Widescreen TV opinions

[Guyute]

I'm rather seriously shopping for a widescreen (again). Though I will probably wait until Bestbuy re-sets their no-interest plan... which is usually for about a year... but right now ends in January.
I figured a year of no interest, I could easily get it paid off in that time.

Anyway... I'm looking for suggestions. I've done a fair amount of reading, but haven't done any in-store shopping yet. I save that until I have a good idea of what I want. I tend to go into most AV stores knowing more than the sales people, and that's the way I like it.

I'm figuring on spending $2k at the most... including the extended warranty that most places offer. This shouldn't be a problem, as the price on rear projection widescreen HDTV monitors has been dropping rather nicely :) Seems the avg has come down to about $1400.

We have a 27" JVC now, and I've been very happy with it. So I researched JVC's 48", which got very good reviews. But, nobody seems to be carrying it anymore. bummer. I didn't have my heart set on it anyway, since I haven't done side-by-side viewings yet.
There's also a nice Sony for $1300-$1400 right now, which surprised me.. but it's a tabletop, so I'd have to spend another couple-few hundred on either a stand, or large ent. center.

anyway... thoughts, suggestions, whatever... are all appreciated :)

[Turbulence]

We got a 51 inch Hitachi prolly 6 months ago at Cirtuit City...Circuit City cannot be beat as far as price and customer service are concerned...
If you are going for rear-projection HD, which it sounds like you are, look into Hitachi first. Hitachi makes all of the major components (light guns, etc.) of all of the major brands of rear-projection HDs...and naturally they keep the best technology for themselves. You may not be able to notice a difference in picture quality in the store, but the best Hitachi technology is better than the near-best that Hitachi gives to Sony, Mitsubishi, etc.
I haven't kept up on the prices as of late...but if I were you I'd look into the Hitachi 51inch HD...it's about $2000...which sounds like a bit above your range including warranties and such, but it would certainly be well worth it.

One more word of advice if you don't already know...get the 16:9 aspect ratio instead of the normal 4:3...in the next few years all tv programming will be produced in 16:9 aspect, as well as HD. It wouldn't be worth taking a 4:3 that would be outdated in a few years... I'm sure that sounds a little bit confusing...I can't quite get it out of my mind in the right words. :spin:

My experiences with BestBuy and large appliances like a tv have not been well...it seems too much like an assembly line for customers... Circuit City has continually provided great customer service, etc. Look there first...

Good luck.

[tommy]

Not sure about the TV's, but I can throw this in: As far as stores, I agree with Turby. Circuit City is second to none with prices (that's where I got my PDA), and service...

[Kat]

You already know which option we chose... but it wasn't $2K, probably a little more than double that. However, we are really pleased with it so far. And building the screen only cost an extra $30 or so.

One thing to be wary of when shopping... be sure that if you get a widescreen that you talk to them about burn-in issues. I know that you play PS2 a lot (like someone else I know ;) ), and since that is 4:3 you can have issues with the black bars on the sides. I would have to point you to my personal expert to explain why this happens and which models to look at, but I would be glad to talk to him about emailing you some of his research results.

-Kat

[Alicia]

We got our Hitachi 57" projection color HDTV at Circuit City also, mainly because my step-brother is the store manager. :)

[folgersnyourcup]

Yeah, be extra careful with burn-in if you play lots of games or watch lots of 4x3 material with a RPTV or plasma set. You have to be less careful with a CRT television. I got the 34 inch widescreen flat screen HDTV from Circuit City last August for 2499.99 It's an awesome size for my room at home and at college!

I'm assuming you have a very large room if you are going for the large RPTV. What sucks sucks sucks sucks SUCKS is you cannot get ESPN HD with Time Warner cable. I wasn't able to get ESPN HD at school because there was no HD feed there so I came home all ready to watch the rest of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in HD. I get the HD box and boom. Time Warner Cable doesn't carry ESPN HD and won't be getting it till probably two or three more months...... :(

Do you have Time Warner Cable HD or another form of HD Kat? I really wanted to record the finals games in HD with D-VHS deck but am unable to. I was thinking of switching quickly to whatever service carries ESPN HD around here....

Good luck Guyute, whatever you pick you'll love!

