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TV selections

I am currently looking for a new TV, probably 36" or above for my living room.

My living room is like this:

_______empty space________
|-------------------------TV----|
|SP--------------------------SP|
|--------------------------------|
|--------------------------------|
|--------------------------------|
|--------------------------------|
|--------------------------------|
|--------------sofa--------------|
|________________________|

The vieing distance is about 9-11'.
Should I get a 16:9 RPTV (47" or 42")(panny, Toshiba, Samsung) or a Direct View 36" TV (Sony HS500, XBR800 or Panny)? I am going to watch DVD 35%, Direct TV 40% and tape 25%.

I know this may not be the optimal location to place the TV but that's the only option for me (WAF). Also, RPTV is mostly for watching DVD althought samsung 42" RPTV is acceptable for watching SDTV, tape, etc when I tried it in Best Buy. For direct view, it is more for my wife to watch TV and tape. I am going to keep this for a while so I am more incline to get a HD-ready TV.

Or, should I just save it up now and get a 36" analog TV for 600-800 bucks and wait a couple more years? What's your experience with Direct view TV with 9-11' watching distance, will that make a differece between a HD TV and an analog one?

Thanks so much for your helps.
fever104
jmcgrogan2's avatar
jmcgrogan2
6,346 posts
 
I decided to just save it up for another couple years. In January 2003 I bought a 36" Panasonic. After perusing the AVS forum for awhile, there where to many questions/complaints about the reliability of new formats (Plasma, DLP, LCD) to justify the cost. There were also complaints of the non-HDTV signal looking better on an analog set than a HDTV set. Since TV is lagging behind as far as HDTV programming, I decided to wait a couple more years. Hopefully the prices will come down on plasma, and the reliability will improve.

Regards,
John
dlreppebc2
8 posts
 
I`d get a Hitachi or mitsubishi instead--better quality. Also, I couldn`t afford buying 2 big tv`s in a 2 yr time span. That is why I`m saving up for a big one now. I know it is not an easy decision. I sold these before. We dropped the Samsung and the Toshiba lines because of reliability problems. Just a word to the wise. Dan R
mejames
986 posts
 
the viewing angle in your setup may not work very well with a rear projection TV go to the store stand directly in front of the TV at your viewing distance and start walking straight to your left while watching the TV picture get progressively worse until its totally unacceptable.BTW Panasonic sucks had to sell it because it was terrible.
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