What is the best Big Screen TV?

HOw much do you have to spend and how much room do you have? If you've got the space, a rear proj CRT is probably the best value in terms of cost vs. PQ. If you don't, and you can afford the freight, the Fujitsu 42" plasma is pretty darn good. Loewe Aconda 38" also would be hard to beat if you can handle (physically and space-wise) a 38" conventional CRT that weighs over 200 lbs and is over 20" deep. I've got a 30" loewe that displays 480p, (not the 1080i that the Aconda can do) and it is quite remarkable.

Hey jd,

Like Swampwalker I have a Loewe, the Aconda. I bought it over a year ago and haven't looked at tv's since then, no need to, so I am not up to the minute on what is out there.

I looked at everything out there at the time and NOBODY had
a picture that compared. It has a 38" screen, and weighs
240 lbs. They can be hard to find as they are considered a
"Hi End" product and are very pricy, but worth it.

Highly recommended !

I'm not that into high end TV's, but the Loewe televisions are pretty amazing. They've actually caused me to stop what I'm doing and respectfully view their pictures on a couple of occasions when in an A/V shop. One dealer told me that they have processing within them on par with some of the high-end projectors such as Runco that provide for excellent film-like quality when viewing DVD's and also address the inherent problems with motion blurring and artifacts present in digital video. Of course, the best "TV" you're gonna get for film viewing is a projector...IMHO.

Gaudio_eek is definitely on the right track. 1080p is definitely going to be where it's at. A lot of really good 720p choices out there right now, but if you hang on just a little bit longer, this coming year should offer some truly excellent sets. As to which technology to go with, well that's hard to say, as each one has it's pluses and minuses. DLP is really picking up speed with better and better performance and larger screen sizes coming. D-ILA looks very promising (but it's still too early to tell how it's going to fare with consumers).

Plasma has a loyal following with a lot of folks (especially the female variety), as Plasma sets are very sleek and thin as a wafer(which is great for space limited areas). So the W.A.F is very high for Plasma sets. Performance wise Plasma is a bit iffy, at it's best it can deliver some incredible images, but on the other hand, it's prone to a variety of problems like pixel burn out and it can look a bit artifacty. And prices for high quality Plasma sets over 51" are still up in the stratosphere.

LCD has a proven track record, and is capable of doing 1080p(sets are either just being introduced or will be soon). And screen sizes for LCD are getting bigger and bigger, and prices are coming down, so that's a definite plus.

Good ol' CRT is the granddaddy of them all, but CRT still has some life left in it. New sets are still being offered (as to how much longer I don't know), but as I see the trend going, the future is definitely going to be digital. So as to which technology you should adopt (be it LCD, DLP, D-ILA, LCoS {Liquid Crystal On Silicon}, or Plasma), you need to look, look, and look, and only then will your eyes lead you to that holy grail of TV display.

Let's see what 2005 offers us, should be fun :)

SV

Nice Post Wolf Man. Their was some news I read today that Intel decided to pull out of LCoS.

Questions for you. You are saying DLP and LCD will have 1080p capability, does that mean plasma and D-ILA can not, will not, or its not clear whether in the future they will be able to produce a 1080p image ?

2nd Question , Will networks eventually broadcast in 1080p ?

3rd question , Will the upcoming hi def DVD format most likely be 1080p ?

Thanks for the post, I know The AVS Forum probably has this information , but thank you for presenting it in a concise manner.