Did you get enhanced definition or HD plasma Kat?

[Kat]

Do you have Time Warner Cable HD or another form of HD Kat? I really wanted to record the finals games in HD with D-VHS deck but am unable to. I was thinking of switching quickly to whatever service carries ESPN HD around here....

Good luck Guyute, whatever you pick you'll love!

Did you get enhanced definition or HD plasma Kat?

We have a Runco front projector that sits on our coffee table. It can do up to 120", but we have it at about 67" widescreen. It will do a variety of different formats and mask them for you, so no black bars. And it does HD as well, although we need the tuner that is in the digital cable box. Eventually we will be building some sort of movie room, but that is a few years out.

And yes, we have Durham Time Warner, so NO ESPN HD. Everytime they advertise it I yell an expletive at the screen. However, games 3-7 will be on ABC, and they will be in HD.

-Kat

[Turbulence]

Actually, burn in usually isn't a problem, at least on my Hitachi. As y'all know, all shows that aren't HD are shown in 4:3 aspect ratio with black bars on the sides...but the tv has an option where you can zoom in, making the black bars a non-issue...
If you watch Headline news or ESPNEWS, with the scrollers at the bottom, you can get the burn in as well.

That front projection must be niice...I can't imagine how the HD 'Canes games look...
Speaking of ESPNHD...does Time Warner have any plans with settling on a contract with 'em? This is absurd! Good to hear that we'll be able to see some games in HD, though...

[Jillsdad]

As far as projection TV's go, I have a Toshiba 55 inch HD and it cannot be beat. All the articles I have read rate Toshiba as the best in the business. Hey Guyute, go the extra extra mile and also get the Polk Audio DS2 home theatre set up, you will not be dissapointed.

[folgersnyourcup]

I was considering Polk Audio JD, how much does that run?

[Jillsdad]

I bought the system about year and a half ago and it ran me about 3 grand. However i did but it from a high line speciality home audio and video store. You can probably shop around and get it cheaper. What I did and it worked out really well was bought the base DS2 which had the receiver and the subwoofer with it and then bought in wall Polk speakers for my left, right, center and satellites. The system is dynamite. One other thing, unless you are very good with electronics and setting things up properly, i would let the pro's do it because with the DS2 system, everything runs through the sub, which by the way is 15 inches.

[Guyute]

thanks for the input folks. yes, I'm aware of potential burn-in issues.... but it seems there are many conflicting reviews of "yes, I had burn-in problems" and "no, I haven't had any problems, and been watching 4:3 tv for a year". so, it's kinda hard to figure out just how big of an issue it is.

I did not know about Hitachi being the main component manufacturer, so that's a big help turby, thanks. :)

Jillsdad (welcome back btw)... thanks for your advice... but I tend to avoid most "mainstream" speakers like the plague. also, the widescreen is the last piece, I've already dropped several K on the rest of the setup. I couldn't imagine spending 2k on a tv and listening to it through the tv speakers ::shudder:: lol.

My 6 speakers consist of all PSB's ( http://www.psbspeakers.com ). Two Image 5T towers as mains, an Image 8C center, a Subsonic 6 sub, and two Alphas for rears. All driven from a Marantz SR-7000 receiver. My living room (and the surrounding block of our house :) ) sound better than any theatre I've been in in a long time. PSB is the best bang for the buck, Bar None. Maybe some day I'll sink $12k into their Stratus Gold towers. lol.

oh- and for reference, I have used most brands of speakers, in fact, before going all PSB, I was using a polk center. It was pretty good... but in a different league I'd have to say. Glad you enjoy your setup though, that's all that matters :)

[folgersnyourcup]

Guyute, just keep the setting at a reasonable level and vary your viewing (don't leave a 4x3 picture on the tv for 100's of hours at a team without turning the tv off) and I would suggest at the very least adjusting the settings using a disc like the Avia set-up disc. To get the best out of it you should really get it calibrated by an ISF certified technician. It can run anywhere from 100 to 500 dollars to do that depending on what kind of tv you have. They go inside the service menu, mess with tons of stuff and you end up with a much better looking picture. When you get your set generally the blue levels are pumped WAY up, sometimes the red push may be ridiculously high as well. This is so it will look "good" to the average consumer walking through their Best Buy or Circuit City. They also have it in a VERY controlled environment there as well. You'll want to do some adjusting with that. Geometry problems shouldn't be too much of an issue.

