=

Bestbuy:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7992844&type=product&productCategoryId=pcmcat95100050031&id=1155069969280

The Sony Bravia is also cheaper at Costco.

[Peter123]

Oh, and with Costco you get free delivery and setup if you buy it online.

[vitaly]

Costco Sharp Aquos 52" LCD 1080P $3299 ($2999 with $300 coupon)
Bestbuy Sharp Aquos 52" LCD 1080P $3699

Same TV. (The model number is slightly different, which happens sometimes depending upon reseller, but if you look at specs, they are 100% identical)

Costco:

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11188560&whse=BC&topnav=&browse=

Bestbuy:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7992844&type=product&productCategoryId=pcmcat95100050031&id=1155069969280

The Sony Bravia is also cheaper at Costco.
You shop at wrong places.
http://www.pricegrabber.com/p__Sharp_AQUOS_LC_52D62U_52_LCD_TV,__26497892/search=Sharp+Aquos+52%2522+/sort_type=bottomline

[GPnVB]

My Fatality HD motherboard for my HTPC just arrived today. OH Yeah!

Things are starting to come together.

[Peter123]

You shop at wrong places.
http://www.pricegrabber.com/p__Sharp_AQUOS_LC_52D62U_52_LCD_TV,__26497892/search=Sharp+Aquos+52%2522+/sort_type=bottomline

Hmmm, there were 27 retailers listed there for that TV. Once you added shipping, only 7 of them were cheaper. I said competitive, not the cheapest. Plus, you can actually go into a Costco and purchase it; however, the places that were cheaper would only ship it to you, you couldn't go there and buy one and walk away with it. Not to mention the fact that if you buy it from Costco, you can go and return it within 90 days for your money back and not be penalized. Will those online places do that? I think not.

My point isn't to argue with you. I just want people who read this thread to know that Costco is an excelllent retailer to purchase LCD's and Plasmas. If they read on here that Costco doesn't have new and high-end sets, they may end up at BestBuy paying an extra $700 for the exact same thing with a shorter warranty because they thought Costco wouldn't have the new 1080P sets. If they read on here that Costco's prices aren't competitive, they may assume you meant that BestBuy or Circuit City has lower prices and end up paying more.

Does Costco have the absolute lowest price available? No, but you'll always find an online dealer who is less than the brick and mortars. However, some people feel uncomfortable buying high-end items online from someone 1,200 miles away. Personally, there is no way I would have bought my TV from an online vendor (with the possible exception of B&H Photo Video), I'd be afraid of a lack of recourse if anything happened and/or be stuck paying shipping again if there were an issue.

[vitaly]

Personally, there is no way I would have bought my TV from an online vendor (with the possible exception of B&H Photo Video), I'd be afraid of a lack of recourse if anything happened and/or be stuck paying shipping again if there were an issue.
So, you choose to pay a few hundred more and pick it up from Costco because you don't trust amazon.com ($2,648.88, free shipping, no tax) or buy.com ($2,775.99 includes shipping, no tax)? :dunno:

[Peter123]

So, you choose to pay a few hundred more and pick it up from Costco because you don't trust amazon.com ($2,648.88, free shipping, no tax) or buy.com ($2,775.99 includes shipping, no tax)? :dunno:

WRONG!!!! Just like you were wrong about Costco not carrying the latest and greatest.

Amazon does not include free shipping (see attached pic) so the price is $2800.58.

And Buy.com does not include free shipping either (see attached pic) so the price is $3015.99.

And, like I said before, with Costco you get 90 days to bring it in for a complete refund without penalty and Costco extends the manufacturer's warranty by 2 years.

What are you going to do if it were to break after a year and a half if you bought it from Amazon or Buy.com? I'll tell you what, you'd be paying for the repair out of your own pocket or shopping for a new TV. Costco would be taking care of mine.

I'm not sure if you have an issue with Costco or you're just pissed and trying to argue with me because I corrected information you posted, but whatever it is, I'm done with this arguement.

Costco has new and high-end LCD's and Plasmas at competitive prices. Get over it. :banghead:

[onesojourner]

does any one download hd content? tv shows movies ect.?

