2. home-theater
  3. 1105480105

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.
cte500

Showing 1 response by maineiac

maineiac
649 posts
 
You are right, it is a daunting task. I am lucky to have a couple of co-workers who are really experienced with this stuff and they have helped a good deal. You should check out the www.avsforum.com, there you will find lots of similar threads that should be quite informative. I have on order a 50" plasma so my advice is based on what led me to that decision and not any direct experience yet. To me, and of course, this is subjective, the plasmas offered the best picture in both HD and SD for that size. The LCDs are also very nice but right now a 45" (which for me would have been a minimum size and I am about 10" back as well) is VERY expensive. I spent quite a bit of time, pacing off viewing distances and looking at 42 vs 50". I looked at where I would mount the thing and measured off what it would look like. I looked at them with HD, SD, and DVD as sources.

I need to have some good off axis capability and the rear projections fell off pretty fast when getting to the side but plasma holds up very well. I want HD for sports and there should be pretty decent coverage for that between local channels and sat, and HD will surely increase dramatically over the next couple of years. Finally, I don't have the luxury of a dedicated theater room so my family room has to serve the dual purpose, a plasma also made a lot of sense for the use of the space.

I spent a lot of time reading, visiting showrooms, talking to different people before I could make up my mind.

Finally, there was an editorial in the latest sound and vision about how different buying a TV is today versus when he went with his dad years ago.
More to discover