Boy, do I feel your pain. I have owned a Pioneer Elite 50" CRT rear projection analog set for the last 5 years and have been looking at HD sets the last few months primarily because I want to watch football in HD and also because I want to be able to take advantage of the progressive scan output on my DVD player. I have not yet seen anything that makes me want to pull the trigger on a new set. DLP rear projection sets have the rainbow issue, rear projection LCD sets have poor blacks, and plasma sets are too expensive for my budget and also have poor blacks and the burn in issue with 4:3 material. I think that this is a really bad time to buy a television. The rear projection CRTs, to my eyes, still provide the best picture but many manufacturers have stopped making them and none of the high end A/V stores in my area carry them anymore. They say nobody wants them because they are too big and heavy. It seems to me that CRT technology, which still provides the best overall picture, has been prematurely tossed aside in favor of newer technologies that offer a smaller and lighter box. For 480i material my Pioneer Elite projection set is still better than what I have seen in the stores right now. I still am unsure of what to do but I think I may wait it out a couple more years and hope that Pioneer Elite plasmas come down in price and improve in picture quality and then get one of those.
An audiophile who know NOTHING about TV
Well, I've been thinking of buying a new TV and holy crap, is this one confusing subject! First, what technology should I get: Plasma, DLP, LCD, etc. 16:9, 1080. I don't know what any of this stuff means. The funny thing is that i'm scanning consumer reports and others like it to see what is the "best" LOL. I don't think I found my SME 30 or Aesthetix IO there! I would be aghast at anyone who told me they were buying a high end piece of audio equipment like that, but here I was doing the same thing. Looking to see which had the best specs. I stopped by a best buy today and actually found someone who seemed to know what he was talking about. He asked the right questions (from what I read): What do you watch, how far do you sit, etc. I answered his questions. Not interested in surround sound at all. Mostly watch broadcast TV and lots of sports (I use dish network as my source), sit about 10 feet from the screen (need to measure, i'm just guessing), watch an occasional DVD.
So, we're moving along and he seemd to be steering me towards DLP (Samsung) but there was a Pioneer Plasma that looked great. Then he mentions that "regular" TV broadcasts look terrible!!?? You won't be able to use the whole screen? What the hell, I can't have that. Isn't most TV non High-Def? Why would you buy Plasma/DLP if this is the case? I know we are headed to high-def, but unless i'm missing something I would think I should wait before I buy. I guess I can go RP CRT but isn't that "old" technology? That's funny, coming from a guy who listens to records and has an all tube-based system LOL.
I just want the best picture and biggest picture that makes sense in my room.
Oh, the room has a lot of natural light during the day, but most watching is done at night.
So, we're moving along and he seemd to be steering me towards DLP (Samsung) but there was a Pioneer Plasma that looked great. Then he mentions that "regular" TV broadcasts look terrible!!?? You won't be able to use the whole screen? What the hell, I can't have that. Isn't most TV non High-Def? Why would you buy Plasma/DLP if this is the case? I know we are headed to high-def, but unless i'm missing something I would think I should wait before I buy. I guess I can go RP CRT but isn't that "old" technology? That's funny, coming from a guy who listens to records and has an all tube-based system LOL.
I just want the best picture and biggest picture that makes sense in my room.
Oh, the room has a lot of natural light during the day, but most watching is done at night.
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- 29 posts total
- 29 posts total