[vitaly]

WRONG!!!! Just like you were wrong about Costco not carrying the latest and greatest.

Amazon does not include free shipping (see attached pic) so the price is $2800.58.

And Buy.com does not include free shipping either (see attached pic) so the price is $3015.99.

And, like I said before, with Costco you get 90 days to bring it in for a complete refund without penalty and Costco extends the manufacturer's warranty by 2 years.

What are you going to do if it were to break after a year and a half if you bought it from Amazon or Buy.com? I'll tell you what, you'd be paying for the repair out of your own pocket or shopping for a new TV. Costco would be taking care of mine.

I'm not sure if you have an issue with Costco or you're just pissed and trying to argue with me because I corrected information you posted, but whatever it is, I'm done with this arguement.

Costco has new and high-end LCD's and Plasmas at competitive prices. Get over it. :banghead:
Dude, relax. I posted the perfectly correct info for the moment I posted it (amazon's and buy.com's pricings and stock change hourly).
Amazon ran out of stock for the moment, so what? It will be back tomorrow or a day after.

I don't have an issue with Costco, neither I am pissed or trying to argue with you.
I simply try to show you and others some better ways to shop. I would also recommend getting on the BB and CC mailing lists and check fatwallet.com, slickdeals.com, deals2buy.com, pricegrabber.com (many other sites exist) before you make your purchase.
You can always check out the item in the store and then go online and order it for much less. That way I saved a few thousand dollars just on electronics/computer stuff in only 2006 and maybe $20K in the last 5-7 years.
And I generally don't bother to even stop by the store to check out the item on my way home from work if the value is less than a $100-$200, I simply order it online.

BTW, I do ALL my Christmas shopping online although I live about 5min walking distance from a pretty big mall and within 10 miles from another few malls (that's Central Jersey for you dude... LOL)

BTW, about the manufacturer's warranty, you might want to check some offerings from AMEX and other CC companies... I don't bother though, from my experience, if it does not break in the first couple of weeks, it is going to last for a few years.

[Peter123]

BTW, about the manufacturer's warranty, you might want to check some offerings from AMEX and other CC companies... I don't bother though, from my experience, if it does not break in the first couple of weeks, it is going to last for a few years.

Generally speaking, I never purchase extended warranties, because I feel the same way. Obviously I won't walk away from a free one, but you know they are making a killing on all those people who pay $15 for a warrant on a $65 printer and the like.

I did buy an extended warranty on my riding lawn mower, because it was 5 years for $99. And, I actually used that once. I probably broke even; however, they did come to my house to fix it.

[onesojourner]

I just spent about an hour comparing stuff at best buy yesterday. the low end plasmas are still a lot better on blacks then the LCDs. when you get into the higher end stuff I could not see a difference. Has any one ever messed with the new apple tv? seems like a pretty cool little gadget. from what I read it sounds like its worthless with out itunes. It has some great features though like dvi out, wireless N componet video and a 40 gig hdd. I am a big fan of downloading tv ant streaming it over a network. I have been doing that with xbmc for years. xbmc with a the componet cables actually can stream 720p but the processor in the xbox is to slow to decode the video fast enough. I found a good website with some discovery channel type shows in HD if any one wants them, just pm me. all the planet earth stuff is on on there. I have not played it on an HD tv yet but hopefully I will get around to it this weekend after I ride.

[onesojourner]

ok I finally go around to watching some of the HD planet earth I downloaded. all I can say is SWEET. there really is no comparison.

[SuperJETT]

Back from the dead...

Just got an Olevia 42" lcd on Monday, wow. I watched some of Pirates of the Caribbean last night and was flipping between the hd and regular broadcast channels, wow, doesn't even seem like it's the same movie.

And now, I'm totally confused on dvd players. We have a progressive scan dvd recorder that we pretty much hate, it locks up, is slow, etc, and since setting up Mythtv for our dvr, I have no need for the recording function. So, I started looking at upconverting players since our tv is 720p/1080i (no need for blu-ray/hd-dvd yet) and I'm not convinced I need one. We don't watch that many dvds, and the ones we've watched on the new tv look great so the tv is upconverting just fine IMO.