Good way to get ready for you widescreen tv is to throw away, give away, or donate all your VHS store-bought movies. Keep the personally recorded movies of course since they're most likely the only in existence, but for a VHS store-bought copy of say....Independence Day, you might pop that in for a laugh but I suggest getting rid of those as soon as possible. They look simply ATROCIOUS on my HDTV and on bigger screen rear-projection HDTV's it's bad, bad, bad. Not to mention they're not widescreen anyway and you should be ashamed if you watch them (hehe :) )

But I'm assuming you know all about anamorphic widescreen and dvd's now that you're getting ready to purchase the widescreen set? If not, here's a quick rundown.

The first thing you'll want to do when you get the widescreen set is set your dvd player to 16x9 display mode. The default is 4x3 Letterbox. Then, look at the box of the dvd you want to watch. If it says:

-Enhanced for 16x9 Televisions
or
-Enhanced for Widescreen TV's
or
-Digitally Mastered Audio and Anamorphic Video
or
-Anamorphic Widescreen

I believe that covers the most commonly used ones. Generally it will be easy to spot this wording. On Universal cases, it says it right under the aspect ratio number, on Paramount cases it says it near the top, on Columbia Tristar cases it's generally the first line of text in the box of features, on Warner Bros. discs, it's at the very bottom (says either "This film is presented in letterboxed widescreen" or "This film is presented in matted widescreen" followed by the phrase "Enhanced for Widescreen Tv's".

What this means first and foremost is that the disc is not a hassle to watch. The good news is for the most part the majority of widescreen dvd's put out in the last 3 or so years are all anamorphic. If it's not, the studio took the lazy way out and did a cheap LD transfer and most likely changed nothing. It will look worse than the laserdisc though as the resolution for the DVD format is greater and many problems will be inherent.

But if you're looking through those bargain bins at Wal-Mart many of those may not be anamorphic, or even worse, "full-frame", so just be careful.

But what it does is this:

If you put a non-anamorphic widescreen disc of aspect ratio 1.85:1 in the dvd player and turn on the television you will see bars at the top and bottom of the screen. Putting the tv in full-mode presents a stretched picture. Zooming it can get rid of the black bars and make the disc fill the screen but it comes with a loss of resolution and bigger artifacts.

On the other hand, an anamorphic disc of aspect ratio 1.85:1 put in the dvd player with the widescreen television set on normal mode will have no black bars and an image that is stretched upwards. Simply putting the dvd in full mode stretches out this picture that is stretched upwards making it fill your screen. This way not only do you not lose resolution but vertical resolution increases by about 30% from 640x480 to 720x480. This is a significant and noticeable improvement that looks great and you don't have to go through the hassle of making sure your zoom window is exactly right so that you don't see any bars at the top or bottom and so you aren't cutting off any of the picture.

It works the same way with 2.20:1, 2.35:1 widescreen films and wider but with these you will get thin black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. It works the same way though. A non-anamorphic 2.35:1 movie (the width of a film like Moonlight Mile)disc like for example when played on a widescreen tv and put in full mode will have enermous black bars and a very stretched out image. You can zoom it and guess about how big the black bars should be and try to get the image to look the right size but it comes at the same loss of resolution (a bit of a blurry image) due to the zooming and bigger artifacts. The anamorphic version will have small black bars and a stretched vertically image in normal mode but will look perfect in full mode.

So it's putting it in full mode and sitting back and enjoying the dvd or messing with zoom till your head hurts trying to get the picture to be perfectly centered or the black bars at exactly the right size. So make sure you're only buying anamorphic widescreen discs.

Of course, watching full-frame movies like Wizard Of Oz, Casablanca, Maltese Falcon, Citizen Kaine, etc., etc., etc., etc., is perfectly fine, those are the way those were meant to be seen, but make sure you buy anamorphic widescreen discs only if you've got a widescreen set.

Okay yeah, I hoped that helped someone here somewhat. Once I get started talking about something I'm interested in, unfortunately for the readers on this message board I don't stop.

