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Help with a new TV.

Hi everbody,
The girlfriend and I close on our new and smaller condo the 15th of this month. Because it's smaller it has been decided that a wall-mountable, flat panel tv is going to be necessary to make the living room livable. Needless to say, I am all for this, and after a fair amount of research have decided on the following set, keeping in mind our budget is $2500 plus installation. The set in question is the Sharp Aquos 32" LCD HDTV. The picture quality and sound are both excellent, it is fully equipped with all the necessary ins and outs, and seems to have a very good rep for reliability. Sharp says the estimated lifespan is 60,000 hours, at a very high 5 hours per day that means it would last almost 33 years, more than sufficient. Given our budget are we making a wise choice, please keeping in mind we have space constraints that preclude and DLP set. Any alternate ideas would be very much appreciated as would support for the Sharp. Thanks.
128x128jond
slappy
903 posts
 
FWIW, i was at soundtrack audio checking out the 42 inch version of the EDTV plasma, and it was right next to the HDTV plasma.
Standing 8 feet back watching a high def singnal, i couldnt tell a difference.
in fact, i couldnt tell a difference unless i was 2 feet away really looking for it.
edtv looks just as good as HDTV in my view.
i heared it was very similar but i diddnt believe it untill i saw the panny HD and ED side by side. After seeing them together i cannot juistify the price of the HDTV model.

Too bad on your experience with pannys, everything ive bought from em was a good deal and lasted me damn near forever.
Just rememver, when it comes to plasma, Panasonic is on thier 7th or 8th generation models, so far they are leaps ahead of other similar priced models.
danlib1
819 posts
 
Go Slappy Go!
swampwalker's avatar
swampwalker
5,138 posts
 
Slappy's right about the resolution issue. At a smaller screen size, there is very little difference in resolution btwn ED and HD; you need to be within about 6 or 7' to see it on most sets. And Markphd is correct on the off-axis viewing. The LCDs have nowhere near the off-axis brightness as the plasmas. Not to try and make your life more difficult.
semi
649 posts
 
And according to Fujitsu, plasma has less chances of burn in than LCD. Contrary to popular belief, LCD also has burn in issue. If you "tweak" your plasma using Fujitsu's trick, you can minimize burn in on plasma.

AVS Forum has tons of info, but best gauge is your own eyes (like your own ears for stereo).
jond's avatar
jond OP
5,846 posts
 
You guys almost have me convinced, Circuit City is advertising a 43" Panasonic EDTV Plasma for $1799.00 that's looking more and more like a buy. We've decided against the Sharp because the "hidden costs" seemed to escalate, $400 installation, $250 for the wall mount, suddenly a $2500 tv is $3150. Which brings me to a question, CC wants $400 for the installation and $250 to purchase the actual wall-mount bracket. This seems almost exorbitant, how much of it is really necessary? How much of it could we do ourselves, keeping in mind we are neither strong nor particularly handy? Thanks.
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