Currently I have the cable box (standard def) s-video out and the dvd player component out going to the tv, and the tv's tuner is pulling in the hd channels via QAM. I have 2 HDMI inputs, so if I can get a cable box with HDMI and upconverting dvd player with HDMI, I'll be all set I think.

[crab]

I just picked up a Toshiba dvd recorder for $100 at Costco, with the HDMI output I can't tell any difference between 720p and 1080i for the most part. What I was told is that the player is way better than the media (movies) for the most part anyway, so regardless there are some limiting factors. All in all its a great picture.

[WaveDemon]

maybe I'm easy to please. I've got a pretty nice plasma and I see no need to upgrade to hd-dvd or blue ray. the quality of 480p dvd's is close enough to the HD I get from satilite.

[crab]

maybe I'm easy to please. I've got a pretty nice plasma and I see no need to upgrade to hd-dvd or blue ray. the quality of 480p dvd's is close enough to the HD I get from satilite.
Dish or Direct? Been thinking of switching to HD on Dish from regular.

[SuperJETT]

I just picked up a Toshiba dvd recorder for $100 at Costco, with the HDMI output I can't tell any difference between 720p and 1080i for the most part. What I was told is that the player is way better than the media (movies) for the most part anyway, so regardless there are some limiting factors. All in all its a great picture.

720p/1080i are so close, the only time you should be able to tell is 720p is better for fast action and 1080i is more detailed for pretty stuff. At least that's what I understand as of right now.

Agreed on the player>media right now. I do think I'll get a HD tuner card for our Mythtv box to start dvr'ing in hd.

[WaveDemon]

directv.

I switched a few years ago because my cable company wasn't all digital. the analog channels looked snowy and the cable company said that was the best they could do, nothing was wrong with the signal.

[crab]

Problem we have here is getting a straight shot out around all the trees, the regular sattelites are in a different azimuth than the HD, at least on Dishnetwork. I need to get someone out here and do a site survey, or at least get the numbers so I can check it for myself. In your setup can you get compass heading and azimuth for a particular zip code? Thats how its done on Dish, mine is 98271.

[SeaLion]

Back from the dead...

Just got an Olevia 42" lcd on Monday, wow. I watched some of Pirates of the Caribbean last night and was flipping between the hd and regular broadcast channels, wow, doesn't even seem like it's the same movie.

And now, I'm totally confused on dvd players. We have a progressive scan dvd recorder that we pretty much hate, it locks up, is slow, etc, and since setting up Mythtv for our dvr, I have no need for the recording function. So, I started looking at upconverting players since our tv is 720p/1080i (no need for blu-ray/hd-dvd yet) and I'm not convinced I need one. We don't watch that many dvds, and the ones we've watched on the new tv look great so the tv is upconverting just fine IMO.

Currently I have the cable box (standard def) s-video out and the dvd player component out going to the tv, and the tv's tuner is pulling in the hd channels via QAM. I have 2 HDMI inputs, so if I can get a cable box with HDMI and upconverting dvd player with HDMI, I'll be all set I think.

Phillips upconverting dvd players are cheap and work extremely well and also play everything you put in there (divx, xvid, vcd, svcd, mpeg4, nero). I have two of their DVP5982 and one DVP3960. The DVP5982 has a usb input and you can plug in memory sticks and play movies, music, pictures on it. Some people plug an external/portable usb hard drive and play all their multimedia files from there. I think whatever you plug in to the usb has to be Fat32 formatted drives? Philips outlet store has/had them as refurbished units for $30 shipped for the 3960 (720P/1080i) and $40 shipped for the 5982 (1080P). I have seen the 5982 at Best Buy and Sears advertised for $50. Sam's Club used to have the 5982 for $49.

For A/V cables, I use http://www.monoprice.com . Really good quality cables at low prices. They also sell wall mounts really cheap. I paid like $25 for a tilting wall mount for my 46" Samsung LCD. I bought a 25' heavy duty VGA cable with 1/4" audio cable built in for $25 from them too. I sometimes hook my laptop up to the Samsung through the VGA. Makes a huge monitor :wink:

[boggs]

Back from the dead...