Hehe, well enjoy!

[Guyute]

thanks for taking the time to write all that out... I'm sure it took a few minutes. :) hehe

shell will tell you, I Refuse to watch VHS movies, even on our current tv. they're just horrible. my father in law tapes rentals for us now and then (from a dvd source, but still), and I don't think I've watched a one of them. It hurts my eyes to look at that. lol
I'm Very snobbish when it comes to AV stuff.

I've looked at the Avia disc for a long time, but haven't bought one yet. need to. Be nice to have a tech come in and do it, but I probably won't have that in my budget.

The viewing distance for us a big factor, as well as the wall-size which it will be going on. It's the only way I can setup the room so that we're in the center of the speaker box :) I held up a tape measurer last night to see how big a 48" screen would be, and it was pretty damn large in our living room. lol. What I need to do is try and narrow my choices down and decide if I'm going to do a table-top tv and get a large entertainment center, or buy a stand that has no storage space, then use a rack on the side.

I have spent some time this morning reading up on the Hitachi 43" (which I think would be a pretty good size for our room) and it has gotten some very good reviews. But, I need to do some more living room measurements and try to figure out what I'm going to need to fit in there. lol. I have about 60"-65" of space between my two towers, and whatever I get needs to squeeze in there.

thanks for all of the dvd info as well... I was pretty much aware of most of that stuff, but it never hurts to get more info :)
and don't worry about rambling... I do the same. sharing knowledge is great... and when it's about something you really love, it's hard to stop. hehe.

k, back to reading reviews.

[Kat]

Btw, laserdiscs look like crap on a big TV unless you are willing to shell out for a line doubler.

And thanks for all the info, Folgers. We can set our projector to mask all of those formats that you described. It will stretch and zoom and all that too, but you usually don't want to do that. Right now we are working out a system with our screen and curtains to frame every format by just moving some panels around. And since it is a DLP projector, ambient light isn't a problem. Of course it looks better when the room is darker, but then so do most TVs.

Also, he figured out a few good DVDs to test out on a TV that you are looking at... Spiderman for color, LOTR for blacks, the Matrix for greens and blues. Also, if you have any non-HBO TV show sets (like Buffy, for example), those do a good job of showing you what analog cable will look like. Not sure how that equates to guyute's DirectTV, but the point is sort of to see the worst-case scenario.

We bought our stuff at Audio Advice, and they were willing to take up to an hour with us and let us test out as much as we wanted... different DVDs, ambient light, etc. I was really impressed with their service, and the price was as good or better than anything that we saw online.

-Kat

[Guyute]

Audio Advice is where I bought my Marantz receiver. great guys there. fun place to play around :)

good tips on the testing dvd's kat, thanks. got all of those. hehe

[folgersnyourcup]

Hehe, funny story about Audio advice Guy. My father were looking for that place after going to Now Audio & Vidoo when I was looking at recievers. Now Audio & Video told us we should try Audio Advice. Except when he said it, we both thought he said "AUDIO MICE". So we went up and down Glenwood there looking for Audio Mice, called the operator and asked about a listing for Audio Mice and were met with silence (I'm surprised she didn't laugh at us) and were perplexed as to why the store was named Audio Mice when we stumbled upon Audio ADVICE. Boy did we feel stupid. When we went in there they had lots of Canes stuff up and were playing the Raising Canes dvd on a couple of televisions there. Pretty nifty place. A bit expensive though, the reciever I got for 750 was 1000 there but then again it got pissed in anyway so the point is moot. Very nice store though.

[Guyute]

lol, that is pretty funny :)

Yes, most of their stuff is quite high end. The Marantz SR-7000 I was shopping for was cheaper elsewhere, but then I found out for some reason they had a couple that they were holding for people, for over $100 less than I could find elsewhere. I bugged the hell out of Kevin, and finally he said "OK, we'll give this guy one more day, if he doesn't come in, it's yours."
2 days later I was there to get it. hehe

So I ended up getting a real good deal... but had I bought one at regular price, it would've cost me a lot more... which I was willing to do. Too many 'net AV dealers say they're authorized by manufacturer and aren't, meaning you're spending a grand (or more), and end up having no warranty. So I try and buy most stuff like that locally, at a B&M store.

