I must chime in here...
I sit 12" from my 70" Sony KDS-R70XBR2 and the picture is awesome, and yes I have both HD DVD and Blu-ruay to feed it. LCD's are improving, but I think they still need a generation or two to beat plasma. At 12" I would go as big as possible, I use 70" at that distance and it could be larger.
As for resolution, you would be foolish to buy anything that doesn't accept a 1080p feed, and preferrable 1080p/24FPS for best HD disc picture. As you said you keep your gear for a while, and a TV can last over 10 years. If you honestly think you won't buy some form or high def disc player in the next ten years, great! Save the $200 and buy a 720p set... Just don't come crying in a year or two when you have to replace it....
MarkPhD,
You're quoted formula for viewing distance and screen size is based on 4:3 TV's and not applicable, you need a larger 16:9 screen for the same viewing distance.
I must strongly disagree with you on DLP, Yes this technology has trickled down some. You do realize it is the only Tech certified by THX and will be? Runco uses it in there $$$$ projectors, and yes, Samsung does it well and cheaply! I used to have the 61" Sammy 720p set, it was a great TV, a good friend still uses it, but as above, I needed 1080p so it is gone.
As for inputs, for me one is fine, all my HDMI sources run through a switcher so I only run one feed to both my main TV and the plasma in the bedroom, so for me I only need one.
If you need wallmountability, you are stuck with only plasma and LCD, FWIW If I had to preplace my bedroom set, it would be with an LCD as I could get 1080p resolution for a song (I have found the Sony 52" XBR3 for less than $3K on line) but the new round of 1080p plasmas are already dropping in price.....
I guess by now you can see, there is no clear winner in this, go look, see what you like, and get 1080p (Ideally with acceptance of a 24 frame per second feed) to keep you future proof, then sit back and enjoy! Buy the biggest screen you can afford/want to spend on as it will always seem small the week after it's installed....
I sit 12" from my 70" Sony KDS-R70XBR2 and the picture is awesome, and yes I have both HD DVD and Blu-ruay to feed it. LCD's are improving, but I think they still need a generation or two to beat plasma. At 12" I would go as big as possible, I use 70" at that distance and it could be larger.
As for resolution, you would be foolish to buy anything that doesn't accept a 1080p feed, and preferrable 1080p/24FPS for best HD disc picture. As you said you keep your gear for a while, and a TV can last over 10 years. If you honestly think you won't buy some form or high def disc player in the next ten years, great! Save the $200 and buy a 720p set... Just don't come crying in a year or two when you have to replace it....
MarkPhD,
You're quoted formula for viewing distance and screen size is based on 4:3 TV's and not applicable, you need a larger 16:9 screen for the same viewing distance.
I must strongly disagree with you on DLP, Yes this technology has trickled down some. You do realize it is the only Tech certified by THX and will be? Runco uses it in there $$$$ projectors, and yes, Samsung does it well and cheaply! I used to have the 61" Sammy 720p set, it was a great TV, a good friend still uses it, but as above, I needed 1080p so it is gone.
As for inputs, for me one is fine, all my HDMI sources run through a switcher so I only run one feed to both my main TV and the plasma in the bedroom, so for me I only need one.
If you need wallmountability, you are stuck with only plasma and LCD, FWIW If I had to preplace my bedroom set, it would be with an LCD as I could get 1080p resolution for a song (I have found the Sony 52" XBR3 for less than $3K on line) but the new round of 1080p plasmas are already dropping in price.....
I guess by now you can see, there is no clear winner in this, go look, see what you like, and get 1080p (Ideally with acceptance of a 24 frame per second feed) to keep you future proof, then sit back and enjoy! Buy the biggest screen you can afford/want to spend on as it will always seem small the week after it's installed....