Just got an Olevia 42" lcd on Monday, wow. I watched some of Pirates of the Caribbean last night and was flipping between the hd and regular broadcast channels, wow, doesn't even seem like it's the same movie.

And now, I'm totally confused on dvd players. We have a progressive scan dvd recorder that we pretty much hate, it locks up, is slow, etc, and since setting up Mythtv for our dvr, I have no need for the recording function. So, I started looking at upconverting players since our tv is 720p/1080i (no need for blu-ray/hd-dvd yet) and I'm not convinced I need one. We don't watch that many dvds, and the ones we've watched on the new tv look great so the tv is upconverting just fine IMO.

Currently I have the cable box (standard def) s-video out and the dvd player component out going to the tv, and the tv's tuner is pulling in the hd channels via QAM. I have 2 HDMI inputs, so if I can get a cable box with HDMI and upconverting dvd player with HDMI, I'll be all set I think.

i realize they are two different animals but since you got a lcd, how does your lumen lab projector compare? i bought a toshiba hd devd player earlier this year for 99 bucks. was one of walmart's secret sales but i got it at 2 in the afternoon. still waiting on the 5 free hd dvds to get shipped to me though.

[SuperJETT]

Phillips upconverting dvd players are cheap and work extremely well and also play everything you put in there (divx, xvid, vcd, svcd, mpeg4, nero). I have two of their DVP5982 and one DVP3960. The DVP5982 has a usb input and you can plug in memory sticks and play movies, music, pictures on it. Some people plug an external/portable usb hard drive and play all their multimedia files from there. I think whatever you plug in to the usb has to be Fat32 formatted drives? Philips outlet store has/had them as refurbished units for $30 shipped for the 3960 (720P/1080i) and $40 shipped for the 5982 (1080P). I have seen the 5982 at Best Buy and Sears advertised for $50. Sam's Club used to have the 5982 for $49.

For A/V cables, I use http://www.monoprice.com . Really good quality cables at low prices. They also sell wall mounts really cheap. I paid like $25 for a tilting wall mount for my 46" Samsung LCD. I bought a 25' heavy duty VGA cable with 1/4" audio cable built in for $25 from them too. I sometimes hook my laptop up to the Samsung through the VGA. Makes a huge monitor :wink:

Already been looking at the Philips ones, and I wouldn't go anywhere but monoprice, I get all my cables/wire from there already. I'm not sure we're going to wall mount it though, we have a black tv stand that is meant for a 37" tube tv, well the 42" lcd fits perfectly and it's got just enough room inside for our cable box and my Shuttle pc that I have Myth on. For now we're going to use the Myth box as our dvd player/etc as one input over vga and the cable is on s-video and the tv gets the high-def ota channels.

i realize they are two different animals but since you got a lcd, how does your lumen lab projector compare? i bought a toshiba hd devd player earlier this year for 99 bucks. was one of walmart's secret sales but i got it at 2 in the afternoon. still waiting on the 5 free hd dvds to get shipped to me though.

Dude the projector is/was nice, but we got some water in the basement a while back so had to ditch the carpet in the theater room plus the projector got a little wet. I haven't powered it up since. We still want to put that room back together, but this tv blows it away, both in brightness and resolution.

[SeaLion]

Well Philips Outlet has the 5982 in stock again for $39.99 shipped. It's a refurbished but who cares for the price. Here's the link for anyone interested in a great player for little $$$ http://www.outlet.philips.com/b2c_redesign/b2c/productdetail.do?productguid=419077EAEF11009F00000 000828BD47245A9E283DD3C037C00000000828BD538&productarea=419077EAEF11009F00000000828BD472&scenario=catalog&shop=OUTLET&AID=10303796&PID=361116&SID=FW60oabp

[SuperJETT]

Well Philips Outlet has the 5982 in stock again for $39.99 shipped. It's a refurbished but who cares for the price. Here's the link for anyone interested in a great player for little $$$ http://www.outlet.philips.com/b2c_redesign/b2c/productdetail.do?productguid=419077EAEF11009F00000 000828BD47245A9E283DD3C037C00000000828BD538&productarea=419077EAEF11009F00000000828BD472&scenario=catalog&shop=OUTLET&AID=10303796&PID=361116&SID=FW60oabp


Everyone on slickdeals.net is saying the stock is wrong, when you check out it will say it's out of stock.