Unfortunately the only PSB dealer around is in Winston-Salem, so most of my big speakers came from a PSB dealer from elsewhere. I made sure to check with PSB though to make sure they were on the list. After the confirmation, I was pretty happy getting the online prices instead of driving to W-S for them.

[Jillsdad]

I agree with you overall guyute on avoiding mainstream speaker systems, however after watching the Polk DS2 perform I was sold on it. I also have to admit something else, my Polk system is upstairs in my FROG/Media room. Downstairs in the living room I also have a set up with Definitive Technology speakers powered by a Denon receiver, hooked into a Toshiba 36 inch tube. Yes I know two theatre systems is a bit of overkill, but whn I finished my FROG I just had to do it up right and I have a problem getting rid of things. Just a little more information for ya.

[folgersnyourcup]

Sorry, but what's a FROG?

[Jillsdad]

Finished Room Over Garage

[folgersnyourcup]

Ah, thanks. Never heard that term used before. Your setup sounds awesome. I think I'm going to look into Polk Audio a bit and see how I like that. I'm going to shop around a lot though and try to mix and matching things most likely though instead of buying a set of speakers unless I really like them.

[CaniacManiac]

Section128crazy and I bought a projector about 4 months ago and love it. It's an InFocus X1 and cost about $1500. Cables cost us another $500 (he's a firm believer in getting high quality cables) We used luminous white paint and painted a screen right on our wall for about $30. Of course, then we had to go out and spend a butt load of money on new audio equipment to complete the home theater, but it was definitely money well spent. Just wish that there was more HD programming on TV.

CaniacManiac

[Kat]

We used luminous white paint and painted a screen right on our wall for about $30.


We live in a rented townhouse, so painting the wall wasn't an option. What we did was use blackout cloth (about $12 worth) and stretch it over a frame like an artist's canvas (about another $12). It wound up being very light and can hang on the wall easily. We are still working out a solution for the curtain framing.

Our projector was a bit more expensive. Is yours an LCD? Do you have any trouble with ambient light?

-Kat

[Guyute]

does anyone have 1st hand experience on the quality/resolution difference between a DVI-HD connection, and a Component-HD connection?

reason I ask is, I've been looking at a 43" Hitachi... but, sadly, no DVI connection. It will be a little time before we go HD, because I'm not ready to give up my DTV/UTV combo (no HD/DTV/UTV combo available yet)... but when it comes time to upgrade, I don't want to be stuck with component if DVI is *clearly* the way to go.

There's a 46" sony widescreen which is $100 more (surprisingly good price for a sony), which does have DVI. Haven't seen either of them up close yet... still researching. The time is drawing near though. :D

thanks.

PS- don't we have anyone here working at circuit city or anything?? help a brotha out... :p 20% discount or so would be ok. lol

[Guyute]

of course some guy on another site that I've asked these questions just told me that sony 10ht or 11ht front projectors can be found for around $2k.

jeez, nothing like throwing MORE options into my head. :roll:
lol

[folgersnyourcup]

From what I understand you definitely should go for the DVI connection. It is apparently going to be a big thing in the future from what I've heard.... something about copy protection as well.

[Guyute]

went and looked at a 46" sony last night (WT500).. Very nice indeed... especially their format for doing the split screen... ability to zoom in/out on either picture, etc. I liked it.

I have a question though, for those of you with dual tunar big tv's... AND, the use of dual tuner boxes with them. IE- a Tivo/UTV box that has 2 tuners... running into a big tv that does split screen (2 tuners).

I've read some reviews saying it won't work. Some reviews haven't mentioned a problem at all. I gotta know. If I can't make both tuners on the UTV work with a big screen... that is a Huge bummer.

thanks

[Jeff O Rocks]

went and looked at a 46" sony last night (WT500).. Very nice indeed... especially their format for doing the split screen... ability to zoom in/out on either picture, etc. I liked it.

I have a question though, for those of you with dual tunar big tv's... AND, the use of dual tuner boxes with them. IE- a Tivo/UTV box that has 2 tuners... running into a big tv that does split screen (2 tuners).

