which technology really has the best picture

>> No rear projection TV can compete against a direct view TV. <<

Say what? RPTVs and CRTs have, without a doubt, the truest blacks. And their color rendition, brightness, and contrast are at least as good.

Take a $2,000 RPTV, get it ISF calibrated (for $300-500) and it will smoke a $4,000 plasma. It will also outlast the plasma by 7-10 years.

Plasma is over-priced marketing hype targeted at yuppies with more money than brains. Spend some serious time at AvsForum.com and you'll see the light...

-RW-

I have 2 tv's in the same room. One is the 9"crt,65" Mits. My most recent purchase being the Sony Ruby,a front projetor. This was my 4th projector and it is the equal of the Mits.--and 92" is bigger!! This is their XRCD technology and while it ain't a Qualia;it is stunning. The picture washes out more so than the RPTV so naturally it looks better at night.
I have preorderd the Tosh.A2 and it might arrive this week or next week.
For some reason sd dvds look so much better on the Ruby so I can only imagine what HD-DVD will look like. So which is the better of the new technologies?? Sony SXRD would be my guess.---Of course I don't go to the stores all that much; or make that as much as many.
I finally had a point of curiosity cleared up. I was watching Sam Runco on a cedia type show. His comments were about how the stores have a higher bit rate feed so you get home and hook your set to a lower bit rate source and your tv won't look quite as clean.
The coming of HD_DVD and Blue Ray changes that. Now you will see the same PQ at home.

Hello Again,

I am responding because you gave me more info to go and because the post from Rlwainwright was incorrect.

Plasma is the best choice when there is a lot of light and you want to be bigger than 42".

LCD has the least amount of reflectivity but Plasma is bright enough to punch through even though you will see an outline of reflected light because the front is shiny.

In spite of what Rlwainwright said they are very reliable if you get a top model. All problems related to plasma have been because they purchased cheap ones.

Pioneer Elite makes the best Plasmas and are allot less than Runco, Dwin, Fujitsu, and Loewe.

Over the last 12 years I have sold over 300 Elite Plasmas and I have only had 3 fail and Elite replaced 1 of them out of Warranty and repaired the other 2. There is no other TV technology I have had that great of luck with.

Good Plasmas have the closest to tube picture quality because they use phosphorous just like tubes.

Duane

Actually plasmas perform better in the dark due to their contrast levels and ability to show shadow detail; an advantage lost in direct/ambient light. Also, in drker rooms glare is eliminated entirely.

The best technology I have seen as far as PQ is SED. Infinite blacks. I have no idea if it will be affordable at larger display sizes or even commercially available ( when/if). LCD and Plasma prices have had the more expensive years which likely helped with R and D costs but now its price drops and basically balls out competition.

11-10-06: Markphd
" No rear projection TV can compete against a direct view TV. You will notice that rear projection TV's are slowly disappearing from stores. The only advantage they had was size. With plasmas, and now LCDs, both above the 50 inch barrier, the only advantage that rear projection TV's had is now gone.

You mentioned Toshiba's DLP. The head of Toshiba has stated that they are going to stop making all other TV technologies once their SED TV's come on stream. That's a pretty good clue as to what they think of rear projection, as well as plasma and LCD."

I don't agree with Markphd. I'll put a well calibrated Sony SXRD RP up against any other non-front projector on the market and it will hold it's own. No, I don't own one or sell them. But I have been looking to purchase a new 55-60" TV and have looked extensively and read most of the reviews. But, that's looking through my eyes, your's may see something different. Also, the original post indicated that he/she was actively looking to purchase .... so what's SED technology got to do with the question? Anyone who's out auditioning units now certainly is not wanting to wait 5-10 years for large screen SEDs!

Whatever you buy will be greatly affected by the quality of the source material, the room, etc. My advice is, don't plan on spending big bucks for ANY technology without budgeting for calibration by a professional - and I'm not talking about the delivery guy from Best Buy.