[SeaLion]

Never been to slickdeals.net . Did you try to order one and see?

[SuperJETT]

Nevermind, I was off a month, here's the thread. Looks like they are in stock.

http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?t=670328

[SuperJETT]

I thought about getting one, but I'm using our Mythtv pc for dvds currently, so why bother. I'll have to compare video quality vs. our dvd player, but I know I can tweak things in Ubuntu to make the picture better with Myth and with it there is no need for a dvd player with usb port since I have that on the Shuttle xpc.

[cybermob2]

now we're going to use the Myth box as our dvd player/etc as one input over vga and the cable is on s-video and the tv gets the high-def ota channels.




now just pick up a hdtv atsc tuner and you're set. i would be doing this except that the OTA signal is incredibly weak.

[SuperJETT]

I am thinking about it, but the pc I'm running it on is only an Athlon 1700 with the one pci slot already taken by the pvr-150 tuner, I'm not sure it can handle the resolution/bandwidth. Plus, from what I've been reading some of the dual tuner analog/hd cards are sketchy with Myth.

[SuperJETT]

And badda-bing, I have a newer computer running Myth now, so time to get a HD tuner card!

[onesojourner]

and what are the specs of this new computer?

[SuperJETT]

and what are the specs of this new computer?

Honestly, nothing special, just a good HP desktop from 2 years ago maybe, but compared to the Athlon 1700 it's replacing, it's light years ahead.

It should be able to handle HD recording/playback just fine.

[Peter123]

Here's the one I bought:

http://www.vizio.com/products/detail.aspx?pid=21


Since this thread came back up, I figured I'd give an update.

After having my Vizio 60" about 8 months, the remote control went out on it back in December. It wasn't the remote itself that went bad, but the remote receiver on the tv.

I called to see about getting it repaired, but there were no repair people who would come to me. I called Costco's valet service, and they said I could either return it to them or have them pay to ship it to an authorized repair facility. After weighing my options, I decided to take it back to Costco and get another. The problem was that Costco stopped carrying the 60" Vizio, so I'd have to get another brand.

After some research, I decided I wanted the Panasonic 58" 1080P. Costco carried it online, but they were sold out and it was about $1000 more than what I paid for the Vizio. The Vizio was $2999 and the Panasonic was $3999. I wasn't happy about the price difference, but decided to buy it when it came back in stock.

So I'm walking through Fry's a few days after Christmas during my lunch, and I see they have it for $3049. I thought it couldn't be the same model. When I got back from work, I checked the model number, and sure enough it was the same. For whatever reason, I'm a little weary of Fry's because they have just one store here.

I remember that Best Buy does price match plus 10%. So, on my way home from work, I stop by Best Buy, and they have the same one for $4299 (on sale, lol). I ask if they'd price match that TV if I found it lower, they said yes, and I told them to call Fry's. I end up getting it deliver and with tax for around $3200. The manager had to approve it and called Fry's again to verify the price, model number and that they had them in stock.

Well, a few days later, BestBuy shows up with it. I get it all set up and am as happy as a clam for about a week. Then it won't turn on. I do a little research, and it turns out that about 10% of them have bad power units. URRRGHH!!!

The next day, I borrow a truck, take it off the wall, carry it downstairs, put it in the box, load it up and take it back to exchange it. They don't have any more, but will be getting 5 in the next week and will hold one. I call later that week since I hadn't heard anything, and they tell me they have it. They want to charge me to deliver it - BS, so I borrow a truck and friend to go get it. Show up, and they didn't hold one for me. Two weeks until they get more. I talk to the manager, and he says he'll get one transferred from a Dallas store. By the time it was all said and done, I paid just under $3350 with tax, delivery and 5 year warranty (fearful of that power unit) plus a $50 gift card.

A major hassle, but a major score.