I've read some reviews saying it won't work. Some reviews haven't mentioned a problem at all. I gotta know. If I can't make both tuners on the UTV work with a big screen... that is a Huge bummer.

thanks

46"??? :eek: :eek2: That's bigger than the jumbotron ain't it??? :D ;)

[Guyute]

46" really isn't all that big.. ;) should see Kat's. whew.

[Kat]

Thanks! We like it... (btw, Mona, ours is 67"). And I swear a 13" B&W might be better quality than the Jumbotron... I really wish they would upgrade that thing. We tried to go and watch one of the games on it during last year's playoff run and it was not so good.

Anyhow, I asked the master on all things A/V and he said that you shouldn't have trouble doing split screen through a DVR, UTV, or Tivo, provided that it has two tuners. Our DVR (the TimeWarner one) does, but our Tivo does not. I think that you can buy Tivos with two tuners now though. Also, if the TV allows input from two tuners you could probably use, say, two cable boxes, or a DVR and a cable box.

-Kat

[Jeff O Rocks]

(btw, Mona, ours is 67")



All I can say is .....holy freakin' moly!! :crazy: :eek: ;)

[Guyute]

thanks Kat (and Garner. hehe). Our Sat box is also a UTV. Dual tuners in that.. so we can do PIP, record one while watching another, record two different things, etc...

but with the tv having dual tuners as well.... some of the things I've heard were contradictory whether or not the UTV (Tivo, whatever) would still have it's dual functions. But yeah... I guess instead of going through my receiver, if I had to, I could just run two separate lines around...

I'm still researching. hehe.

just found out that Hitachi released a 46" fairly recently... and only Sears carries it, so I probably need to go see that. Lots of posts on a HT board about "flickering" problems with sonys. ugh.

[folgersnyourcup]

The Sony RPTV's (at least last year's models) have a "ringing" issue. This is most likely the "flickering" the people at the HT site are bringing up. I definitely suggest you check out hometheaterforum.com if you have not already. No RPTV is perfect however, they all have something or another going for them. If you have someone manually point out the ringing on the Sony RPTV it will drive you completely insane. If you don't notice it at first glance and don't have someone point it out to you, then it most likely will not bother you.

If you are, however, in the know about the excessive EE (Edge Enhancement) applied to many dvd's or have ever watched a laser disc(one of the reasons I did not get a large, large set, on a 37 inch widescreen hd set, they don't show up as noticeably) then you will know exactly what to look for, it's a similar effect to the ringing caused by the EE applied during compression. EE's not a compression artifact though, the compressionists choose to apply it because they are completely insane. Apparently, if you are viewing the dvd on a 25 inch or smaller television, it creates the effect of a "sharper" image... Bah. How silly.

But pop in Die Hard With A Vengeance 2-disc Special Edition or Terminator 2 Ultimate Edition on a 65 inch display (hell, anything bigger than 42 inches) and prepare to throw up. HD, of course, looks UNBELIEVABLE but getting a large display introduces you to the ugly head of dvd, EE. Thankfully, most dvd's have only a small amount applied so it is not that bad. Very few have none (Training Day, Rules Of Engagement, and Titanic come to mind. Titanic unfortunately being non-anamorphic.)

But the ringing on the Sony RPTV's is not as noticeable as edge enhancement applied on dvd's so.....take a look at it in the store and if you don't see it, bravo! Remember, you can take the tv back and they'll be happy to swap it out for you in the first 30 days in case you do see it and it drives you nuts. But if you don't see it, chances are you will never see it.

The Hitachi's downside are BIZARRE stretch modes. If you watch primarily widescreen dvd's and HD and not much 4:3 digital cable, then you won't mind this. However, it's not smart to watch 4:3 digital cable in normal mode with bars on the left and right side on an RPTV particularly for long periods of time. To be safe on an RPTV you should always have it in one of the stretch modes. Check out the stretch modes. If they look fine to you, then great. Make sure to check out a hockey game on it though. If it doesn't bother you watching a hockey game then you are set. Other than the stretch modes I found nothing wrong with the middle to high end Hitachi RPTV's. I just couldn't find a stretch mode that I liked.

When I watched hockey in the store, the television created a "fun-house mirror" like effect and it made me dizzy trying to follow the action. It leaves the middle intact but stretches the edges. This is what my Sony Widescreen tube tv does but it does it a little bit differently cropping off a bit of the top and bottom. With this, you've got a perfect middle and then as the player skates towards the edge of the screen or hits the puck that way...."PHWOMPH" STRETCHY!

But to be honest, I even got used to the full mode with the sides stretched tremendously and the people looking fat. I ended up not even minding it on my television and probably would not mind it either now looking at the Hitachi RPTV. It's all personal preference though. My roommates thought it looked horrific in full mode and would always switch it off whenever I went out of the room. I didn't mind it at all but they went crazy. This is your choice so make sure you look at all available options, try out the stretch modes on every RPTV you see, etc. etc.

Hope some of that helped.

[Kat]

I asked my "expert" about EE... To find good examples of how to spot it, go here: http://www.videophile.info/Guide_EE/Page_01.htm

Also, we had to sell the laserdiscs. They just look like crap on the big screen... some said a line doubler might help but we decided not to bother.

-Kat

[folgersnyourcup]

No no no! Don't show them or else it'll drive them mad too! :D :D

Yep, that's the most commonly linked to guide when people want to know about EE. Some of the people I've shown that to still say "Ummmm, I don't see any difference in the pictures. They all look great". Right......

But yeah, that hallway in the T2: Ultimate Edition is a CLASSIC! The Extreme Edition dvd that was recently released fixed all that though. Almost NO EE this time as opposed to atrocious EE.

A line doubler will do okay, but you're better off just getting rid of the laserdiscs. Things will still be blurry, blurry, but interestingly enough, the EE is less noticeable on laserdiscs because of the lower resolution. But if color smearing and yucky yucky picture is what you like then laserdisc is what you want! The line doubler will help out with interlace problems which really doesn't matter when it looks so bad. EE was thought to be necessary on horrendous VHS tape movies and Laserdisc because of the very, very low resolution. It was supposed to create a "sharp" look to it. If you had a 50 inch RPTV back ten year's ago (when VHS tapes were still watched ;) ) it just made you sick to your stomach that people could watch these. Most people (me included) had smaller televisions so I never noticed anything. It being used on dvd's now is completely unnecessary and unwelcome.

I've personally gotten to the point where watching a dvd in interlaced mode drives me much, MUCH further over the edge than watching a dvd with heavy EE. I can just see the scan lines all OVER the damn place, bushes and trees flickering, making faces appear unclear and strange looking, etc. etc. etc. My family doesn't see it at all and I was watching Ghost World with my roommates and accidentally had my tv's progressive scan set to off and when it started I immediately noticed it and had to keep myself from screaming so as to not interrupt the movie. About 15 minutes in though, I said, "Allright, enough of that" and intrusively went into my tv's menus and turned it on. Problem solved. They of course thought I was insane though as they said nothing was bothering them at all. Afterwards though, I was completely at peace.

Hehe, with my tv currently being worked on, Circuit City gave me a loner 500 dollar 32 inch television and it really hurt me to watch movies on it so I just haven't watched anything as I wait for my set to return. It just upset me to no end. Choppy not even close to fluid movement due to the extra frames thrown in there in NTSC interlaced mode as opposed to the film-like 24 frames per second progressive gives along with the interlace flicker drove me batty.

Yeah, I'm insane but..... yeah. That's all.

[Guyute]

well, I've been watching price trends and researching options for almost a year now.

I was pretty set on the Samsung 50" DLP. buuut.. a friend that works at a high-end av place (in the mid-west, not here, unfortunately), recommended sony's new 50" LCD rear projection. after reading about 55 reviews, I have to say the general consensus is that it beats out DLP. and most of the reviewers were comparing this with the samsung 50" DLP, same as me. same thin build as DLP too, and most reports say better (sharper and brighter) pic than the sam DLP.

the hook, is that it's almost $1000 cheaper.
anyway, just wanted to share the info, because I've been looking for awhile, and just now found out about this gem of a deal.
and to see if anyone has any input to add on a rear LCD setup.
the model# on the sony is KF50WE610 if anyone wants to check it out.

now I need to go find a bib and clean my chin up. :D

[Alicia]

Lovin' my Sony 65" HD projection TV! What'd you wind up with, guyute?

[tommy]

Lovin' my Sony 65" HD projection TV! What'd you wind up with, guyute?

:jealous:

[rkbrasse]

And I thought the 51 I just got was big.

[Guyute]

went with the 51" Sony rptv. figured DLP wasn't going to come down soon enough... and I really didn't need to spend $5k on a set...

I'm absolutely thrilled with it. not only split screen, but re-sizing each "window" is incredibly nice. picture is phenominal. rptv's these days definitely are light years beyond how I remembered the versions from the late 80's... with the heavily grooved screen, etc.. :)

got over-the-air HD and it's unreal. I'd like to have Discovery HD, and ESPN-HD... but the cost of that package isn't worth hit. OTA HD gets me most of the sports I care about.

I'd recommend that set in a heartbeat though. got it for $1900, and 24 months of no interest to pay it. also got about $80 in gift cards from the bestbuy rewards thing. lol. not bad.

[rkbrasse]

Got the same one last month for 1700. Worth every penny so far. Cable doesn't even have ESPN-HD from what I can tell.

[Guyute]

I don't really care much though. my nights (when not watching full-screen HD or prog-scan DVD's) usually consist of:

one side PS2 game, other side tv. when the tv show I'm watching is mostly sound (sit-com), I make that window small, game window big. If I have hockey on the one side, and I have a break in my game... game window gets small, hockey is big.

it's really like having 2 very large tv's... well... that you can also resize. lol. awesome

[rkbrasse]

Holy crap I havn't even tried that yet. guuhhgggggggghhhh!

You using component cabes for the PS2?

[Alicia]

Got the same one last month for 1700. Worth every penny so far. Cable doesn't even have ESPN-HD from what I can tell.

Nope, that's about all I'm mad about. But, I have caught a couple other hockey games on HD NET (Kings/Blues & Ducks/Isles) and I must say hockey is definitely made for HD!

And guyute, Discovery HD is pretty dang awesome!

[Guyute]

yes, so I can't do PS2 & HD. but I can do PS2 and Sat.

gaming and hockey. not bad :)

[Alicia]

Friend of mine asked me if burn-in could be repaired...figured someone here would know. :)

[Alicia]

Friend of mine asked me if burn-in could be repaired...figured someone here would know. :)

[ssangste]

Friend of mine asked me if burn-in could be repaired...figured someone here would know. :)

What do you mean by "burn-in"? Is it a CRT based rear projection set? If so, the answer is "No". Once your scar the glass face, you're done unless you replace the tubes.... which would likely cost more than replacing the entire set especially if it is burned on all three tubes (depneding on manufacturer, usually the Green and Blue get hit the worst first, with the red lagging behind).... even running various white fields to try and even things out isn't going to work...

[ssangste]

Friend of mine asked me if burn-in could be repaired...figured someone here would know. :)

What do you mean by "burn-in"? Is it a CRT based rear projection set? If so, the answer is "No". Once your scar the glass face, you're done unless you replace the tubes.... which would likely cost more than replacing the entire set especially if it is burned on all three tubes (depneding on manufacturer, usually the Green and Blue get hit the worst first, with the red lagging behind).... even running various white fields to try and even things out isn't going to work...

[Alicia]

Friend of mine asked me if burn-in could be repaired...figured someone here would know. :)

What do you mean by "burn-in"? Is it a CRT based rear projection set? If so, the answer is "No". Once your scar the glass face, you're done unless you replace the tubes.... which would likely cost more than replacing the entire set especially if it is burned on all three tubes (depneding on manufacturer, usually the Green and Blue get hit the worst first, with the red lagging behind).... even running various white fields to try and even things out isn't going to work...

Hmm...I don't know. She said the center is darker than the sides.

[Alicia]

Friend of mine asked me if burn-in could be repaired...figured someone here would know. :)

What do you mean by "burn-in"? Is it a CRT based rear projection set? If so, the answer is "No". Once your scar the glass face, you're done unless you replace the tubes.... which would likely cost more than replacing the entire set especially if it is burned on all three tubes (depneding on manufacturer, usually the Green and Blue get hit the worst first, with the red lagging behind).... even running various white fields to try and even things out isn't going to work...

Hmm...I don't know. She said the center is darker than the sides.